February 24, 2025 • 26 mins
Animation historian Jerry Beck and Warner Archive's George Feltenstein continue our animation discussion. Together, they take listeners on a nostalgic journey back to the 1960s with the TV series "Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles." Jerry Beck reveals how this series captured the zeitgeist of its time and paved the way for iconic animated shows like "Josie and the Pussycats" and "The Archies." And George Feltenstein shares the painstaking efforts behind restoring these cartoons for Blu-ray.
Next, we explore the revival of Warner Bros. animation history with George Feltenstein and Jerry Beck with the 1988 film "Daffy Duck's Quackbusters." With insight into Greg Ford's pivotal role in bringing the Looney Tunes characters to a new generation, the conversation highlights Ford's shift from historian to creator. Learn about the making of memorable works like "Night of the Living Duck" and "The Duxorcist," and the impact of animation compilations like "Bugs Bunny Superstar." Celebrate the enduring legacy of these cartoons and the excitement of their Blu-ray release, featuring fan-favorites such as "Blooper Bunny" and "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers."
Purchase links:
FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES Blu-ray
DAFFY DUCK’S QUACKBUSTERS Blu-ray
REVIEW - THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNES MOVIE with Tim Millard, host of The Extras Podcast.
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Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Millard (00:05):
Hi, tim Lard, here, host of the Extras podcast, and
this is a continuation of mydiscussion with animation
historian Jerry Beck and GeorgeFeltenstein of the Warner
Archive on some of the animationtitles that were released in
January and February of 2025.
Today we're going to be talkingabout the TV series
Frankenstein Jr and theImpossibles from 1966.
(00:28):
And we'll also be talking aboutDaffy Duck Quackbusters, the
compilation film from 1988.
Well, next I thought we'd goback to 1966 and a TV series
called Frankenstein Jr and theImpossibles, and you released
the complete animated serieshere just recently, and I know
(00:52):
this series has a lot of fansbecause there was a lot of talk
on social media, I think, whenthis was announced, so people
are starting to get it.
I watched it.
It looks fantastic, it's somuch fun and a lot of people who
grew up with it, I know, aregoing to really enjoy collecting
it.
But I think there's alsoyounger fans these days too who
really enjoy it.
What can you tell us about theorigins of this one, jerry?
Jerry Beck (01:14):
Well, this was the beginning of the superhero craze
of that period, you know, andit was also the era of the
monkeys, pop music, beatles andthis, uh, the impossibles
section of it is obviously aparody of of the superheroes and
the rock groups putting ittogether.
This was before they did josieand the pussycats, before
(01:37):
filmation did the archies andall that.
This was a early, probably thefirst of that sort of thing.
Again.
Hannah barbara trying to be ontrend, one of the earliest of
their saturday morning cartoonswasn't the first of that sort of
thing Again, hanna-barberatrying to be on trend, one of
the earliest of their Saturdaymorning cartoons.
Wasn't the first or second even, but it's definitely an early
one there in 1966.
The Frankenstein Jr.
I think that was supposed to be.
(01:58):
In fact I think the show isFrankenstein Jr and the
Impossibles is supposed to bethe lead, but if you watch the
show, the Impossibles have theopen and closed cartoon and
Frankenstein Jr and theImpossibles is supposed to be
the lead.
But if you watch the show, it'sthe Impossibles have the open
and closed cartoon andFrankenstein's in the middle and
Frankenstein Jr is just theusual.
You know, a take on thesuperheroes combined with the
(02:18):
always popular.
Monster horror, you know craze,which you know started in the
earlier 60s, late 50s withchiller theater and things like
that.
That was a big, famous monstersof film.
Land Monsters were big.
The idea of turning it into arobot actually is either
equivalent or right on the sametime as what was going on in
(02:40):
Japan, things that weren't evenhappening in the United States
yet we weren't aware of it.
But shows like Gigantor, thesegiant robots, these shows that
were coming up, being made, thatwere early anime, this is sort
of in that same vein, but Idon't think they knew about that
when they did it.
I think they're a lot of fun.
(03:02):
I love looking at these showsvisually.
I think the design is thatprimo Hanna-Barbera mid-60s ink
line, just beautiful-looking fun.
They're done in that kind ofBatman show way where if you're
a little older they're funny, ifyou're younger you can take
(03:23):
them seriously.
You know they work both ways.
Frankenstein I can go on and on, by the way, unless you stop me
, but I mean Frankenstein Jr isoh, what's his name?
Ted Cassidy from Lurch, fromthe Addams Family is his voice.
Dick Beals, also known asSpeedy Alka-Seltzer on the old
commercials, he's Buzz the boy,the little boy, and davy on davy
(03:46):
and goliath.
