This is a drastic improvement over the Jetsons shorts. The animation here is TV quality. None of that "let's stretch one pose a little so that we don't have to do an inbetween" stuff that I disliked about the Jetsons short (specifically, the one with Jane and George arguing over Elroy).

Really really impressive. I don't have sound at this PC so I can't really judge the script or the voices. But I wouldn't mind seeing Adult Swim air this, the next time they air the other Spumco material. If there is a next time, anyway.

(I can't deny it...he sounds pretty good!)

Aside from Steve as Yogi's voice, most of the other vocal performances and the music, I don't know what there is to get excited about when it comes to this latest version of Yogi Bear and Booboo. The Flash flows, but it's Ren and Stimpy all over again, just dressed up a little differently. As one dimensional an approach to animated content as I think I've ever seen. Completely predictable.

Am I the only one around here that is not impressed? Yogi Bear is something special. This is the same thing as a Disney cheapquel, only cheaper.

I have to confess I too watched the new Boo Boo short and wasn't falling all over myself with praise. Of course, I never was a rabid John K. fan either.

"What bear knows who his Dad is?"

It captures the spirit of the original shorts perfectly, while adding enough to keep it fresh and original.

Great Yogi, Bigshot. I can do a pretty good Yogi myself. My grandma taught me how.

Molto bene, Signore Fontelli!

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Originally posted by Charles:
George Liquor, Weekend Pussy Hunt, Yogi Bear, it's all the same. Why don't you do something different for a change.

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You are looking at a director with a distinctive and instantly recognizable style. There have been very few of them since the days of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett. Try to list the Animation Directors in the past twenty years with an instantly recognizable style, different from anything that came before... John K, Tim Burton, uh... hmmm... it gets kind of tough after that.

I'm not saying that John K or Tim Burton are as good as Jones and Avery, but they definitely have just as distinctive a style. And you have just as much chance of encouraging Tex Avery to work in a different style as you do either of them. When you criticize a director for "sameness in style", (a criticism which could be levelled at Tex Avery and Chuck Jones as much as John K) you're calling his greatest attribute his achilles heel. There is an aspect of truth to it, but it really isn't something that is going to change. It's interesting that in a lot of things, someone's greatest strength is also their most obvious weakness.

The big difference between Lady and The Tramp 2 and the John K Ranger Smith cartoons is that John K is bringing a personal directoral style to the property. He isn't just repeating the same cartoon that has already been made. Even though John has great respect for the early H-B cartoons, and he incorporates all of the most important elements of the original series, he is still creating something totally different.

As for cheapness, I challenge you to find another web cartoon with better production values than this particular one. I only know of one... Weekend Pussy Hunt episode 12. The animation in Boo Boo Runs Wild was much more elaborate than anything in the original series. That argument doesn't apply at all.

I've been lurking around this board for years, but until now, I've never felt the need to make my lame opinions known.

How dare Charles actually question John K's work. The man has proven to be beyond reproach time and time again. I mean did we see the same cartoon? Didn't you see the part where all the bad bears got scared one at a time and then each ran off one by one, each in there own incredibly funny way? Some may call this laborious and almost painful to watch, akin to watching paint dry, but those people are wrong. Dead wrong I say!

And as Bigshot pointed out, the man's films collectively have a distinct and recognizable style. He's given you this and you dare to ask for content too??!!

Why, I remember when Cartoon Network announced that John would be doing new films with the classic H&B characters. Finally, we'd all get the chance to see Fred and Barney shower together at last!

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Originally posted by Hockey Frog:
That's a very good defense, Bigshot, but I think you threw a bit of a spin on it. Charles and the others weren't talking about the style, they were talking about the content.

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The gags are part of the style. Tex Avery's gags were usually exaggeration gags. He used specific gag devices (like the sign to the audience, "I been sick", Droopy popping up in unlikely places, etc...) and gag situations (like the cat/canary/dog triangle, the bulldog trying to get the best of Droopy, etc...) over and over again.

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Even Chuck Jones and Tex Avery repeated the same ideas in their characters' performances, but never to John K.'s extent.

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Well, I would argue that Chuck Jones was the best at recycling, particularly after the studio shutdown in the mid-fifties. The whole Pepe LePew and Roadrunner series were subtle variations on the same gags over and over. I can't tell a lot of them apart.

Boo Boo and the Man isn't anywhere near as complex as any of that because it's a web cartoon. There are strict limitations to what you can do and still have it work on a wide range of computers. For instance, you have to limit the amount and size of replacement animation on the screen at any given time if you want a fast frame rate. Another post mentions the characters running off one by one... If that had been animated with all of them running off at once, the frame refresh would have dropped to a crawl and you would end up with the group slowly drifting off screen. Flash is still pretty primitive, but it's amazing how much you can get out of it if you know its limits and work just barely within them.

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Originally posted by Chris McD:
My only problem is with my Flash player... does anyone else ever have a problem where Flash movies just start over in the middle sometimes?

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The problem is that you resized the window the cartoon is playing in while it was downloading. That stalled the download.

To fix it, go to your Preferences (or settings) under Advanced and select Clear Cache now. Then go to the cartoon page and let it fully download without touching the window. When it finishes downloading again, the cartoon will play OK.

They have some sort of forced download trick going on in the page I think. It also might help to approach the cartoon from the main adultswim.com page... Go to www.adultswim.com, click on CLIPS then click on the title card for the cartoon.

Let me know if you continue to have trouble and I'll help.

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Originally posted by sloopy:
And as Bigshot pointed out, the man's films collectively have a distinct and recognizable style. He's given you this and you dare to ask for content too??!!

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I can tell you for sure that John K using his distinct style without any new content would still be infinitely superior to another artist ripping off his style and adding nothing more to it. I've seen it done!

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Originally posted by bigshot:
...another artist ripping off his style...

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What? That's happened?!

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I can tell you for sure that John K using his distinct style without any new content would still be infinitely superior to another artist ripping off his style and adding nothing more to it. I've seen it done!

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Didn't put too much effort into the character designs. The Manny character never stepped out from his bush. In fact, he never stepped. Maybe that was genius. I dunno. Could have been laziness. Or the budget. Sometimes its tough to distinguish between the three.

The other characters were poorly designed and not much effort went into their animation. The Flash was smooth, technically it streamed just fine, but streaming isn't necessarly animation per se I'd say.

Even Booboo's voice broke down at one point into Ren's.

And have you seen the cover of the latest issue of Animation Magazine? Steve, wudup widat? The artwork stunk I'm afraid to say, my poor fellow who's been such a great contributor to AN over the years and was in attendance at our very first meeting, God bless you.

I think it's time for Kid K get back to a life drawing class. C'mon. That was pretty darn... well, let me say this...

You won't have a problem with the next generation ripping off the style. Maybe executives who think it's hip and edgy. But not the kids.

We have a highly successful program for teenagers at my school. We've been conducting it for going on 5 years. In all that time, only one student drew in the Spumco style. The rest were classic American and Anime, the majority of which are Anime influenced.

It's a shame you didn't enjoy the cartoon, and I'm sorry it upset you that much. It's only a cartoon... Even if it was stick figures hollering at the top of their lungs, a cartoon shouldn't upset you to the point where you feel the need to take personal potshots. My advice is to not subject yourself to any more cartoons you don't enjoy or appreciate. I assure you all of us at Spumco do that with the films that don't have anything to offer to us.

I happy to let you know that I am quite proud of my part in this cartoon and just about everything I've worked on at Spumco. I work here because I believe in the studio, our projects and the people I work with. There's no need to worry about us. The petty jealousies and backbiting among competing artists that seem so pervasive in the enclosed world of the internet chatroom don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to the general audience for animation. There are plenty of people bathing in the flickering blue light who do understand and appreciate what we are doing.

As for John's drawing skills... If you think you have something to offer, please take a moment and do a flimsy overlay with your corrections. Fill us in on the drawing theories behind your suggestions. I'm sure all of the artists here would find it illuminating. You can send it to us at...

John Kricfalusi and Crew
Spumco Inc.
10859 Burbank Bl Ste A
North Hollywood, CA 91601

The life drawing suggestion is a good one. I will suggest bringing my chihuahua in to the studio as a model.

I wish you well.

Steve, this ain't worth it. It jest ain't. Forget about my comments. It was just me talking foolishly. There are some things I shouldn't be discussing and my opinions about published works are among them. I apologize.

In return, do me and everyone else who happens to have an esthetic disagreement with your group a courtesy and kindly exercise some restraint when it comes to accusing me of making this a personal thing.

I'm just not into endless booger and fart jokes in animation. It's just me. And as far as the cover is concerned, it's grand. I'll keep it and look at it anyway you or others want if it'll spare me having to deal with this kind of stuff on the board.