WB animation in my opinon created the best toons on television in the 90's. Then around 2005 they went in a creative slump. Now in 2010 in looks like they have new management who know what they're doing. With Batman:TBATB, Scooby Doo Mystery Inc, and the upcoming Young Justice, Green Latern, and Thundercats series, not to mention the Looney tunes show. I think WB television animation is experincing it's second silver age.
Do you think WB animation is in a second renaissance?
- Thread starter cyncity
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It's really far too early to tell.
A big part of what made their late 90s / early 2000s Renaissance was their marketing and packaging.
Toonzai offers them a very good upcoming opportunity to recreate that concentrated coolness factor of Toonami. It just REALLY comes down how well they are going to use it.
A big part of what made their late 90s / early 2000s Renaissance was their marketing and packaging.
Toonzai offers them a very good upcoming opportunity to recreate that concentrated coolness factor of Toonami. It just REALLY comes down how well they are going to use it.
Katy at Star City.
New member
Since most of these upcoming shows (The Looney Tunes Show, Thundercats, Green Lantern, Young Justice) haven't premiered yet, it's far too soon to declare this the latest WB Renaissance. We'll just have to wait and see how this crop of shows performs and fares with audiences.
-Though I personally hope The Looney Tunes Show does well; we could use something decent done with the Looney Tunes characters. I'm not feeling these announced CGI/live-action movies built around Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzalez and Bugs Bunny. We'll need something good LT-related to wash the tastes of those projects out of our collective mouths, should they happen and go the predictable route.
-Though I personally hope The Looney Tunes Show does well; we could use something decent done with the Looney Tunes characters. I'm not feeling these announced CGI/live-action movies built around Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzalez and Bugs Bunny. We'll need something good LT-related to wash the tastes of those projects out of our collective mouths, should they happen and go the predictable route.
mom_single_sexy
New member
While the majority of the upcoming shows seem promising, I wouldn't say it's a "renaissance" per say. To me a renaissance requires something truly innovative, something that's memorable. A lot of animation studios had that "memorable" factor in the majority of their productions throughout the 90's. Nick and Cartoon Network were reviving creator-driven shows as well as the idea of cartoon shorts, Disney pumped out a string of some of their most popular movies, and WB was also making magic with people like Bruce Timm and Tom Ruegger, with the help of Steven Speilberg.
It seems to me that nowadays the majority of the aforementioned studios are trying hard to recreate that spontaneous magic which crept into the animation studio back in the 90's. Cartoon Network is trying to do cartoons with more mature humor (but in my opinion they're kind of missing the mark a bit), Disney is attempting (or was attempting) to return to their well-known hand-drawn features with the musical Princess and the Frog, and WB has more series' in production than it has had in the past few years. So I will say that I have noticed that these specific studios have been trying to recapture the glory that was the 90's animation industry, but there's still a certain "spark" that's missing from the majority of cartoons, whether they are made for TV or theatrical. Sometimes I think that there isn't really a way to create an animation "renaissance", and that the renaissance just happens spontaneously. Who would have thought that after a couple of decades of an animation rut (the 70's and 80's), the huge animation boom of the 90's would happen? The reason it did happen is simply because the right people were at the right places at the right time. Good animators and cartoonists were given good opportunities, and the execs in the business were at the right studios doing the right things.
Conclusively, I don't think there's a WB renaissance going on yet, nor do I think that any of the other studios- Cartoon Network, Disney (both theatrical and TV), Nick- are experiencing renaissances either. The only one I can say might be experiencing one is Pixar, and it's glory never really ended since it all began with Toy Story back in the day. But the main thing that matters is that WB, as well as other networks, are trying to create good animation again. They still have a few kinks to work out, but trying is always the first road on the path to success. Maybe in a few years from now, when the industry has shuffled once more, we will have another renaissance just like the 90's.
It seems to me that nowadays the majority of the aforementioned studios are trying hard to recreate that spontaneous magic which crept into the animation studio back in the 90's. Cartoon Network is trying to do cartoons with more mature humor (but in my opinion they're kind of missing the mark a bit), Disney is attempting (or was attempting) to return to their well-known hand-drawn features with the musical Princess and the Frog, and WB has more series' in production than it has had in the past few years. So I will say that I have noticed that these specific studios have been trying to recapture the glory that was the 90's animation industry, but there's still a certain "spark" that's missing from the majority of cartoons, whether they are made for TV or theatrical. Sometimes I think that there isn't really a way to create an animation "renaissance", and that the renaissance just happens spontaneously. Who would have thought that after a couple of decades of an animation rut (the 70's and 80's), the huge animation boom of the 90's would happen? The reason it did happen is simply because the right people were at the right places at the right time. Good animators and cartoonists were given good opportunities, and the execs in the business were at the right studios doing the right things.
