This was probably something Warner Brothers was concerned with, most animations at that time were using libraried music, and an orchestra was a costly thing. They agreed Carl Stalling’s music was one of the great elements of the old Warner Brothers animations, and to Ruegger’s surprise Spielberg casually stated that they would have a full orchestra score each episode of “Tiny Toons“. Spielberg invited Ruegger and his crew to come to Amblin to screen the film, “Tobacco Road“, in which there was a very hick-like son whose teeth became part of the final design for Max.Ĭharacters aside, Spielberg and Ruegger conversed about what it was that made “Looney Tunes” so wonderful to them. Montana Max, a modernized and not so southern version of Yosemite Sam, was probably the most difficult character to complete. Ruegger felt confidant that Fifi LeFume was unique enough from Pepe LePew, that she could stay on the forefront. There were a few characters, like Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper, and Barky Marky, were so close to their Looney Tunes complement in appearance and personality, that they were left as supporting or even background characters, as not to upset Chuck Jones who felt he initially created them. One character that never made it past the early stages was Lightning Rodriguez, a Tiny Toon version of Speedy Gonzales, he was quickly ousted as the show already had a speedy character, Little Beeper, the equivalent of Road Runner.Īrnald Dog was intended to play opposite Furball “That Spielberg guy is easily impressed.” “Ok guys I’m standing in for auditions today, wow me!” The character Furball took so long to get a green light that Ruegger suggested they should name him Leukemeow and kill him off in the second episode. He and Hampton Pig still had uncleared names when the first episode scripts were written. Plucky Duck went through about eleven other names before he was cleared. If a character name was just too close to their copyrighted counter parts, or any one else’s name for that mater, they would have to change it. But even with all the revision and thought put into the character names, they first had to get the “green light” from the legal department. Ruegger cringed at the name and immediately worked on improving it. An early name for the Bugs junior character that would become Buster Bunny, was Bitsy. Her name fit quite well considering she was the female junior version of Elmer Fudd. Many of the characters were yet to be named at this point, but Babs Bunny was the first, followed by Elmyra who was named after Ruegger’s next door neighbor. The shows stars would be school students learning the tricks of the cartoon trade from their classic Warner Brothers predecessors. They revised the characters, stories, and various concepts, the early title “Tiny Tunes” was changed to “Tiny Toons”, they came up with the settings the home town of Acme Acres and the school Acme Loonaversity. Shortly after joining Warner Brothers, Ruegger had hired Alfred Gimeno and Ken Boyer who drew up the character designs and that following day he had his first meeting with Mr. Even his first Spielberg project was deeply involved with the classic “Looney Tunes” characters, and some new ones who were strikingly similar to their predecessors. His Warner Brothers cartoons were being created in the same studios, scored in the very same, un-renovated sound stage, and in the same music style as the classics. Perhaps Ruegger was recreating the “Golden Age” more than he realized.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |