{"id":215561,"date":"2025-04-30T22:03:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T22:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/cartoons-about-cartoons-part-33\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T22:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T22:03:28","slug":"cartoons-about-cartoons-part-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=215561","title":{"rendered":"Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 33) |"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Tranzor Z (aka Mazinger Z)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCartoons are just for kids.\u201d<\/em> Perhaps this was an accurate picture of the undustry in general in the late 1980\u2019s, as it seemed that anyone with a higher regard for the art form was unwilling to step forward to back it financially. While a few older franchises continued to limp along with a smattering of new episodes here and there, for a time, every new project that would be green-lighted for TV had to have one factor figured first and foremost in its existence \u2013 pushing a product. If there wasn\u2019t a tie-in in the title to some line of toys, dolls, action figures, or even in an infamous example a puzzle game (Rubik, the Amazing Cube<\/em>), a series did not get produced. And there appeared to be no obvious concern for either animation or story quality as a requirement to setting these ill-conceived projects loose on the airwaves. Most, if not all, of these half-hour commercials were as close to dreck as one might imagine, meaninglessly going through the motions of virtually the same thing in every episode, as if to ensure that no plotline would reach a conclusion necessitating the end of the series. During one of these seasons, I found myself becoming hooked upon a locally-syndicated dubbed anime called in America \u201cTranzor Z\u201d, and impressed not only with a reasonable degree of character depth and variety, decent special effects, and some interesting plotlines (despite downright weirdness of some characters to the eyes of a Western audience), but mostly taken with the fact that here was a show which was NOT pushing a product line in America! Little did I realize that the episodes I was watching had actually been aired in Japan about half a decade before I was seeing them, possibly accounting for the lack of product placement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Enter Gary K. Wolf, author of a novelty novel which, while probably not rising to the ranks of a well-known work, apparently got some notice in the right circles. The title of his small book was \u201cWho Censored Roger Rabbit?\u201d It was an odd and unique concept \u2013 an attempt to merge the hard-boiled world of private detective yarns with the imaginary world of living cartoon characters, in a murder mystery. It was considerably different than the final feature work with which most of us are familiar \u2013 especially in that the cartoons involved in the story were not of the animated variety, bit print comics out of the pages of newspapers or pulp. In fact, their speech would appear above their heads in word balloons, just like in the Sunday funnies. Numerous principal characters whom we now recognize from the feature were absent, and Jessica Rabbit (the human-toon wife of Roger), had considerably different and more evil personality and motives. Don\u2019t read the book expecting to take away much of the storyline that became a film \u2013 it is a very different vibe, but at least established the germ of a idea \u2013 live film-noir meets the \u201ctoon\u2019 world.<\/p>\n

Producer\/director Steven Spielberg became aware of the work, and ultimately saw possibilities in it far beyond the concepts (and possibly, contractual rights) that Wolf could have envisioned when penning his work. What if, instead of comics characters, classic motion picture animation and studios provided the setting? What if, instead of dealing with flat 2-D creatures with speech balloons, the animated \u201ctoons\u201d were so realistic (in the manner that Disney would have wanted), that they had taken on three-dimensional lives of their own, and actually resided in their own private city just outside of Hollywood \u2013 a mere walk or short commute from home to the studio? And what if, instead of using unknown characters that were restricted in their existence to this one-story project, one could cut through the legal red tape of cross-negotiating with the major animation studios of the past, to license the appearance of nearly all the classic characters from the Golden Age of theatrical animation to appear on the screen together as residents of Toontown? <\/p>\n

\"\"Some pretty-high concepts here \u2013 something that anyone with a lesser reputation and knack than Spielberg, used to producing mammoth blockbusters, would probably have balked at as feasibly and financially impossible. Yet this unlikely and seemingly unattainable dream somehow \u201chopped\u201d forward into reality, in Touchstone films\u2019 6\/21\/88 release, Who Framed Roger Rabbit<\/strong>. Amazingly, no expenses were spared, no corners were cut, no quality level compromised in the final presentation, which lived up to, passed, and exceeded all the hype, hopes, and wishes that any animation fan could have for the project. Matching of animation with imaginative live-action sets and living detectives and suspects proved virtually flawless, using modeling, lighting effects, glitz, glitter, and every means of visual dazzlement, such that the old processes of Ub Iwerks used in \u201cSong of the South\u201d were virtually put to shame. Although all \u201ctoons\u201d were rendered in traditional 2-D animation, they looked like they had actually stepped out into the real world, casting shadows, stepping from darkness to light, and interacting with three-dimensional objects as if they BELONGED in