'TV historians will tell you that “Felix the Cat” was one of the first images ever broadcast on television (when RCA broadcast a Felix doll in 1928 on experimental station W2XBS) — but it wasn’t until the late ’40s that the first animated character was created expressly for TV.
Crusader Rabbit appeared for the very first time on KNBH (Los Angeles) on August 1, 1950, and featured a Don Quixote-like title character aided by his friend Ragland T. “Rags” Tiger as they pursued adventures in serial (i.e. cliffhanger) installments.' On November 8th, the voice of Crusader Rabbit, Lucille Bliss,
passed away at the age of 96. Ms. Bliss may be more familiar to younger fans as the voice of
Smurfette, from
The Smurfs, or as
Ms. Bitters on Invader ZIM.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Nov 15, 2012 -
18 comments
"Over the years in animation, there have been a lot of great animators.
Ub Iwerks was one of those people. We know his work, but we don't necessarily know the man."
The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (in 5 parts on DailyMotion:
1,
2,
3,
4, and
5) tells of the life of Ubbe Eert Iwerks, from the formation of the friendship with Walt Disney when they met at advertisement studio in Kansas City, their artistic collaborations and Ub's 20 years of animation, to Iwerk's technical creations that kept Disney animated pictures ahead of other studios.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 31, 2012 -
14 comments
The first color cartoon came out in 1957, from
the Miami, Florida studio Soundac, beating out LA-based
Hanna-Barbera's The Ruff & Reddy Show by a few months. Soundac's
Colonel Bleep was
styled after space-age design ideas of the era, featured in three to six-minute long segments with limited animation, designed for syndication into local kids shows with live hosts. Of the 104 episodes,
less than half survive, as
most of that and other Soundac material was stolen from a studio van in the ’70s, when the studio was closing. Luckily, episodes have been found in the collections and archives of various TV studios, so
Col. Bleep and his side-kicks Squeek and Scratch are available online (YT),
some clips on Archive.org, and
more on YouTube (playlist with 43 clips).
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 27, 2012 -
20 comments
Every child comes equipped with
(Whether it's a boy or girl)
A big serving of explosives
Might be up to half a pound
They must be in constant motion
Push, and kick, and flail, and shout
If they can't, they just explode
Bang! Kaboom!
Your luck's run out. [includes Soviet animation and baby monkeys] [more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on May 26, 2012 -
9 comments
When
Captain America throws his mighty shield, all those who chose to oppose his shield must yield. Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by gamma rays, turns into
The Hulk; ain't he unglamorous?
Tony Stark makes you feel; he's a cool exec with a heart of steel. Cross the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard, where the booming heavens roar, you'll behold in breathless wonder the god of Thunder, mighty
Thor. Stronger than a whale,
he can swim anywhere; he can breathe underwater and go flying through the air.
[more inside]
posted by Trurl
on May 17, 2012 -
61 comments
Peasant culture and Russian folklore in Soviet animation (~400 minutes whereof): Soviet animation abounds in
fantasies about the natural,
wholesome lives of
honorable, strong-willed
Russian peasants and folk
heroes and their
struggles against villainy and
adversity.
Decorated with splendid folk art motifs that verge on
horror vacui, these cel-animated cartoons are excellent aids for learning about (popular conceptions of) Russian folk material culture: decoration, architecture,
dress, weaponry,
textiles, domestic culture, manners, and so on.
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on May 4, 2012 -
13 comments
This one time in Edo Japan,
Bashō got together with a bunch of his rich friends from Nagoya to make up a set of interlocking poems (
renku) — 36 of them, to be exact (a format called
kasen). Then, 320 years later, the complete cycle was
animated by a diverse international team of artists.
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on Nov 14, 2011 -
26 comments
Two and a half years ago, we explored
the early history of Cartoon Network... but it wasn't the only player in the youth television game.
As a matter of fact,
Fred Seibert -- the man responsible for the most inventive projects discussed in that post -- first stretched his creative legs at the network's
truly venerable forerunner:
Nickelodeon.
Founded as Pinwheel, a six-hour block on Warner Cable's innovative
QUBE system, this humble channel struggled for years before Seibert's innovative branding work transformed it into a national icon and capstone of a media empire.
Much has changed since then, from the mascots and game shows to
the versatile orange "splat." But starting tonight in response to popular demand, the network is
looking back with
a summer programming block dedicated to the greatest hits of the 1990s, including
Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Double Dare, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and
All That.
To celebrate, look inside for the complete story of the early days of the network that incensed the religious right, brought doo-wop to television, and slimed a million fans -- the golden age of Nickelodeon.
(warning: monster post inside) [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jul 25, 2011 -
116 comments
EXT. STREET -- TWILIGHT. A dreary day in 1971. Wearing a trilby hat and a hideous overcoat, a LONE CROCODILE stands on the rain-slicked sidewalk.
Singing in tune with the plangent sounds of the concertina he clutches in his claws, he tells the viewers that today, of all days, is his birthday. This scene presages the appearance of
one of the most emblematic characters in Soviet animation.
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on May 7, 2011 -
24 comments
"The first Gallery dedicated to artists lying behind cinema, comics, video games masterpieces… and who creat [sic], to entertain, the most significant icons of our time." The gallery has previously featured exhibitions from
webcomic artist
Scott Campbell,
H.R. Giger,
propaganda-style Futurama posters, Superman penciller
Tim Sale,
sketches from
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and
filmmaker Sylvain Chomet.
