My Thoughts Of The Toonheads Special

[Thad Komorowski]

The special was very good and well put together. It was nice seeing these classics again.

I was prepared to see an edited BLITZ WOLF. I already have the uncut version, and the "digitally erased" sign saying "NO JAPS ALLOWED" was very sloppy. It looked like they just took a piece of the sign and enlarged it!

It was great seeing the Popeye clips. The ending to "Seein' Red White and Blue" is hilarious! For those who don't know which this one was, it was the long clip of an American fist beating the crap out of Hirohito and Hitler.

Also, the only Tom and Jerry scene related to WWII was shown from "The Lonesome Mouse": Jerry painting a Hitler moustache and hairdo on a picture of Tom and spitting on it.

We also saw clips from the censored scenes of the already mentioned "Plane Daffy" and "Crazy Cruise" (the ending complete with the Jap vulture!) Also, I was surprised to see this: A CLIP FROM "Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs"!!!! It's true. When the narrarator is talking about the rationing, we see a crystal clear shot of the coffe, tires, and sugar from the scene where they prove that the queen had every thing.

This was the best thing on CN I ever saw! Much better than the first one!

-Thad:D

[Nelson]

Thad, I couldn't agree more on this special, I have seen so many many programs featuring WW2 cartoons that were just filled with clips only, and this special was excellent, simply excellent.

I'm happy to have finally seen "SCRAP HAFFY DAFFY" in it's entirety(but print was decent)and did anyone noticed that the very end of the film completly frozed at the end?

"RUSSIAN RHAPSODY" & "HERR MEETS HARE" were not "dubbed" verisons....

And yes, I did catch a quick clip of "Coal Black" for just a few seconds.

Altough, I really didn't see any edits in "THE BLITZ WOLF" with the only exception of a blurred sign that crossed out the Japs, otherwise, I think this cartoon was complete.

On the segements with the Japaneese, was really good but didn't really focus on them as much as I tought they would have
in the show.

I loved the clip from "TOM & JERRY" were Jerry paints a mustache on a drawing of Tom making him look like Adolf Hitler, and then Jerry spits in his face.

I wasn't disapointed in this special, lets' just hope that the next Toonheads special:TWELVE MISSING HARES will even be better.

[PorkyandDaffy]

RUSSIAN RHAPSODY looked dubbed to me. Even though there was no dubbed version end title, the print was a lot cleaner than the one they previously showed on the Bob Clampett show and on the Acme Hour.

[J Lee]

RUSSIAN RHAPSODY looked dubbed to me. Even though there was no dubbed version end title, the print was a lot cleaner than the one they previously showed on the Bob Clampett show and on the Acme Hour.

Could be. The end title card last night was the wrong one for "Russian Rhapsody," from a 1946-47 Merrie Melodie. Whoever was the videotape editor on the special may hate those 1937-38 end title cards showing up all over the place as much as we do and decided to tack on a different end card just to get it out of the way....

[Greg Method]

I seem to be the minority here then, because I wasn't too crazy about the special.

The history and research was great, it was fun to see clips from so many now-forbidden films, and it was nice to see complete cartoons rather than the "tastes" we got from The Lost Cartoons special, but there was so much left to be desired, in my opinion.

The show (or rather the network) was kinda hypocritical. They don't mind showing clips of "Tokio Jokio" or Bugs talking about "Japs," but they'll remove that same word from "The Blitz Wolf?" Surely, they don't expect us to think they may show it again in the future in some other context.

I also didn't like the way that the narration went out of its way to almost-apologetically explain why the Japanese were caricatured in such ways. It seemed almost like they were afraid to simply say "Japan was our enemy, so it was only natural that the country and its people would be mocked." I know they had to explain it kindly in case some impressionable little tyke would be watching, but more on that later.

"Scrap Happy Daffy"....ehn. It's a great cartoon, but frankly I got a headache watching that print.

"Herr Meets Hare" is such an inoccuous cartoon. I thought so back in June. I never understood the decision to pull that one for the marathon. Was CN afraid of offending Nazi's?

Maybe it's just me, but I think the special missed a great opportunity to show some real rare war stuff in their entirities. No offense, but I've seen "Russian Rhapsody" on CN more times in the last few months than I have seen Road Runner. This would have been the perfect showcase for films like the original "Ducktators," "Hop and Go," maybe one or two complete Snafu's, or any of the Popeye's we never see anymore.