Oh, that's right that that'sright and on and on the uh.
What I love about the uh theshow amongst all the things, it
is the one of the coolestopening segments with paul
freeze doing like a narrationabout right and just the
graphics, the design of stuff,even on the end titles.
(04:09):
It's all very modern, hip, notlike any of the other
Hanna-Barbera shows of that era.
It's very smart and you know ofthe period.
Paul Freese is a fluid man, oneof the impossibles.
Don Messick is multi-man.
The character turns into many,many and Coil man, this little
tubby little fellow with a coilbody who bounces around.
(04:33):
That's Hal Smith, who also isfrom Mayberry and Davy and
Goliath, that's right.
Otis the Drunk on Andy Griffith,but it's a wonderful cast.
It's fun.
Otis the Drunk on Andy Griffith, but it's a wonderful cast.
It's fun.
It was aimed at the Saturdaymorning crowd, but boy to me
(04:53):
it's very sophisticated in theway they did it and I love these
shows.
These are absolute favorites ofmine and for those who care.
George Feltenstein (05:02):
There are little bridges and bumpers in
between the cartoons as it wasbroadcast on network television
when it was a Saturday morningnew program, and those pieces
have not been seen, really sincewe released this as a Warner
Archive DVD set, I think in 2011, and they were from old
(05:29):
Shelfmaster tapes.
They did not look very good,but people were just glad to be
able to see the show in alegitimate release.
But here we've scanned thecamera negatives that are all 35
millimeter at 4K and they'vebeen given the class A treatment
, so they look and soundterrific and they're built for
(05:49):
Blu-ray.
Tim Millard (05:50):
Yeah, you know, I just I enjoyed the whole rock
stars who are superheroesconceit or in other shows
they're spies or whatever.
George Feltenstein (06:02):
But that whole conceit of the 60s and 70s
I just think is so funny andyeah, there's a bit of a james
bond vibe in there, along withsuperheroes, and yeah, the music
, it's all it's just.
It's a very unique cartoonseries yeah, it's, it's, it's.
Jerry Beck (06:20):
It's that comic book aesthetic of that period.
There's no backstory, we don'tget the origin.
They're playing their music.
They get a call from the chief,they jump into action.
No more needs to be known.
It's just what the premise ofthe show.
Next thing you know they'rebattling a prehistoric creature
or something, and the villainsare very clever.
(06:41):
They came up with differentideas for the villains in each
episode.
It's fun.
Fun is the word.
Yeah.
Tim Millard (06:48):
And I mean Coil man , I think, is the one that
amuses me the most, but it'svery funny how they figure out
how to use him in the past.
I mean Fluid man, you kind ofget okay, he can turn into water
and all, but it's just fun andbecause, like you said, it was
meant for Saturday morning.
(07:08):
It's got that youthfulness toit.
You go with it and you just youjust enjoy the laughs and
everything.
I like the fact that when you,when you get these series on
Blu-ray, george, you feel likeyou're, you're getting a bit of
like well, you are obviouslyyou're getting a bit of
animation and comic book historythat has exploded in the last
20 years.
But this is like, hey, thosewho are watching this or those
(07:29):
who want to know a little bitabout the early days, these are
the shows you want to get andyou've never seen them look this
good number one or sound thisgood as well, and you can really
now enjoy them for the way theywere made, for the audience and
as a just a fan of animation.
So these are great.
Before we just go on on that,there are a couple of extras on
(07:50):
here.
George, do you have MonstersRock?
George Feltenstein (07:54):
Yeah, it's one piece that was a little
retrospective piece and iscarried over from the DVD era.
But it's a nice littleencapsulation because you know
people need to know thebackground of these things if
they're not familiar with themand they can enjoy them on their
(08:16):
own.
But having that extra slice ofcontext is very, very helpful.
Tim Millard (08:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, all right.
Well, that's a fantasticrelease.
I'm looking forward to talkingabout this next one as well.
And we're going to jump ahead acouple of decades 1988.
And this is the only film thatwe're talking about today
feature-length film, I shouldsay and that's Daffy Duck's
Quackbusters from 1988.
(08:42):
How did this film come about,george?
George Feltenstein (08:45):
Yeah, Well and Jerry, you can pipe in here,
but Jerry and I are friendlywith a gentleman who is not only
an animation historian but ananimator himself.
His name is Greg Ford and Jerryand I being ex-New Yorkers knew
(09:07):
.
Greg and I can always speak formyself.
I knew Greg and I can onlyspeak for myself.
Greg was very helpful to me inmy early days in theatrical
repertory of putting LooneyTunes programs together for
revival theaters and being ableto charge percentage could make
(09:27):
money in a movie theater.
Because for decades peoplethought oh well, you know, you
get $5 rental for a cartoon.
