Growing up watching a lot of TV, especially Saturday morning cartoons (and old reruns on weekdays); one particular group of cartoons, while not a majority, and not something I would then think much about, really stood out. A rotating producer credit in the closing, and later opening sequences. A director's large diagonally written signature always beginning the closing credits. Many of the closing credits being done in what looked like a well handwritten serif font. On more comedic shows, different pitched horn blasts indicating an ascending level of slapstick funniness in the jokes. In the more serious adventure shows, you had nicely orchestrated background music, the cues being very memorable to me. There was just nothing else like this in the kids TV shows of the 70's.
I had never paid much attention to credits; thinking they were an annoying waste of time. I was familiar with the name "Hanna-Barbera Productions", as they were the number one TV animation studio, and had many series in syndication by that time, such as the all familar Flintstones, Jetsons, and Magilla. On Saturdays, you had the still new Scooby series, and plenty others. But that was all I really noticed. Eventually I notice "DFE" (DePatie-Freleng Enterprises) because of all the Pink Panther shows airing. They also did a few other shows I watched, and Freleng's name could be found on old Looney Tunes as well. But it was this other company that really stood out from them all. About age 11, I see that it was now the new Batman cartoon that had some of those same score cues I had remembered years earlier from Lassie and Star Trek. Still a year after that; I begin chronicling who made what on the new Saturday shows. The Batman show was now apart of a 90 minute package on CBS called "Tarzan and the Super 7". The Tarzans also used some of those same cues, but both series had also added newer cues with more synthesizers, and it was not quite as good as the old Lassie and Star Trek, and also the Brady Kids. (The rich orchestration was dropped, and the new music consisted of mostly bass and horns with the synths). Lassie's Rescue Rangers around this time also entered a syndicated package called "Groovie Goolies and Friends". The Groovie Goolies was one of those comedic shows I remembered. The most familiar, being the Archie series, from which GG ultimately spun off of. A series of comedic shows based on the Sunday funnies using the Archie type score was on NBC, the only such show on that network. This season, CBS was dominated by this company, with only one hour of Hanna Barbera (All New Popeye at 8), folowed by the hour and a half Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner show at 9, and then the Tarzan hour and a half. Follwing Tarzan and the Super Seven, was Space Academy, a live action show also having the same cues and the rotating credit. (This I more recently found out, was their original idea for the Star Trek series. It was supposed to be younger versions of the Enterprise crew as space cadets —and this well over a decade before the "younger versions of shows" fad began, but Roddenberry objected. So Star Trek was kept with the normal character ages, but the "cadet" idea was later dusted off for this series fearuring Lost In Space's Johnathan Harris as the commander). Next, was Fat Albert, which had it's own stock of score different from the other shows; and I had watched for years thinking it was probably Hanna Barbera (it has the same basic sound effects as the original Scooby Doo Where Are You), but I find is by the same company. Finally, at 1 in the afternoon, the lineup ended with Ark II, a live action show I found rather depressing, as it was about trying to start over on a devastated Earth.
The company's name: Filmways. Uh, no; I got it mixed up; that was the name of the owner of another animation company, the new Ruby Spears studio on ABC, a network for some reason having no cartoons by this other studio with a similar name-- FILMATION! The "O" being a smiling face with a boomerang shaped bracket (like a circumflex accent) above it. Newer shows having copies of the name logo mesh together from four different directions. It was not until recently I found that the smiling "O" face was supposed to represent a TV set (the angle thing being the antenna). That makes sense. This was actually derived from a similar logo I used to see on early Chuck Jones Tom & Jerry's: The SIB logo, which had the circumflex bracket, as well as a larger upside down one, both pointing to the "I". It always reminded me of Filmation. I had no idea, until recently, they were actually connected! Before Sib and producer Walter Bien worked with Jones at MGM (and the "Tower 12" was added to the name), the company had hired the yet unincorporated "Filmation Associates" (Basically, head producer Lou Scheimer, director Hal Sutherland and background artist Erv Kaplan) to animate its "Rod Rocket" cartoon. Rod Rocket, credited by Lenburg's Cartoon Encyclopedia as "Filmation's first fully animated show", was widely credited elsewhere as being produced by "Ji-ro Enterprises", though that name is not credited. Also, Filmation was supposedly known as "True Line" at the time, though Filmation is what is credited for "production designed by". Then, in the past couple of years, screenshots of the cartoon's credits with the Sib logo suddenly appear on Toontracker's entry on the show. (And I quickly add the info to the Wikipedia article). There was also a Life of Christ series done by the Associates the same year, for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's Family Films. (Screenshots also included in link; along with, now, YouTube videos (!) of both shows!)
Sib was bought out by Paramount at some point, and that is probably what the lower bracket was about: the summit associated with the Paramount logo. So basically, this was a stylized way of representing a TV set sitting on top of a mountain. (The brackets remained when they went on to produce the theatrical Tom & Jerry's, which then were neither Paramount, nor made for TV!) Filmation apparently once had the lower bracket as well, though it did not appear on any of its shows. In the Archie Show DVD, there is a reprint of an actual Archie Comic made to accompany the debut of the show, where the gang actually visits the studio and meets the staff. Both in the comic, and in a real life picture, we see the Filmation logo with both brackets on the sign on the roof of the studio! There is also a picture of a sign on a wall with it on the Star Trek Animated series DVD.
