Looney Tunes (Part 5): The Next Bunch

2 YEARS LATER!

I’m back to add even more cartoons to my ever evolving eventuality of watching all of the Looney Tunes shorts. Thankfully, I have a fairly large back log of reviews from about 2 years ago that I never added to this blog, so here they are! Once I add these, I’ll hopefully continue adding shorts more regularly. Let’s hope!

I will make sure to mark titles that I found of particular interest for Better or for Worse (and a third Pink color that denotes shorts that I liked a lot, that have a particular quality that makes them worth while.) Merry Melody shorts (which are shorts that don't feature a recurring character) will be denoted by an "MM" after the title. I opted not to denote the year for these shorts, because all of them were released in 1938.

Disclaimer: I own none of the videos or images in any of these blogs, are they are mainly being used for review purposes.

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187. Daffy Duck and Egg Head (MM)

Good to see that 1938 started well. This short is the second appearance of Daffy Duck, and the 3rd of Egghead (who is a prototype Elmer Fudd) and, it’s pretty obvious. The story is the “Hunter tries to shoot animal” plot you see in oh-so-many of these shorts. I complained in the previous post about the lack of interesting formulas, and they seemed to have immediately started working on that. But, this history already happened. Will it remain this groundbreaking for the rest of the year? (Probably not...) (7.5/10)

188. Porky’s Poppa

Not particularly groundbreaking, but entertaining nonetheless! It starts with a 2 minute parody of the song “Old McDonald” (ehhh) before actual plot: Porky’s cow Bessie is replaced by a mechanical cow. It’s an interesting premise, but nothing spectacular. (5.5/10)

189. My Little Buckaroo (MM)

Buckle up buckaroos! (Ah, a 2017 South Park reference, sure did date myself on this one...) A Mexican bandit steals money from a bank and there’s a chase through the desert. It’s much, much, less exciting than one would think. It practically put me to sleep. Nothing too special happens, and I can’t think of a single stand out moment. (3.5/10)

190. Porky at the Crocadero 

Nothing special again. Basically, Porky wants to be a bandleader, and after some antics he succeeds in becoming one. There are a few racist caricatures throughout the short, and it just didn’t do anything for me. Not terrible, but not mediocre, somewhere in between. (5/10)

191. Jungle Jitters (MM)

Uh. Well. I’m not sure what to say. This is one of those “Censored 11” shorts that are banned from TV. It’s uh, bizarre, and definitely racist at parts, and the story is dull. But, I found it oddly fascinating. This is the first short (of the censored 11) that I could probably actually recommend solely based off of the shock value. There’s suicide,cannibalism, and more in this one...I guess I’ll make the color red, but also say I can recommend it here...Gotta admit the best part was this Merry-Go-Round gag: (5/10)

On second thought, this is pretty much all you need to see in this cartoon.

I hope these images are an accurate depiction of this morbid “joke”.

192. What Price Porky

Woah. I really liked this short for a number of reasons: First of all the animation was really good. Second of all, it’s actually pretty entertaining and somehow manages to tell a story and possibly be the largest short in terms of scope thus far...it had a very “War epic” feel to it. The short itself is just the chickens going against the ducks (one of whom is probably supposed to be Daffy, and several of whom have a very “Donald-like” voice...hmmm....) but, it felt like this is the beginning of another era, where we’ll see a lot more “wartime” shorts like this. My only (minor) criticism is that Porky is barely in the short. Oh well! It’s pretty good! (7.5/10)

193. The Sneezing Weasel (MM)

Pretty good. Willy the Weasel tries to eat chicks while mama chicken is away to fetch the doctor after one chick catches cold. I really like Willy the Weasel, but it’s hard to tell if he’s an idiot or just a goof. But, that didn’t deter form my enjoyment. A few funny jokes, and some war themes (that’s two in a row, I just be on to something!) make this stick out. (6.5/10)

194. Porky’s Phony Express

Ugh. This wasn’t terrible, but boy was it dated. The pacing and tone were straight out of a “Buddy” era cartoon, and Porky’s design was all out of whack. It made me want to fall asleep, so boring! (4/10)

195. A Star is Hatched (MM)

 How sort of topical! The film “A Star is Born” came out in 1937 and a remake starring Lady Gaga just came out this week (as of when I wrote this review.) Sadly, the plot (as far as I can tell) is a very (very) loose parody of the original film. Even worse is that it kind of veers off the “parody” track and starts doing 1930’s movie star caricatures (very common in these shorts) and not much else. A chicken wants to be a movie star, so what? At least follow her and not Clark Gable’s floppy ears for the upteenth time. (5/10)

196. Porky’s Five & Ten

Uh, I’ll just try to let the plot explain what I think of this one. Porky decides to open a nickel and dime store on a desert island because “funny.” Then some fish randomly decide to screw with him and knock all random junk overboard. But, uh-oh! The fish find wacky ways to use the random items! The even find a way to turn into 1930’s movie stars! What? How whacky! Hahahahaha. (4/10)

197. The Penguin Parade (MM)

This one was confusing. I said out loud as the short started: “Oh no!” Because the short was pretty clearly going to be another celebrity caricature short again, and it kind of was, I think? Except they were penguins. Half the references I didn’t get, and several I didn’t even know if they were supposed to be references. The most confusing part was one particular Penguin who gave a speech for like a minute, and he was seemingly unintelligible, I think? I made out some words, but only like half...I really didn’t know what to think the entire time. (3.5/10)

198. Porky’s Hare Hunt

At last! The first appearance of “Happy Rabbit”! I mean, (the character that will become) Bugs Bunny! I knew this was his first appearance and I admittedly was sort of caught up in that fact, as the rabbit in the cartoon is quite bewildering. (Even to the characters.) It’s just Porky hunting a rabbit. But, the rabbit is very entertaining, and it’s pretty clear why he would become big (although the won’t appear again for awhile....) Definitely worth watching! (8/10)

He wouldn’t hit it big for awhile.