our world. And the new storyline, loaded with sight gags, memorable dialogue one-liners, totally unexpected plot twists, and even considerable drama and suspense, was sheer brilliance. For those of us who had bever given up our love of the classic masterpieces of the past, it was clear from the start that another masterpiece had been forged, worthy of standing among the ranks of the best of the past, and clearly driving home a message which would reverberate throughout the industry in years to come \u2013 animation is a timeless art and craft to be respected, and meant and intended to entertain not merely wee widdle kiddies, but fun-and-fantasy loving general audiences of all ages, hist as it did in the classic days of the 1940\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\"\"There are so many, many remarkable scenes, high points, irresistible cameos, and classic lines contained within this work that it is literally impossible to cover them all comprehensively in a scene-by-scene description as often occurs in these columns. Fortunately, the entire film is available online and imbedded herein for view (albeit a little low in frame rate on the transfer). Many, and I hope most of you, may have seen it before, so have some familiarity with its content. For those that somehow haven\u2019t witnessed this one-of-a-kind classic, your viewing attention is strongly directed to the video, and I won\u2019t spill any major plot spoilers. A little basic scenario is however appropriate. The film opens by placing us in what appears to be the typical opening of a classic movie-theater program of the days of yore \u2013 with a guitar glissando, a sunburst and head shots of characters, and a series of red concentric circles \u2013 suggesting a classic cartoon from the vintage days of Warner and\/or Disney. The short is billed as a Maroon Cartoon, starring Baby Herman and Roger Rabbit. The episode, Somethin\u2019s Cookin\u2019<\/strong>, is a rapid-fire non-stop homage to the utter zaniness of a Tex Avery cartoon (complete with such touches as a \u201cHoternell\u201d stove, Roger running around the walls of a room in three concentric spurals leaving a smoke trail behind him, and a \u201cSuck-o-Lux\u201d vacuum cleaner. Roger plays nursemaid to Baby Herman, a toddler intent on the dangerous quest of reaching a cookie jar high atop a tall refrigerator, in a kitchen bristling with open flames, cabinets full of knives and cutlery, deep sinks overflowing with water and laden with fracturable China, etc. Of course, we can\u2019t have harm befall a baby, so it\u2019s Roger who takes all the lumps as he speeds around the kitchen in maniacal panic. At the end of the short, the whole refrigerator smacks down on Roger\u2019s head. The door of the refrigerator opens, to reveal Roger\u2019s head inside (having punctured a hole through the refrigerator\u2019s floor). However, there is something wrong, and a loud bell sounds, as the shout of \u201cCut\u201d is heard from an offscreen director. The camera pulls back, and we find ourselves in a sound stage of the Maroon Cartoon studio, with a full cast of live-action director, cameraman, and stage hands present on the set of the cartoon we were just watching. The director steps up to Roger, as Baby Herman is discovered to be not such a baby after all, but more like a fully-mature (except physically) midget, shouting \u201cWhat the hell was wrong with that take?\u201d The director shows him what was wrong. Flying around Roger\u2019s dazed head are tweeting birds. But the script clearly reads, \u201cRabbit sees stars.\u201d This same kind of mistake has been happening all afternoon. Herman storms off in a huff, to take a break in his trailer. Roger follows the director, insisting he can give him stars, but seeming to get everything else as he repeatedly smacks himself on the head with a mallet, such as bells, spirals, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"A live detective (Eddie Valiant) is hired by studio mogul R.K. Maroon to tail Roger\u2019s wife, one Jessica Rabbit. Seems that Maroon believes that Jessica is \u201cpoison\u201d to Roger, and breaking his heart by fooling around playing \u201cpatty cake\u201d, causing the rabbit to fall into his recent rut of \u201cblowing his lines\u201d. Eddie attends a performance at a night spot called the Ink and Paint Club, where toons from Toontown put on a nightly review for an all-human audience. Eddie enters the club with the notable password, \u201cWalt sent me.\u201d While several recognizable Disney characters are seen in walk-on cameos in earlier shots at the Maroon studio (Touchstone being a division of Disney), we are treated at the club to our first signs of heretofore unthinkable cross-licensing between the famous cartoon competitors of all time. A comic piano duet is being performed onstage (to the familiar strains of the Listz Hungarian Rhapsody) by two characters who have never otherwise met in their entire careers \u2013 Donald Duck, and Daffy Duck! They throw one-liners at each other, with Daffy complaining that this is the last time he will work with someone with a speech impediment. Another crossover shock follows, as the club\u2019s cigarette girl turns out to be Max Fleischer\u2019s prime star, Betty Boop (with Mae Questel in her final voicing of the character). Betty is presented in classic black-and-white, and explains her presence there with the line \u201cThings have been kind of slow since cartoons went to color.\u201d But yet a further shock is to come. Jessica Rabbit appears for her star number. Valiant expects a fuzzy bunny, but instead drops his jaw at a sight he can\u2019t believe. \u201cRabbit\u201d is only Jessica\u2019s married name. She is instead a toon human, drawn in the most voluptuous dimensions possible from a pen (a direct tribute to Preston Blair\u2019s animation of \u201cLittle Red\u201d from the classic Tex Avery cartoons, but with curves even Avery might have flinched at in attempting to get past the censors). Her seductive performance of Benny Goodman\u2019s \u201cWhy Don\u2019t You Do Right?