So I really began following Filmation. They would go on to do a new "sanitized" version of Mighty Mouse (I liked this one, as I never did like the old Mighty Mouse, the way he beats up on cats and all; see first essay at top of page). The funniest moment was when someone fired a "liquidator ray" at Mighty Mouse; which then says "You can call me Ray — Or, you can call me liquidator..."; spoofing then popular TV commercial personality Ray J. Johnson (who we named a kitten born around this time, with a patch of black on his face resembling Johnson's "Einstein" mustache, after!) Then, there were the New Fat Alberts, with the musical segment replaced by a "Brown Hornet" cartoon they watch, which pertains to the subject of the story. Then, a favorite of many other people, though I wasn't that into it: the Flash Gordon series. The following year, the most unimagineable adaptation! Rival Hanna Barbera's premiere "golden age" theatrical characters, Tom and Jerry! I had been imagining what it would be like for Filmation to produce Tom and Jerry. The series had been through two other studios already, and the last adaptation had been by original creators Hanna Barbera, but they had been made almost completely friends! This fit to some extent, as they would at times team up under certain situations in the old series, but it was seen by many as a total departure from the old series. Filmation would actually bring back the chase, and even some of the side characters like Droopy, Spike and Tyke, not used by any of the other productions after the end of original MGM run in 1958. Unfortunately, like the second series (the Czech one with the funny sound effects), Tom never "won" in this one. And as I'll discuss shortly, the music. You also had frequent remakes of such classic Tom & Jerry gags as Tom crashing back and forth into a rake and hoe on the ground. And Tom nodding "no" pleading to Jerry not to do something, while Jerry nods "yes" and proceeds to do it. They seemed to understand the characters, as you have classic T&J moments in an episode like "Spike's Birthday", where Tom foolishly teases some fish with Spike's steak, and later breaks the fourth wall laughing to us at Spike eating the phony steak he replaced the original one with. This and several episodes can be seen on You Tube, but mostly dubbed in foreign langages. Here is the opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dS-k3u0irY (For some reason, embedding was disabled on this one). Once there, you will begin seeing the other titles on the side.
In 1979 and 1980, it seems the old "orchestrated" pieces I had liked were dropped completely. But Mighty Mouse and Brown Hornet reused old Groovie Goolies stock. Mighty Mouse and Tom and Jerry brought back the comedic horn blasts (like when someone gets hit with a pie or something). Occasionally, some of the shorter old cues would be thrown in, such as the familiar orchestral sforzando indicating "sudden danger", when Barney Bear falls behind a rotating bookcase in a haunted house in "Scared Bear". Or the Brady Kids "day in the park" type piece that Heckle or Jeckle briefly plays on a harmonica in a closing gag. It was a couple of years later, that the mid season replacement Sport Billy finally brought back all of the old Lassie style pieces. These were all composed by legendary musician Ray Ellis. I never knew this name, as for one thing, the credits would always flash by the music credit so fast; I never caught the actual name. All I could notice is the name of the publication company "Shermley Music". So that's what I knew it as. Even if I could see the name, it still wouldn't have been right. Ellis was credited on early shows like the original Archie's, but afterwards, began using pseudonyms (as many credits in this studio were!) First, it was "Marc Ellis" (his son). Then, the most common was "Yvette Blais [his wife] and Jeff Michael" [the first names of co-producer Norm Prescott's sons]. Inbetween, and on special movies such as Treasure Island, it was "George Blais" (most likely an in-law; I would imagine).
It seems his talent, or at least that of the studio's music editors sort of dried up after 1974, as everything became increasingly synthesized in a gaudy fashion, or simply reused stock. The low point was the Tom and Jerry series itself. The score consisted of nice chasing style tunes, but they were done with piercing, oddly toned or dissonant synth sounds, and basically the same three or so tunes reused over and over (though different versions set to different tempos). These episodes, when eventually mixed with other Tom & Jerry's in syndication or cable years later, really stood out, even moreso than the notably odd Czech ones.
So the old cues in Sport Billy were a nice reprieve, as after that, the studio changed for good. One of the producers, Norm Prescott, left, and the rotating credit (devised by Scheimer to not make one look superior by having one name first or on top like would usually be done), was replaced by Scheimer's signature. The old music was gone for good; Ellis leaving and replaced by Haim Saban, who also was DiC's musician. Ellis would that same season score the game show "Sale of the Century", and the opening theme clearly evoked some of his most familiar work at Filmation. Similar to the Shazam theme, and using whatever that percussion effect he always used was. Then, there was a completely new logo that spelled out the studio name, in a new font (by new owner Group W), to some descending xylophone or other reed notes. The first show to highlight all of this: the smash hit He-Man and the Masters of the Universe! The one show people would rave over and demand be brought to Cartoon Network, in the midst of all the criticism of everything else the studio did! I watched it, but was not really into it, and to me it was over. I called this "Neo-Filmation", and I was interested in the "hey day" of the 70's! Also that year, they were now completely off the networks (except for some reruns, and soon they were gone), and now entirely syndicated. In a few years, the studio dwindles down to about one new series per season, and finally disappears. When a new Archie and He-Man series were made by other studios, I knew they were gone!