And I think this all leads to the main problem. Cartoon Network is the wrong place to show such a special if they insist on this "we must be mindful of everyone's feelings" mentality that resulted in the June Bugs problem. If they won't have the courage to present the unkind history of their medium, fine, but then they should show these kinds of programs on places like Turner Classic Movies (or what about this Adult Swim block they are hinting toward) or (hello, anyone??) home video. This way the background of the war can be presented without the sugar-coated PC reasoning and the cartoons can be shown in full.

If Warner Bros. had any backbone whatsoever, they would release a DVD of both hour-long Toonheads specials, include as many related cartoons as possible uncut and uninterrupted by narration. Make it a mail order thing to ensure no innocent child or PC-sensitive person accidentally stumbles upon one.

Overall, a good but not great special.

[Sveven Dvorking]

I set my VCR to end at 58 after the hour. Cargoon Networm usually ends their shows before then. This special had extra commercials, so it went later. I got cut off right after they said "World War 2 ended on August # 1945."

What was heard or seen after that?
If someone knows, please tell me.

[Thad Komorowski]

I don't remember the whole thing, but it went something like this:

The narrator says something about Bugs Bunny returning to heckle Elmer Fudd ("Easter Yeggs"), Daffy taking on new villains ("Duck Dodgers") and Popeye returning to fight Bluto ("Alpine for You") on American soil. Then it's something like, "These cartoons truly deserve attention (a clip from "Target: Snafu" is shown), but due to their outdated propaganda (Snafu taking the bomb marked FOR ADOLF in "Snafuperman") and outrageous stereotypes (Bugs as a geisha from "Nips"), they are rarely shown"

Something else was said, but after that, it ended. You only missed about 1-1/2 minutes of it.

-Thad:D

[Mike]

Greg Method opined:
>>I seem to be the minority here then, because I wasn't too crazy about the special.<<

Nope, I think it could have been better too, and will say so in these (admittedly long) comments.

>>The show (or rather the network) was kinda hypocritical. They don't mind showing clips of "Tokio Jokio" or Bugs talking about "Japs," but they'll remove that same word from "The Blitz Wolf?" Surely, they don't expect us to think they may show it again in the future in some other context.<<

I too was very surprised to see "Blitz Wolf" edited. This cartoon hasn't been shown on TV in years, and the voiceover makes it pretty clear that it won't be shown again outside the contexts of this special. And, like you said, they would show clips in the special of Japanese being portrayed in a none-too-favorable light. So why edit the cartoon? This is another example of the suits at AOL Time Warner being so afraid of the public's reaction that they'll make an illogical edit in a special that was <i>geared towards adults and shown at 10 o'clock at night!!!</i>

>>I also didn't like the way that the narration went out of its way to almost-apologetically explain why the Japanese were caricatured in such ways. <<

Yes, that really irked me. I was yelling at the TV, something I usually only do during Mets games (and if you're following the team this season, you'll know why), when the narrator said stuff like "The Japanese stereotypes were particularly cruel" and "To add injury to insult, Bugs, Daffy, and Popeye were shown attacking the Japanese." I mean, come on! They were the <b><i>enemy</b></i>!!! I mean, geez, people insult and draw demeaning pictures of their bosses at work; wouldn't it be only natural to draw insulting and demeaning pictures of the people who were killing your fellow Americans? Of the people who, if they won the war, may do terrible things to you? Wasn't it "particularly cruel" how the Japanese did a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, killing hundreds of innocent men, women, and children? Didn't it "add injury to insult" when the Japanese went on to kill thousands more after America got involved in WWII?

Look, I'm not criticizing the Japanese race here. I have friends who are Japanese, and if somebody made a cartoon today talking about "Japs" and the like, I'd be appalled. But what CN, and other members of the PC police, needs to understand is that, from 1941-1945, the Japanese were seen as the enemy to us, just as we were seen as the enemy to millions of Japanese.

