Here's an interesting early Christmas gift for you all: the nearly-complete and RARE 1972 Filmation TV special: "Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
I'm sure some of you remember that by this time, most of us Looney Tunes stars were out of work. Warner Bros. Animation closed its doors in 1969, and aside from TV reruns and comic appearances, Looney Tune activity was pretty much dormant during this time (sounds kinda like 2004-2010, doesn't it? ) So, ABC decided that for one of their "ABC Saturday Superstar" TV episodes, they bring us back, and so Warner Bros., desparate to still make money off us, loaned us out to Filmation Associates to co-star with their popular Groovie Goolies characters! (It was like the Animaniacs episode "Back in Style.") Bugs Bunny, however, refused to participate. He had become a hippie ever since 1969, and also disliked the idea of us being in a Hanna-Barbera -esque cartoon (this is one reason why he did not want to work for the Looney Tunes in the 1964-1969 period.) So, Daffy talked Filmation into letting HIM be the star on the Looney Tunes side, and he did get his way, except Filmation had him share his title with Porky (I think this was due to the popularity of "The Porky Pig Show.")
It was not one of our finest productions. We had a twangy "mod" soundtrack for the music that reminded me of Bill Lava's Looney Tunes work (it was mostly recycled from the "Groovie Goolies" and "Sabrina" shows), and budget constraints also didn't help. Filming only took two days in September of 1972! I had a bad fur day when filming began, but Filmation did not want me to groom it. And even though the Road Runner was absent, they still insisted I only communicate via signs. I do chuckle a couple of times, but that was pantomime with a different voice dubbed over.
Pepe Le Pew also couldn't get his fur groomed in time, and so he looked like some late 1960s Hanna-Barbera skunk character that Iwao Takamoto designed! He wasn't too happy about being cast as a villain in that "King Arthur" production, and he was also getting over a cold, so his voice sounded strange.
We had to walk and run in a certain way, sort of a Hanna-Barbera style. They limited our abilities to move around. In fact, it also reminded me quite a bit of the later Bill Hendricks/Warner Bros. - Seven Arts cartoons. We even were using Hanna-Barbera's sound effects, but they were of an inferior sound quality as if they were copied off three generations! (Warner Bros. Animation's small collection of the H-B effects had them in better sound quality.) I did come into Warner Bros. Animation a few times in 1968 for filming a few bits for the "Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour," and things there were quite different then than back in the 1950s and early 1960s! Daffy Duck still looked like how he appeared in those shorts at times, but luckily he wasn't acting all bitter and greedy (people were criticizing Daffy's behavior during the 1960s, so he decided to tone it down.) Instead, he was acting more like how he was back in the early 1950s. It was a relief to work with a more friendlier Daffy again. But as for his voice, the reason was that he was trying to have some kind of operation to keep him looking and acting young, but the initial time, they screwed up his vocal chords, making him sound like how he did in his earliest cartoons! I was even half-expecting Daffy to jump around and start shouting "Woo-hoo, woo-hoo!" at times, but Filmation forbade Daffy from doing that (they said they didn't have enough film for that.) Daffy did let the fame go to his head for a while, though! Porky Pig's voice was off because he just had his tonsils taken out, and so his voice needed to recover for a bit. As for Petunia, her voice was so high and nasally that it hurt the directors' ears, so they just had someone else re-dub all of her lines in post, making her sound VERY strange and a bit annoying (though not as annoying as the dumbed-down fast-talking Lola Bunny of the Looney Tunes Show!) They also added that loud, echoey laugh track in post. I remember when I heard they were going to add a laugh track, I was expecting it to be a bit softer, and more like Hanna-Barbera's at the time, but it wasn't.
The Goolies themselves were cool, though. I remember asking why Drac did not have a Transylvanian accent, and he said that he is only a descendant of the original Count Dracula when not on camera, and he felt the accent would be too cliched. Even his uncle Claude Chaney (playing the Phantom of the Flickers in this) was pretty interesting, and was truly adept at disguise. His Daffy Duck mask looked a bit freaky though: (I'm just glad he didn't have one of ME at the time )
Here's a video a friend of mine did, trying to fix up some of the voices using iMovie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0wOwK57kTk I wonder why Filmation didn't bother doing so when they were editing this back in 1972...
Hope you all enjoy it! And I apologize for any nightmares or trauma this may all cause. Looking back, to me it's more of a "so bad it's good" production, and is WAY better than "See Ya Later Gladiator!"
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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Typical Filmation animation style of its day down to the laugh track.
Filmation was great in adapting other established ideas into series such as "Star Trek", "Tarzan", "Archie", and even the "Dick Tracy" segment of "Archie's TV Funnies".
When one is used to the classic 40s and 50s Warner Animation style, the comparison to the Filmation product suffers.
