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World Premiere Toons
Who, What, Where, When, Why, How?
World Premiere Toons (which become What A Cartoons! after their premiere week) can be summed up by the following press release from Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera).
The Golden Years of animation are rising again as Hanna-Barbera and the Cartoon Network chisel out a cutting edge program for ushering in a new era of cartoon superstars. They are once again taking animation into a new direction by creating fresh cartoons using a technique borrowed from animation's yesteryear.
World Premiere Toons debuts in early 1995. The Cartoon Network/Hanna-Barbera venture combines classic 1940s production methods with the originality, enthusiasm and comedy of the 1990s.
The studio and network have stepped back to the future with their creation and airing of 48 seven-minute cartoon shorts during a two year period. This equals the output of the major studios during animation's heyday 45 years ago. A special shorts division has been formed at Hanna-Barbera to solicit the talent of both rising and established animators. In producing these shorts, Hanna-Barbera and the Cartoon Network will be nurturing a past tradition where an animation unit-including a director, a writer and artists-focuses on the creation of a single short cartoon. This process was used by MGM, Warner Bros., and others to create many of the toon world's greatest superstars: Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Mickey Mouse among them.
WORLD PREMIERE TOONS has already attracted an impressive array of talent. These gifted creators range from just-graduated young cartoonists to famed directors like Ralph Bakshi, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera and Disney and Spumco veterans, Pat Ventura and Eddie Fitzgerald.
Hanna-Barbera's shorts offer the Cartoon Network a new, original, exclusive WORLD PREMIERE TOONS cartoon short every few weeks. In turn, the Cartoon Network provides Hanna-Barbera with the unique opportunity to showcase this novel shorts enterprise with "world premiere" attention.
A Brief History of Shorts
In the mid-1950s, MGM-the last of the great theatrical shorts producing companies-closed. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, one of the greatest animation production partnerships of all time, suddenly found themselves out of work. Their livelihoods and an entire industry teetered on extinction. What started as an effort to invent jobs for themselves resulted in Hanna and Barbera perfecting the process of limited animation.
Limited animation, a process that required less cels than the feature process, relied more on writers writing jokes than artists producing sight gags. This process was much cheaper to produce. It made animation economically feasible to produce on the limited network license fees. They began with a limited animation "Ruff and Reddy" cartoon (which served as a wraparound for 30 minutes of old cartoons) on NBC in December 1957. From that program came a cavalcade of creations from the duo. Hanna-Barbera grew into a full-fledged studio by the early 1960s. They dominated the networks up until the mid-1980s when Disney and Warner Bros., motivated by Hanna-Barbera's success, jumped into the television animation business.
Many changes took place during the last three decades as television animation matured. Cartoons with original characters became a rarity. The networks and syndicators pressed for shows to be derived from other media. This demand brought cartoons based on movies, popular television shows and video games. The most popular outlet spawning cartoons-and eventually dominating the arena-was best-selling toys.
Today, the animation industry is at a crossroads: many independent studios are finding it increasingly difficult to compete. Creativity has suffered greatly with the networks getting into production. They often participate at an even greater level in the lucrative after-markets of syndication, international sales and licensing.
In order to thrive in this new environment and still retain a measure of artistic integrity, animation studios must create new character stars. Once again, Hanna-Barbera has crafted a solution. During the next two years, at the direction of Hanna-Barbera President Fred Seibert and Cartoon Network President Betty Cohen, the studio will produce a collection of cartoon shorts to air on a network dedicated to upholding the virtues of animated entertainment.
A World Premiere Idea Debuts
The 48 shorts, collectively titled World Premiere Toons, are all derived from either original ideas or present new slants on properties from Hanna-Barbera's and MGM's library. Hanna-Barbera's World Premiere Toons will debut in a simulcast on the Cartoon Network, TBS Superstation and TNT on Feb. 20, 1995. After their debut, they will precede an animated feature film franchise known as Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theatre each Sunday evening at 7 p.m. (ET), only on the Cartoon Network. Additionally, WORLD PREMIERE TOONS will be featured in heavy rotation along with other lauded Cartoon Network fare such as classic Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes cartoons.
The primary creative mandate for the World Premiere Toons is that the cartoons be funny.
The idea for creating cartoon shorts grew out of the annual meeting of the Cartoon Network Advisory Board. Board members include some of cartoon history's greatest directors, Friz Freleng, John Kricfalusi, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Their observations that the best cartoons and characters came from the director's freedom to create one cartoon at a time prompted the launch of the project.
Seibert fine-tuned the concept, with input from Cohen, who had been eager to add new creations to the Cartoon Network's programming slate.
"While animation continued to evolve, the elements that make a great cartoon have remained constant," says Fred Seibert, president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc. "The pinnacle of the cartoon creative process-and subsequently cartoons' best moments-came from shorts. When the industry was focused on producing shorts, classic characters were born that are still loved by millions today. That was a golden era, and we want to re-create that."
"The Cartoon Network and Hanna-Barbera are taking a novel approach by concentrating on the creation of great cartoon characters one-short-at-a-time," says Betty Cohen, president of the network. "We hope to create the cartoon stars of tomorrow by allowing hand-picked animators to have free reign over their own productions. What other network can provide such an ideal venue for a project of this kind? This is a gigantic leap towards the fulfillment of a goal we have pursued since our launch-to change the cartoon world in a positive way."
Filling A Short Order
Hanna-Barbera began its talent search by combing the nation for young talent, utilizing advertisements in animation and entertainment trades, and posting inquiries to art schools nationwide.
