Characters that suck and have no reason to exist

[Matthew Hunter]

After watching/colleting/recording so many WB cartoons, I've run accross several characters that, while they by no means taint the series, really ruin a good 6or 7 minutes. I don't know about you, but I think these guys are annoying:

Egghead Junior, of Foghorn Leghorn series:
-okay, one cartoon from this guy would've been funny. The concept is good, and it works well with Foggy. But this series carried on for way too long. Every time I see one of these I cringe...I just want Henery Hawk or Barnyard Dawg to come and put the pair out of their misery!

Clyde Bunny, from "His Hare Raising Tale", "Yankee Doodle Bugs" and "Fright Before Christmas":
Friz Freleng sank to a new low here, possibly why the character only showed up 3 times. Only one of the cartoons, in my opinion, was above average, and that was "Fright Before Christmas". The low Friz stoops to here is, "other studios have theiir lead characters saddled up with nephews, why not give Bugs one?" Clyde serves little purpose except to be annoying. Not even close to being as bad as Hanna-Barbera's "Scrappy Doo", though.

Daffy's nephew, from "A Haunting We Will Go!":
Now Daffy gets into the act with the whole nephew routine. This story SCREAMS for Sylvester, what with Speedy involved and the nephew having the exact voice and personality of Sylvester Junior. The cartoon is kind of cheesy anyway, but Sylvester and son would have certainly livened things up a bit, instead of trying to give Daffy a nephew.

Conrad Cat:
Come on, this guy SUCKS! His only truly funny appearance was "Porky's Cafe", and that was only due to the presence of Porky. His other appearances are just plain snoozers. Most of the time he doesn't say anything, and the cartoons he is in are too darn slow to have a pantomime character. "The Bird Came C.O.D." is sort of a rehash of the much better "Stage Fright", which used the 2 curios dogs. "Conrad The Sailor" is just plain too slow, and I don't know why CN plays this one so often.

-those are the only ones that really bother me, but is there any other character that you guys find annoying? Do you agree with my picks?

-Matthew

[Jon Cooke]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
Egghead Junior, of Foghorn Leghorn series:
-okay, one cartoon from this guy would've been funny. The concept is good, and it works well with Foggy. But this series carried on for way too long. Every time I see one of these I cringe...I just want Henery Hawk or Barnyard Dawg to come and put the pair out of their misery!



There aren't that many Foghorn cartoons with Egghead Jr. I think there were only three in total ("Little Boy Boo", "Feather Dusted", and "Crockett-Doodle-Do". For some reason CN never seems to play "Crockett"). I find them all pretty funny, some of the funniest of the Foghorn series.



-Jon

[PlopKat]

At least Bugs & Daffy had only one nephew each. As annoying as they are, at least they're not triplets (like Donald Duck's) or quadruplets (like Popeye's). Imagine how much worse that would be.

Have to agree with Jon about Egghead Jr. I even enjoy his appearance on that Tiny Toons Adventures episode, "Hog Wild Hamton."

-PlopKat

[Sogturtle]

Matthew~

Have to disagree with you on three out of four characters. Conrad the Cat was indeed a royal pain as a character, without a doubt the weakest of any Jones creation. Clyde Bunny (besides the unique pun in the name) serves as a very necessary element in those Friz cartoons of the Fifties, namely as a narrative device (Bugs CAN'T tell his stories to the wall:)). And Daffy's nephew is again a necessity to a Halloween kid-story (a kid HAD to be present), Sylvester & Sylvester Jr. would have been a treat iffffff Warner's had let them be used. But McKimson and DePatie-Freleng HAD to use what was available. And Egghead Jr. falls in the category of being absolutely a must for each of those particular stories.

[PorkyandDaffy]

I always thought Gabby was pretty useless and annoying.

[Joe Tully]

I haven't seen any of his cartoons since his days on Nick, but I hated Buddy. Bosko, on the other hand, was a favorite of mine. For some reason, Buddy just felt like he was even more cheerful, to the point where I couldn't stand it. Besides, Buddy never inflated a goat and then used it as a musical instrument. Needless to say, I was very amused the first time I saw the Animaniacs 60th Anniversary Special.:D

I always liked Gabby myself, I wish there were a few more cartoons with him. Egghead Jr. is pretty amusing to me, too. I never liked Clyde, but I agree with the point Sogturtle made on his necessity. Too bad he couldn't have been less annoying, though. With Conrad, it always seems like he's trying to be funny instead of acting naturally. I mean, I feel kind of like Conrad's an actor who knows I'm watching and tries to act funny, as opposed to Bugs or Daffy, who just are funny. It's hard to explain, but I just get that feeling when I see him flipping pancakes in Porky's Cafe.

