Doo Over...

As much as I love the Mouse, the Bunny has a lot of love to offer...

Putting aside the fact that I'm a DC Guy (while loving all things Disney), not a Marvel Guy, there are many properties they own that I love.  And just like Disney, Warner has a great deal of IP that it has acquired.  While the Walt Disney Company has bought everything from Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. bought DC Comics in the 70's and through other mergers took control of major parts of my childhood.

One in particular would be Hanna-Barbera.

Most people today think of Batman as Warner, as well as the Flinstones or Johnny Quest (my fav HB property, btw) as always being a Warner Bros. property.  One of the most beloved of all HB series was Scooby-Doo (my second fav).  Kids today that pay attention wouldn't know the difference, but when I grew up it was HB that owned them.  And owned Saturday mornings across America.

Kids today might be more familiar with the "Scooby-Doo" 2002 film and the "Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed" 2004 sequel.  Those films, particularly the first were decent although half-hearted attempts at bringing to life these beloved animated characters.  The law of dismissing returns after the second film put the brakes on what could have been a trilogy.  There have many animated series and animated films based in the characters, including the latest series, "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated".  That one was a high point over many of its predecessors.

But old characters never die.  Not when suits can take something proven and offers less risk.  Now, Warner Bros. has decided to move forward with an animated feature of the famous Great Dane and his beatnick crew.  The medium which it'll be animated in isn't known yet.  Several have speculated that it will be computer animated, although it wasn't clear if it would be CG or hand drawn from Variety's article.  Personally it would suit me to see it hand drawn styled like the classic 1969 "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" series with more detail and higher quality. Everything doesn't have to have a 3D dimensional look to be good.  It needs a good writer with a strong story/script.

Which will it be?  Will the writers and producers try to achieve a film that pays homage to the original while moving forward for new audiences?  Will they hire the right director?  What animation division inside Warner will animate it?

That sounds like a mystery that the gang can try and solve...

The Return Of No...

Here we go again...

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Zac Efron has signed on to play Johnny Quest in a film that may not be titled "Johnny Quest" because they don't want the negative experience they got from "Speed Racer" last year. So the Suits think that being considered an adaption of a cartoon to be a negative connotation? Or perhaps they should use that marketing department for what it was worth? Maybe they should get a good script and that would be the first part of the problem. Then there is whoever is the moron responsible for trying to turn Johnny Q. into a seventeen year old. Fire that Suit right now. RIGHT NOW. He doesn't know a thing about pop-culture, comics, cartoons or film for that matter. He needs to be scrapping grime off the floors in bathrooms... that's how much distaste I have for such people.

So go ahead and change the name of the lead character. Change the race of Haji to a native American and turn Race Bannon into a hot woman that protects the lead and is deadly with her hands; both in bed and out. Take his scientist father and make him a novelist who travels the world. Make the villain someone who's trying to get hold of his fathers next unpublished book and plagiarize it. Do all this and more. Take it so fare from JQ that I don't have to watch another mess that bean counters come up with.

And when it comes out, if it's not a success then blame it on the fact it was adapted from a cartoon...

Some Suits Should Burn...

"It's a long, long process. It's so hard when people start leaking tidbits. They're very, very early on [with it] – not that it won't happen happen, it's just early."

Zac Efron regarding his involvement in the live-action "Johnny Quest" film.

Read the actual article over at Superhero Hype and cross your fingers that the current crop of Warner Bros. Suits that came up with this version/casting of the animated classic are looking for a job soon.

Real soon...

No Nothings...

Arrrrghhh!

I hate doing this... Really, I do.

I don't like being negative. I think it's way too easy to go around being that way. You'll find it far more probable that someone says "no" to something. It's just the easier way to do things in life.

But...

When I saw this, I knew it was wrong. I knew it was another one of those "No" moments. And now it's going to be another one of those "No" posts. Only this one is not about McG and Nemo. But like those posts, this is about another part of my childhood that Suits just can't seem to stop molesting. So here it is...

The rumors are going around that Zach Efron(High School Musical) is going to be playing a certain iconic youth in Warner Bros. live-action "The Adventures of Johnny Quest" and I just have to say something to the Suits. Wait. No, I have to watch my language since yung'ns might be around. But do these WB Suits actually have functioning brains or did God somehow forget to install them? Sorry, I can't blame God for the behavior of Suits. But I for the life of me can't understand why we can't find more producers that "get" a project like this. Johnny Quest is a twelve or thirteen year old boy not a seventeen or eighteen year old boy. Which I might mention that Efron doesn't even look like anymore... I'd have trouble buying him as a freshman in college, much less high school. But the whole point about Johnny Quest is that he's just entering puberty. He's on the cusp of adolescence and he's not really into girls yet. He's into adventure and travelling the world with his dad and pals. If they truly are offering this part to Zach then they're going a whole other route. One that I don't care for. I also know that there's talk of having Dwayne Johnson play Race Bannon and while I don't really think he's right for the part, I can understand the casting there. But Zach Efron? Really!?

And I can tell that it's probably going to be a modern take in a modern setting. If I were doing JQ, it'd be set in the early 60's like the classic animated series. It's set in a more innocent time when these adventures were more believable. A time of optimism where the world that awaited us was scary and exciting, but also positive and fun. Setting it in contemporary society does nothing for the story. It's clear that the people in charge over at Warner really don't know how to protect their own properties. If they put as much care into Quest as they do Batman then I wouldn't be worried about this one. My fear is we've got another misfire on our hands here, just like "Superman Returns" was. But I really hate being negative. It makes you feel so old, like you've become your dad... or granddad. So I'm going to just shut up now.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go tell some kids to get off my lawn...