You can't make money fromcartoons and that's kind of why
the theatrical distributorsstopped offering cartoons after
they became television fodder.
And it was in the early 80sthat Greg was a pioneer in
(09:54):
programming.
Jerry, I assume you were thereat the Thalia for Porky Pig's
50th anniversary.
It was a cake, I remember.
But there was this really coolold repertory theater up on
Broadway called the ThaliaTheater and there was a night of
(10:15):
Looney Tunes featuring PorkyPig shown in 35 millimeter to a
very rabid, packed audience.
When you watch the classiccartoons in a theater with a
packed audience it's a wholeother experience and it's a
wonderful one.
Yeah, and Greg was alsointegral in curating classic
(10:41):
animation programming at theMuseum of Modern Art.
So he was a historian, but healso had a talent for animation
himself and I don't exactlyremember what the circumstances
were.
But Greg was a diehard NewYorker and somehow he ended up
coming out here and working atWarner Brothers in Burbank to
(11:04):
create new Looney Tunes and thework that he did really stood
out because it brought thathistorical sensibility and the
knowledge that the originalgreat Looney Tunes were not
children's entertainment, theywere meant for adults, that
(11:28):
children could also enjoy in atheater.
So bringing his historicalcontextual background to
creating new animation and hisinimitable and very specific
personal sense of humor resultedin some very, very wonderful
work.
The problem was, as Iunderstand it, that the
(11:53):
distribution executives heredidn't quite know what to do
with Greg's cartoons and thefeature Daffy Duck's
Quackbusters followed in thefootsteps of, I think, four
compilation features that weredone here at Warner Brothers.
(12:14):
After the success not at WarnerBrothers of Bugs Bunny
Superstar and Chuck Jones, didthe Bugs Bunny Roadrunner movie.
Chris Frilling did the LooneyLooney Bugs Bunny movie, the
1001 Rabbit Tales and then DaffyDuck's Fantastic Island.
Those compilations featured newanimation that bridged classic
(12:38):
clips.
Well, it fell upon Greg to dosomething similar, but he also
used some of the cartoons thathe had made here, and our disc
presents those cartoonsseparately Night of the Living
Duck and the Duxorcist as wellas providing what we call a
(13:02):
matinee version where you get tosee a full cartoon before the
feature.
So some of the footage isrepeated.
I loved Greg's sense of humorand what he brought to doing
these things, and a lot ofpeople are excited that Daffy
Duck's Quackbusters is onBlu-ray because they remember
(13:26):
watching it on HBO or seeing iton Cartoon Network.
But there's a bigger backstoryin that you have this incredible
historian and I would saythere's a legion of animation
fans who owe a great deal toGreg.
People like Greg and LeonardMaltin showed the way for
(13:50):
another generation of animationfans, and Greg didn't just find
it to be acceptable to be ahistorian and a curator.
He actually became a creator,and I think that's what's
exciting.
So this disc not only has theQuackbusters feature, which is
(14:11):
really enjoyable, but it alsohas some of the other individual
cartoons made by Greg, such asBlooper Bunny, which is my
personal favorite, invasion ofthe Bunny Snatchers and some
other more.
I would say post-Golden Ageshort subjects that were made
(14:33):
here at the studio that haven'tbeen around on Blu-ray before.
It's a very welcome disc forthe fans of Warner Brothers
cartoons.
What sayest thou O'Jerry?
Jerry Beck (14:47):
Well, that was all very good and all very true.
I'm thinking back to those daysand I don't have the full
origin myself of how Greg endedup with the, except this, some
of it's speculation, some of itis stuff he told me.
But remember the 70s?
I mean it was, you're right,bugs Bunny Superstar had come
(15:08):
out.
It was the low point ofAmerican animation.
People were beginning torediscover the classic shorts on
Saturday morning you knowwhat's opera doc?
By being repeated on Saturdaymorning.
That's where it began to attainits status.
That's where it began to attainits status and I think because
(15:39):
of the success of Bugs BunnySuperstar, warner Brothers
figured we got to figure out away to restore or do some new
things with the characters.
I know that in the mid-70s theystarted doing some TV specials.
Some of them were justpastiches of the old cartoons.
Some of them were justpastiches of the old cartoons.
I mean, literally there's afamous one called Looney Tunes
in Space which they've just puttogether very, very quickly in
1977 to cash in on Star Wars,and it's nothing but the.
(15:59):
You know, one space cartoonafter another, that kind of
thing, and really no bridgingmaterial.
They hired Chuck to do somebridging material, as you might
recall, and I guess they got theidea that we should do a
feature like this Bugs BunnySuperstar.
That turned out to be a big hit.