[Jack]

Matthew:
Do you agree with my picks?
Not particularly...

Matthew on Egghead Jr:
-okay, one cartoon from this guy would've been funny. The concept is good, and it works well with Foggy. But this series carried on for way too long. Every time I see one of these I cringe...I just want Henery Hawk or Barnyard Dawg to come and put the pair out of their misery!
I actually think Egghead Jr. is a highlight in the series.


Matthew on Clyde Bunny:
Friz Freleng sank to a new low here, possibly why the character only showed up 3 times. Only one of the cartoons, in my opinion, was above average, and that was "Fright Before Christmas". The low Friz stoops to here is, "other studios have theiir lead characters saddled up with nephews, why not give Bugs one?" Clyde serves little purpose except to be annoying. Not even close to being as bad as Hanna-Barbera's "Scrappy Doo", though.
I'll sort of agree here, I've never really liked "Yankee Doodle Bugs," but it's really more because of weak gags and hidious backgrounds. Clyde actually saves it a little, with the end gag being amusing. I am glad that he didn't pop up often, though. It might have worked better if Bugs had been put into a more "A Hare Grows In Manhattan," or "What's Up Doc?" situation.

Matthew on Conrad Cat:
Come on, this guy SUCKS! His only truly funny appearance was "Porky's Cafe", and that was only due to the presence of Porky. His other appearances are just plain snoozers. Most of the time he doesn't say anything, and the cartoons he is in are too darn slow to have a pantomime character. "The Bird Came C.O.D." is sort of a rehash of the much better "Stage Fright", which used the 2 curios dogs. "Conrad The Sailor" is just plain too slow, and I don't know why CN plays this one so often.
I actually think his best appearance was "Conrad The Sailor," I'd even go to the extent of saying that cartoon is a highlight in Jones' series of Daffy cartoons (MUCH better than "Ali Baba Bunny"). And it isn't THAT slow, no slower than Jones' later Coyote flicks, and I like how they all abruptly stop to salute.

Now on to my picks....

There really aren't any from the classic era that I truly hate, but I do hate Lola Bunny from "Space Jam." Just plain anoying, especaially because some people actually pick her as their favorite LT character, even though she never appeared in Looney Tunes.



Jack:D :D :D

[kiddiesunshine]

Animaniacs. Now that was a damn good show. I loved it! Those kids drove everybody crazy! And it's funny how Yakko, Wakko and Dot are siblings but Wakko is the only one with the Beatles accent. I loved the songs too. And Mr. Skullhead, that's my guy!!! He reminds me of Elmyra from Tiny Toons. I get very involved with my cartoons, so I developed feelings for Elmyra after the Elmyra and Max date episode. Did you guys see the kiss she gave him!? I'm a weird little man. I had feelings for Fefe the skunk too. pray for me guys. There is hope. There is help. There's the Please Please Please Get a Life Foundation

[mmv3000]

I know I'll get some smack for this, but I totally despise Tweety Bird. It's such a static character that never really does anything.

[The Silver Fox]

worst charactres i seen
quail from that bugs toon rip off that jones did, i know i get
spamed for that:
claude cat
clyde

hb toons
the kid smurfs they put in the final seasons of the show.
and jungle smurf

WL
wally wallurs

Disney
the one they called brainy beagle on
Ducktales, can't think the real name

Paramount
shorty

MGM
that cat taht would go agains Tom at time, can't think of his name, was a orange cat

[Rob]

Well, I never cared for Jones' two dogs from the late '30s. And I never liked Sniffles either. BORE-ING!

Also, the Yakky Doodle prototype duck from Tom and Jerry. He never bugged me at first, but after a while he really got on my nerves. Maybe because CN shows him WAAYYYYY too much...

[L00nE2n]

Egghead Jr. - I don't think he and Foggy made such a bad duo. I think they really played off each other well. His attitude though is sort of annoying, that he seems to think (actually know) that he is smarter than Foggy.

Clyde Bunny - I know I'll be going against the majority here, but I actually sort of like Clyde. I like the idea that Bugs has someone to care about. It sort of gives him a stronger motivation to stay alive from Elmer/Sam/Taz/Marvin/whoever.

Daffy's nephew - Agreed, he added nothing to the cartoon and was just plain annoying.

Conrad Cat - "Conrad the Sailor" I thought was pretty funny, even though Daffy was the strong point of the cartoon. In "The Bird Came COD" he was just annoying. "Porky's Cafe" wasn't bad, though it's Porky that saves the cartoon.

[happyheathen]

Tweety
Speedy
Hippety (whatever - the kangeroo)
Buddy
Pepe


then shoot them AGAIN!