[more inside]
posted by kagredon
on Apr 30, 2011 -
5 comments
- It was written by Raymond Scott in 1937, and first heard by the world played by the Raymond Scott Quintette on CBS Radio's Saturday Night Swing Club.
- It was first recorded in 1937 and released by Master Records. It was later re-released by Brunswick and then Columbia.
- It contains a middle section that has a greatly different tempo and style from the rest of the song, to the degree that it is sometimes considered to be two different songs.
- It was a popular tune of its time. Among Raymond Scott's admirers was Carl Stalling, music director for Warner Bros. cartoons. Stalling's appreciation for Scott lead to his music being featured frequently in Warner cartoons. Itself, it has been used in dozens of classic cartoons, especially in places depicting rapid motion or heavy machinery. Despite this, no Warner cartoon contains a complete version of the work.
- It's now so recognized from its use in cartoons that most people can probably hum portions of its middle potion, and recognize the rest, even if they don't know it's name. It's so connected with cartoons that Cartoon Network used it as a distinctive bumper tune from 1997 to 2003.
- Regardless of its iconic nature, it's still in copyright and is controlled in the US by Music Sales Corporation, and elsewhere by Warner/Chappell Music.
- That song is called "Powerhouse."
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Apr 23, 2011 -
62 comments
Film Film Film (1968), an award-winning Soviet animated short (
1,
2), depicts the many unalloyed joys of filmmaking, from writer's block to studio censorship, working with children, unforeseen script revisions, delays, running over budget, technical difficulties, and uncertain audience reception.
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on Mar 9, 2011 -
4 comments
A hapless painter is endowed with the ability to understand the speech of forest creatures. Little does he know that the evil King Cactus is planning to destroy the forest using his monstrous grinding machine and an army of magically animated polearms, or that he will play an instrumental role in thwarting the scheming xerophyte. Released in 1986,
Čudesna šuma ("The Magical Forest") is Yugoslavia's first feature-length animated film. Created in collaboration with a US production company, it's available in English as (hold on to your hats, folks) "
The Elm-Chanted Forest."
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on Mar 7, 2011 -
7 comments
In a world much like our own, mouse society is imperiled by a wave of organized cat crime. A top special agent is coaxed out of retirement to transport the blueprints for a top secret weapon that is the last hope of the civilized mouse nations.
Macskafogó ("Cat Trap") is a feature-length Hungarian animated film. Released in 1986, it's also available in a dubbed English version titled
Cat City.
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on Feb 27, 2011 -
4 comments
Saturday morning cartoons were once a staple of American television, but by the year 2000
they had all but disappeared. Of course, the Internet
never forgets. Case in point:
Cartoon Network Video -- a free, searchable, ad-supported service that provides hundreds of full-length episodes of classic shows like
Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and
The Powerpuff Girls, as well as current offerings and scads of shorter material. Too recent for you? Then give
Kids WB Video a whirl -- it does the same thing with the same interface, but for older programs like
Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Thundercats, and the original
Space Ghost. If you're in the mood to learn (and don't mind some live-action),
PBS Kids Video has educational fare such as Arthur, Wishbone, and Zoom. And don't forget about
Sesame Street,
The Electric Company,
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood,
The Magic Schoolbus and
Schoolhouse Rock! Now if only we had some
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs...
posted by Rhaomi
on Sep 22, 2009 -
160 comments
The complete and until today unaired
pilot of South Park for Comedy Central, with an additional creator's commentary track. About 90% was recut into the first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe," but with a few slightly altered scenes and characters. After gaining underground popularity with two shorts that
you've all probably seen already at this point, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were contracted by Comedy Central to produce a full pilot episode for a potential show based on the shorts. This pilot episode is what would ultimately lead to a series that is now 12 years old, spans over 180 episodes, and is one of the most successful shows in the history of cable television both in ratings and revenue. The pilot is also the only episode in the series that, like the original shorts, uses stop-motion animation of paper cutouts instead of computer software.
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Aug 14, 2009 -
24 comments
Bolek i Lolek and
Reksio are both Polish cartoons with little dialogue and similiar animation style. Both cartoons originated in the 60s (during the Communist era in Poland), and were extremely popular for decades. Due to their general lack of vocalization (except for Bolek i Lolek's later seasons), both cartoons were easy to bring to other markets. Famously, Bolek i Lolek was one of the cartoons broadcast on Iranian television after the 1979 revolution.
[more inside]
posted by Askiba
on Aug 2, 2009 -
11 comments
While
Adult Swim is generally regarded as the pioneer of
irreverent short-form animation -- especially for
'toons that
reimagine past
hits -- it wasn't always the king. In fact, the late-night programming block arguably found its birth in a
series of
short toons and
interstitials that ran in the heyday of its daytime alter ego, the venerable Cartoon Network. The brainchild of C.N. Creative Director Michael Ouweleen and Hanna-Barbera chief Fred Seibert, these cartoons reinterpreted the network's properties through stock footage, indie music, and original animation in a wide variety of styles, as well as introducing prototypes of characters that would become some of the most famous in the history of American animation.
(warning: monster post inside) [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Dec 30, 2008 -
80 comments