He also wouldn’t hit it Chungus For Awhile.

199. Now That Summer is Gone (MM)

The plot is very basic, a young squirrel becomes addicted to gambling. Whoopee. More to the point though, it was very clear to me that this was an “experimental” film more than anything. The short uses multi-plane camera work extensively (which Disney has pioneered a year prior) and it isn’t particularly well done either...it also uses an extensive amount of double exposure for some reason. Weird shots like that take up about 4 minutes of this short 6-minute (most are 7) cartoon. Very odd. So middle of the road I can’t write about it any more. (5/10)

200. Injun Trouble

Don’t worry, it’s not some racist cartoon about natives (that’s the next short...) This was a bizarre short about Porky going after a super-human Native American named “Injun Joe.” The bizarre part is his strange hillbilly guy Porky keeps running into. The music shifts into a strange instrumentation that really hasn’t been in these shorts before. And he sings a weird song...it’s really surreal, and he feels like a sort of Tom Bombadil like guy...then it turns out he just knows Injun Joe is ticklish. Boo! Could have had a much cooler ending. Nothing special for the 200th short. (6/10)

201. The Isle of Pingo Pongo (MM)

Another “Censored 11” short, and this one isn’t as bad as some of the other ones. It has a lot or really racist moments, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t as plentiful...well, maybe...LISTEN! The short is 8 minutes long and is a nature documentary about the titular island. The interesting thing is I know this format will be used a lot in future shorts, and I believe this is the first use of such a format (in fact one of my favorite cartoons is in this format...) The good news is the FIRST half of the short is genuinely good, and doesn’t have any racist jokes (so far as I can tell, the version I found was atrocious quality) but then it devolves into racist nonsense. Not funny, not clever, not worth your time. (3.5/10)

202. Porky the Fireman

Pretty much as the title says. Porky is a Fireman. The jokes are bizarre, but I don’t really think they work. I’ve seen many shorts do this same “putting out a fire” schtick before, and the jokes were at least different from what I’ve seen. I can’t say much else about this very basic short. (4/10)

203. Katnip Kollege (MM)

One of the (literal) cats at Katnip Kollege ain’t got rhythm. Then he spontaneously gets rhythm. The animation is nice, I guess. There’s not much to say about this one. It kept my attention? (4.5/10)

204. Porky’s Party

I think this short suffers from too many ideas trying to be crammed into one short. There’s several new characters introduced (a weird goose and a penguin, and Porky has a dog for some reason), the titular party, a weird subplot with a racist silkworm (he’s “oriental”), and the dog getting drunk on hair tonic. It’s just a little too crazy and just doesn’t flow right. But, I will say I enjoyed it. There were just some clear issues. (3.5/10)

205. Have You Got Any Castles (MM)

I liked it, despite it being another “inanimate objects come to life” short (books this time...again...) It works because it has some decent jokes, and it’s actually very quickly paced. In fact it’s so quick I was able to forget about the bad jokes really quickly because a new good one came in it’s place. I will say about 40% of the jokes work...which is much more than usual. I’ll take it! (4/10)

206. Love and Curses (MM)

Curses! This was...Great! Taking place in a flashback to the “Gay 90’s” (*ahem* the 1890’s) this short comes complete with a mustache twirling villain who ties a woman to railroad tracks and puts her through a saw mill. I’m sorry, but I adore that cliché. It’s actually pretty good in terms of story, and tells a full story. Highly recommended, but maybe just because it fits my own tastes well... (7.5/10)

207. Cinderella Meets Fella (MM)

This one starts as a basic retelling of Cinderella, then halfway through it reveals Prince Charming: Egghead (who is still a prototype of Elmer Fudd) and it just gets a little more odd as it goes. I liked the ending where Cinderella runs away to see a Warner Bros. Picture, and it turns out the picture she ran to see was this one. It’s really bizarre. Overall though...Not particularly mememroable. (6/10)

208. Porky’s Spring Planting

Porky is a god-dammed Gardner for the upteenth time, and his garden is getting attacked by chickens again. If it wasn’t a terrible premise, it might work...but, wait...no, that doesn’t make sense. The jokes fall flat and the animation is lazy (especially on Porky’s new dog, RIP the dog from the last short apparently.) The ending also made very little sense. The rabbi doesn’t for not warts kümmel. (3/10)

209. Porky and Daffy

It’s interesting to note how Daffy Duck started out as being completely insane (or Daffy, hence the name) and how his schtick is being off the wall bonkers. This short exemplifies that, and it’s a very clear distinction between that and what he will become later. More to the point, this shirt is interesting from that perspective and not much else. I do believe that Daffy will appears more and more now as a regular character. So, hopefully he’ll evolve quickly. (5/10)

210. The Major Lied ‘Til Dawn (MM)

 So, this short is presented as a jungle explorer telling a story about a trip to Africa to...IDK, some kid? Strangely, the title makes me wonder if it was a lie? The fact that he made any of the story he tells up is never brought up in the actual short, so I have no idea. Anyways, the short has one funny joke written on a sign (apparently the Los Angeles city limits are in Africa?) and a strange Popeye reference. That’s all that’s worth mentioning besides some pretty terrible racist caricatures, and one joke that I thought was headed in a direction that luckily didn’t...would have been the worst joke in the series this far if they did though! (3/10)

