All entries for Monday 27 September 2004

Top ten cartoons

The TV channel Boomerang asked 1,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 54 to vote for their favourite cartoon. The results:-

1. Tom and Jerry (1940)
2. Scooby-Doo (1969)
3. Dangermouse (1981)
4. Top Cat (1961)
5. The Flintstones (1960)
6. Bugs Bunny (1940)
7. Popeye (1933)
8. Road Runner (1964)
9. Wacky Races (1968)
10. Hong Kong Phooey (1974)

Interesting. Can't argue with T&J in the number 1 spot (after all, it's the only entry in the list that's won Oscars - seven of them), and Dangermouse is classy stuff too (and the only UK production on the list). But I'm surprised and slightly disappointed to see unimaginative, cheaply produced stuff like Scooby-Doo and Top Cat beat out the pioneeringly brilliant work done by Chuck Jones et al in Bugs Bunny, Road Runner and the rest of the Looney Tunes. Warner's cartoon shorts from the forties through the sixties were inventive, imaginative gems, ranging from satire to surrealism to slapstick, often within a single cartoon. Hanna Barbera's cartoons were simply remakes of earlier sitcoms (Top Cat = Phil Silvers, Flintstones = Honeymooners) with nothing like the visual or verbal wit of the Looney Tunes.

And no Daffy Duck? Desthpicable!

John Dale : 27 Sep 2004 22:13 |  Tags: Cartoons TV |  Comments (17) |  Close comments |  Report a problem