worst WB cartoon backgrounds

[Matthew Hunter]

As long as people are doing 'worst of" style threads, here's one I've never seen discussed before. Which WB cartoon/s do you think had the worst backgrounds? My vote goes for the hideous, awful backgrounds in a boring and unfunny little cartoon called "Goo Gooo Goliath". That's called "UPA gone awfully wrong". Everything's green in one scene!
-Matthew

[Jack]

I tried to bring this topic up when i was a newbie, but nobody replied. I LOVE talking about backgrounds...

Goo Goo Goliath is hidious at times, in fact, Freleng went the wrong way down UPA street quite frequently in the mid to late 50s. It worked early on, but then they started making things that tried to be flat AND dementional at the same time. Lots of freakish Tweety and Bugs cartoons abounded. Roman Legion Hare (I think that's the title) has awful Roman scenery.

Things improved dramatically at the end of the 50s and into the very early 60s. Freleng didn't try to go flat, producing things like "Apes Of Wrath," which I think is pretty good looking. Maybe it was the addition of Tom O'Laughlin.

I never liked the later Pepe Le Pew cartoons. The one on the ship is awful, with tacky curlicues and an over abundance of pink and gold. The only Pepe cartoon that is uglier is "Really Scent" with the blotches of color in the backgrounds and black outlines, fortunately, it's the best of the later Pepe shorts, and one of my favorites.

"To Itch His Own" (the one with the Mighty Angelo) has lots of clutter, suffereng the same problem the Pepe cartoons have. Actually, a lot of later Jones cartoons have tons of distracting background clutter...


Jack:D

[grundle]

My vote goes to the changes that happenend to the backgrounds in Road Runner cartoons. Consider the wonderful backgrounds in the early Road Runner cartoons, such as "Going Going Gosh" and "Ready Set Zoom." The backgrounds in those very early Road Runners are gorgeous. Lots of beautiful colors. And the colors were somewhat pale and wahsed out, so they were never too bright on the eys. Lots of details. Lots of rough surface contours on the cliff walls. True works of art, those early Road Runner backgrounds.

Now, take a look at what was going on a few years later. Use Wild About Hurry as an example. Now, I love the gags in that cartoon. But the backgrounds are terrible. The whole background is basically just solid yellow. It looks like almost no effort was put into it at all. There's almost no detail, and very little color variation. And the yellow is so bright that it's almost painful to look at. Otherwise, I love that cartoon. But I hate the background. Other Road Runner cartoons from the late 1950s had this same problem.

[Jack]

OH MY GOD! Somebody who agrees with me about the Roadrunner backgrounds! I've read people say the later backgrounds had a great feel of wide open space, but when I watch them, it looks more like the characters are being smothered in a yellow sheet. There is nothing to make the bright backgrounds recede behind the characters, no darks or blues. The first six or so cartoons had wonderful backgrounds that really make me want to see the southwest (they even resemble the pictures). The blues and whispy clouds in the sky make the two characters stand out, and fit the colors and design of the two characters perfectly. As if that is where they really live.

Jones said he knew the roadrunners so well that he could make them in a very short amount of time, but the backgrounds on some of the later ones make it seem like they spent less than a day painting and designing all of them.

I'd have to say the best looking of the cartoons are "Fast and Furry-ous," "Beep Beep," and "Stop Look and Hasten."



Jack:D

[Matt Yorston]

I would have to agree that some of the later Road Runners don't have as appealing backgrounds. As grundle pointed out, the gags themselves are often hysterical but the backgrounds leave a lot to be desired. I've never cared as much for the yellow skies and sands as much as for the blue skies, colorful cactii, and gorgeous diminishing roads.

However, I've also noticed that, beginning with "Hopalong Casualty", they made somewhat of an attempt to revive the earlier background style. Once again, there is more to the backgrounds than just the color yellow (skies are blue once more) and there is a lot more to the scenery than just cactii and rocks scattered about. Most of the other Road Runners up to "War and Pieces" thankfully continued this trend. Perhaps this was because Maurice Noble returned to the series as a layout man (Noble's name is absent from "There They Go-Go-Go!", "Hook Line and Stinker", "Hot-Rod and Reel", "Wild About Hurry", and "Fastest With the Mostest"; instead, Philip DeGuard served double duty on these films as both layout *and* background man. Very interesting . . .).

[grundle]

Yeah, you're right about the early ones looking more three dimensional, about things fading into the background, the use of blue to convey depth, etc.

The 3 that you mentioned all have those unusual gags - the clovereaf, the mine shaft, and the train tracks, respectively.

[Jack]

DeGuard never struck me as a very good layout man, he seemed to try and copy what was going on at the time, but usually got it wrong.

I sort of like the backgrounds in "Gee Whizzz," (done by Jones' short term layout man, Erni Nordli) but that cartoon almost looks as if 10 people who have a totally different idea of what a RR cartoon should look like designed it. EVERY scene is different in texture, color, and overal design. Almost like a cheater cartoon.

Also, I forgot the art term for it, but it is an actual technique in painting to use more blue further back into the painting to convey depth.


Also, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the post-64 cartoons, a lot of them have bad animation, and poor backgrounds.


Jack:D

[Matthew Hunter]

Good points. All of the earlier Road Runners have really good backgrounds that, in a way, resemble the Santa Fe, NM area (and no wonder, that's the country Jones has said inspired the cartoon settings.) But I agree, the later yellow skies are kind of ugly. If they'd toned it down a little, the sky would have worked in that color, because many deserts have that effect, the bright sun with dust in the air that really does give the sky a yellowish tint. I think it's "Hoom Line and Stinker' that has a scene of the Coyote falling off a cliff, and he looks almost black in color because the background color is overpoweringly bright.
The 1960's backgrounds weren't entirely bad. Many of the Speedy cartoons had appealing Mexican-scapes. Most of the Merlin and Cool Cat backgrounds are quite cheap looking, though, and I don't care for the backgrounds in the Alex Lovy Daffy/Speedys. The 'Bunny and Claude" cartoons had some interesting backgrounds, although stylized, and the Larriva Road Runner toons had some interesting and well-colored scenery, although many of the backgrounds were used again and again from cartoon to cartoon (take the Coyote's mailbox, or the open area with the big highway in the background, for example.)
-Matthew

[Jack]

The Speedy cartoons worked because they really tried to make things look Mexican. Also, Speedy, being the latest of the WB major stars is simpler looking with his rounder head. This makes him look more at home on stylized backgrounds (as well as some of the more traditional things McKimson put in in). The older characters, who were more detailed and three dimentional, would sometimes look really out of place.



Jack:D

[Jack]

Not really WB but...

I never liked the backgrounds to the very last few Tom and Jerry cartoons made at MGM. The very last one with the baby looks very brown and strokey. I never much liked the backgrounds to the Dietch cartoons or most of the Jones T&Js. It's like they reused the same backgrounds over and over again, either that or they just had some wierd thing for red walls, white woodwork, and topiary (sp?).

And "Mansion Cat" was awful looking...

Jack:D

[Rob]

I think DUCK AMUCK has the worst backgrounds! ;)

HEY! Don't be dissing GOO GOO GOLIATH! It's one of my all time favorites. I just love that stork.

I have to agree about the yellow backgrounds on the Road Runners. It would be very interesting to see one of these on a big movie-theater sized screen instead of on a TV screen. Perhaps it would come off better.

And oh, man...I just HATE those Daffy/Speedy backgrounds (along with the rest of those cartoons). I can't reach for the remote fast enough...