211. Wholly Smoke

Wholly anti-smoking advertisement Batman! That’s really all this short was. It was just Porky being told (through a mind trip he gets from smoking Tobacco?) by singing cigarette that resemble celebrities that KIDS shouldn’t smoke. Odd that the short specified kids, and never that nobody really should. It was cute, but I don’t think I’d watch it again. (6/10)

212. A-Lad-In Bagdad (MM)

Basically just the story of Aladdin. A few key differences: He wins the lamp from a claw machine (funny), the Genie is a racist black caricature (bad, especially since he calls Aladdin “Master”....) and at the End the Princess decides to wish for the genie to be some hot (White) dude and she moves into the lamp. Passable, I guess. Nothing to special... (6/10)

213. Cracked Ice (MM)

A pig who’s supposed to be a W.C. Field parody...tries to steal gin from an ice rescue dog who revives said gin to warm up people who have fallen in the ice? Okay. Sure, why not? Now, I’m not big into my W.C. Fields, but the whole thing didn’t seem particularly funny to me. Just a very bizarre concept. I was mostly left scratching my head. (4/10)

214. A Feud There Was (MM)

Another Hatfield/McCoy short (this the 2nd or 3rd one...) the real interesting part is the “Egghead” character. His character (as mentioned before, a prototype of Elmer Fudd, which oddly enough he’s actually called in this short!) had the odd tendency to show up in shorts unexpectedly. It’s kind of clever the way he’s integrated, like he’s tearing into history...sorta. In this one, he literally tries and is able to (?) put a stop to the Fudd. I mean Feud. I kinda liked it. (5/10)

215. Porky in Wackyland

I recently had a conversation with some friends of mine about “cartoons made on drugs” and wether or not that’s somewhat of an insult to the work. Is it an insult to say “no one is that creative, they would have had to have used drugs to come up with this shit?” Well, this short, definitely has a lot of trippy imagery, and raises the question. The short is a classic. 9/10 personally...not quite enough plot to really dribble a slam dunk. (9/10)

This is considered one of the best cartoons however, and as much as I’d like to see how great it is, it just felt like it was missing something. There was a color remake later on, that definitely adds quite a bit to it. I think I may re-evaluate it in color.

Also, the insane dodo appears for the first time here. He’s a minor character in “Tiny Toon Adventures” of course. 

216. Little Pancho Vanilla (MM)

...I don’t get the title, but whatever. It’s about a little boy named Poncho who wants to be a bullfighter. There weren’t many laughs, but it actually has a genuinely sweet ending instead of the usual gag note these usually end on. I enjoyed it. Definitely worth seeing. (7.5/10)

217. Porky’s Naughty Nephew

I took another extended break from watching these, but I’m back again! And, sadly I returned to a rather bland cartoon. Porky and his Nephew go to the beach. It mostly consists of jokes about swimming, and swimsuits, with only about 30% of the cartoon focusing on his “naughty nephew.” The weirdest thing about it was how the nephew kept changing from a stupid baby that could only say “goo goo ga ga” to being like 5 years old. It’s remarkably inconsistent...which is pretty much the whole cartoon. (4/10)

218. Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas (MM)

I...liked this. I think I liked it because of how amazingly stupid it is. I think it needs to be watched by people. The stupidest part is just how damn historically inaccurate it is. If you thought the Disney movie “Pocahontas” was inaccurate...oh, boy...It sort of follows the same plot, but “Johnny Smith” comes over on the MAYFLOWER. 🙄 Then he gets chased by natives and is going to have his head chopped off, but *ahem* “Poker-Huntas” hears about it on...THE RADIO...and so she gets in HER CAR and goes to save him. Like, I get it, I can excuse the anachronisms, but the whole MAYFLOWER thing is just stupid. I just don’t know how intentional that part of the inaccuracy is, but it just sort of found a way to make me smile. I didn’t really laugh, but I was sort of invested in seeing how stupid it could get...and I wasn’t disappointed in the CAR CHASE at the end. Please watch this...Even 2 years later, I can’t emphasize how this Cartoon really stuck with me. It really is one of the weirdest most bizarre cartoons I’ve seen so far. It’s one of the very few that I’ve tried to spark conversations about (to no avail.) It’s legitimately amazing, IMO. If only because of how utterly insane it is. (8.5/10)

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...and now, here I am 2 years later, finally updating this blog. It sure has been a long while. Not gonna lie, that last cartoon kinda broke me. Sort of made me wonder when the mixed bag of cartoons will come to an end, and get really good.

It’s like lucky charms when you are a kid, after you pick out all the marshmallows, all that’s left are a few pieces of the cereal itself, and a few marshmallows. Not much in here worth celebrating.

Plus, I have the added bonus of finishing this 2 years after watching them. Suffice to say, I only remember a few of them. (Not all of them, sadly.) I think this is a good indication of the quality of this particular batch of shorts.

Hopefully, I find it in me to keep going sooner than 2 years from now. We’ll see! (I plan to start watching more in a day or so after this is posted! Stay tuned!)

ANYWAYS...

-Alavem (All of them.)

