TV Obsessive
Looney Tunes
Hawk: With the launch of HBO Max came thousands of hours of content, most of it stuff that’s already been released. However, one surprising (previously announced) new piece of content is a fresh set of Looney Tunes episodes. What’s more surprising is that this new series is almost a perfect encapsulation of what made the show so great in the first place: exaggerated animations, goofy vocal performances and wildly elaborate and non-fatal violence. I fondly recall in my childhood when my family and I would pick up a pizza from Papa Murphy’s, then head to the Blockbuster next door. My sister and I would select a movie for ourselves while our parents would rent something more age-appropriate for them. Oftentimes, my sister and I would settle on something cartoony, and frequently this was a Looney Tunes VHS. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the whole gang were a staple of my early viewing history. I am delighted to report that this new series almost completely nails that nostalgia.
The episodes are structured in 10-12 minute segments with two or so cartoon shorts apiece, ensuring that nothing overstays its welcome and episodes move at the brisk pace that this manic flavor of animation demands. It’s a delicate balance, and Looney Tunes has still got it. It’s almost entirely reminiscent of the original run of the show: in the first episode, Bugs Bunny is arm-wrestling Yosemite Sam. Bugs inflates his biceps, upon which Sam cries foul. Bugs replies by squeezing his arm like a tube of toothpaste, transferring his muscular inflation into Sam’s arms and over-inflating Sam. It’s still surprisingly hilarious how well the exaggerated animation works on a fundamental level of physical comedy.
There are some traces of modern influence here and there. For example, the producers have opted to remove firearms in their entirety from the show, which means that classic mainstay props that defined Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam are absent. It’s doesn’t really rob the characters of too much of their personality, but the absence is definitely noticeable. There are also traces of modern Adult Swim humor. This is somewhat expected given how Adult Swim has shaped the landscape of modern animation, though, despite my penchant for the network’s bizarre style of humor, I’m pleased that its influence on the new Looney Tunes is minimal.
We’re set for 80 episodes of this new batch of ‘Tunes. That’s a lot of content, and while your mileage may vary, it seems to be best consumed in sets of two or three episodes per sitting. It turns out that two decades of distance between viewings of the Bugs and the gang make 10 minutes seem like a significantly different length of time. However, there is no greater recent feeling than realizing that that same brand of cartoonish violence and nostalgic sound design hasn’t changed much since I first was exposed to it, and this new series proves that a timeless formula doesn’t need much tweaking.
