late 1960's LT

[Cartman]

I have a question about these later cartoons.

Were these cartoons such as the late 60's Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner and Speedy/Daffy cartoons released in theaters or directly on TV? They seem to look like they were television animated.

[Matt Yorston]

Believe it or not, they were made specifically for theatrical release. After the original studio closed down, someone at Warners thought it might be worthwhile to keep releasing new shorts to theaters so he contacted the new DePatie-Freleng studio to produce some new cartoons for Warners in addition to producing their own schedule of cartoons for United Artists. And, yes, the Bill Hendricks-era shorts were also originally released theatrically as well as the late 60's Road Runners (which were farmed out to Format Films when the DFE schedule became too heavy). If it looks like they were made for television, it's because they had *much* smaller budgets to work with (I personally feel that Format Films was hit hardest when it came to budget) so the animation is somewhat more limited (and, in the case of the Road Runners, canned music is often used).

[lislebartman]

While the Depatie/Freleng WB cartoons are considered to be pretty bad, they are, for the most part, watchable. The Daffy/Speedy series was indeed unusual (a duck versus a mouse?) but there were some very good entries such as "A Taste of Catnip", "Daffy's Diner", and "Snow Excuse". The later Alex Lovy-directed Daffy/Speedy shorts weren't very good, though

The Rudy Larriva-directed Road Runner cartoons are painful to watch because the same animation gets reused and reused. Another reason is that the Bill Lava music score becomes very repetitious. I will admit, however, that I do like Robert McKimson's two cartoons with the Road Runner & Wile E, "Rushing Roulette" & "Sugar & Spies".

Yes, they do seem like TV cartoons, but they were released to theaters. Is it any wonder that during this era many cartoon studios were shutting their doors? Just look at what they were coming up with!