Looney Tunes (Part 4): The Rest of 1937

I took an extended break once again, in the middle of watching this series of shorts, which comprise of the remaining chunk of 1937. Because, let me tell you...this one was a bit of a spirit breaker. After going through and withstanding several extremely lackluster characters (Buddy, Beans, and to a lesser extent, Bosko) I was really hoping that the introduction of Porky would change things...and well...how about you just read my thoughts?

I will make sure to mark titles that I found of particular interest for Better or for Worse (and a third Pink color that denotes shorts that I liked a lot, that have a particular quality that makes them worth while.) Merry Melody shorts (which are shorts that don't feature a recurring character) will be denoted by an "MM" after the title. I opted not to denote the year for these shorts, because all of them were released in 1937.

Disclaimer: I own none of the videos or images in any of these blogs, are they are mainly being used for review purposes.

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154. Porky's Road Race 

This one starts with a disclaimer about none of the characters being real people and...it’s another one of those “celebrity” shorts where a bunch of 1930’s celebrities have wild antics. I recognized *most* of them, but some of them just didn’t stand the test of time. It turns into Wacky Races eventually, and it’s pretty fun, if significantly dated. (6/10)

155. Picador Porky

I laughed at the first joke and then didn’t laugh again. Porky and his friends enter a bull fighting contest, and Porky cheats to win. His friends screw it up by getting drunk. It wasn’t anything special.(4/10)

156. I Only Have Ice For You (MM)

 A weird little short about a turkey (I think) who delivers ice. It’s pretty bland, and just kind of odd. I don’t see this one as being anything worth remembering. (4.5/10)

157. The Fella With The Fiddle (MM)

A grandpa mouse tells his kids about a greedy mouse who gets his just desserts. There’s a lame plot twist you can see from a mile away, so it makes for a boring and predictable short. (5/10)

158. Porky's Romance

Porky falls for Petunia Pig (a character that still exists, but rarely) and after his marriage proposal is rejected he decides to kill himself. It’s a kind of dark short that is trying to force a new character, yet again. Yawn! (5.5/10)

159. She Was an Acrobat's Daughter (MM)

A nice little short that’s more of a series of gags about people at a movie theater. A few chuckle worthy moments, I liked it, but it was definitely lacking in a few places. (6/10)

160. Porky's Duck Hunt

 Woo-Hoo! The first appearance of Daffy Duck! And...it’s just sort of okay. Far and away the best part of the short was Daffy (or this weird prototype Daffy, but you can tell who it will become) but the rest of the short isn’t particularly interesting. Recommended for historical sake, I guess. (7/10)

Daffy won't appear again until 1938...Boo!

161. Ain't We Got Fun (MM)

 What starts out as a pretty mediocre “cat chases mouse” cartoon, picks up in the second half quite a bit. Slow start, but it picked up and had a neat little story that resonated a bit. (6/10)

162. Porky and Gabby

While the short itself isn’t anything special, the animation far exceeds anything that came before it (at least in the non-Merry Melodies shorts) and the characters are much more fluid moving. Porky and his friend Gabby the goat go camping. Not much else to say. (6/10)

163. Clean Pastures (MM)

 Oh, fuck this shit. Seriously. Out of “censored 11” shorts I’ve watched that were banned due to racial insensitivity, this one is far and away the worst (I’m not even half way through them...) the plot doesn’t make much sense when you think about it for two seconds: Something about heaven trying to convert sinners in Harlem using Jazz? Idk. It’s stupid. Even worse is that every single joke is at the expense of the African American community. Either these characters, are dumb, lazy, greedy, or just have huge lips for no reason. Ugh. I got a headache watching this. This is the worst short I watched thus far. Oh, and the fuck is up with the title? “Clean Pastures”? There wasn’t a fucking pasture in whole goddamned short. Just another shitty stereotype. (0.5/10)

164. Uncle Tom’s Bungalow (MM)

If you couldn’t tell from the title this is another one of the “censored 11” shorts. It’s definitely not as bad as “Clean Pastures” but it’s definitely a pretty shitty cartoon. Now, I have never read Uncle Tom’ Cabin, but I can guarantee this short is nowhere near a representation of the book. I thought it was pretty bad. And outside of a “The Fuck?” moment, which I will share below, the short is unremarkable. (4/10)

You know the phrase "White as a Sheet"?

When you get scared?

Well, these two characters get frightened in the short,

and well...

Hehe. I'll admit it got a slight (SLIGHT) chuckle.

165. Porky’s Building 

 Porky and some other bigger pig race to get a building contract...by both of them building the building. BUILDING! It was fun to watch, but nothing too too special. (6/10)

166. Streamlined Gretta Green (MM)

 A cute short, but an odd one. It’s about a little car that wants to be a taxi (which is confusing until a human finally shows up halfway through.) The little car is kind of a bad role model for kids as he almost get hit by a train twice. This also put me to sleep, but I don’t blame the short itself...maybe I was just tired. Good animation though! (7/10)

167. Sweet Sioux (MM)

Not gonna lie. I was quite worried when I realized this was about native Americans. Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad. Nothing too offensive except maybe one odd caricature. If the subject material was antiquated by today’s standards, I might have recommended it, but it’s too close to the middle of the road for that. (5/10)

168. Porky's Super Service

 Porky has a car service center. Then a baby torments him as he tries to fix a car. Really, it’s pretty basic. I can’t say much, because I don’t have much to say. Some of these just feel like an obligation to watch at this point. (5/10)

169. Egghead Rides Again (MM)

A super early version of the character (who despite the title, is in his first appearance) that would eventually turn into Elmer Fudd, named “Egghead” heads out West to become a cowboy. It’s not that great, and it’s pretty predictable. Not bad, just not great. (6.5/10)

See the resemblence? No? I don't blame ya.