Entering the Internet age, I begin seeing the utter disdain people had towards the studio. Over what they call its "limited animation" techniques, particularly reused sequences. I had noticed some of this, especially on the musical segments of many shows, which shows both scenes from the episode's story, as well as the same shots of the band playing. Bands such as Archies and Brady's also looked very similar, and were probably the same cells with the heads changed (as critics speculate). But this was really no worse than Hanna Barbera's famed "background loop" (where people pass the same objects over and over, and heavily parodied on Cartoon Network productions). As far as character movement, to me, the worse animation was the Total Television/Jay Ward stuff (Bullwinkle, etc) and Japanese stuff like Speed Racer. Looking at the Filmation animation now in comparison, I see what they're saying, but on shows such as Lassie, or the Brady's, it was the backgrounds that made up for this, and are part of what made the shows memorable. On Fat Albert and the Oliver Twist movie, you even have 3D perspective (rooftops on houses closer to you move faster than those further away), which you didn't really see anywhere else. Critics also make a big deal of laugh tracks; but I don't even notice this unless I am listening for it. Various copies of Scooby also had it, along with others. Eventually, the studio's name would be sometimes mimicked as "Phlegmation"; based on a spoof of it in an Animaniacs episode.
What was worse, is that since most of Filmation's productions were adaptations of other people's properties (almost NO completely original concepts!), they would be divided all over the place, and not have a solid base of airing in the cable age, like Hanna Barbera and Warner Brothers would have on Turner's networks. Scheimer should have sold to someone interested in animation, instead of a cosmetic company that only wanted to reap the profits from the properties and then close the studio down. So while we would get our "retro" kick in the 90's to the present, with nearly the whole Hanna Barbera and Warner Bros. library (and others like Pink Panther turning up from time to time), this experience would be almost totally devoid of Filmation! The reliving of childhood Saturday morning was not complete with just HB and not Filmation! It was like a hole in the whole recollection! The only Filmation shows that would air on Cartoon Network would be franchises owned by Turner, or Warner Brothers. Namely, the Tom & Jerry's and Droopy's; relegated to the status as block fillers, and only occasionally at that; and the now WB-owned DC comics library, which were Filmation's first series in the 60's before HB took over with the Superfriends in the 70's. Also, the WB owned Treasure Island and Oliver Twist movies used to play on Cartoon Network's "Mr. Spim's theater", before disappearing for good in favor of endless Fievel and Balto runs for awhile. When Filmation series did air on other cable stations, such as Sci Fi channel, TVLand, and the Hallmark Channel/Odyssey (at that time, the owner of most of the library), by the time Time Warner Cable of NY got these stations, they were gone from the schedules! It was maddening!
I felt so sorry for the studio, ending its run like that, (along with the whole "Ghostbusters" debacle, discussed Entertainment essays) and being so hated. BTW, I eventually find out online that they were off of ABC for good, because of the colossal failure of the Uncle Crock's block show in 1975. I vaguely remembered that, and strongly remembered the Fraidy Cat and Wacky and Packy animated segments (an unusual occurrence of all new characters from the studio). They, along with the third segment, M-U-S-H (a canine spoof of M*A*S*H; they wanted to do a MASH cartoon, but were turned down. I think that would have been nice, like Lassie, and probably done them good, instead of this lame knockoff) all played on Groovie Goolies and Friends. By 1983, the other two networks would follow.
So they as well as the Hanna Barbera character Scrappy Doo would be the constant subject of berating in turn-of-the-millennium internet discussions. In both cases, however, tides turned, and fans like myself made our voices known. A company would get the rights to as much of the shows as they could, and produce DVD's of them, and a Yahoo group and other fansites keep us informed of which shows are coming out! A person directly involved in the DVD production, Andy Mangels, would be a regular member in the group!) Viacom would also put out a "Star Trek TAS" box set, at a somewhat hefty price (and thus I got for Christmas). My very first Wikipedia edit, BTW, was on the Filmation article! You Tube also, has a lot of old Filmation stuff.
Despite all the detraction, Filmation's adaptations of third-party shows are what made it memorable. To me, Hanna Barbera had pretty much dried up by the 70's. Their strongest shows were the slapstick comedies in the early to mid 60's, followed by the "Super Adventures" shows of the mid to late 60's. These had memorable, and in the case of the Super Adventures, orchestrated score cues, like Filmation. (Except that the HB cues by Hoyt Curtin were more jazzy, while many of Ellis' cues were like classical compositions!) After 1967, in reaction to cartoon violence, all of this was toned down, and HB scrambled to find a new winning formula. What they soon came up with, of course, was the highly successful Scooby format. This was very good, and is my favorite. But then what happens, is that almost everything else HB puts out copies the formula (and much of its score), due to rival networks ordering something similar. Even the spinoff studio Ruby-Spears (who actually are the creators of Scooby when they worked at HB) copied it. The few comedy shows left were lame compared to the 60's. It was always nice to see a fresh now HB show such as Hong Kong Phooey, but looking back on it, there is not much substance to it compared to the earlier comedies. A new "superadventure" formula was perfected in the Superfriends, and then, everything that was not Scooby-like or lame comedy, would copy the style of Superfriends. Most of Hoyt Curtin's score gradually mellowed down to just anonymous bland backgrounds, and the reuse of Scooby score (a lot of it already being reused from the previous season's shows) even disappeared eventually. So Filmation moved in, with its unique score, richer backgrounds, and adaptations of popular shows like Star Trek and Gilligan, which as prepackaged concepts were more interesting than most new ideas. To me, this more than made up for any "limited animation".