[don Jaime]

I was afraid Sniffles would crop up. I wish I could convince more people of how Sniffles reigns godlike over the whole of animation.

That said, I'll help you shoot Hippity Hopper, and Roadrunner, too, and nominate three other characters as Ultimate Loser Toon.

1) Charlie Dog. An irritating mutt that nobody wants. I wonder why.

2) He doesn't have a name. He's that latish '50s mouse that Sylvester didn't want to catch. It seems like there were a host of shorts like this, of a generic mouse Sly was not interested in who tormented him anyway. Remember how he was trying to eat the cat in the birdseed-infested cabin? Or hid the can opener when he was locked in while the humans went on vacation? Okay, I don't know this was the same mouse, but they had the same vicious streak.

3) And the winner is...Cuthbert Cat. I think that's the name. Freleng character. Slow talker, vaguely W.C. Fieldish. Shiftless. Always trying to get a kitten to catch him a bird. Two words: Awe. Full.

[Lonestarr]

Originally posted by don Jaime
I was afraid Sniffles would crop up. I wish I could convince more people of how Sniffles reigns godlike over the whole of animation.

That said, I'll help you shoot Hippity Hopper, and Roadrunner, too, and nominate three other characters as Ultimate Loser Toon.

1) Charlie Dog. An irritating mutt that nobody wants. I wonder why.

Come on, he was funny.


2) He doesn't have a name. He's that latish '50s mouse that Sylvester didn't want to catch. It seems like there were a host of shorts like this, of a generic mouse Sly was not interested in who tormented him anyway. Remember how he was trying to eat the cat in the birdseed-infested cabin? Or hid the can opener when he was locked in while the humans went on vacation? Okay, I don't know this was the same mouse, but they had the same vicious streak.

No argument there.


3) And the winner is...Cuthbert Cat. I think that's the name. Freleng character. Slow talker, vaguely W.C. Fieldish. Shiftless. Always trying to get a kitten to catch him a bird. Two words: Awe. Full.

Are you nuts? This character was hilarious.

[Jack]

I've never heard of Cuthbert Cat, are you referring to McKimson's two great Dodsworth and the kitten cartoons? they sound like what you describe, only they are great, and how can you not like Charlie Dog? He's hilarious!


Jack:D

[Rob]

Dodsworth rocks. He should have been given his own series. Looks like they tried, and then gave up for some reason.
Who did his voice?

Has anyone mentioned the crow and farmer from McKimson's CORN PLASTERED? I'm still on the fence about this one. He's somewhat annoying, and yet somewhat amusing. All in all, not the worst creation in the world, but not great either.

How's THAT for non-commital?

[don Jaime]

Dodsworth! That's him. Knew it was some odd Anglo-Sacon name and drew wrong. Thought he was Freleng, too. He looks like a Freleng character. Clearly I could work on learning the history of WB shorts a little better.

People like him. Huh. I've never found him funny, or Charlie, either. Must be me.

[Jon Cooke]

Originally posted by Rob
Dodsworth rocks. He should have been given his own series. Looks like they tried, and then gave up for some reason. Who did his voice?


Has anyone noticed that Sylvester acts a lot like Dodsworth in "The Unexpected Pest"? I have a feeling McKimson may have intended that to be a Dodsworth cartoon... but ended up using Sylvester instead.


-Jon

[Rob]

Jon said...


Has anyone noticed that Sylvester acts a lot like Dodsworth in "The Unexpected Pest"? I have a feeling McKimson may have intended that to be a Dodsworth cartoon... but ended up using Sylvester instead.

Interesting observation. I've often wondered, given the subject matter and proximity production-wise to LUMBER JACK RABBIT, if Jones' BEANSTALK BUNNY might have originally been intended as a 3-D cartoon.

[PorkyandDaffy]

Funny you mention that, since I just watched that cartoon earlier today, and it reminded me a lot of KIDDIN’ THE KITTEN.

[PlopKat]

Rob wrote:
Dodsworth rocks. He should have been given his own series. Looks like they tried, and then gave up for some reason.
Who did his voice?

I believe Sheldon Leonard did his voice. Leonard also played a recurring character, the race track tout, on the Jack Benny Program. The race track tout is parodied in a bit in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoon, Fox Terror. Sheldon Leonard also did a voice on Linus the Lionhearted.

-PlopKat

[Patrick McCart]

I think Cool Cat shouldn't have been plagerized.

Even Alex Lovy (I think?) once said CC is a Pink Panther rip-off!

[Sveven Dvorking]

They are as bad as those terribly boring early MGM cartoons. Both series seem very slow.