I'm sorry if I'm giving you toomuch information here, but that
(16:20):
was remember George, that wasshown at the Lincoln Center New
York Film Festival and it wasopening night or closing night.
It was a big freaking deal andI still save the LA Times, the
New York Times Sunday full pagead for it that it was being
shown at the Lincoln Center andthen immediately, like the next
(16:43):
week, it was shown in regularmovie theaters.
They really did a good job ofexploiting that movie.
It was, I guess, a hit towhatever they needed it to be
and that led to I guess it ledto some more Chuck Jones
cartoons for TV specials.
But then they ended up gettingFrizz Freeling to leave his own
(17:04):
company, the Patty Freeling, andcome back and work for Warners
again unbelievably, and theyoffered him a deal to do TV
specials and have a feature withhis name in the title, because
Chuck got a lot of attention forthe Bugs Bunny Roadrunner
movies.
That's why I think the secondmovie is called something like
Frizz Freeling's Loony, loonyBugs Bunny movie which the title
(17:27):
being a takeoff of Mad Mad, madMad World, if you think about
it and that came in they all didrelatively well, as kind of,
when they you know thediminishing returns, you know
became Saturday morning things,so much so that they continued
to do it.
And when Freeling retired,after three features and
numerous you know shorts I thinkthey brought Greg in because of
(17:50):
the Museum of Modern Artexhibit I think he wrote about
it he did that film commentissue, remember that and he was
becoming known as the guy whotakes this stuff seriously in
the mid-'70s.
This was before the Book ofMice and Magic, with Leonard
Maltin and others.
This was like a primo period.
(18:11):
I think what happens isWarner's called him in and kind
of basically said what would youdo?
And their attitude was let'shave this guy do it, because
really back then it was like, Isay, a low point and there was
really no one interested indoing anything.
But Greg, of course, wasenthused about doing stuff.
So he started off doing theseshorts like the Duxorcist, and
(18:38):
then they said let's do anotherfeature.
Now I don't know who it was atthat time Ed Blyer or whoever on
high who decided to do thesefeatures.
But that was one of thegreatest decisions ever made by
the company, because althoughthey only made five, they've
never not been on television.
They've never been.
There was a whole period afterthat, in the 80s and 90s, as you
(18:59):
said.
They were on HBO, they were onNickelodeon, they were on the
Disney Channel, they were onevery venue and outlet you could
find, not to mention VHS andall that in the beginning.
So they were very widely seen.
The feature format was a goodthing for Looney Tunes and has
(19:20):
made a lot of money money forthe company.
And Greg had his shot to dothat, to make a film that
featured old footage and newfootage.
Had his shot to do that, tomake a film that featured old
footage and new footage, and tokeep doing cartoons, commercials
and interstitials.
He did all sorts of thingswhile he was involved with the
(19:42):
unit there.
The only thing that ended it wasthat animation came back.
Animation came back because ofRoger Rabbit and Disney, little
Mermaid and things like that.
So by 1990, that's whenWarner's decided to team up with
Steven Spielberg and do TinyToons, and that was kind of the
beginning of the modern daystudio that still exists today
that's been doing mainlytelevision animation.
(20:03):
But I think that's whathappened, I think Greg and the
unit he was part of withproducer Kathleen Helpy and that
little unit basically kind ofdissipated whereas the TV thing
grew and grew.
But that said, this film hasnever looked better than it
looks here on Blu-ray.
It's crystal clear.
(20:24):
It's a lot of again, I use thatterm it's a lot of fun.
That's exactly the criteriathat all of these things should
be and this certainly fits thatand it's a great.
It's a great compilation and Ihope someday we'll get around to
those other features puttingthose out.
George Feltenstein (20:43):
Well, I thought this was the most
important one because of whatGreg achieved and I don't think
it was a personal bias, that weknow him, but I think he really
achieved something remarkablebecause Bloober Bunny, which
didn't really get released itwas suppressed by certain prior
(21:04):
executives here it finallyshowed up.
I know I got it out on DVD, butsomeone got it on Cartoon
Network as well.
There was a big emphasis to getthis really funny and it was
like PG humor.
There was a little bit of adulthumor, and I say adult with a
(21:26):
small A.
It was just smart and beyondkiddie fodder, because the
problem is most people when theyhear animation or cartoons they
think it's kiddie, babysitterstuff, it's deke animation.
That is not what classicanimation is about.
That's not what Warner Brotherscartoons were about, animations
(21:50):
about.
That's not what Warner Brotherscartoons were about.
And Greg went back to New Yorkand finished these things from
New York because he just was notmeant for Burbank and the
studio system.
It didn't agree with him.
But we're very, very blessed togive his work a proper showcase
on blu-ray with this disc,which is a tribute not only to
(22:13):
the great warner brothersanimators but to greg and terry
lennon, his co-director, who puta lot of these things together.