CN could have handled this in a much better way. Over the weekend, I found an old tape of mine that included "Cartoons fo to War," a special produced by A&E in 1995. I'll talk more about this special in a later post, but included in it was an interview with Norm McCabe, talking about "The Ducktators." He said something along the lines of, "Sometimes I cringe when I see those Japanese stereotypes, but there was a war going on, and they were the enemy." That's the attitude the whole special took, and there was nothing apologetic about it. There's a difference between putting cartoons in historical perspective and apologizing for the cartoons' content. CN need not apologize for what are really historical artifacts.

>>"Scrap Happy Daffy"....ehn. It's a great cartoon, but frankly I got a headache watching that print.<<

One of the things I was looking forward to most about the special was getting a clean print of "Scrap Happy Daffy," to replace the public domain print I own. I was very disappointed to see that the print was so lousy. It's not like a better print of the cartoon doesn't exist; as Jon said, a great-looking print of the cartoon was shown on the "Bugs vs. Daffy" special from 1988. It's probably just another example of WB being lazy in the cartoons that they send CN, which is why we still have redrawns of "Puss n Booty" and "Porky's Bear Facts," among others. And though this is just a matter of opinion, if they really were showing "Tashlin's Daffy at his wartime best," I think they should have aired "Plane Daffy," which is a better cartoon (although both are great).

>>Maybe it's just me, but I think the special missed a great opportunity to show some real rare war stuff in their entirities.<<

Agreed. Both "Herr Meets Hare" and "Russian Rhapsody" were released on the MGM/UA video "Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons," which, while not still in print, is still widely available on E-Bay and probably still in a few video stores. And, like you said, "Russian Rhapsody" has been on CN a few times already, and, as part of "Bob Clampett Show," will probably air a few more times (depends how long CN keeps "Bob Clampett" on the air). In place of those two cartoons, I'd have preferred "Seein' Red White and Blue" and "Ducktators"/"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips."

>>If they won't have the courage to present the unkind history of their medium, fine, but then they should show these kinds of programs on places like Turner Classic Movies (or what about this Adult Swim block they are hinting toward) or (hello, anyone??) home video. This way the background of the war can be presented without the sugar-coated PC reasoning and the cartoons can be shown in full.<<

If this Adult Swim thing happens (AOL TW recently axed two of TNT's original series--one of which before it even debuted--to cut back on costs, so anything can happen), I'm hopeful some rare MGM/WB/Popeyes will show up, if only as filler. But, still, even with this special's faults, I have to praise CN for having the guts to show this in the first place. Their "rare" Acme Hours have stopped happening, and Late Nite B&W is becoming a big yawn (which is why I actually enjoyed that Two Stupid Dogs cartoon Sunday night; something--ANYTHING--to break up the predictability). So to show something like this was nice. And lots o' praise to Jerry Beck, who made this special good. I'm sure it was CN's idea to add that PC sugar coating that you mentioned, not Jerry's. If only Warner Home Video would hire him to oversee new home videos/DVDs. That'd be great.....

Mike

[mobo85]

>>I too was very surprised to see "Blitz Wolf" edited. This cartoon hasn't been shown on TV in years, and the voiceover makes it pretty clear that it won't be shown again outside the contexts of this special. And, like you said, they would show clips in the special of Japanese being portrayed in a none-too-favorable light. So why edit the cartoon? This is another example of the suits at AOL Time Warner being so afraid of the public's reaction that they'll make an illogical edit in a special that was <i>geared towards adults and shown at 10 o'clock at night!!!</i><<

I believe Jerry Beck himself said earlier that edit was on Turner's print, and there was nothing he could do about it. I imagine he looked for an uncensored print, but you never know...

[Sinople]

I'm at the point I don't even bother watching any of this stuff on CN. Why should I waste my time and have my heartbroken? They are NEVER going to do the right thing and show this stuff uncut. CN figures we will watch anyway (how many cartoon buffs boycott AOLTIMEWARNER products over censorship of cartoons?) and by editing toons they can market "safe" merchandise to the parents that use their tv sets as babysitters.

So until cartoon massively boycott AOLTIMEWARNER products and very publically. Things will never change.

And since cartoons fans will settle for part of a Bugs toon, we will continue to always get the short end of the stick.

I think it's damn funny that CN/WB/WHOEVER tries so damn hard to edit their old cartoons to meet fleeting views of Political Correctness. Yet, the most readily available Bugs Bunny cartoon is ALL THIS AND RABBIT STEW. You can see this cartoon on dozens of PD tapes and several online sites.:mad: