Characters who could make a comeback

[Jack]

What classic cartoon characters do you think could make a comeback in popularity? Not nessecarily through new series, but through creative marketing of the characters and original shorts?

Be realistic.

The one major candidate I can think of is Woody Woodpecker and the Lantz gang. Universal tried a revival a few years by giving Woody a new look (actually, they just used a 40s design), as well as that new Woody Woodpecker series. It was a good shot, but the series wasn't all that great, and the revival sort of ended up flopping. It just sort of shows that a theatrical character can't really be revived through cheapo TV animation. Maybe if they made a high budget movie/TV special and a new syndication package of the old shorts that focussed more on the cartoons of the 40s and early 50s. Maybe make a comic book too.

Mighty Mouse. He could make a comeback with that feature film they are planning. Then they would just need to market the old shorts and maybe the "New Adventures of Mighty Mouse" on Nick.

So, does anyone agree/dissagree with the ones I mentioned?

Jack :D

[Howard]

Very few classic characters make sucessful comebacks, realistically. Popeye seems to have been the exception, as his cartoons were very popular when they first came to TV. Many people also fondly remember the 1960's TV shorts KFS and Al Brodax produced, and The All-New Popeye Hour ran for three years from 1978-1980 on CBS (compared to the gone-in-one-season comebacks The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and the newer Fox kids' Woody Woodpecker Show, three years is a pretty respectable run). Popeye seems to be making another, albeit quieter, comeback now with the popular line of "action figures" sold in comic shops and record stores like Newbury Comics as well as the fact that CN put The Popeye Show on at 9:30 rather than 1:00 AM on Sundays. Do I think that Popeye will rival Spongebob Squarepants or Jimmy Neutron in the hearts and minds of TODAY'S kids? Not a chance. I say let the kids have their own cartoon heroes, and for those who want to see him, we can all enjoy the fifth coming (counting Popeye and Son :( ) of Popeye the Sailor Man. (I still don't like spinach, however! I didn't when I first saw Popeye as a kid, and I still don't now! Much like Wimpy, "I'll gladly pay you Tueday for a hamburger today!)

[Matthew Hunter]

I would say Popeye, if they wanted to do new cartoons with Popeye and market him properly he'd be pretty well-recieved.

Woody Woodpecker. Jack said it better than I could.

Columbia's Fox and Crow...though they're not exactly merchandising material, they are funny cartoons.

Bosko. Seriously...he's not 'racist' if you don't infer such a thing. the WB Bosko cartoons do not have any racial gags that I know of, and just because Bosko is a Black...umm....person? Doesn't make him less funny or endearing. Heck, he was the anti-Mickey Mouse, who is very successful and not the least bit funny. They could start by computer colorizing the cartoons, if black and white is considered too bland.

-Matthew

[David Gerstein]

Woody: yes. The better cartoons, mostly from the first twelve years, could be marketed with some success if a new TV package minimized use of the later stuff. I guess Daffy/Speedy partisans must like the later Woodys (done in a similar style) too, but I don't think they're audience-grabbing material.

Popeye: yes. There is tremendous potential for a timeless adventure series, done in Fleischer style and telling the Segar stories (and new stories like them). Unfortunately, I fear that no one with the initiative has the clout and/or financial standing to win over the property holders.

The Fox and Crow have the benefit of a brilliant comic book, which Columbia and DC could reprint as a series of cheap kid-oriented paperback collections if they wanted to (they'd have to see it as a tool to build a market with, though, as I don't think sales would be guaranteed good at first).

I think Bosko's great— but he played better to kids in the 1980s than I think he would play today. The cartoons take place in an environ that is a world away from us now. I don't mean this as a reason for his retirement; only as a reason why he seems unlikely to me to pick up a brand-new head of steam.

[Cartman]

Originally posted by David Gerstein

I think Bosko's great— but he played better to kids in the 1980s than I think he would play today. The cartoons take place in an environ that is a world away from us now. I don't mean this as a reason for his retirement; only as a reason why he seems unlikely to me to pick up a brand-new head of steam.

What about the adults who like Bosko?

[Boy Wonder]

AHHHHHHH! I am only (yes, I am pretty young), but I rarely watch Spongebob (even though it is funny). I watch my Looney Tunes!

[J Lee]

I'm sure Jerry Beck and the folks at Viacom are hoping Heckle and Jeckyl have a comeback in them, since they're being revived as part of the TNN nighttime animation lineup. Of all their Terrytoons characters, they're the ones most likely to appeal to today's audiences while remaining at least close to the way they were originally used (Mighty Mouse has been revived and might be again, but only as a semi-parody of his original character).

Hopefully, the H&J revival will stick close to the original characters and the Jim Tyer/Connie Rasinski "goofy poses" that highlighted the series, and won't drift too far into the "Ren and Stimpy" territory of gross-out humor that so many network suits seem to think all animated comedy has to have nowadays.

[absolutpaul]

Flip the Frog could make an interesting comeback. His cartoons were raunchy enough in the 30s, can you picture him spying on nude girls, outrunning cops and getting high nowadays? He could have a lot of fun in this day and age.

[Brandon Pierce]

Okay, this isn't classic, but it's from 2 decades ago, surely that counts for something. Um... The Catillac Cats! They could make a comback if DiC would just give it a chance. While the idea of making new episodes isn't my idea of "bringing" them back, at least bring the Catillac Cats segment back would satisfy me. As long as they didn't run the serise with Heathcliff. They should burn all prints of the Heathcliff serise for all I care. Maybe they could do a Catillac Cats movie, as long as Danny Mann and Donna Christie reprised their roles as Hector and Cleo. Maybe bring out some merchandise. Plush toys of the Catillac Cats. Maybe a toy Cadillac that kids can transform into a trailor or a hovercraft like the Transformer toys (DiC would probably need permission from actual Cadillac companies to use the car product..... again).

[Jack]

I'm not sure about Bosko and Flip the Frog making huge comebacks since a lot of people have trouble warming up to early 30s cartoons for some reason. However, the two could be promoted to adults/film enthusiasts like Cartman suggested. I do think Betty Boop could make a comeback if her cartoons were given a nice slot on TV.

Heckle and Jeckle have a chance to come back with Mighty Mouse, definately. I hope the new show does well, it could prompt a DVD release of some of the originals.

Not sure about the Fox and Crow, though. Unlike Woody or Mighty Mouse, there's no name recognition. If Columbia *really* marketed the characters and made them more familiar to today's audiences, they could have a chance. The F&C have developed a cult following here, and I'm sure a lot of people would like their cartoons.

The Puppetoons could use a wider DVD release. I bet those would be a smash because they are just so amazing to look at.


Jack :D

[absolutpaul]

I read a while back that there is a new CG Betty Boop series in the works. She's 3-Dimentional and rides in the back of a bus with a band or something. Like Baby Looney Tunes, I think it's doomed to failure. (critically) If you think about it, Betty Boop's head was never meant to be seen in 3 dimensions. She would look like a freak!

[The Silver Fox]

for me,
i say the show ready for comeback or toons.
excuse me if i put a few other companies up.

Tom and Jerry (as long as its the one who did the Jones prints and not the filmations writers)

cadilac cats (i agree there, as long as they do a better sound track, the one on the heithclif show was bad)

fat albert (if they did epsodes like were orginaly shown in the early 70's)

Tale Spin (come on they left us hanging on what happen to the characters, a movie be great here)
Gummi Bears (another show that left many unanswered questoins when it ended in 91, fandom out there is growing fast here)maybe new adventures, or a movie

Pink Panther, as long if its DeS quality.

Popeye gets my vote to

[Daniel P]

Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry already HAVE made a comeback; but not good enough for WB to market them on DVD very much. BTW, any new info on the T&J DVD?

Popeye is very popular. Everyone knows who he is, what his theme song is, why he likes spinach, but they always say, "How come the cartoons aren't on TV?". They are on TV, but when everyone's at school or work (Acme Hour). There's also the Popeye Show, but CN doesn't advertise it at all.

Pink Panther - everyone knows about him, but he's never on TV. I hope that someone reliable gets the rights to these cartoons and sticks them on a large 8-disc box set (the 1963-1977 cartoons).

Also, the non-Tom & Jerry MGM cartoons seem to be unknown. Everyone knows who Droopy is, but his cartoons are only on 2PM on weekdays (and sometimes on the Tex Avery Show). If I talk about Barney Bear, people say, "You mean that purple dinosaur? That has to be the worst thing ever made besides Jerry Springer." (More than one people have said that exact quote to me.)

The Fleischer/Famous "Superman" series, which I believe had 17 cartoons, could fit on one DVD.

Chuck Jones Enterprises specials, such as "Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and "A Connecticut Bunny in King Arthur's Court" (produced for WB), and others, should get more recognition. Along with the MGM Chuck Jones specials like "Horton Hears a Who" (but that's on DVD already).