\u201d not only raises the perspiration of Valiant, but draws the particular attention of Marvin Acme, owner of Toontown and king of manufacture of all the classic props for golden-age cartoons, at a nearby ringside table. Acme visits Jessica in her dressing room after the show, and Valiant, snooping at the window, snaps a few photos of the two of them, playing \u201cPatty-cake\u201d \u2013 not like you might expect, but the literal clap-hands nursery rhyme game of long-ago childhood. Still, the photos, shown to Roger in Maroon\u2019s office, are enough to raise the rabbit\u2019s moral outrage, and he smashes through Maroon\u2019s window, leaving a silhouette hole therein, with a sworn vow that he and his wife will be happy, one way or the other. Next morning, Marvin Acme is found dead at his warehouse, the murderer apparently a toon, indicated by glove paint found upon a safe dropped upon Acme\u2019s head. Roger is prime suspect, and sought for elimination by the sinister Judge Doom, a newly-elected judicial official intent upon reining-in the insanity of Toontown by making toons respect the law \u2013 and inventor of a chemical solution of paint-removing substances of the type used to clean animation cels, known as \u201cThe Dip\u201d \u2013 the only thing that can kill a toon. As the \u201crabbit hunt\u201d commences by Doom and a paddy wagon of weasels recruited for the task, Valiant returns to his office, only to receive respective unexpected visits by Baby Herman and the fugitive Roger, who both insist that Roger is innocent, and that someone is making Roger the fall guy in a big frame-up, to somehow get their hands on Toontown. Intrigued? I\u2019ll say no more to unravel the mystery which follows, and the memorable visits to Toontown itself, where the illustrious stars of most of the major studios dwell, play, and wreak havoc all day together \u2013 including another unthinkable summit meeting between Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. I\u2019ll also mention two take-away lines as later spoken by Jessica Rabbit. Her classic remark upon her own irrepressible image: \u201cI\u2019m not bad \u2013 I\u2019m just drawn that way.\u201d And her response to Valiant\u2019s inquiry as to what she can possibly see in Roger: \u201cHe makes me laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Perhaps the only flaw of the feature could be called a bit of over-inclusion, by opening its ranks of cartoon cameos to a few who were not consistent with the film\u2019s setting in 1947. A human character makes a verbal reference to Chilly Willy. A prototype of the character had appeared in Walter Lantz\u2019s Swing Symphony, \u201cThe Sliphorn King of Polaroo\u201d in the 1940\u2019s, but the name would not become attached to the character until approximately a decade later. Speaking of penguins, the penguin waiters from \u201cMary Poppins\u201d of the 1960\u2019s provide service at the Ink and Paint Club. Goofy appears in an actual clip from one of his cartoons \u2013 but it is from Goofy Gymnastics<\/em>, produced in 1949. And the real voice of Frank Sinatra is featured from the animated head of a \u201cSinging sword\u201d \u2013 however, he is singing his Capitol recording of \u201cWitchcraft\u201d \u2013 not recorded until the 1950\u2019s. Almost surprising that these few flubs were allowed to remain. Nevertheless, only a few of us thought about it on initial screenings, and it did not seem to take anything majorly away from the overall impact of the production. The only other weakness of the film \u2013 and most certainly not the fault of Spielberg after all the effort made to obtain cross-licensing of characters \u2013 was that some studios did not agree to permit their classic characters to appear. No character from Terrytoons is represented. Neither are any from Charles Mintz, Screen Gems, or UPA (the latter, of course, not in well-known theatrical existence at the year set for the story). Nobody thought to go back to the forgotten works of Ub Iwerks or Van Beuren. None of the Paramount characters owned by Harvey Comics appeared, nor did King Features\u2019 Popeye. Probably no one thought to seek out rights to Little Lulu. One of the most inexplicable absences was no appearance by Tom and Jerry \u2013 though MGM did cooperate in licensing Droopy, not only for the feature but as the unofficial mascot of the series for the later short subjects, providing a link between them and their Tex Avery-style roots. Perhaps the Tom and Jerry rights were somehow mixed up in the production of one of the many television knock-offs which went around from time to time, and someone else had a temporary exclisive. There are some quite interesting storyboard drawings from a deleted sequence of the funeral of Marvin Acme, that reveal that several major missing characters were originally envisioned as making appearances. Pall bearers would have included Popeye, Bluto, Goofy, Felix the Cat, and even Herman the Mouse. Eulogy was to be delivered by Foghorn Leghorn. And several others from the Famous and MGM stock characters were to be briefly seen in the backgrounds, including Katnip from Paramount and Avery\u2019s wolf and George and Junior from MGM. (No, Little Red would NOT have met Jessica Rabbit.) I can think of an interesting opportunity missed (though how would you write it into the film?) if still more characters had been included. What if Max Fleischer\u2019s Superman had ever engaged in a contest of powers versus Terrytoons\u2019 Mighty Mouse? Since both seemed to have unlimited books of powers capable of meeting any situation, any determination of who was the most versatile would seem to have resulted in a dead heat. <\/p>\n

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