What it seems like to me, is that someone out there with clout bore some resentment to the studio or its leaders. Both HB and DFE stemmed from golden age theatrical studio animation units, with the producers "graduating" from decades as directors, upon the old studios closing. Scheimer, Prescott, and their director, Hal Sutherland, seemed to come from out of nowhere, and suddenly, almost overnight rise up to give HB a run for their money on Saturday mornings, and far surpass DFE! (And also Rankin-Bass, which probably would have become the third major studio if not for Filmation; and is now known mostly for its holiday specials). I remember reading an interview with Freleng, where he was showing some sarcastic resentment of his animators leaving and working at Filmation. Virgil Ross was the primary one, who was there for years! Some others were, too, such as Fleischer/Famous studios veteran Lou Zukor. I'm sure the stunt where they won their first major contract (Superman) by throwing together a phony production crew must have irked people as well; especially HB, whom some of the people came from on their lunch hour. Considering this is what propelled the company into its status as a big Saturday morning producer, which quickly took off from there through shows like Archie; people would then call it a "hack studio" because of that, whether their stuff was really that bad or not.
So knowing how people are about these things, people out there were probably miffed at these "upstarts" becoming so big so fast without "paying their dues" like they did. (Scheimer did get his start at UPA, and Sutherland was at Disney for awhile). So then, they begin picking on the animation, and this becomes the studio's "reputation", though somewhat unfairly, when looking at alot of the other made-for-TV stuff out there. It then becomes "cool" to put down Filmation (Just like Scrappy being remembered as being so "annoying", and then accused of destroying the entire Scooby series, to the point he was made the archvillain of the live action movie!) Then, entering the 90's, and the mainstream classic cartoons hit their golden anniversaries, sparking off a nostalgic kick in animation books, cable airings, and all; naturally, looking at Filmation's animation in comparison, it's like "Yeah, that really is bad! But it ignored that even the veteran animators' post-theatrical TV productions (HB Productions, DFE, Chuck Jones productions, or even of all people; Bob Clampett's "Beany and Cecil", etc) would not be as good as the golden age, with large movie studio budgets!
But even the much maligned "limited animation" is often put to good use, creating a stylized look! Like the way a character will zip out of a scene. Sometimes, they will jump up by rising vertically, leaning back stiffly, with nothing moving but their legs. Then, there's the way Tom or someone else often jumps up with their arms flailing wildly. Droopy's painting the entire background in one brush stroke in the wraparound segments. Tom's frantic attempt to put back together Spike's "birthday grub" after it has been ruined. Stylized limited animation is the reason anime has become such a rage! The most ironic slap in the face is that many of these animation critics, (as well as the rest of cartoon fandom), love it! Every anime show from the 60's up to the present looks like it was drawn and animated by the same person. (Actually, the design is based largely on the work of one person: Osamu Tezuka, creator of AstroBoy). Mouths are often just red holes in the face, and seem to go from completely open (and big) to completely closed (and tiny) in just two frames, along with other full movements doing the same. I was watching Hamitaro when it was on CN once, and the first thing that comes to mind is "how in the world could people be so hard on Filmation?" And the backgrounds on most do not help either.
And all the criticism ignores the fact that has been pointed out sometimes, that Filmation kept all the work in the US, where other studios increasingly outsourced the work off to Asia and a few other places. So they had a somewhat small staff, and did the best they could with what they had. They didn't do it just to mock the good name of animation; as you would think from listening to much of the criticism! As one person said on the Toonzone discussion following the BCI Eclise DVD licensing: "But really, just how many ways can Fat Albert walk down the street anyway? How many shots do you need of the Starship Enterprise flying through space? Did every Tarzan swinging through the jungle sequence require fresh animation? The answer is 'No'. Upper management knew that". In all, looking at many of the jokes and gags in the shows; you can see that they genuinely made an effort to try to entertain us! And for this they should be given credit.
Filmation history
Early 60's "Pre-Filmation"; Larry Harmon Productions: Scheimer, Sutherland and Kaplan animate Bozo and Popeye
1963-66 "Proto-Filmation": unincorporated "Associates" animate Rod Rocket and Life of Christ series for others
•Incorporates and produces commercials. Co-producer Norm Prescott arrives
1966-8 "Old Filmation": Gets first TV contracts with DC Superheroes series and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Musician is Gordon Zahler and different sound effects are used. Producer credit is double-lined and static
•1968, Transition: Ray Ellis arrives (except for Batman), but not the familiar later cues; Horta Mahana begins providing "HannaBarbera-esque" sound effects. Studio propelled into big time status with first Archie show
1969-71 Early Prime: Rotating Producer credit and some familiar Ellis cues added, including the horn blasts. (And Ellis begins using pseudonyms).
1972-4 Golden Years: Richly orchestrated cues added, Fat Albert debuts (with it's own jazzy stock music); the hit Star Trek and several other TV series adaptations (Studio now on all three networks); theatrical movies Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, and Journey Back to Oz. Final year, enters live action with Shazam; Producer credit moves to opening sequences
1975-8 End of golden period: Booted off ABC because of poorly performing Uncle Crock's Block; (mostly on CBS now) music talent begins waning; Tarzan, new Batmans and Super Seven are the hits. Animated end logo added; several War of the Worlds sound effects added.
1979-82 Late Prime: Studio takes on classic animation adaptations (Mighty Mouse, Tom & Jerry), increasing reuse of older score on some comedy shows; all new, overly synthesized score on most of the rest of the shows; Biggest hit is Flash Gordon, also does new animated Shazam, new Lone Ranger, and Zorro.
