Blog Post 10: http://osrabit.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/blog-post-10-mission-hill/ 

Blog Post 11: http://osrabit.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/blog-post-11-ed-edd-n-eddy/

When adapapting a comic into a cartoon, one very important choice that needs to be made is how much the cartoon should resemble the comic. There are multiple avenues in which one can perform the adaptation. The most simple of these is to do a direct adaptation of the source material. This is a common practice in Japan with many serialised manga. The creators of the animation usually just lift the plot straight from the manga making only a minimal amount of changes. The drawback to this method is that they may run out of ource material for a while, forcing the animation studio to generate new content to fill in the time gaps, and this material usually isn’t very good. This method also does not work well for turning newspaper style comic strips into a half-hour television show as what may work in a 4 panel strip may be ineffective for a 30 tv show.

Another method is to create stories from scratch. This oftentimes is the better way to go. It may require more out of a studio to write up a good script put it can pay off immensley if done right. This allows the writers to take more liberties and can make things more enjoyable for those familiar with the source material as it doesn’t show them what have already read in the comic. 

Both methods can also be combined however, and that can be a good compromise between the  two styles of adaptation. Whatever method one is using however, it is important to pay careful attention to how the comic is being adapted. Just because the idea is already there doesn’t mean you don’t still have to use your creativity.

This week I commented on Samntha Francis and Bonnie Hansen’s blogs.

Typically an episdoe of toonheads would have a particular theme, such as animated shorts revolving around a particular person’s work. They would describe the subject for a bit then go into providing three example cartoons, going into a brief backstory about each of them. I found this to be much more entertaining than just watching the cartoons without the documentary parts, as the extra info gives context to these shorts and allows younger viewers (such as myself at the time) to understand what the people working on these animated shorts were trying to accomplish. One particuarly memorable episode was one featuring crooner cartoons. I wouldn’t have understood what a crooner was or who was being parodied in these casrtoons if not for the badckground info. I even learned some interesting facts, such as Bing Crosby suing MGM for a cartoon involving a fly resembling him. I again am unable to find any clips for this show but I highly reccemend anyone interested in animation history to attempt to check out at least an episode or two, becasue as far as I am concerned it’s the only show of it’s type.

Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy is a cartoon about three children who are misfits in their neighborhood. Ed is big and strong but not-so bright and rather slobbish, while Edd (oftentimes reffered to as double d) is intelligent and proper. The real brains behind the trio however is Eddy who i rather narcassistic and always scheming to make money to buy jawbreakers. The trio povides an interseting dynamic with Edd being frustrated with Ed’s lack of hygeine and Eddy’s lack of morals, Eddy with Ed’s stupidity and Edd’s preachyness, whil Ed could care less and causes trouble for the other two. The use of stereotyped characters works in the shows favor, rather than making the protaongist the dull everyman we are all supposed to relate to, it gives us 3 rather looney characters more along the lines of Goofy, Porky or Daffy.

One way in which the show really provides a throwback to animation of old is it’s use of music. Oftentimes scenes are accompanied by music which in a mood which matches whats happening on screen. This is somewhat similar to the old silly symphonies in looney tunes in some ways. It also differs in others, the music used is not classical music but more along the lines of jazz, and it is certainley used much more subtley as well.

The art style however is quite remoiniscent of the stylized animation of the 50′s. The back grounds are comprised of fairly simple shapes, with blocks of color filled in and only have enough detail for the viewer to understand where the action is taking place. The characters themselves are drawn rather crudely and not even the slightest attempt is made at making them look like well proportioned humans.

The actual humor of the show is usually quite slapstick oriented, again quite similar to looney toons. But the humour is also the biggest difference between Ed, Edd, n’Eddy and cartoons of the past. While a lot of the humour is slapstick, there is also quite a bit of jokes both relating to the life of a suburban child and a bit of gross out humor. The jokes regarding being a kid are fairly low key, they more serve as plot devices than actual jokes and it never feels as if the writers are tying to make childhood as depicted in the show anything like John Q. Public’s childhood. The gross out humour may be repulsive to some, but most of it is in reference to Ed’s hygeine and it’s nowhere near the level of a show like Ren and Stimpy.

The show is quite interesting in how it combines aspects from both the animation of the past and the oresent to create what is one of the better children’s cartoons of the past decade. It manages to capture some of the zaniness of looney tunes in a familiar surburban setting. I was unable to find a decent video clip to show but I would reccommend seeing the episode 1+1+Ed, a very surrealistitc episode involving the Eds discovering the secrets of the universe only to cause it to unravel, an interesting throwback to many of the surrealist cartoons of old such as Porky in Wackyland and Duck Amock.

This week I commented on Joseph Gayck and Jessica Martin’s Blogs/

This wasn’t always the case however. Back in the 90′s before adult swim there were many attempts to create cartoons for adults that relied on far more than black humor. One particular show that comes to mind is Mission Hill. The show is about an overacheiving and nerdy high schooler named Kevin who goes to the city to live with his lazy older brother Andy. As with many comedies the show uses the contrast in the two main character’s personalities to create many humorous situations. The interactions between Kevin and his new urban environment is also a source of humor as Kevin oftentimes does not reat well to the unfriendliness and vulgarity often found in urban areas. Andy’s constant failure is another source of amusement. Andy frequent attempts at being with the in crowd and skirting by life with as little effort as possible have a freqeunt habit of going incredibly wrong.

Besides the two main characters, Mission Hill also contains a very interesting supporting cast. Andy’s roomates are quite interesting characters. Jim resembles Andy in a great deal of ways  though is is much more laid back and in some ways even lazier, but he is a whole lot more successful. Posey seems to fit in with the new age girl stereotype but oftentimes buried within her spacy comments is a great deal of scathing criticism. Andy’s Neighbor’s are also quite interesting. The Henandez-Leibowitz’s are a unorthodox family, with ultra politcally correct Natlie, her stay at home marital partner Carlos and their child baby nameless. Perhaps the most interesing character’s are Andy’ neighbor’s Gus and Wally. Gus and Wally are an elderly gay couple devoid most stereotypes. Gus is a gruff diner manager who is incredibly open about his sexuality, while Wally is a fairly mild mannered movie therter owner.

The Urban environment also provides a great backdrop for stories to take place. Big cities can be very exciting and very menacing places and both are exemplified in the cartoon. The main character’s oftentimes go out to night clubs, bars restaurants, concerts etc., generally places that Andy would enjoy and Kevin would not. The streetsof mission hill can also be quite manacing at times, with threats such as rabid dogs and creepy lewd men. The city also provides another source of conflict in the show. Whlie Andy may be at home in the city, the sheltered Kevin is uncomfortable in his new surroundings and sometimes gets into trouble due to his naivety. 

Mission Hill is very much a product of it’s time. It’s a very 90′s show with  it’s pop culture references and portrait of a fairly unorthodox way of life. Rather than relying exclusively on crude and lewd humour it also features a lot of interesting character interaction and creative plots. (Though it certainley has quite a bit of crude and lewd humor as well).

Team Rocket

The television program Pokemon, is well known for it’s comedy releif antagonists, Team Rocket. It seems almost every episode they have a plan to steal Pokemon, with either disguises or machines, and are always foiled by the protagonist Ash Ketchum. But here is also much more to Jesse, James and Meowth than just beung incompetent bad guys. In some episodes the plot revolves more around the Team Rocket than it does the heroes of the show and Jesse, James and Meowth all have well establised backstories that explain why they came to join the evil syndicate known as Team Rocket.  While they may be the bad guys they are oftentimes portrayed rather sympathetically, particularly in the episode, Holy Matrimony, in which they become the protagonists.

A sample from the episode Holy Matrimony. (I reccommend skipping to around 5:30 or so to get to what I am reffering to above.)

From the way they are oftentimes protrayed in the program, Team Rocket almost serves more as a set of secondary protagonists rather than comdey relief villains. They undergo just as much if not more character development than the heroes of the show. If anything the term antiheroes, would be a good way of describing them. They provide a good contrast to the hero of the show; they too have a sense of adventure, but unlike Ash they don’t play by the rules all the other pokemon trainers go by thus they ae punished. While they may fail time and time again at stealing Pokemon, they quite talented in many other areas and if they quit their life of crime they could really go places. They are quite interesting inthis regard, they have the spirit and the talent to make something out of themselves but their insistance on being the bad guys ultimately dooms them to failure. I find this unsual trait to be where the real comedy of the characters comes from. They are not just funny because they concoct crazy schemes that fail, they are funny, because ultimately the only thing holding them back is the fact that they are the bad guys, yet they insist on maintaining such an image with an admirable, yet at the same time pitying determination.

This week I commented on Samantha Francis and Michael Griffith’s blogs.

However there is one thing I find highly unusal about this program, that was brought up on an internet forum I was browsing. The kid’s in the program are supposedly 8 year olds but from seeing what they are doing and how they react to things it is hard to tell what their age is. Despite being 8 years old, these kids are allowed to go wherever they want with no supravision. Apparently these children are responsible enough to be going places on their own whenever they want and in this regard you would expect them to be considerably older. Judging from they way they talk it is even harder to  tell their age as they sometimes react to situations in the way a small child would and othertimes seem to talk to each other in a way typical of high schoolers. This is even further complicated in that they are cartoon animals causing any facial features that could have determined age to be non-existant. While it is a good show the program has always had problems with accuratley portraying 8 year olds.

This week I commented on Myca Taylor and Samantha Francis’ blogs.

http://osrabit.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/blog-post-7-green-jellos-3-little-pigs/

Blog Post 2: http://osrabit.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/an-intersting-presentation-from-the-creation-of-cartoon-network/

Blog Post 5: http://osrabit.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/blog-post-5-newgrounds-the-internet-and-flash-animation/

Ponyo is about what seems to be fish, who befriends a 5 year old boy and wishes to become human and stay with him. The plot resmbles that of Hans Christen Anderson’s the Little Mermaid in this regard, though that is where the similarities also end. Ponyo is not an ordinary Fish however as Ponyo has magic powers. When Ponyo tastes the blood of the 5 year old boy she gains the ability to turn into a human. Unfortunatley by doing this Ponyo will cause the moon to slowly head towards earth causing massive flooding. Unfortunatley the movie never explains why the world will end because Ponyo turned human. Ponyo’s father a red headed man wants to keep her as a fish to prevent this from happening, while her mother a sea goddess wants her to be happy. This is also not very well explained but because the mother is a sea goddess it isn’t entirely implausable and it does explain why Ponyo is special. Aparrently the only way to stop the end of the world is to have Ponyo give up her magic powers and remain human. Unfortunatley if she does this she will turn into bubbles if the 5 year old boy does not stay faithful to her. This is probably the biggest flaw in the story and pretty much every person in the room seemed to agree that it is rather ridiculous to expect a 5 year old child to make a decision to pair up with Ponyo for life. Depite such illogical moments however the film is very imaginative and is quite interesting to watch, it just doesn’t always make sense.