170. Porky’s Badtime Story

 Porky and Gabby are late for work and have to make sure they aren’t late again, or they’re fired! (Gasp!) I liked the creative title, and there was a subtle detail with the alarm clock where every successive shot it was in, it showed a few minutes later, overall I liked it. (7/10)

171. Plenty of Money and You (MM)

Did I miss something? I have no idea what the title is referring to. It’s about a Hen that gives birth to an Ostrich (no explanation is ever given) and it’s just bizarre. The bad kind of Bizarre. I really didn’t enjoy this, the design of the Ostrich was kind of cool, but everything else was just too weird. (6.5/10)

172. Porky’s Railroad

Porky is a railroad engineer, and yeah, they kinda found a formula that “works” but, they stopped innovating the content of these shorts once they did. There’s nothing that special about this short. I wish these would get more creative. It’s not bad but, it’s the same short as “Porky’s Building” with some minor changes. (5.5/10)

173. A Sunbonnet Blue (MM)

It’s about mice in a hat shop. Surprisingly? It manages to be pretty bad. I found it annoying, and they made the pace way too quick. Repetitive music, and annoying songs and animation. The worst in awhile. (3/10)

174. Get Rich Quick Porky 

Porky buys into a scam where someone planted fake oil in a plot of land to get money. Turns out there’s real oil! The short wasn’t great, but it was better than some of the more repetitive ones from this time. (4.5/10) 

Time keeps on slippin'...

(Hey, that could be construed as a Looney Tunes Joke!)

175. Speaking of the Weather (MM)

Whew, I took another extended break from watching these shorts, but now I’m back at it! This one was...okay. It was another one of those really dated shorts where it’s filled with celebrity caricatures just doing...whatever. This one had them on covers of magazines (which may or may not have existed...) and it probably would have been better if I knew who anyone was supposed to be. Animation was good, but that might just be because I haven’t watched any others in awhile to compare. (6/10)

176. Porky’s Garden

 Ugh. This was boring. Porky wants to win $1. So he plants a garden, but his neighbor wants to sabotage him with Chickens. It’s difficult to watch these when it’s clear the people writing them had no clever ideas of jokes. It’s just slapstick, and nothing special beyond that. (4/10)

177. Dog Daze (MM)

I love dogs. I did not love this cartoon. It had no story, it was just dogs at a talent show. Doing...human things. At one point some fleas get loose and then well, it amounts to less than you’d hope. I was thinking, “Oh, sh**s about to go dooooown!” But, alas...it remained boring. (3/10)

178. I Wanna Be a Sailor (MM)

Phew! I was worried I wouldn’t see any good ones for awhile! I probably had more “laugh out loud” moments in this short than I’ve in any other thus far (that I can think of!) A little parrot wants to be a sailor, which isn’t necessarily a funny premise (none of the sailor stuff is really funny) but, there’s some cute random gags that deserve a laugh. (7.5/10)

179. Rover’s Rival

The Looney Tune’s Theme (Merry Go Round Broke Down) starts playing at the beginning of shorts starting here. This short was kind of sad, and a little darker than most shorts thus far. A little S.O.B. dog torments an older dog named Rover and Porky. It’s a little too mean spirited at points and not really funny. Looney Tunes shorts will eventually wind up resembling this short, but this seemed like a failed attempt at that sort of humor. (7/10)

180. The Lyin’ Mouse (MM)

 Just a retelling of that Aesop story about the Lion that spared the mouse’s life and how the mouse eventually repaid him. It was pretty mediocre (I love that word) and wasn’t really anything special. Just a run of the Mill cartoon. (5.5/10)

181. The Case of the Stuttering Pig

 WOW. Not necessarily funny, but this short definitely had a very “cinematic” feel to it. It had good use of shadows, and had an interesting story. I figured based off the title, it would at least be interesting an I was right! Just a little mystery for Porky to solve. Vibes of Snow White, which was released the same year, no doubt influenced this. (8/10)

182. Little Red Walking Hood (MM)

Interesting, I liked it. It was exactly what you’d think, but it was done pretty well and “modernized”. The only weird thing is that Egghead (the prototype Elmer Fudd) keeps showing up for no apparent reason until the end where he knocks the Wolf out. Okay? It was more weird and bizarre than funny. Still kind of interesting. (7.5/10)

Also featuring: "Proto-Granny" who would, I guess

eventually go on to become "Granny" AKA, that old

lady who owns Tweety and Sylvester.

No joke, there's an article on "The Looney Tunes Wiki" 

about this lady. Just to show there are people crazier than

me out there. 