1983-8 "Neo-Filmation": total change! All new logo in "Group W" font; Prescott leaves; rotating producer credit replaced by Scheimer's signature; Ellis leaves and is replaced by Haim Saban (Of DiC/Saban fame); completely off of networks (except for occasional mid-season reruns, like Fat Albert's stint on NBC). Biggest hit of all time is He-Man and She-Ra. Ghostbusters conflict with new animated adaptation. Closes in the midst of production of new series Bugzburg.
1990's to present "Post-Filmation": DiC picks up both Archie and He-Man for new series; the latter distributed by "Parafrance Communications", which also twice releases Happily Ever After movie. Lou Scheimer Productions briefly attempts to continue the legacy, but is eventually closed down due to ailing health.
The Daffy/Porky—Groovie Goolies pairup
Anyway, perhaps the most hated of all of Filmation's productions, was the special they did using-- gasp-- several of the Looney Tunes characters! I first saw brief mention of it in Beck & Friewald's Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies guide. Then, I begin hearing all the negative stuff. I finally find it for sale online with the Mini Munsters and also Popeye and the Man who hated Laughter (All three airing on ABC's old "Saturday Superstar Movies" program). I figured I had to see it because it would be interesting to see Filmation's version of the Looney Tunes characters, and at the same time, this program being so hated by critics. How bad could it possibly be? Stephen Schneider of "That's All, Folks: The Art of the Warner Brothers Animation" dismissed it as part of the "dark period" of Warners animation and "the less said about this work, the better". That is so wrong, because even though it may not be as good as the classics, it was a use of the characters, and to me, the more off-center it is, the more interesting and deserving of discussion it is, though it may have been done poorly. All of this is subjective and one cannot dictate what is good universally; but that is what people do, like all the hatred I've seen directed at cartoons such as Scrappy Doo and Paul Fennell/Larry Harmon produced Popeyes (animated, ironically by Scheimer, Sutherland and Kaplan; one of the last things they did before forming the studio!), with people saying they should be "burned". There is no reason to try to revise history and destroy and write out of existence something just because it doesn't suit our tastes.
Likewise, "Ask Jerry Beck" (article Doesn't seem to be online anymore; at least not on his current sites) called it "an abominable mess". (His statements in a personal e-mail were even more pointed!) I could see why, but still, I think that is too harsh.
He and others have criticized the music. Just as I figured, it is mostly the familiar Ray Ellis Groovie Goolies stock, which was also used on Mighty Mouse/Heckle and Jeckle, and the Brown Hornet, and is very similar to the regular Fat Albert score. Just a lot of organs, which was common at the time. Certainly not "bland muzak" as Beck called it. It is nowhere near as bad as the Tom& Jerry/Droopy score. Then, of course, the animation, and laugh track.
Beck is right that most of the characters are reasonably drawn. He says Pepe LePew and Coyote are "particularly terrible". It was hard to tell, as the picture quality was horrible (this was a copy of an actual 30 year old tape of the TV show, and in Black & white (except for the opening and commercials). At first, at the conference table Pepe did look pretty bad, with a smaller, fluffy oval shaped face and a pointy nose almost like a real skunk, (Resembles a miniature Coyote, with a frown even! Coyote looked alright to me at this time). The problem with them seems to be slight distortions of their noses at times (but once again it was hard to tell with the blurry print). Coyote's nose & face looked particularly weird when he was getting sick from the pirate ship set rocking. But at other times they seemed OK. The King Arthur (Foghorn's) messenger looks alot like Charlie Dog, but doesn't sound like him.
He is certainly right on the voices, especially Daffy and Tweety being sped up too much and sounding like they're on helium. The "baritone Elmer" didn't sound that much different from Pre Hysterical Hare, and other instances of Blanc doing the voice. Just a bit lower. The biggest problem with him is that he only had one single line towards the end. I would add that Porky was a bit too low, sort of like he was in the late 80's Looney Tunes movies.
Petunia Pig actually sounds a lot like Ms Bellum from PowerPuff Girls, to give modern viewers an idea of what it sounds like. Beck says this was Jane Webb (who did Batgirl and most other females for Filmation at the time), but the voice is obviously the same as Fat Albert's school teacher, who was most likely a different voice. I believe this was Erika Scheimer (credited for the Fat Albert show in Lenburg's Cartoon Encyclopedia), yet the only female credited in this story was "Joanne Louise". (Maybe that was who did Fat Albert's teacher, who did sound alot like Ms Bellum. Or maybe it is a pseudonym, since they were often used in the credits to make the studio appear bigger than it was). The voice has also appeared in some other Filmation shows, particularly in the late 70's after Webb was no longer there.
As for the story, it is hard to say. Yosemite seems to be the most prominent character, then Daffy and Petunia. Sylvester, Tweety and Foghorn have their moments. The rest seem to be just along for the ride, and could have easily been omitted. Coyote only utters a couple of laughs and a boo and is otherwise silent. (communicating mainly by holding up signs, as in the Roadrunner, even though he talked at other times in the classic series). One big error is that Porky and Coyote are at one point at two places at the same time (out on the posse with Sam, and screening the rest of the King Arthur movie with the others). Then all the concurrent uses of the characters is strange: Petunia is a TV announcer, and also apart of the film. Foghorn is apart of the film, and both also are the emcees of the Ozzie Awards, where they hand themselves the award! (Not to mention them finishing the film, submitting and winning the award for it all in 20 minutes!) The closing gag has the Goolies, on the way home and thinking their brief moment of fame was over, being chased by Sam, Porky, Coyote and Sylvester, but the reason for this was not explained. I wonder if that was originally supposed to be Sam's posse still trying to catch them, not realizing that the whole story was over, before it was decided to have all of the Looneys together at the awards. (Not only that, but Sylvester was not in the posse, anyway). So those aspects of the story were very sloppy.