Tim Millard (22:22):
They're terrific it's always great to hear from
jerry and george their take onthese animation titles.
Such a big fan of thesereleases, I think you're going
to enjoy them and they're aterrific addition to your
blu-ray collection.
And if you haven't yet orderedthe blu-rays for frankenstein jr
(22:43):
and the impossibles or daffyduck's crackb, there are links
in the podcast show notes, asalways.
If you haven't yet subscribedto our podcast and you enjoyed
it, please subscribe at yourfavorite podcast provider,
appreciate that.
Thanks for listening and stayslightly obsessed about
animation.
Hi, tim Lard, here, host of the Extras podcast, and
this is a continuation of mydiscussion with animation
historian Jerry Beck and GeorgeFeltenstein of the Warner
Archive on some of the animationtitles that were released in
January and February of 2025.
Today we're going to be talkingabout the TV series
Frankenstein Jr and theImpossibles from 1966.
(00:28):
And we'll also be talking aboutDaffy Duck Quackbusters, the
compilation film from 1988.
Well, next I thought we'd goback to 1966 and a TV series
called Frankenstein Jr and theImpossibles, and you released
the complete animated serieshere just recently, and I know
(00:52):
this series has a lot of fansbecause there was a lot of talk
on social media, I think, whenthis was announced, so people
are starting to get it.
I watched it.
It looks fantastic, it's somuch fun and a lot of people who
grew up with it, I know, aregoing to really enjoy collecting
it.
But I think there's alsoyounger fans these days too who
really enjoy it.
What can you tell us about theorigins of this one, jerry?
Jerry Beck (01:14):
Well, this was the beginning of the superhero craze
of that period, you know, andit was also the era of the
monkeys, pop music, beatles andthis, uh, the impossibles
section of it is obviously aparody of of the superheroes and
the rock groups putting ittogether.
This was before they did josieand the pussycats, before
(01:37):
filmation did the archies andall that.
This was a early, probably thefirst of that sort of thing.
Again.
Hannah barbara trying to be ontrend, one of the earliest of
their saturday morning cartoonswasn't the first of that sort of
thing Again, hanna-barberatrying to be on trend, one of
the earliest of their Saturdaymorning cartoons.
Wasn't the first or second even, but it's definitely an early
one there in 1966.
The Frankenstein Jr.
I think that was supposed to be.
(01:58):
In fact I think the show isFrankenstein Jr and the
Impossibles is supposed to bethe lead, but if you watch the
show, the Impossibles have theopen and closed cartoon and
Frankenstein Jr and theImpossibles is supposed to be
the lead.
But if you watch the show, it'sthe Impossibles have the open
and closed cartoon andFrankenstein's in the middle and
Frankenstein Jr is just theusual.
You know, a take on thesuperheroes combined with the
(02:18):
always popular.
Monster horror, you know craze,which you know started in the
earlier 60s, late 50s withchiller theater and things like
that.
That was a big, famous monstersof film.
Land Monsters were big.
The idea of turning it into arobot actually is either
equivalent or right on the sametime as what was going on in
(02:40):
Japan, things that weren't evenhappening in the United States
yet we weren't aware of it.
But shows like Gigantor, thesegiant robots, these shows that
were coming up, being made, thatwere early anime, this is sort
of in that same vein, but Idon't think they knew about that
when they did it.
I think they're a lot of fun.
(03:02):
I love looking at these showsvisually.
I think the design is thatprimo Hanna-Barbera mid-60s ink
line, just beautiful-looking fun.
They're done in that kind ofBatman show way where if you're
a little older they're funny, ifyou're younger you can take
(03:23):
them seriously.
You know they work both ways.
Frankenstein I can go on and on, by the way, unless you stop me
, but I mean Frankenstein Jr isoh, what's his name?
Ted Cassidy from Lurch, fromthe Addams Family is his voice.
Dick Beals, also known asSpeedy Alka-Seltzer on the old
commercials, he's Buzz the boy,the little boy, and davy on davy
(03:46):
and goliath.
Oh, that's right that that'sright and on and on the uh.
What I love about the uh theshow amongst all the things, it
is the one of the coolestopening segments with paul
freeze doing like a narrationabout right and just the
graphics, the design of stuff,even on the end titles.
(04:09):
It's all very modern, hip, notlike any of the other
Hanna-Barbera shows of that era.
It's very smart and you know ofthe period.
Paul Freese is a fluid man, oneof the impossibles.
Don Messick is multi-man.
The character turns into many,many and Coil man, this little
tubby little fellow with a coilbody who bounces around.
(04:33):
That's Hal Smith, who also isfrom Mayberry and Davy and
Goliath, that's right.
Otis the Drunk on Andy Griffith,but it's a wonderful cast.
It's fun.
Otis the Drunk on Andy Griffith, but it's a wonderful cast.
It's fun.
It was aimed at the Saturdaymorning crowd, but boy to me
(04:53):
it's very sophisticated in theway they did it and I love these
shows.
These are absolute favorites ofmine and for those who care.
George Feltenstein (05:02):
There are little bridges and bumpers in
between the cartoons as it wasbroadcast on network television
when it was a Saturday morningnew program, and those pieces
have not been seen, really sincewe released this as a Warner
Archive DVD set, I think in 2011, and they were from old
(05:29):
Shelfmaster tapes.
They did not look very good,but people were just glad to be
able to see the show in alegitimate release.
But here we've scanned thecamera negatives that are all 35
millimeter at 4K and they'vebeen given the class A treatment
, so they look and soundterrific and they're built for
(05:49):
Blu-ray.
Tim Millard (05:50):
Yeah, you know, I just I enjoyed the whole rock
stars who are superheroesconceit or in other shows
they're spies or whatever.
George Feltenstein (06:02):
But that whole conceit of the 60s and 70s
I just think is so funny andyeah, there's a bit of a james
bond vibe in there, along withsuperheroes, and yeah, the music
, it's all it's just.
It's a very unique cartoonseries yeah, it's, it's, it's.
Jerry Beck (06:20):
It's that comic book aesthetic of that period.
There's no backstory, we don'tget the origin.
They're playing their music.
They get a call from the chief,they jump into action.
No more needs to be known.
It's just what the premise ofthe show.
Next thing you know they'rebattling a prehistoric creature
or something, and the villainsare very clever.
(06:41):
They came up with differentideas for the villains in each
episode.
It's fun.
Fun is the word.
Yeah.
Tim Millard (06:48):
And I mean Coil man , I think, is the one that
amuses me the most, but it'svery funny how they figure out
how to use him in the past.
I mean Fluid man, you kind ofget okay, he can turn into water
and all, but it's just fun andbecause, like you said, it was
meant for Saturday morning.
(07:08):
It's got that youthfulness toit.
You go with it and you just youjust enjoy the laughs and
everything.
I like the fact that when you,when you get these series on
Blu-ray, george, you feel likeyou're, you're getting a bit of
like well, you are obviouslyyou're getting a bit of
animation and comic book historythat has exploded in the last
20 years.
But this is like, hey, thosewho are watching this or those
(07:29):
who want to know a little bitabout the early days, these are
the shows you want to get andyou've never seen them look this
good number one or sound thisgood as well, and you can really
now enjoy them for the way theywere made, for the audience and
as a just a fan of animation.
So these are great.
Before we just go on on that,there are a couple of extras on
(07:50):
here.
George, do you have MonstersRock?
George Feltenstein (07:54):
Yeah, it's one piece that was a little
retrospective piece and iscarried over from the DVD era.
But it's a nice littleencapsulation because you know
people need to know thebackground of these things if
they're not familiar with themand they can enjoy them on their
(08:16):
own.
But having that extra slice ofcontext is very, very helpful.
Tim Millard (08:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, all right.
Well, that's a fantasticrelease.
I'm looking forward to talkingabout this next one as well.
And we're going to jump ahead acouple of decades 1988.
And this is the only film thatwe're talking about today
feature-length film, I shouldsay and that's Daffy Duck's
Quackbusters from 1988.
(08:42):
How did this film come about,george?
George Feltenstein (08:45):
Yeah, Well and Jerry, you can pipe in here,
but Jerry and I are friendlywith a gentleman who is not only
an animation historian but ananimator himself.
His name is Greg Ford and Jerryand I being ex-New Yorkers knew
(09:07):
.
Greg and I can always speak formyself.
I knew Greg and I can onlyspeak for myself.
Greg was very helpful to me inmy early days in theatrical
repertory of putting LooneyTunes programs together for
revival theaters and being ableto charge percentage could make
(09:27):
money in a movie theater.
Because for decades peoplethought oh well, you know, you
get $5 rental for a cartoon.
You can't make money fromcartoons and that's kind of why
the theatrical distributorsstopped offering cartoons after
they became television fodder.
And it was in the early 80sthat Greg was a pioneer in
(09:54):
programming.
Jerry, I assume you were thereat the Thalia for Porky Pig's
50th anniversary.
It was a cake, I remember.
But there was this really coolold repertory theater up on
Broadway called the ThaliaTheater and there was a night of
(10:15):
Looney Tunes featuring PorkyPig shown in 35 millimeter to a
very rabid, packed audience.
When you watch the classiccartoons in a theater with a
packed audience it's a wholeother experience and it's a
wonderful one.
