Terrible, just terrible

I've been terrible at keeping up with this thing! Anyway, for your reading pleasure:

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/LIFESTYLE/509160302&SearchID=73220880618328

It's a story about an "animal communicator" that leads into an advance for Pet-A-Palooza. I swear, if I have to do one more animal-related story...

...well, unless it's about my two new kittens, Snickers and Skittles. We got them last Thursday, and they've been very distracting! After the loss of Swazy, it's very refreshing to have them around, though they are never really a replacement.

I WOULD have posted a link to my article about "Loonatics" that appeared last week in the Signal, but they didn't put it on the web yet. So here it is in its unedited glory!

Okay, if you read last week’s edition of "This Week in Geek," you’re probably left wondering "What the HELL is he talking about?"

Well, thankfully, my second article coincides with the release of Loonatics, a new show on Kids’ WB that premiers Saturday, September 17.

I don’t expect you to watch the show, much less actually like the show. Loonatics, set in the year 2772, takes the classic Warner Brothers cartoon characters (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc.) and makes them into sharp, anime-styled superheroes with special powers who combat the forces of evil. Danger Duck is able to teleport and create magical, projectile eggs. Tech E. Coyote creates gadgets for the team to use, and Rev Runner has super speed. Slam Tasmanian has super strength and the ability turn into tornadoes. In other words, the Warner Brothers cartoon characters use their classic comedic abilities to presumably fight evil.

So rather than set the standard for animation like they did forty and fifty years ago, Warner Brothers is simply lowering its standards to make these classic cartoons more like the cheap stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh! And Pokemon to stand a small chance at grabbing the attention of today’s youth.

Sound crazy? It is crazy, but even Warner Brothers could not have anticipated the shear animosity that this show experienced when it was announced. Thousands of loyal Warner Brothers cartoon fans were outraged at what had been done to their childhood favorites. Even crazier? Warner Brothers actually listened. I TOLD you that geeks had power!

The "extreme" look of the main character, Buzz Bunny, spawned all kinds of parodies, including a very popular satire on Newgrounds.com called "A New Bunny."

Of course, this proves that the research team at Warner Brothers didn’t do their research. The name had already been copyrighted by a UK-based company called Taboo. So when the show would have premiered, thousands of wide-eyed youth would have googled Buzz Bunny, only to discover that Buzz Bunny was...wait for it...yes, a vibrator.

Sadly, Taboo has since removed their Buzz Bunny from their website, most likely at the request of Warner Brothers. But by the same token, Buzz Bunny’s new name is Ace Bunny and his looked has been toned down substantially. However, a decision like this definitely cost Warner Brothers lots of money. They would have to push back the show’s premiere, they would have to start animating episodes again from scratch, and any merchandise that would have been developed for the show would have to be scrapped. In other words, Warner Brothers spent quite possibly millions to make us geeks happy.

I wouldn’t call it a feeling of happiness, but I must admit, I’m a little happier. Looking at the original design of Buzz Bunny would be enough to give anyone nightmares for a week. The truth of the matter is that a show like Loonatics is geared toward one thing: merchandise. I will bet that, if the show simply does okay, by Christmas, we will be seeing Loonatic action figures, posters, trading cards, candy, etc. In other words, Loonatics is not about a good cartoon that kids (or adults still living with their parents) will enjoy. It’s about merchandise.

Although I’ll bet money that Taboo sold a whole lot of Buzz Bunnies before Warner Brothers got to them. Now THAT’S merchandise!

Taboo’s Website: http://www.taboo.co.uk/

Loonatics Unleashed Website: http://kidswb.warnerbros.com/web/stuff/stuff_display.jsp?id=LON

Newgrounds’ "A New Bunny": http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/223809

I'll do this more often if I have to in order to get my stories on the web.

Also, I'm toying with the idea of another play, this time, a one-act play performed by college students. It is unlikely that I will direct, but hopefully, I will be involved in the creative process a bit. More on that as it develops.