183. Porky’s Double Trouble

A lookalike frames Porky for robbery. It’s really nothing special, but I guess it was entertaining. I have nothing bad to say about it. Nothing particularly good either. Very middle of the road. Maybe a little above that. (5.5/10)

184. The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (MM)

 Another overly dated 1930’s celebrity caricature brigade, only this time...they’re all birds! What. How crazy. Definitely laughing my head off at the lack of jokes, and over abundance of celebrities I couldn’t even begin to recognize (this one had less than usual...) Minus points for not having a Clark Gable bird...he’s an absolute staple of these cartoons, how could you leave him out?! (4/10)

185. Porky’s Hero Agency

 Porky (who is now a little child that actually resembles the design most know him as) dreams of being a Greek hero (I believe it’s Hermès) to fight a Gorgon (the species that Medusa is) it was entertaining, but not particularly funny. I suppose it was interesting enough for me to do a little research into what was happening. Also, a few strange references...Popeye (owned by a different company), The Three Stooges and...well, a Nazi salute (Ugh). I guess the references were less dated than the previous cartoon, so props? (4/10)

186. September in The Rain (MM)

Boo! What a terrible cartoon. A stupid over-used premise (objects in a store come to life, this time it’s logos on boxes...which has been done before.) No jokes. Cringy racist caricatures. No thanks. At the very least, it’s very short. It ended really abruptly. Surprisingly, I looked into it, and I watched the full version...the short censored version is only 3 minutes long! Wow. Last cartoon of ‘37! (2/10)

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One can probably surmise that my lack of blue and pink in the color denotations, that I did not care for a majority of these shorts. Most of them while good, seem to edge in a direction where the creators of these shorts still haven't gotten the hang of what actually makes some of these cartoons "good," "bad," or "racist monstrosities."

I used the phrase "spirit breaker" earlier in the opening of this blog, and I'll elaborate: It just seems so frustrating that even after almost 200 shorts, they fail to get a grasp on not repeating the same boring schtick over and over again. I'm tired of dated celebrity caricatures, and objects in stores coming to life, and "a day in the life of some character with little personality" I want something a little more fresh, with a little more humor!

But, I digress. I know that Looney Tunes aren't the pinnacle of humor. I don't think even during the future Golden Era of Bugs Bunny and all the rest of the characters, I will laugh hardily at every joke. But, I at some point expect to see a little more effort than this.

Finally, I'll end by saying that I am not by any means a hater on "formulaic" story telling (i.e. where every story follows the same plot) but, it's more an issue with the formulas they've established in these cartoons so far being boring and not-entertaining. "If it's not broke, don't fix it." Well, these cartoons are broke, and they need fixing. I know the fixing is coming...but, when????

That's about all I can say right now...

- Alavem (All of Them)

Looney Tunes (Part 3): Beans and Pork

So, this next era of shorts focuses on two characters, a cat named Beans (that absolutely everybody and their mom has heard of, most obviously) and a pig named Porky who won't ever show up in another cartoon after this group of shorts. Obviously.

Both characters were in a previous short entitled "I Haven't Got a Hat" which didn't really focus on either one of them. To be real for a second, the studio had really wanted Beans to be their next big "star" (for whatever reason) so they pushed him into the spotlight, apparently ignoring that the PIG was the most popular part of "I Haven't Got a Hat." So, for now Beans will be the main character until the pig is brought back and proves to be the most popular character the studio had created up to that point.

As before, I will now continue with the regular reviews. As before, I watched and reviewed the first 153 these prior to starting this, so this part will continue to be "archival" reviews (or just general thoughts) with possible expansions with additional thoughts. I will make sure to mark titles that I found of particular interest for Better or for Worse (and a third Pink color that denotes shorts that I liked a lot, that have a particular quality that makes them worth while.) Merry Melody shorts (which are shorts that don't feature a recurring character) will be denoted by an "MM" after the title.

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#112. The Lady in Red (1935) MM I can say that this cartoon made me feel more uncomfortable than any previous one. It’s about cockroaches in a cafe after closing (the titular Lady in Red is a cockroach). Then at the end a crazed parrot burns to death. Yep. (5/10)

#113. A Cartoonists Nightmare (1935) Wow! Pretty great. I mean, not really funny or anything, but the 7 minutes this took up flew by! Obviously, it’s a little meta story about a cartoonist getting trapped in his own cartoon and I like meta. Definitely a sign of a new era. This is the second short to star "Beans the Cat" so here he is: (7.5/10)

Sure to be-an all-time classic character!

#114. Little Dutch Plate (1935) MM The evil vinegar bottle needs his mortgage payment or the Dutch Plate Girl and the saltshaker boy will get evicted! Anyways, I thought it was boring, until the twist ending. Honestly, I can recommend it solely based on the ending, which is quite unexpected. Awesome! (7/10)

#115. Hollywood Capers (1935) Beans the Cat breaks into Warner Bros. and does stuff. It’s kinda dull. Kinda the first "Beans" short that shows that no...they aren't trying something new with the character and they are just gonna rehash the same boring nonsense...yet again. Not as bad as Buddy though! (6/10)

#116. Billboard Frolics (1935) MM A bunch of billboard ad characters dance to...the Looney Tunes theme? Hell yeah! I like these ones that seem to show the origin of how things would work out. There’s a B-plot with a chick and a cat, that’s boring, but the rest is great! (8/10)

#117. Flowers for Madame (1935) MM Flowers dance to a song I don’t know and a living cactus hillbilly saves everyone from a fire. The titular ‘Madame’ does not make an appearance, as expected. (4.5/10)

#118. Gold Diggers of ‘49 (1935) I can say this is the first genuinely “funny” short I’ve watched, outside of novelty. Very entertaining. Beans finds a slot machine imbedded in the mountains and wins gold out of it, so there’s a gold rush! Porky is here too! What joyous fun!

I should mention that while I'm intending to go too much into detail of the creation of these shorts, I do feel obligated to mention that this is the first short directed by Tex Avery, whom is probably one of few recognizable names, these days.

(I think I'm going to start being more liberal with the "Blue" text shorts. I'm starting to look like the beginning of the shorts you see on TV now, with the "Blue Ribbon" openings.) (7.5/10)

I've a feeling we're gonna start seeing less shit soon.

#119. The Fire Alarm (1935) Beans the Cat’s Nephews (2 Dogs?) come to stay at the Fire Department. God are they miserable little sh*ts! The absurdity of their actions can be funny though. But, not really laugh out loud funny. (6/10)

#120. I Wanna Play House (1936) MM ‘36! 2 cute (genuinely) bear cubs play hide and seek in the woods. Nothing special here, except one of the cubs sings “I’m Singing Because I’m Gay.” and that along with the title is bound to raise some eyebrows. Darn colloquialisms! (7/10)

#121. The Phantom Ship (1936) Beans and his nephews have a (somehow) quite boring adventure to Iceland where they search for pirate treasure. His nephews are less obnoxious in this one, so almost all their redeeming qualities are gone. NUTS! (5.5/10)

#122. The Cat Came Back (1936) MM Sort of like Romeo and Juliet with a cat and a mouse. And they are friends instead of lowers. Okay, maybe the comparison is a stretch, but! I really enjoyed this one. It was very cute.

And no, this isn't that other short. (7/10)

It's not this. This is leagues ahead.

#123. Boom Boom (1936) It’s WW1, I guess...and Porky and Beans (Porky is pretty much the main character now) are at War. It’s mostly just bullet jokes and grenade jokes. I mean, it’s really nothing special. Meh. (5/10)

#124. Page Miss Glory (1936) MM A bellhop at a small hotel fantasizes doing his job at a big club while he waits for “Miss Glory” to arrive. I gotta say, this is probably the first short that tried to LOOK different. It did well. Also, the Miss Glory reveal was great. This is a great short that I very highly recommend as being worth the watch. AMAZING! (9/10)

#125. Alpine Antics (1936) Beans is skiing for a $2 prize. It’s eh. Anywho, almost all the side characters except Porky seem to be lifted from Disney cartoons. And, of course Porky has the funniest bit (the fool is so excited to be riding a rocking horse down the mountain!) (5/10)

#126. The Blow Out (1936) Porky Pig wants an ice cream soda, so in his quest to earn 3¢ more to get it, he literally foils a terrorist bombing. See, that’s actually entertaining to watch. It only took 126 of these. Sheesh. (7.5/10)

#127. I’m a Big Shot Now (1936) MM A “sleazy back alley punk bird flipping a coin” robs the Birdville bank of thousands of worms. It wasn’t anything special. My biggest complaint? During the shootout at the end, the bird police did no flying whatsoever. Why? They forgot they could? (6/10)

#128. Westward Whoa (1936) The final Beans cartoon! It’s just Bean’s bratty nephews in a “boy who cried wolf” situation with “Indians.” Then it turns into a pretty racist dipiction of “Indians” and just sort of ends without the story being resolved. Oh well. (6/10)

BYE BYE YOU STUPID CAT, YOU BARELY LASTED FIVE SECONDS!

#129. Plane Dippy (1936) Porky joins the Air Force and tests a robotic plane. Has a few clever moments, and a moment with a dog at the end that of course I laughed at. Overall, a pretty decent cartoon. I’m sure the remaining 900~ of these will breeze by! (5.5/10)

#130. Let It Be Me (1936) MM A hen leaves her rooster for a celebrity COCK, who inevitably leaves her for another girl. Eventually the original couple gets back together. Besides it maybe being a little sad, this one wasn’t anything special. (6/10)

#131. I’d Love to Take Orders from You (1936) MM Wasn’t sure what to make of the title, then I found out it’s about scarecrows and...I’m still scratching my head. I thought it looked nice, with some really smooth animation. A little better than middle of the road. (7/10)

#132. Fish Tales (1936) This one was weird. Porky Pig goes fishing, and a bunch of bizarre things happen to him. 2/3s of it are “just a dream” but, even the parts that aren’t are super weird. Not super funny weird, just sort of surreal, and possibly scary for kids? (5.5/10)

#133. Bingo Crosbyana (1936) MM More gross bugs like in #110, it’s just flies this time. Also, it’s Bing Crosby as a fly, which the celebrity COCK in #129 was also a parody of, and also named Bingo. Regardless, I enjoyed this one and laughed a couple times. But, it’s not great. (6.5/10)

#134. Shanghaied Shipmates (1936) So, I only found this online in color, but it was originally in b&w so, I naturally I turned my iPad into greyscale mode. I also think the plot might be a reference to a 1920’s Soviet propaganda film (Battleship Potemkin?)! Oh, and the short itself was just ok. (6/10)

#135. When I Yoo Hoo (1936) MM It’s just a standard Hatfield-McCoy parody (Retrospective aside: Haha, soooo standard!) that ends in a tie after a failed cock fight. Not much to say here. I just didn’t see anything in here worth writing about. (5/10)

#136. Porky’s Pet (1936) Porky and his pet...Ostrich...are given the chance to hit the big time in New York for...no discernible reason. Do they make it? It ends far before they possibly can. There’s only a 3rd of a story here, and it doesn’t continue in other shorts. Boo! (4.5/10)

#137. I Love to Singa (1936) MM Yes! I’ve seen this one before! Multiple times in fact. It’s quite a classic. Not exactly funny, but definitely a well told memorable short. Owl Jolson is a great Jazz Singer! (8.5/10)

Didja know? South Park did a parody in the first episode.