Yeah, and Greg was alsointegral in curating classic
(10:41):
animation programming at theMuseum of Modern Art.
So he was a historian, but healso had a talent for animation
himself and I don't exactlyremember what the circumstances
were.
But Greg was a diehard NewYorker and somehow he ended up
coming out here and working atWarner Brothers in Burbank to
(11:04):
create new Looney Tunes and thework that he did really stood
out because it brought thathistorical sensibility and the
knowledge that the originalgreat Looney Tunes were not
children's entertainment, theywere meant for adults, that
(11:28):
children could also enjoy in atheater.
So bringing his historicalcontextual background to
creating new animation and hisinimitable and very specific
personal sense of humor resultedin some very, very wonderful
work.
The problem was, as Iunderstand it, that the
(11:53):
distribution executives heredidn't quite know what to do
with Greg's cartoons and thefeature Daffy Duck's
Quackbusters followed in thefootsteps of, I think, four
compilation features that weredone here at Warner Brothers.
(12:14):
After the success not at WarnerBrothers of Bugs Bunny
Superstar and Chuck Jones, didthe Bugs Bunny Roadrunner movie.
Chris Frilling did the LooneyLooney Bugs Bunny movie, the
1001 Rabbit Tales and then DaffyDuck's Fantastic Island.
Those compilations featured newanimation that bridged classic
(12:38):
clips.
Well, it fell upon Greg to dosomething similar, but he also
used some of the cartoons thathe had made here, and our disc
presents those cartoonsseparately Night of the Living
Duck and the Duxorcist as wellas providing what we call a
(13:02):
matinee version where you get tosee a full cartoon before the
feature.
So some of the footage isrepeated.
I loved Greg's sense of humorand what he brought to doing
these things, and a lot ofpeople are excited that Daffy
Duck's Quackbusters is onBlu-ray because they remember
(13:26):
watching it on HBO or seeing iton Cartoon Network.
But there's a bigger backstoryin that you have this incredible
historian and I would saythere's a legion of animation
fans who owe a great deal toGreg.
People like Greg and LeonardMaltin showed the way for
(13:50):
another generation of animationfans, and Greg didn't just find
it to be acceptable to be ahistorian and a curator.
He actually became a creator,and I think that's what's
exciting.
So this disc not only has theQuackbusters feature, which is
(14:11):
really enjoyable, but it alsohas some of the other individual
cartoons made by Greg, such asBlooper Bunny, which is my
personal favorite, invasion ofthe Bunny Snatchers and some
other more.
I would say post-Golden Ageshort subjects that were made
(14:33):
here at the studio that haven'tbeen around on Blu-ray before.
It's a very welcome disc forthe fans of Warner Brothers
cartoons.
What sayest thou O'Jerry?
Jerry Beck (14:47):
Well, that was all very good and all very true.
I'm thinking back to those daysand I don't have the full
origin myself of how Greg endedup with the, except this, some
of it's speculation, some of itis stuff he told me.
But remember the 70s?
I mean it was, you're right,bugs Bunny Superstar had come
(15:08):
out.
It was the low point ofAmerican animation.
People were beginning torediscover the classic shorts on
Saturday morning you knowwhat's opera doc?
By being repeated on Saturdaymorning.
That's where it began to attainits status.
That's where it began to attainits status and I think because
(15:39):
of the success of Bugs BunnySuperstar, warner Brothers
figured we got to figure out away to restore or do some new
things with the characters.
I know that in the mid-70s theystarted doing some TV specials.
Some of them were justpastiches of the old cartoons.
Some of them were justpastiches of the old cartoons.
I mean, literally there's afamous one called Looney Tunes
in Space which they've just puttogether very, very quickly in
1977 to cash in on Star Wars,and it's nothing but the.
(15:59):
You know, one space cartoonafter another, that kind of
thing, and really no bridgingmaterial.
They hired Chuck to do somebridging material, as you might
recall, and I guess they got theidea that we should do a
feature like this Bugs BunnySuperstar.
That turned out to be a big hit.
I'm sorry if I'm giving you toomuch information here, but that
(16:20):
was remember George, that wasshown at the Lincoln Center New
York Film Festival and it wasopening night or closing night.
It was a big freaking deal andI still save the LA Times, the
New York Times Sunday full pagead for it that it was being
shown at the Lincoln Center andthen immediately, like the next
(16:43):
week, it was shown in regularmovie theaters.
They really did a good job ofexploiting that movie.
It was, I guess, a hit towhatever they needed it to be
and that led to I guess it ledto some more Chuck Jones
cartoons for TV specials.
