Is Mr. Limpet a Looney Toon?

[Christmas_Boy]

Since The Incredible Mr. Limpet was a WB film animated by Looney Toons animators do those characters count as being Looney Toons characters? There were Looney Toons based on books so it may be so. Anyone else ever wonder about this?

[Mandouga]

No. I's predominently a live-action movie; only the underwater sequences are animated. In any case, no, this doesn't count as being part of the Looney Tunes "franchise".

[Silverstar]

Every animated character produced by Warner Brothers Animation isn't automatically a Looney Tune by proxy. If that were the case, then Scooby-Doo and the Mystery, Inc. gang are now Looney Tunes also, since the current Scooby projects are produced by WB Animation.

[Blackstar]

Chuck Jones (a Looney Tunes director) directed the feature films Gay Purr-ee and The Phantom Tollbooth, as well as the prime time TV special Ricky-Ticky-Tavi, but those characters aren't considered Looney Tunes either.

[hobbyfan]

Just because Warners puts out a cartoon, it doesn't make it automatically a "Looney Tune" or "Merrie Melodie". Mr. Limpet was a 1-shot feature film vehicle for Don Knotts, nothing more, nothing less.

Christmas_Boy, I recommend doing some research on characters you might not be familiar with, as well as the history of WB. Since Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source, I say, go old school, and hit the library.

[Christmas_Boy]

I was only referring to the animated portions of the film.

What’s this counting WB Television animation with Looney Toons animators and animation? I’m talking about contemporary films and characters to Looney Toons. Philbert is treated as a Looney Toons character by some animation historians hence my valid question about Limpet.

The Chuck Jones features and specials were done at/for UPA and MGM so those are a moot point anyway while Limpet was done at WB by Looney Toons animators. Jones also worked on A Boy Named Charlie Brown. I bet you didn’t know that. Most people don’t.

I have a vast animation book library and did not refer to wikipedi when asking my question.

[Classic Speedy]

Eh, to me, if it doesn't have that familiar LT logo and music at the start of it (and by that, I mean either "Merrily We Roll Along" or "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"), it's not a Looney Tunes cartoon or character. It's the same reason I don't consider Ken Mundie's "The Door" a LT cartoon, even though it's listed as such in certain sources for some reason. (for the record, I don't consider "Philbert" a LT in the strictest sense either, even though LT vets worked on it)

[Nexonius]

Eh, to me, if it doesn't have that familiar LT logo and music at the start of it (and by that, I mean either "Merrily We Roll Along" or "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"), it's not a Looney Tunes cartoon or character. It's the same reason I don't consider Ken Mundie's "The Door" a LT cartoon, even though it's listed as such in certain sources for some reason. (for the record, I don't consider "Philbert" a LT in the strictest sense either, even though LT vets worked on it)


Also, don't consider Norman Normal as a Looney Tune.

[Christmas_Boy]

Boris, you have made some good points. My question would be if you reject this only because it doesn't have the familiar LT or MM identification what of the early B&W WB cartoons that don't feature that? The reason I even started wondering about this is because Philbert is counted as a Looney Toon by a lot of people and we count Elliot, the penguin guin waiters, and the animals in Bednobs & Broomsticks as Disney characters. Hanna-Barbera's features are considered to be HB characters as well. So in theory Limpet may be considered a LT character on some level but I've never seen anyone comment on this before. It's an interesting thing to consider.

What's the deal with Norman Normal anyway? I didn't get tht cartoon. I assume it was meant to launch a series?

[speedy fast]

Boris, you have made some good points. My question would be if you reject this only because it doesn't have the familiar LT or MM identification what of the early B&W WB cartoons that don't feature that? The reason I even started wondering about this is because Philbert is counted as a Looney Toon by a lot of people and we count Elliot, the penguin guin waiters, and the animals in Bednobs & Broomsticks as Disney characters. Hanna-Barbera's features are considered to be HB characters as well. So in theory Limpet may be considered a LT character on some level but I've never seen anyone comment on this before. It's an interesting thing to consider.

