And when they weren't harking back to references you'd likely only get if your mom liked those old movies (guilty) or if you watched a lot of 1930s/1940s Looney Tunes (also guilty), they were gratuitously referencing the late 1980s and very early 1990s — a time that really, really hasn't aged well.
I know, not exactly the most popular of opinions, but I grew up on that stuff alongside the old Tex Avery shorts and all that jazz, so it's not like I'm on the outside looking in. It's just when I see someone else point out these things, I can't help but realise that I wasn't crazy about the Tiny Toons school of cartoon even then. I mean, Pinky and the Brain was fun, and Gogo Dodo was certainly a thing, but the rest was kind of hit and miss and went over my head a lot—although I at least *knew* that it was going over my head.
There are shows from the decade that have aged way better than A!
Rocko, PPG...
I know I bemoaned a lack of "showbizzy pop culture humor" but really, if any Ruegger shows should be aspired to, it's the more satirical, surreal ones, PATB and F!
And when they weren't harking back to references you'd likely only get if your mom liked those old movies (guilty) or if you watched a lot of 1930s/1940s Looney Tunes (also guilty), they were gratuitously referencing the late 1980s and very early 1990s — a time that really, really hasn't aged well.
Same, actually.
Also, there were cartoons that did that sort of thing well, but they were mostly the ones that just aimed outright at an older crowd. I seem to recall that The Tick and Freakazoid! have aged fairly well simply because they made no bones about being... well, exactly what they were, which is meta as hell and not really for kids at all.
There was a lot of filler in TTA. For every episode with a good story or good gags (or even a good whole-plot reference or theme, like the K-ACME TV episodes or Weekday Afternoon Live), you had things that made 1970s H-B look good.
And yeah, some things went over my head, too, though it wasn't as impenetrable as Animaniacs often was.
Well, A! also did a better job of not riding Totally Radical 1990s trends, too. TTA had the characters attempting to rap, saying things like "Chill, man", and such like; the Warners didn't need to be cool because a good amount of their character was "annoying trolls that show up when you least expect them". About the only time they tried to be hip was "Dot the Macadamia Nut".
I actually agree with Lee on TTA, honestly. "How I Spent My Vacation" is still pretty awesome, though.
Animaniacs was generally pretty good, although some of the segments in the first season were real loads, and Richard Stone's music could get overbearing at times (although apparently, he was made to do some of the more overbearing effects by the producers).
I actually still have all of TTA on DVD, partially out of nostalgia, partially because the last two seasons didn't have to meet a quota and thus have a lot less filler. (There were still some complaints among the old-school fans about some of the jokes falling flat, but still, they weren't the absolute duds some of the first-season eps were...)
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
New Xkit has a toolbar button in Chrome now?
But it doesn't seem to actually do anything.
Like, I click on it, and it's just the same generic menu as when you right-click on an extension button.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
*googlegooglegoogle*
Oh, so it is a Chrome change. Fair enough.
Weird that not all of my extensions showed up like that, then.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
THING YOU NEED FOR A DECENT TUMBLR EXPERIENCE: THE HISTORY
Missing E (2011-2013) XKit (2011-2015) New Xkit (2015-present)
I am glad that I apparently missed all these cartoons growing up.
that or you forgot about them
I'm thinking now of how Toon Zone's Talkback threads for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes that were especially formulaic would draw comparisons for shows from 10-15 years before that I went "I don't remember a them doing that plot/a fucking thing about that show"
Like I said, I mainly remember live-action stuff like kid-oriented and family sitcoms doing it. Cartoons either didn't have teenage characters to start with (and thus no horse in that race), or they played with that trope as often as not (looking at you, TTA).
Comments
Rocko, PPG...
I know I bemoaned a lack of "showbizzy pop culture humor" but really, if any Ruegger shows should be aspired to, it's the more satirical, surreal ones, PATB and F!
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Animaniacs was generally pretty good, although some of the segments in the first season were real loads, and Richard Stone's music could get overbearing at times (although apparently, he was made to do some of the more overbearing effects by the producers).
I love Pinky & The Brain and Freakazoid!.
Missing E (2011-2013)
XKit (2011-2015)
New Xkit (2015-present)
Oh, what a time...