Pitch meetings are held routinely-with executives from Hanna-Barbera and the Cartoon Network-to determine the next crop of shorts to put into production. Seibert and Cohen have been steadily recruiting established animators as well.
Seibert explains the importance of the pitch: "We're using a process that is reminiscent of some of the industry's greatest cartoonists-from Tex Avery to Hanna and Barbera. The real creative difference in the way that we're taking these pitches is that traditionally in the cartoon business somebody comes in and says, 'Imagine a pig.' They don't show you a picture of a pig, they say, 'Imagine a pig, but he's really a superhero.' You go, 'Okay, I can do that.' And they say, 'Well, now give me money and I'll develop it into a cartoon.' So, what we've asked these guys to do, and this crew brought on so far has really jumped into it whole-hog, is to develop the cartoons the way classic cartoons have always been developed. Not with a typewriter on a page, but with their pencil, drawing characters, and writing dialogue in under the storyboards. And they're really coming in and pitching us a full cartoon, not a concept."
Seibert continues, "Because in the end, I don't know what the concept is behind some of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen. You know, whether it be Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry. There's not a real concept there. What it represents is the ability of the filmmaker to be funny and hold our attention for six minutes. So this pitch meeting gets as close as possible to having the cartoon before actually seeing it, because they're really telling us the whole story right there. It's not a concept, it's a story."
The studio and network will continue to take pitches from animators the world over. In fact, a production team is presently touring Europe on a talent search.
If the pitch is successful and their project is greenlighted, the creator/animator starts working on their project, fleshing out the characters, rewriting the dialogue, giving input into the recording sessions. They even select the music and work with a composer on scoring. All 48 shorts will be overseen by Buzz Potamkin, executive producer and Larry Huber, supervising producer.
Fresh out of school and just-signed to produce his "Johnny Bravo" short, Van Partible sums up the inherent opportunities of the studio-based project to pluck and groom new talent. Partible says, "It's really neat, because the job I had before this, I was working at a school. I tried applying at all these other animation places and nobody liked me because I didn't have anything to show them. And then Hanna-Barbera had this talent search. They saw my student film and called me in. I had done this student film back in college-which was last year. And the studio told me 'Develop something,' and I was like 'Wow!' So it hasn't really hit me. You're working with all these people who've been working in the business longer than me. And they have so much to offer, and I've been learning a lot...and that's coming from someone who didn't know anything."
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are creating original characters for the first time in almost four decades. Ralph Bakshi, the renowned feature animator, has been signed to create five brand new cartoons as has Eddie Fitzgerald, a "Ren & Stimpy" alumnus.
"I think it's sensational. I think it's marvelous," comments Ralph Bakshi. "I think what Hanna-Barbera and Fred Seibert and the whole Cartoon Network are doing is amazing. These kids are coming in and being allowed to be themselves, which I think is the most important thing. In other words, not being pinned to trying to fit into a studio's reputation allows the cartoonist an exploding potential for creativity. What's happening here is sensational. I think what animation needs in its future is here in this project. That's very exciting to me. It also gets me going again."
World Premiere Toon Episode List
[Note: All Premiere Dates for the Cartoon Network United States only]
Awfully Lucky [March 26, 1997]
Bloo's Gang in: Bow Wow Bucaneer
Boid N' Worm
Buy One, Get One Free [October 30, 1996]
The Adventures of Captain Buzz Cheeply in: A Clean Getaway [June 25, 1995]
Courage the Cowardly Dog in: The Chicken From Outer Space
Cow and Chicken in: No Smoking [November 12, 1995]
Dexter's Laboratory
Dimwit Dexter
Dino in: Stay Out [March 19, 1995]
Dino in: The Great Egg-Scape [March 5, 1997]
Fat Cats in: Dry Dry Drips [July 16, 1995]
George and Junior in: Look Out Below [April 9, 1995]
George and Junior's Christmas Spectacular [July 23, 1995]
Godfrey and Zeke in: Lost Control [October 16, 1996]
Gramps
Hard Luck Duck [April 16, 1995]
Hillbilly Blue
The Ignoramooses [November 13, 1996]
Jof in: Help
Johnny Bravo [March 26, 1995]
Johnny Bravo in: The Amazon Women [March 12, 1997]
Jungleboy in: Mr. Monkeyman [October 9, 1996]
Kitchen Cassanova [November 6, 1996]
Larry and Steve
Malcom and Melvin [November 28, 1997]
Malcom and Melvin in: Babe, He Calls Me [November 28, 1997]
Mina And The Count: Interlude With A Vampire [November 5, 1995]
O. Ratz with Dave D. Fly in: Rat In A Hot Tin Can [July 2, 1995]
Phish and Chip in: Short Pfuse [July 9, 1995]
Phish and Chip 2 [March 19, 1997]
Pizza Boy in: No Tip
Podunk Possum in: One Step Beyond
The Powerpuff Girls in: Meet Fuzzy Lumpkins [March 12, 1996]
Powerpuff Girls in: Crime 101
Shake and Flick: Raw Deal in Rome [June 18th, 1995]
Sledgehammer O' Possum in: Out and About [February 8, 1997]
Sledgehammer O' Possum in: What's Goin On Back There
Snoot's New Squat
Strange Things
Swamp and Tad [February 22, 1997]
Tales of Worm Paranoia [November 28, 1997]
Tumbleweed Tex in: School Daze [October 23, 1996]
Wind-Up Wolf
Yoink! of the Yukon [July 30, 1995]
Yuckie Duck in: Short Orders [March 5, 1995]
Yuckie Duck in: I'm On My Way [August 6, 1995]
Zoonatiks [February 15, 1997]
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