What's the deal with Norman Normal anyway? I didn't get tht cartoon. I assume it was meant to launch a series?

Well, Disney and Hannah-Barberra didn't have their own "brand" name for their cartoon characters like Warner Bros. did for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (which both started out seperate but eventually got to the point where there was no longer any significant difference). Wait, Disney did have the "Silly Symphonies" brand but that was used for one-shots throughout the 1930s and I think 1940s.

As for Norman Normal, that was a one-shot that had the late-1960s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies opening and closing but was referred to in the opening as a "Cartoon Special" (the only such WB short from that period to be a "Cartoon Special" as opposed to a "Looney Tunes" or "Merrie Melody").

[Silverstar]

My question would be if you reject this only because it doesn't have the familiar LT or MM identification what of the early B&W WB cartoons that don't feature that? The reason I even started wondering about this is because Philbert is counted as a Looney Toon by a lot of people and we count Elliot, the penguin guin waiters, and the animals in Bednobs & Broomsticks as Disney characters. Hanna-Barbera's features are considered to be HB characters as well. So in theory Limpet may be considered a LT character on some level but I've never seen anyone comment on this before. It's an interesting thing to consider.

There's a difference between characters coming from the same studio and characters falling under a specific brand name within that studio. For example, Snow White, Tiana and Minnie Mouse are all Disney characters, but only Tiana and Snow are Disney Princesses. Similarly, Goliath from Gargoyles, Bonkers D. Bobcat and Simba from The Lion King aren't considered part of Mickey's gang, even though they're also Disney characters.

Same principle with Warner Bros. Pinky & the Brain, Freakazoid, Froggo from Histeria!, Hunter from Road Rovers and Yakko, Wakko and Dot are Warner Bros. characters, but they're not Looney Tunes. Only the characters featured in the shorts with the bull's eye title card and the theme songs "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" and "Merrily We Roll Along" are considered Looney Tunes; the rest are just Warner Bros. characters.

[Christmas_Boy]

Silverstar, your logic is splitting hairs. Even though there are brand names like Princesses and Mickey's Pal they are all under the banner of Disney Characters. The new WB TV animation is all under the WB Television banner so they would not be considered Looney Toons in anyone's book.

My issue is why isn't Limpet counted as a LT feature when the animated characters who appear in Disney's similar films are still considerd Disney characters.

[Silverstar]

Silverstar, your logic is splitting hairs. Even though there are brand names like Princesses and Mickey's Pal they are all under the banner of Disney Characters. The new WB TV animation is all under the WB Television banner so they would not be considered Looney Toons in anyone's book.

My issue is why isn't Limpet counted as a LT feature when the animated characters who appear in Disney's similar films are still considerd Disney characters.

You call it splitting hairs, I call it stating the facts. The Incredible Mr. Limpet isn't considered a Looney Tunes feature because it isn't a Looney Tunes feature. It's a Warner Bros. feature. There's a difference.

Looney Tunes is brand name, not a studio name. Warner Bros. is the studio which the LT brand falls under. But the brand name Looney Tunes does not encompass everything animated that's produced by WB. Mr. Limpet isn't a LT feature just because it was animated by Warner Brothers. It was a WB animated feature, but it wasn't produced under the Looney Tunes banner, nor was it set in the LT 'universe', if you will, therefore, Mr. Limpet isn't a Looney Tune. Limpet was just an animated version of Don Knotts, in a feature-length film that was a vehicle for Knotts, not a Looney Tunes or a Merrie Melodies short. The Incredible Mr. Limpet was a WB feature, but not a Looney Tunes feature.

Every animated project produced by WB doesn't automatically fall under the Looney Tunes brand name. Quest for Camelot was also Warner Bros., but nobody considers the characters from that to be Looney Tunes. Limpet is no different; not a short, not produced under the LT/MM banner = not a Looney Tune.

[Classic Speedy]

My question would be if you reject this only because it doesn't have the familiar LT or MM identification what of the early B&W WB cartoons that don't feature that? Touche. Let me put it this way: While the early MM/LT shorts didn't have the trademark theme songs, they were still released under the MM/LT banners. So I do consider Bosko, Buddy, etc. part of the Looney Tunes theatrical shorts family, just like Bugs, Daffy, etc.