Conclusively, I don't think there's a WB renaissance going on yet, nor do I think that any of the other studios- Cartoon Network, Disney (both theatrical and TV), Nick- are experiencing renaissances either. The only one I can say might be experiencing one is Pixar, and it's glory never really ended since it all began with Toy Story back in the day. But the main thing that matters is that WB, as well as other networks, are trying to create good animation again. They still have a few kinks to work out, but trying is always the first road on the path to success. Maybe in a few years from now, when the industry has shuffled once more, we will have another renaissance just like the 90's.
So am I the only one who thinks exactly like the topic creator? Maybe there will never be a renaissance to compare with the 90's Silver Age, but as of right now, Warner Bros. Animation is my favorite TV animation studio by far.
Not only have they successfully picked themselves up from their despicable slump, they're playing a vital role in making Cartoon Network great again, since that's where all their new high-profile shows are heading. Batman: TB&TB is a great comedy-action series (although it's ending next spring), Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc has a lot of potential to reinvigorate that franchise, MAD should provide bitingly hilarious sketch humor without the excesses of Robot Chicken (and yes, I know MAD existed way before that), Young Justice should be a slam-dunk with DC animation fans considering the people involved.
And aside from CGI Coyote/Runner, The Looney Tunes Show will be great as well. I hope it's successful enough to carry the property and clean up whatever damage the upcoming live-action/CGI movie might do.
Not only have they successfully picked themselves up from their despicable slump, they're playing a vital role in making Cartoon Network great again, since that's where all their new high-profile shows are heading. Batman: TB&TB is a great comedy-action series (although it's ending next spring), Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc has a lot of potential to reinvigorate that franchise, MAD should provide bitingly hilarious sketch humor without the excesses of Robot Chicken (and yes, I know MAD existed way before that), Young Justice should be a slam-dunk with DC animation fans considering the people involved.
And aside from CGI Coyote/Runner, The Looney Tunes Show will be great as well. I hope it's successful enough to carry the property and clean up whatever damage the upcoming live-action/CGI movie might do.
Helpy_Helper
New member
I wouldn't say that WB animation is in a "second renaissance", I would more or less say that it's enjoying something of a small spike with tons of room for improvement. The success of The Looney Tunes Show and Mystery Incorperated will weigh heavily on how WBA will be precieved in this day and age, and DVD sales of WBA titles will have to find some success as well, just churning out a bunch of stuff and having nobody watch wouldn't count as a true WB animation success. By this time next year we should know more about wheather or not WBA is at the top of their game or not, I'm hoping The Looney Tunes Show is a huge success and that DVD sales for WB's titles are very high, especially the superhero related stuff that they plan to release.
TLC fan #1
New member
It's not that I flatly disagree with the notion, it's just that I prefer taking a 'wait and see' approach before pulling out the party hats and celebrating. People on the internet throw terms like "classic", "genius", "Renaissance", "Golden Age" and "Silver Age" around too liberally for my tastes. Yes, some of WB existing and upcoming projects either seem to be doing OK or have the potential to be good, that doesn't automatically scream "Renaissance" in my book. We have to see how these shows do and if they can keep up a consistent level of quality and success before we can rightfully slap that label onto them.
Okay. I guess I did jump the gun a little bit. I don't think WB is in it's renaissance quite yet per say, but they are miles ahead of what anyone else is doing right now when it comes to quality animation. Phienas and Ferb aside, is there anything remotely intresting coming from Disney anytime soon? (And marvel projects don't count, I dont care if they own them or not, when was the last time Disney has made anything of quailty on their own?) Nickelodeon has regressed to banal, juvenile humor with fanboy and chum chum and aside from the upcoming new Avatar and TMNT series nothing from there looks that much better. What I like about WB animation and Cartoon Network is that they appeal to an general audience and embrace the older audience. It looks like the guys from Hasbro and the new Hub network have that same forward thinking plan in mind. They don't pigeon-hole themselves by appealing to one narrow demographic and completely ignoring everyone else like Nick or Disney.
There's definitely some promising material that are planned to come out. I hope the best for Greg Weisman's Young Justice, the new Green Lantern show should catch my interest, as a diehard Looney Tunes fan, I feel compelled to watch it, and Thundercats could always be good. I also think that Brave & the Bold and Scooby-Doo, Mysterys Inc are good shows. Still, it's a little too early to say that they have a second renaissance going on.
I can say that this is the first time in over a decade that Warner's animation department has captured my interest as much as it is now. I think the last time they had as many shows that I like or thought would be good was around the time Pokemon was added to Kids WB, and when Spielberg/Ruegger's shows were still running alongside Batman/Superman.
I can say that this is the first time in over a decade that Warner's animation department has captured my interest as much as it is now. I think the last time they had as many shows that I like or thought would be good was around the time Pokemon was added to Kids WB, and when Spielberg/Ruegger's shows were still running alongside Batman/Superman.
Although I agree with most, it's too soon to tell, I will say that I haven't been this excited for a block of programming in a long while--almost too long. All of their shows look so promising, but I guess we will have to wait and see if they're worth all the anticipation (the animation quality from what I've seen though looks freakin beautiful 
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