But then they ended up gettingFrizz Freeling to leave his own
(17:04):
company, the Patty Freeling, andcome back and work for Warners
again unbelievably, and theyoffered him a deal to do TV
specials and have a feature withhis name in the title, because
Chuck got a lot of attention forthe Bugs Bunny Roadrunner
movies.
That's why I think the secondmovie is called something like
Frizz Freeling's Loony, loonyBugs Bunny movie which the title
(17:27):
being a takeoff of Mad Mad, madMad World, if you think about
it and that came in they all didrelatively well, as kind of,
when they you know thediminishing returns, you know
became Saturday morning things,so much so that they continued
to do it.
And when Freeling retired,after three features and
numerous you know shorts I thinkthey brought Greg in because of
(17:50):
the Museum of Modern Artexhibit I think he wrote about
it he did that film commentissue, remember that and he was
becoming known as the guy whotakes this stuff seriously in
the mid-'70s.
This was before the Book ofMice and Magic, with Leonard
Maltin and others.
This was like a primo period.
(18:11):
I think what happens isWarner's called him in and kind
of basically said what would youdo?
And their attitude was let'shave this guy do it, because
really back then it was like, Isay, a low point and there was
really no one interested indoing anything.
But Greg, of course, wasenthused about doing stuff.
So he started off doing theseshorts like the Duxorcist, and
(18:38):
then they said let's do anotherfeature.
Now I don't know who it was atthat time Ed Blyer or whoever on
high who decided to do thesefeatures.
But that was one of thegreatest decisions ever made by
the company, because althoughthey only made five, they've
never not been on television.
They've never been.
There was a whole period afterthat, in the 80s and 90s, as you
(18:59):
said.
They were on HBO, they were onNickelodeon, they were on the
Disney Channel, they were onevery venue and outlet you could
find, not to mention VHS andall that in the beginning.
So they were very widely seen.
The feature format was a goodthing for Looney Tunes and has
(19:20):
made a lot of money money forthe company.
And Greg had his shot to dothat, to make a film that
featured old footage and newfootage.
Had his shot to do that, tomake a film that featured old
footage and new footage, and tokeep doing cartoons, commercials
and interstitials.
He did all sorts of thingswhile he was involved with the
(19:42):
unit there.
The only thing that ended it wasthat animation came back.
Animation came back because ofRoger Rabbit and Disney, little
Mermaid and things like that.
So by 1990, that's whenWarner's decided to team up with
Steven Spielberg and do TinyToons, and that was kind of the
beginning of the modern daystudio that still exists today
that's been doing mainlytelevision animation.
(20:03):
But I think that's whathappened, I think Greg and the
unit he was part of withproducer Kathleen Helpy and that
little unit basically kind ofdissipated whereas the TV thing
grew and grew.
But that said, this film hasnever looked better than it
looks here on Blu-ray.
It's crystal clear.
(20:24):
It's a lot of again, I use thatterm it's a lot of fun.
That's exactly the criteriathat all of these things should
be and this certainly fits thatand it's a great.
It's a great compilation and Ihope someday we'll get around to
those other features puttingthose out.
George Feltenstein (20:43):
Well, I thought this was the most
important one because of whatGreg achieved and I don't think
it was a personal bias, that weknow him, but I think he really
achieved something remarkablebecause Bloober Bunny, which
didn't really get released itwas suppressed by certain prior
(21:04):
executives here it finallyshowed up.
I know I got it out on DVD, butsomeone got it on Cartoon
Network as well.
There was a big emphasis to getthis really funny and it was
like PG humor.
There was a little bit of adulthumor, and I say adult with a
(21:26):
small A.
It was just smart and beyondkiddie fodder, because the
problem is most people when theyhear animation or cartoons they
think it's kiddie, babysitterstuff, it's deke animation.
That is not what classicanimation is about.
That's not what Warner Brotherscartoons were about, animations
(21:50):
about.
That's not what Warner Brotherscartoons were about.
And Greg went back to New Yorkand finished these things from
New York because he just was notmeant for Burbank and the
studio system.
It didn't agree with him.
But we're very, very blessed togive his work a proper showcase
on blu-ray with this disc,which is a tribute not only to
(22:13):
the great warner brothersanimators but to greg and terry
lennon, his co-director, who puta lot of these things together.
Tim Millard (22:22):
They're terrific it's always great to hear from
jerry and george their take onthese animation titles.
Such a big fan of thesereleases, I think you're going
to enjoy them and they're aterrific addition to your
blu-ray collection.
And if you haven't yet orderedthe blu-rays for frankenstein jr
(22:43):
and the impossibles or daffyduck's crackb, there are links
in the podcast show notes, asalways.
If you haven't yet subscribedto our podcast and you enjoyed
it, please subscribe at yourfavorite podcast provider,
appreciate that.
Thanks for listening and stayslightly obsessed about
animation.
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