“Ehhhh, what’s up, Doc?” Those immortal words uttered by a wisecracking anthropomorphic rabbit will forever be a part of who I am. You see I was practically raised on Looney Tunes. Sure my folks let me enjoy other quintessential 80s kids entertainment like Smurfs, Fraggle Rock, Wielie Walie, He-Man, Thundercats, Paddington Bear, etc, but it was the ridiculous physics-defying ACME world of Warner Bros’ classic Looney Tunes series where my dad and I found our first mutual love. It was a tradition in my house whenever we went to the video rental store: My mom and older brother chose a movie for the whole family to watch, my dad and I chose a new volume of Looney Tunes. Or an old volume. I’ve lost count of how many times we rewatched them all.
So yes, it’s safe to say that Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn (my dad’s favourite), Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and all the rest of the Looney Tunes gang made me the man I am today. Spend any extended period of time in my company, listening to all the silly and rapid-fire jokes I tend to crack, and you can easily see the influence of those cartoons on my personality.
I give you all this personal preamble so that there’s some weighted merit behind my words when I tell you that the new Looney Tunes revival on HBO Max is awesome! The new streaming service from WarnerMedia launches in the US this month, and included in its launch lineup of Warner properties is a brand new series of Looney Tunes Cartoons. Now we’ve had a few “reboots” of the classic franchise before, and I’ve given just about all of them a try and always found them wanting. They either were trying too hard to be contemporary or they totally lacked that wacky tone that made the originals so great.
This new show though, barring a few minor animation and character design tweaks, feel like they’re pulled straight from my childhood memories. And I know this because HBO Max has made the full first episode available online for all to see. Check it out below!
If you’re a die-hard Looney Tunes fan like I am, then how good was that? Even that iconic opening credits felt exactly like I remember it. Some US publications got access to a whole bunch more episodes and they appear to confirm that this single episode isn’t a fluke. Looney Tunes is back and just as good as its classic origins. And while the rest of the world may look like a proverbial piano has just dropped on it after it was blown up by a bomb bought from ACME, at least this makes me happy!
HBO Max is debuting in the US on 27 May with further international rollouts being planned for 2021. No word yet on whether South Africa is included in those plans. In the meantime, here’s the official synopsis and trailer for the new Looney Tunes Cartoons which will boast 80 episodes of 12-minute shorts in its first season.
Looney Tunes Cartoons, an all-new series from Warner Bros. Animation starring the cherished Looney Tunes characters. Looney Tunes Cartoons echoes the high production value and process of the original Looney Tunes theatrical shorts with a cartoonist-driven approach to storytelling. Marquee Looney Tunes characters will be featured in their classic pairings in simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories. The new series will include 80 eleven-minute episodes, each comprised of animated shorts that vary in length and include adapted storylines for today’s audience.
Last Updated: May 26, 2020
LegionZA
May 26, 2020 at 12:02
Great stuff, I really enjoyed it… I did, I did.
Hammersteyn
May 26, 2020 at 12:21
Great start to what’s gonna be a resurgence hopefully, but I can just imagine someone on twitter ranting about the show teaching kids to pickup and gum on the street and chew it especially during the Covid pandemic.
Dresden
May 26, 2020 at 12:54
Or the fact that they “white-washed” Tweety, a bird of colour.
Llama In The Rift
May 26, 2020 at 11:44
hmmm…who remembers it as Looney Toons?
Hammersteyn
May 26, 2020 at 12:21
Mandela effect perhaps? I honestly don’t
Kervyn Cloete
May 26, 2020 at 12:25
So here’s the thing: Despite so many people (including me when I was younger) thinking of it as Looney Toons, that was never the name. It’s supposed to be Tunes because originally the 1930s cartoons were mostly just animated music videos, if you will, for WB’s music catalogue (the name was a riff on Disney’s “Silly Symphonies” series). These were black and white animations featuring a bunch of different characters. WB also put out a series of short one-shot colour cartoons called Merrie Melodies (another riff on Silly Symphonies), which featured Bugs, Daffy, Pork etc. Eventually both though became colour one-shot character based cartoons.
HairyEwok
May 26, 2020 at 11:54
The intro music is different, like minimal change but i picked it up and it irks me. But anyway all i really care about is Animaniacs coming back.
Dresden
May 26, 2020 at 11:57
Add Tiny Toon Adventures to that list!