Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Coming: SNAFU

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One more plug for the forthcoming DVD collection I raved about in our recent Holiday Gift Guide. Here’s a sneak preview, below, courtesy of producer Steve Stanchfield. It’s a little overview of the Pvt. Snafu series, narrated by yours truly, one of the bonus features on Thunderbean Animation’s Private Snafu Golden Classics DVD set (pictured at left, cover art by Eric Goldberg). It features a title sequence animated by Mark Kausler (cleanup by Patrick Stannard and Stanchfield) and lots of clips of the restored cartoons contained on the disc. If you only buy one classic cartoon collection on DVD this year – this is the one to get!

“The Return of Count Spirochete” (1973)

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Just in time to cash in on the Twilight craze – (Not!) – someone posted on You Tube this anti-venereal disease educational film, produced for the Navy Medical Center in 1973, which casts Syphilis as a vampire. Oh, and in case you want to own a physical copy of this masterpiece, The US Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service will sell it to you on video — on VHS — for just $55!

(via Armed With Science)

“Yogi Bear” Getting Bashed by Critics

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What did you expect? The Hollywood trades are out with their luke-warm reviews of the live action-CG Yogi Bear feature, which opens this Friday, Dec. 17th.

Justin Chang in Variety (review blocked by a pay-wall) says:

“Neither smarter nor dumber than the average family-friendly comedy, “Yogi Bear” is a bland and innocuous small-fry outing that retains a measure of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon’s charm, though scarcely enough to justify the time, expense and visual-effects trickery it must have taken to inflate an endearing 2D cartoon into a dopey 3D extravaganza….

“…Aykroyd and Timberlake do fine approximations of their characters’ distinctive cartoon voices and speech patterns; teens and adults in particular can keep themselves amused by imagining Timberlake, in one of his more self-effacing career moves, having to record lines like “I have a problem with baked beans” in Boo Boo’s trademark nasal delivery. By comparison, the not-quite-photorealistic, borderline-alien look of these CGI bears is off-putting, the technological advancements of lifelike fur and detailed eye movements being no match for the clean, expressive lines of hand-drawn animation.”

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Mighty B/Noveltoon Mash-up

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Not sure how many will get the same kick out this as I did – but my inner geek is grinning ear to ear. Here’s a fan-made opening title for a Mighty B episode, done in the style of Paramount’s old Noveltoon theatrical cartoons. Aspiring cartoonist/animator John Paul Cassidy, who is apparently huge fan of both Nick’s Mighty B and old Paramount cartoons, got it right. It’s also worth noting that both Nickelodeon and Paramount are owned by corporate parent Viacom, so this isn’t as far-out as it seems.

Dreamworks announces “Me and My Shadow”

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Variety is reporting that DreamWorks Animation has announced a March 2013 release date for Me and My Shadow, a new 3-D animated feature which will combine CG with traditional animation, a first for the company.

According to the Variety article:

“Shadow” tells the story of Shadow Stan, an incredibly frustrated shadow that yearns for a more dynamic life but happens to be stuck with Stanley Grubb, the world’s most boring human. Eventually pushed to the brink, Shadow Stan breaks the singular rule of the Shadow World — “they lead, we follow” — and takes control of Stanley.

Steve Bencich and Ron Friedman’s original screenplay is being revised by the writing team of Tom Astle and Matt Ember (Get Smart). “Shadow” will combine “the time-honored tradition of hand-drawn animation with the magical sophistication of CG characters and worlds in ways that have never been experienced by audiences before,” Damaschke said.

In the toon, the Shadow and everything in the Shadow World will be hand-drawn, while the human character and human world will be CG. The movie will alternate between the two worlds.

Mark Dindal (Chicken Little, The Emperor’s New Groove) is directing. Other members of the team include head of story Shane Prigmore and production designers Scott Wills and Raymond Zibach. Since there is no production art available, the photo above is from Spy Shadow, a 1967 DePatie Freleng TV cartoon shown on NBC Saturday Mornings. I predict the new DW feature will be a lot funnier than this.

TONIGHT IN LA: Honoring Black Animators

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Sorry for the last minute notice, but I just found out myself: This evening (December 10th) at the National Center For Democracy (369 East First Street, in downtown Los Angeles) is the opening night ceremony of the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center’s annual African-American Film Marketplace. Tonight’s program, A Great Day in Black Hollywood Part 4: Honoring Veteran Black Animators.

Honorees include an amazing group of animation artists, both young and old: Lyndon Barrois, Jamaal Bradley, Frank C. Braxton, Jr. (1929—1969, pictured above right with Ben Washam), Lennie Graves, Dan Haskett, Keith Hunter (1966—2007), Ron Husband, Floyd Norman, Ron Myrick, Bruce Smith, Leo Sullivan (pictured above left), Corey Turner, and Marlon West. Click HERE (PDF link) for a nice write-up on each honoree. The program will begin promptly at 8:00pm followed by a reception. Tickets are $25 per person.

(Thanks, Joe Romero)

JibJab Christmas 2010

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That’s me and Amid, John Lasseter and our late friends Walt Disney and Chuck Jones in the latest “Starring You” Sendable Christmas video from our friends at JibJab. This year they secured the rights to the Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recording of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and created an original stop-motion, Rankin Bass-esque production animated by Max Winston (Flapjack) For more information on how you can send one of these to your friends, visit JibJab.com.

(Thanks Evan and Greg Spiridellis)