#138. Porky the Rain-Maker (1936) Basically “Jack and the Bean Stalk” with pills that effect the weather rather than beans. Probably one of the first shorts I’ve watched that has a concept for actual jokes, and runs with it. Vaguely progressive but, overall middle of the road. (6/10)

#139. Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time (1936) MM Another “censored 11” cartoon that was banned for being racist, and yeeahh. It dots the i and crosses the t. Watermelon, chicken, and poorly drawn African Americans really make this one cringey to watch. Ew. (1/10)

#140. Porky’s Poultry Plant (1936) Uh, so Porky has to defend his friends(?) the hens...from an evil hawk, at his...poultry plant? Like, does Porky even know what poultry is and why he’s running the plant? This was so stupid. Almost funny in that way. ALMOST! (6/10)

#141. At Your Service Madame (1936) MM A bunch of piglets (not Porky) work to keep a fat idiot from stealing their mother’s fortune. I had a chuckle at a random joke, but not enough to make this anything memorable. (5.5/10)

#142. Toy Town Hall (1936) MM Just a bunch of toys singing songs. BUT, almost all these songs appeared in earlier shorts! Plus, the animation and recordings seem quite similar, as if some tracing was going on! Hmm...also dated references to 30’s movie stars makes this kinda trash. (3/10)

#143. Milk and Money (1936) Porky sells milk to pay off the mortgage. Mediocre, except for the evil mortgage collector! He’s hilariously evil, and the best part of this short. Probably the funniest thing in all of these that I watched yet! (7/10)

#144. Porky’s Moving Day (1936) Another hilarious character! Porky’s sidekick who does nothing except say “Okay, Boss.” over and over...pretty funny. I think the idea is he was a former boxer so he suffered head trauma? IDK. But, he while he was the best, the rest was just ok. Retroactively, I can say that this is supposed to be a stereotype. A lot of black stereotypes in these shorts say “Okay, Boss!” For some reason. Shame on me for finding him funny. (5/10)

#145. Boulevardier from the Bronx (1936) MM One of the main theme songs is used at the beginning for the credits for the first time. Other than that, this is nothing other than a reverse “Casey at Bat” with a pitcher rather than a batter. Very forgettable. (4.5/10)

#146. Don’t Look Now (1936) MM Cupid, and...uh...Satan(?!) foil each other on Valentine’s Day. Of course, Satan marries a skunk at the end. This one was just weird as hell. Pretty literally. (6.5/10)

#147. Little Beau Porky (1936) Porky is a camel washer in the legion in Arabia. I mean, it’s just kinda mediocre. But, I was impressed by how badass Porky abruptly became towards the end. Shooting machine guns and knocking out baddies left and right. (5/10)

#148. The CooCoo Nut Grove (1936) MM Another short full of 1930’s celebrity caricatures I (mostly) didn’t recognize. Most of the time I was either thinking “I don’t know who that is so I don’t get it.” Or “Hey, I know him!” The real puzzler was Clark Gable’s ears...he has big ears? (6/10)

Welp, I guess he does!

#149. The Village Smithy (1936) MM At first there was a narrator, and I was like “Oh, cool something new!” then he went away and I was sad. It was about a Village Smithy, in case you were wondering. More to the point, this probably more resembles a “Looney Tune” than anything that came before it, so there’s that. (6.5/10)

#150. Porky in the North Woods (1936) Porky has a wildlife refuge, and some evil possibly Russian dude decides he can still hunt and trap and stuff. Of course the animals get revenge. Nothing too special here. Even the villain was lacking. #150! (5/10)

#151. He Was Her Man (1937) MM Uh, so this one was extremely unpleasant to watch. It was just emotional and physical abuse between two mice in a relationship. They play it for laughs, but it’s not funny. I was agape when the girl shot the guy. Nothing “Looney” here. Jesus. (3/10)

#152. Porky the Wrestler (1937) Porky is...a boxer! Haha. Jk. He’s a wrestler. I don’t have much to say except that most of the jokes made very little sense. I mean, I’m cool with randomness. But, I never quite got what was going on half the time. Just confusing. (5/10)

#153. Pigs Is Pigs (1937) MM Hey, this one was pretty good. There was no songs (every Merry Melody short, the ones without recurring characters Bosko, Buddy, Beans, Porky...prior to this had one) and it was fun. No, the Pig wasn’t Porky. But he looks like him! (7.5/10)

Another fun fact: This moment from The Simpsons is a reference to this short!

ALSO!

From this point forward, all of the reviews are exclusive to this blog. I had written 153 of these prior to starting this Blog, and those were it.

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So...I'll guess I'll stop there.

I think that this era of shorts was the first and biggest step towards getting into Looney Tunes as most people know them. In fact, this is really where it all began. Porky Pig isn't quite the character you remember him as YET, but he is getting there.

The problem, thus far, is that the creators of the shorts don't seem to know what to do with Porky. Sure, he's the most popular character they've ever had...but, he was an accident!! How can they add more characters to bounce off him if nothing else they've ever done has stuck? Well, how about more happy little accidents?

In the mean time, the Merry Melodies are also improving, and getting away from music at the same time. (Thank God.) They are mostly enjoyable this time around, with a few stinkers here and there. "Sunday Go To Meetin' Time" being the worst of the bunch.

As for the best, I would point to "Page Miss Glory" and "I Love To Singa" as the best one's here. And, hey! Those are somewhat well known cartoons today, pretty much the first of the "classic" cartoons that a lot of people recognize (maybe...)

Overall, this was a big step in the right direction. I can't wait to see what the rest of 1937 holds! Woo-Hoo!

'Til Next Time!

- Alavem (All of 'Em!)