Beck does cast a question mark at the punchline: revenge for films going color. But as the captured culprit explained, this had ruined his big black and white career, so it would make sense (in the cartoon world) that he would try to destroy all color films out of revenge. This is a common Scooby Doo type motivation for haunting something.
There are also large periods that focus on the Goolies and not the Looneys, and a long drawn out sequence of the Goolies (wearing armor) falling down, and then up and then down again that should have been edited more. But I think people's abhorrance of this film stems from treating it as a Looney Tune, and judging it on that high standard. But it is not. It is a Groovie Goolies cartoon, with our beloved classic stars as special guests. The verbal comedy routine is their normal format, and I find it funny, and perhaps one of Filmation's best non-action/adventure cartoons. It is a spinoff of Archie and Sabrina (Lenburg had credited Sabrina in the film, but she was absent, as well as several of the other Goolies. It was only Drac, Frankie, Wolfie, mummy, and the witch. Also what Beck didn't tell us is that the little boy the Phantom disguises as was Hauntleroy, one of the other Goolie series regulars. He also was otherwise absent. This was another glitch in the story, as the boy was supposed to be someone they didn't know. They at first appear not to know him, but then do acknowlwdge him as Hauntleroy in the live scene. If it was Hauntleroy, that right there should have been suspicious as he did not travel out there (to Hollywood) with them.)
The one section Beck and others do like, for some strange reason, is the live action portion, with that jerky motion that looks like one of those Krofft shows. This is the only part of the film that can be found on You Tube at this time: I would send in the copy of the whole thing; but maybe that is not allowed. I have seen so much taken down from there for TOS violations, but then so much copyrighted material remains; I would have to look into what is allowed and what is not.
Why Bugs Bunny was left out-- perhaps because this was about Daffy and Porky, and Bugs wasn't usually in the same cartoons with them (even the Bugs & Daffy pairing was a later addition). If Bugs was there, they would either have to make him second fiddle to Daffy, or it would be Bugs Bunny meets the Groovie Goolies, and Daffy would have had a lesser role and Porky have almost no role like some of the others. The cast seems to roughly follow that of the 1964 Porky Pig show opening and closing sequences (which was airing on Boomerang for awhile, and was produced by Famous studios. I would say that looks worse than this!)
So no; classic Warner animation this is not, but it still has some worth and should not be totally trashed the way people have done. With computer technology, the voices can easily be fixed.
Virgil Ross was one of the animators, however. He did work for Filmation around that time (Batman-Superman as well). This would help explain why most of the characters (especially the Freleng ones) were drawn so well. The Coyote and Pepe both happen to be Jones characters, and perhaps Ross, who was usually with the Freleng unit was not as good at drawing them.
The Jones characters always had a certain "flair" about them. The classic example being that evil Grinch smile and eyes. Being so used to seeing that, now when you look at the original Seuss drawing (as in ads for the live stage version), it seems something is missing! Basically, both Pepe and the Coyote look like Filmation characters (think of Drac with that frown of his. That is one of the distinctive Filmation looks. We can just call this production team (inasmuch as it has in a defacto way, briefly joined Termite Terrace), "the Sutherland unit" <—ducking!—>). It was hard for anyone to completely capture that Jones look (though now, modern WB productions have gotten it right).
This was apart of ABC's Saturday Superstar Movies, which seemed to be a breeding ground of new series. Lassie, the Brady's and Yogi's Ark all spawned from this same venue. If this one had become a series, it probably would have had different guest stars every week. Obviously, it was Filmation and ABC's answer to Hanna Barbera and CBS's Scooby Doo Comedy Movies (especially with the mystery/whodunnit/revenge format ripped off), though not nearly as good. Come tho think of it, the "Gool Bus" appeared to be set to have become their "Mystery Machine". So think of it as "the Groovie Goolies Comedy Movies" pilot! I imagine the criteria for future guests would have been the same as Scooby-- network and production company contracted stars. So Lassie and the Brady's probably would have been next, then perhaps Jerry Lewis, who had just had a Filmation cartoon on ABC, and Rick Springfield, who would have one the following season. (A Spinoff of the Bradys). Perhaps also even some DC heroes (since their rights to them were overlapping with Hanna Barbera's. A couple of them would appear on the Brady's). Also other ABC comedians. Some of those may have been pretty good.
At Horrible Hall, Frankie walks in and changes the TV channel Mummy, Wolfie and Hagatha were watching. (Drac, hanging upside down from a chandelier, complains that he's trying to get his beauty rest).
Reporter Petunia Pig announces "the latest news and gossip from Hollywood"; that "the cameras are rolling on Daffy Duck and his gang's new picture 'King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table'". She asks them about the rumor floating around about a "mysterious stranger" that has been causing "all kinds of trouble" on the set. Daffy thinks it's just a fan seeking an autograph. Frankie says "Aw, lookie, lookie, lookie, there's Daffy and Sylvester and all of may favorites!" (His stomping for joy causes Drac to fall).
They show scenes from the movie: Foghorn, as "King Arthur the Chickenhearted" paces back and forth, until the nurse (a female rooster!) brings him his new children-- a crate full of eggs. ("They look just like their daddy") One of them is dark ("there's always a rotten egg in every family-- that's a joke, son"). He calls for the court jester (the messenger looks a lot like Charlie Dog, but doesn't sound like him). Sylvester awakes out of his hammock, asking the king what he wants to see, and proceeds to try to entertain him by slipping on a banana peel and pole vaulting out the window into a monster-infested moat. The King simply tells him to "take this youngster for a walk-- a long walk!" He takes him out in a baby carriage and says "I'll call you Sonny-- sunny side up, that is!", and proceeds to cook and prepare to eat it. Tweety watches and claiming "that egg might be one of my cousins", then threatens to blow a whistle to call bulldogs. Sylvester repeatedly calls the bluff, until he notices that there are several dozen dogs surrounding him. They chase him off. The egg hatches, and it is Daffy, who Tweety names "Arthur". When asked "why not Lance; or Lot; or Daffy?", Tweety tearfully laments that his mommy's name was Arthur!
At this point, the film is interrupted by the Phantom of the Flickers, who tells the TV audience he plans to "destroy every frame of film Daffy Duck and his friends ever made, including his full length flop, 'King Arthur'. Sorry Daffy, but that's show biz!". Frankie tells how he was Daffy's biggest fan ever since the day he was assembled, and says he's going to Hollywood to give him a hand. The others go also, looking forward to "surfing at Maliboo Beach", or meeting stars like "Bella LaGhostly or Elliot Ghoul". (Bella LaGhostly is one of their other regulars; the switchboard operator!) Mummy brings his movie camera. Frankie drives them in the "Gool Bus". In Hollywood, Hagatha casts a spell to magically put on the brakes so they can ask a movie star directions to the studio and get his autograph. Behind their back, he reveals himself to be the Phantom.
Hagatha finds Daffy and Porky on her crystal ball. (When she at first gets the wrong picture, she consults the "CB Guide"). Daffy is impatiently demanding his stuntmen. The Goolies show up saying "we came to help", and Daffy says "It's about time!", thinking they're the stuntmen. Daffy comments "If I didn't know that was makeup, I'd be scared stiff!" (Frankie: "Golly, thanks. I think"). Daffy tells Hagatha "Stick with me, and I'll make you a star. What a combination: My brains and your ugliness!" and she grabs him by the throat and threatens to turn him into a rutabaga. They threaten each other back and forth until Mummy and Frankie tell her to mind her manners.
They begin shooting the next scene. All of the Goolies are up on a balcony of the castle set. The Phantom pulls a lever which causes the floor to drop out (Wolfie: "We've been in show business one minute, and already, we're about to make a splash!"). They land in the holes of a giant pool table (Hagatha magically activates parachutes too late), and the Phantom springs them out. Meanwhile, Sylvester and Petunia observe how scary they look. They wind up hanging from a chandelier. Daffy greases it causing them to fall again. (Hagatha: "I knew I should have turned him into a rutabaga!" She, casting a spell to stop Frankie's hands from slipping, only changes the grease to banana peels!). They slide down a bannister which the phantom causes to propel them back into the air. They land standing on each other's shoulders, but Daffy, who thinks the whole thing was "pretty good", asks them to do it again, because they missed the mark on the floor, (by about a foot). Drac turns into a bat and flies out of his armor costume, causing the others to collapse. (Daffy: "I've heard of 'flying actors', but this is ridiculous!") Daffy gives them a coffee break (Mummy: "Everything's already broke; don'tcha know!").
The Phantom sneaks along in the dark, ("I don't know why they keep it so dark. Makes it hard for a bad guy to cause trouble") and falls, winding up hanging from the sleeping Drac, who thinks he "knows him from somewhere" (just as Hagatha had earlier said). He drops him, and Frankie catches him. Daffy confronts him and demands he removes his make-up. He pulls off several masks, including ones of each of the Goolies. Daffy figures "I should have known! You're all in this together", and tries to pull Frankie's "make-up" off, and then unravels Mummy. When Drac flies in as a bat and turns back into a vampire, the Looney Tune gang all flees. Frankie asks the Phantom "why are you trying to scare all our friends", and he pulls of his face revealing a blank mask that reads "I'll never tell" and escapes down a trap door. Hagatha casts a spell that drops the Goolies through trap doors as well, but they land in the moat. ("Maybe it was 'rattlesnake legs and spider eggs'")
Daffy counsels the others "We've got a real fight on our hands. Phantom and his weirdo friends are trying to stop us from completing 'King Arthur'. But as you know, it has to be finished in time for the annual Ozzie Awards tomorrow night! When I described these guys to the police, they said I was nuts!". Yosemite suggests organizing a "posse" to "net them varmints". Everyone is reluctant, and Daffy asks "What are you all, chicken?" (Foghorn "resents that"). Wile E. Coyote holds up a tiny sign "I'll go", and Porky agrees to go.
