A mature John Kricfalusi Discussion Thread

Now that I think about it... yeah, Disney only distributed it. The film had a troubled history. From IMDB:

Was originally in development at Disney, with John Lasseter set to direct. Lasseter planned to use a combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and computer generated imagery for the characters, making it the first animated feature to attempt it. Executives, however, lost interest when they found that the film would not have been any less expensive with computer animation (they were only interested in CGI as a cost-cutting measure) and pulled the plug on the ambitious project. Lasseter left Disney for Pixar, while the rest of the team took the film outside and managed to produce it independently (without any computer animation). The film was eventually bought by Disney, shown on the Disney Channel and became a cult hit. As for the animators, many of them eventually returned to Disney to work on such films as Beauty and the Beast (1991) and -The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)_, as well as some of Pixar's early feature films.

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Regardless... seeing Kricfalusi compliment an 80s feature film is quite a rare thing.
 
How did John Kricfalusi start his career? I seem to recall that he was a designer on GALAXY HIGH, which was quite ahead of it's time in my opinion.

Reading all of these opinionated rants by John K, I wonder how he lasted so long in the 80s working on the kind of product he seemed to so obviously despise?

I thought Tiny Toons and Animaniacs were often incredibly scathing, satirical cartoon shows that wore their respect for WB animation heritage proudly on their hearts. Remember the Batman episode with Sean Young auditioning as Catwoman?? Or the great Bambi send up where that old lady squirrel takes her sensitive grandson to meet the "dead" mother of Bambi in Mexico? Just a riot through and through. To my mind much more sophisticated than Ren and Stimpy, while managing to retain a sense of taste, too.

I do agree with K's comments about Babs Bunny- some of the "let's do lunch" stuff was gratingly unfunny, and trying to be yuppy relevant. Still, a small misfire.
 
I believe his first job was at Filmation. There he met Eddie Fitzgerald, Bill Wray, Bruce Timm and a few others there that would later shape Spumco.

Yes, John (and just about everyone who worked there) knew that the Filmation stuff was crap, but he put up with it just to gain experience.
 
Wow...John actually stated he liked the brave little toaster, now that is a rare thing. Even more rare about it is that is from the 80's...But didnt like John hated Disney?
 
He never said anything about DCAU. Bruce Timm technically never worked at Spumco (that I know of), but he did work with John on "Mighty Mouse" at Bakshi's and on the short-lived "Beany and Cecil" revival.
 
Does anyone else see JK as the Quentin Tarantino of animation? The way he is so obsessed with retro stylised conventions and form, like the classic Hollywood animation, things like close ups done as background art, and not to forget his use of old lounge and Exotica music from the 50s and 60s tracked into his cartoons (I seem to remember a Laurie Johnson track on Ren and Stimpy). All while being incrdilby crude, ironic and subversive with the content, just like Tanratino...

Just my opinion.
 
I feel kinda stupid for asking this, but I wanna know.
WHERE has his career gone since ren and stimpy? what does he even do for a living these days? I know he's made music videos for people and such but really...

also, it's a shame he thinks bruce tim sucks cause I think he is a really talented artist.

John K, I honestly don't hate this guy. He is a very talented artist/animator and he does make some good points about art here and there. Be he just seems way too self absorbed.
 
His career basically has gone the route of Pauly Shore. Hit it really big in the early 90's then bottomed off fast and does tiny things here and there now.
 
If you're talking about the **** Her Gently video, then John K. had nothing directly to do with that (despite it being a Spumco production). If you're talking about the Classico video, then yeah, he's to blame.



Yeah, John K. has criticized the Simpsons, but doesn't flat out hate them


Yeah, the production of TTA's first season seems nightmarish in retrospect, which fascinates me.





To be fair Tiny Toons had its own usergroup back in the day, in 1990-1992, a time when the only other cartoons getting that much attention on the internet were the Simpsons and Ren & Stimpy, so TTA had a considerable adult fanbase even way back then. And Animaniacs had a huge following of all ages bothe online and off-line, and in 1995,as part of Animania IV, a select few members of the Animaniacs usergroup were given a tour of the Warner Bros. Animation offices (which I think is really special and may be proof that the Animaniacs writers appreciated their fans considerably and weren't just hacks)



I can't think of a single animation magazine other than Wild Cartoon Kingdom that badmouthed either show. And I own a decent-sized collection of animation magazines from that time period.


There was more to the classic Warners shorts than just weapons and explosives (not that I'm claiming that TTA was any where near the same level of excellence that the classics were)



This I pretty much agree with. The Warners, Pinky & The Brain and Slappy Squirrel were pretty good, Rita & Runt and the Goodfeathers had their moments, but the rest were forgettable at best.

Thing the Honey episode was written by Tom Ruegger (the senior producer and main creative force behind TTA, Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Freakazoid, etc.) and Sherri Stoner (often considered one of the best writers for TTA) and story edited by none other than Paul Dini (I have half a mind to ask Paul how so many historical inaccuracies got past his judgement, but I digress). And Dave Mackey (who is still a member of the online animation fandom today) said in Animato Magazine (which you claimed in another thread bashed TTA, but from what I can tell they really didn't) that the Honey episode was great and gave it a good rating (he rated all the TTA episodes and gave them fair judgement).




I'll admit that there were a lot of Tiny Toon episodes that ranged from forgettable to bad (maybe more than there were good episodes, especially in the highly uneven and experimental first season), but there are at least a handful of TTA episodes I'd recommend you check out, based on your tastes. The episodes written by Tom Ruegger, Ben Hurst (also wrote on Sonic the Hegehog SatAM) Tom Minton (worked on Bakshi's Mighty Mouse and Darkwing Duck, among other things. Wrote some of the best, in-jokiest episodes of Animaniacs), Paul Dini, and Sherri Stoner tend to be among the better ones. Here are a few TTA episodes I recommend almost everyone watch at least once (unless they cannot stand WB 90's cartoon comedies at all):
The Looney Beginning: A decent introduction to the show. Perhaps the best use of Bugs in the series.

The Wheel O' Comedy is pretty good. And Test Stress is pretty cartoony, perhaps due to the direction of John K. protege Rich Arons.

Her Wacky Highness has a weak plot and writing, but the fun animation and landscapes make it worth watching IMHO.

Starting From Scratch is a tribute to An American Tail. Might sound sappy, but the animation is great (perhaps Wang's finest work up to that point), and I thought it was bearable.

Prom-ise her Anything is one of the more character-based episodes, and you may even feel sorry for Elmyra when you watch it.

Animaniacs! is a tour-de-force in explaining the animation process, even has a small reference to the storyboard-vs.-script controversy.

Inside Plucky Duck is worth watching just for the first segment, Bat's All Folks, a real treat for Batman fans (and note that it was made by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm just before B:TAS started).
The two music video episodes (Tiny Toon Music Television and Toon TV) are definite watermarks.

K-ACME TV and Acme Cable TV are perhaps the funniest TTA episodes ever, jam-packed with hilarious fake commericals and the like.

Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian is definitely memorable.

The DTV movie How I Spent My Vacation is also jam-packed with laughs and make characters very likable.

Thirteensomething was Spielberg's favorite episode,and may be the most emotional and fine-tuned of the bunch.

Two-Tone Town is everything the Honey episode should have been (and it's not so historically inaccurate, other than pairing up Goopy Geer with Foxy, which never happened in the golden age).

Washingtoon has (from what Speedy says, I haven't seen the episode in ages) a great speech about how homogenized, passive cartoons insult the audience's intelligence that may move you even if you don't think TTA follows it.

And lastly, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special is a fitting conclusion to the series.
 
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