Mr. Limpet has neither. It wasn't released under the Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes banner, and it didn't have the trademark theme songs. Most importantly, it wasn't a theatrical short, which is certainly part of the criteria when I think of Looney Tunes characters.

[Fibber Fox]

Since The Incredible Mr. Limpet was a WB film animated by Looney Toons animators do those characters count as being Looney Toons characters?

Of course not. "Looney Toons" was the name of a series of cartoons offered to theatres in an annual packaged release. No feature films were included in them.

F. Fox
http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com

[Jave]

My issue is why isn't Limpet counted as a LT feature when the animated characters who appear in Disney's similar films are still considerd Disney characters.Looney Tunes is the name of a series of shorts.

Disney is the name of the company.

Big difference.

[Steve Carras]

Good question.

Warner Bros. DID produced the odd Don Knotts live action/animation fantasy, which btw actually had Paul Frees doing a rare Warner voice [possibly due to his self-imposed high scale-it's the same voice he did for the "Frosty the Snowman" ticket seller for Rankin-Bass] - as the Southern-accented hermit crab. Crusty.
Also, "Mr.Limpet" most IMPORTANTLY...could hardly be MISTAKEN if you just discovered it on TV, especially, with no previous knowledge, as a WARNERS production..I mean, I kept forgetting WB made it. Like you needed to keep seeing Porky Pig in "Old Glory", 1939, to remember that it was Warner Bros., who kept doing Disney type Doris Day films, later. Just as Phineas and Ferb who someone has in their avatar are Disney, but not mistakable by a lot of us old timers as Disney ..;)]

Also, just as Jack Shaindlin and Raoul Kruasshar's stock cues, though distributed by John Seely through Capitol, aren't "Seely/Capital" cues as Bill Loose cues are, likewise, I'll also point out that "The Door" isn't even a Warners cartoon likewise [even though a Warners celeb Bill Cosby and Warners themselves in distribution were involved] at all, Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies or otherwise, for the very same reason. [Produced by the studio that also did the first Fat Albert, non-Filmation series.]

Same thing why "Sally Sargent" [even more a late 60s HB copycat than Warners produced animation fromk the era], isn't an actual TerryToon, and for the same TWO reasons-Fred Calvert produced it for Terry, and it's a more serious proto "Blonde Daphne Blake" attempt, designed by Iwao "H-B's later designer" Takamoto and Jerry "Johnny Quest" Hathcock.

[One could also argue that "Whole Nine Yards", a 2000 Warners hit, or the 2001 Jennifer Lopez mild hit "Angel Eyes" isn't actually in-house Warners likewise, due to Franchise Pictures producing it for Warners-clue would be that PRINTS BE DELUXE LABS/FUJI FILMS-contrary to the modern COLOR BY TECH.], or "Nudnick", the rare Oscar-winning cartoon for Paramount, isn't, since it ain't produced by Paramount, likewise Columbia and UPA, who was just producing under contract for Columbia.

And Warner Bros. Pictures, before Mr.Limpet, RELEASED the last UPA film "Gay Purr-ee", though it had Chuck Jones on it [which resulted in the famous anti-freelancing tirade against Chuck from Jack Warner, read: "Violation of exclusive contract", resulting in Chuck's famous firing...."Limpet"
, though, WAS produced by WB. BTW. Likewise the aformentioned Door, by Ken Mundie, yet Norman Normal is by WB Animation but neither are LT or MM.Norman has the LT theme but is billed as CARTOON SPECIAL]

[Steve Carras]

Eh, to me, if it doesn't have that familiar LT logo and music at the start of it (and by that, I mean either "Merrily We Roll Along" or "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"), it's not a Looney Tunes cartoon or character.

Then I guess that cartoons made prior to 1936 [when the first of those two themes, "Merrily We Roll Along" became a theme followed in 1937 by "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"] aren't Merrie Melodies ["Merrily"] or Looney Tunes" ["Merry-Go-Round"].:p