On a filming of a western showdown, Frankie appears out of a manhole tossing one of the actors. They see the Phantom running into a house set. (Hagatha thinks the graveyard in front of it is a "lovely yard"). The Phantom changes into a maid, a gardener, and "the head of the house" (his head was a house), slamming the door on them, then the whole prop falls over on the Goolies. They hear the Phantom laugh and chase him into a little shed. Yosemite and his posse are watching and think they are "skedadling into their hideout", and also give chase to "trap five prairie gophers in one hole". Inside is actually a large fancy room. They split up, and right after they leave, The Goolies come out from a wall panel. Frankie worries about Daffy and suggests going to check up on him. In a screening room, Daffy and the others view the movie. Arthur, Merlin (Porky) and Tweety are walking in a carnival. Arthur sees Lady Guinevere's (Petunia) kissing booth and falls in love, turning into a big thumping heart, and his ice cream into fireworks. He kisses her, and she charges him "$49.95 plus tax", but won't marry him. (When she says she would only marry someone of royal blood, he offers to have a transfusion). He gives up his entire life savings (stored in his foot), and then asks Merlin to use his magic to make her fall for him. Hagatha shows up to show him how to cast the spell, (she makes the court jester fall in love with the dog who's still chasing him), but when he does, the "big hunk of bird" he actually makes her fall in love with is Tweety. ("Sure hope these kisses are on the house!") Arthur chases Merlin, and afterwards spots Mordred (Sam) trying to pull the sword out of the stone (another carnival game, with intermediate skill markers "pauper", "peasant", "serf", "gentleman", "knight", "prince", and the highest being "king"). He is not interested in trying the game until Mordred insults him. He is able to reach "king" and pull the sword out, and is crowned king, angering Mordred who lays claim on the crown (and had "250 tries and only paid once, ya know", according to Mummy, the game's manager!) The town crier announces the wedding of Arthur and Guinevere (and then begins the sports report). Mordred shoots up to Arthur a typewriter on an arrow, followed by arrows that type out his message challenging him to a joust. Arthur then sends a singing telegram (sung by the horse the messenger rode on), saying he'll be there.
The joust begins, (Guinevere: "I can't bear to watch. But peeking is OK". Also, typical Filmation wackiness: Mordred's lance being so long, it bends with its end rolling on the ground on wheels). In the middle of it, the Phantom interrupts, and now has the film. Daffy's gang starts to go after him until the Goolies, across the theater, say they'll help. The Looneys then disappear into the movie screen (Hagatha" "I've heard of 'breaking into movies', but those guys are ridiculous").
The Goolies chase him into a studio, and the Phantom causes various weather changes as Sam and his posse also see them with the film and give chase (Sam: "looks like we've got a corral full of dogies"). The Goolies have the Phantom cornered on the gang plank of a ship set, but he jumps off and the Goolies follow. Sam and company are now on the ship, and accidentally pull the lever that starts it rocking. They are getting seasick, and Sam tells them not to think of food, but then uses several slangs that involve food, making Porky and the coyote sicker. They are finally catapulted off into the African jungle set. The Phantom runs into another studio and changes into Hauntleroy (who is otherwise absent from the story). He hides the film in a guitar which he plays badly. Wolfie takes it and begins playing, but then it opens up revealing the film. The boy grabs it and runs through a mirror into "Mad Mirror Land", a live action world in which he, along with Frankie, Wolfie and Drac who follow him, all become live action. (Sylvester, watching in amazement with Foggy and Pepe exclaims "sufferin' succotash!"). The boy drives off in a toy car, and the three monsters pursue in imaginary cars (their bottoms scraping against the ground). The brat causes them to get stuck with some bubble gum (Frankie utters his trademark "I didn't need that!") They continue to chase around a farm, and the monsters ride imaginary horses, and jumping over a wall, land in water. They begin playing music with some bones and a totally flat, floppy keyboard (such as exist today, in places like the Sharper Image!) and Wolfie says if he had his guitar he would join. Frankie pounds on the ground causing the guitar to pop out of the boy's hand and land in theirs. Frankie begins sneezing, which pushes them all the way back into animated land. They have caught the Phantom, who Drac now remembers is his long lost uncle Claude Cheney, silent screen star. In classic Scooby Doo fashion, they ask him why he did it, and he says it was revenge because color films like Daffy's came and ruined his career. ("I had to sell my mansion [with a four-hearse garage] and move into a one-room crypt... because I am in living Black and White"). Drac suggests he could return to filmmaking. Mummy had filmed the whole thing with all his disguises, and could show it to Daffy. But they had to hope he will forgive him for stealing his film.
In Daffy's dressing room, he tries wearing gruesome make-up, but concludes his face is too handsome. Elmer informs him there is no word on the Phantom (his only line in the story). The Goolies walk in with Cheney to introduce him, apologize and show Daffy all his disguises. He at first says "don't call us, we'll call you", but is soon convinced to use him as his co-star, and there is only 20 minutes left until the awards. At the ceremony, Foghorn reads the envelope and "King Arthur" has won. Daffy thanks only himself, crediting himself as producer, writer, etc. The Groovie Goolies have won "best stuntman work", and Cheney has won "comeback of the year".
The Goolies are now driving back home, commenting on what a great time they had, meeting Daffy and becoming stars. They think their fame may have been "a thing of the past", but see that "their past is catching up with them", as Sam, being carried in a sedan chair by Sylvester, Wile E. and Porky, are following after them; Sam shouting his classic "Whoa! Aw, come on, whoa...".
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On the tape it was also interesting seeing the old commercials, such as an old Kool Aid, Cap'n Crunch, Quisp vs. Quangaroos, Sunshine Chip-A-Roos, Wide World of Sports "Life Savers, Life Savers, fun to eat, super flavor can't be beat...", Ronald McDonald urging kids to pick up litter to "Keep America Clean" with those live trashcan characters we are to "feed", and the Tin Man singing about how he'd take care of his heart if he had one. Man, I remember alot of that stuff; some vaguely, some clearly! Funny Face drink mix brand name I don't remember, but the jingle I sure do. ("When you're hot, you're hot...and we've got alot...")
see also Battle of the GHOSTBUSTERS! (original vs Real)