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"Don't chew gum on camera. Don't whistle. You may kiss Bob Barker but please don't kill him." -announcer Johnny Olson briefing the audience of potential contestants for "The Price is Right"
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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Holy guacamole! No exaggeration this, I have been waiting to see this for 21 years! Yup, that is when I first read about it in Steve Schneider's book. His sole comment "the less said about this, the better" got me curious.
Years of wild goose chases and disappointing searches have whizzed by (Beep! Beep!) and now I finally get to see a complete print in great quality! Thanks, Coyote!
Seriously, it had gotten to the point where I didn't care how dreadful everybody warned me it was, I just wanted to SEE IT! And now I have, I find it oddly charming! Weird but not terrible.
Now, wonder if anybody feels like uploading "The Door"...?
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"Elmer Fudd is one of the most beloved internationally known cartoon characters of all time" - Jerry Seinfeld, 1992.
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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It was a valiant attempt to keep the WB characters alive for 1970s Saturday Morning audiences after the Warner Animation Studio shut down.
Filmation in the 70s had a charm...familiar sound effects and voice actors to make it comfortable for viewers for its period. Filmation had a good relationship with the tv networks in getting their series ready for broadcast on time and in budget.
It is what it was.
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"Don't chew gum on camera. Don't whistle. You may kiss Bob Barker but please don't kill him." -announcer Johnny Olson briefing the audience of potential contestants for "The Price is Right"
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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Those phantom's diabolical motives of eliminating every bit of film of Daffy and the other Looney Tunes sounds alot like the motives of every PTA group in America.
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This special is so awful, it's hilarious. The plot involving a mysterious "monster" wrecking havock on a movie set feels like something out of Scooby Doo. Even the Phantom's design looks like something out of Scooby Doo.
Someone seriously goofed up on some of the Looney Tunes voices. While some characters such as Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, and Sylvester sound fine, others such as Daffy and Tweety are sped up too much making them sound as if they inhaled helium. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Porky's voice is not sped up properly. Finally, whoever is voicing Petunia sounds like Roseanne Barr--or as if she shoved something up her nose.
Also, the two biggest "WTF" moments for me in this thing have to be that part in the footage of Daffy's King Arthur movie where after Tweety saves Daffy from Sylvester, he decides to name him Arthur. Daffy wishes to know why Arthur. Tweety's response is "Because my mommy's name was Arthur." That is the most ridiculous reason answer I have ever heard. The second is that entire sequence in which the Phantom disguises himself as a little boy playing a guitar. Once the Groovey Ghoulies discover that the stolen film is inside the guitar, Frankie, Wolfie and Dracula follow him to Mad Mirror Land--where they become a live action music video very much like something out of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" complete with invisible cars. That is definately a really bizarre moment.
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"Homer,we just brought Flanders back from the dead. Did you use the notebook to make a flock of penguins peck him to death?" Marge-"Murder He Wrote"-a Simpsons Comic story.
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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Quote
that entire sequence in which the Phantom disguises himself as a little boy playing a guitar. Once the Groovey Ghoulies discover that the stolen film is inside the guitar, Frankie, Wolfie and Dracula follow him to Mad Mirror Land--where they become a live action music video very much like something out of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" complete with invisible cars. That is definately a really bizarre moment.
I first saw that particular sequence on the syndicated Groovie Ghoulies and Friends show as a stand-alone short titled "The Haunted Heist". The little ghoul boy (Hauntleroy) was an actual character on the Groovie Ghoulies show, so I'm guessing that the "Haunted Heist" short was recycled and reused as part of the movie with The Phantom disguising himself as Hauntleroy so that Frankie, Wolfie and Drac can give chase.
As for the movie itself. It was weird, but somewhat enjoyable, in a campy way. It was good to see Daffy not being portrayed as a villain, as he was so often cast in those terrible Depatie-Freleng shorts from the 1960s, but seeing the Looney Tunes characters being animated by Filmation studios was definitely a step back in terms of quality, and I didn't agree with that deep voice for Petunia Pig at all. Also, I have to wonder why Daffy voice was electronically sped-up while Porky's voice wasn't. It made it sound as though Porky was much older than Daffy.
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Procrastinators unite....tomorrow.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on Dec 9, 2012, 8:53 AM)
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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The writing team of Chuck Menville and Len Janson had written many Saturday cartoon episodes in the 1970s and 1980s for Filmation ("Shazam" live-action, "Tarzan", "Batman") and Hanna-Barbera ("Smurfs").
Menville was the father of voice actor Scott Menville (Robin in "Teen Titans", Spanky in Hanna-Barbera's "Little Rascals").
I believe animator Virgil Ross worked on Warner Brothers cartoons in the 1950s as well for Filmation in the 1970s.
Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Tweetie Pie, Sylvester, Elmer Fudd Larry Storch as Drac, Hauntleroy, and the Phantom Howard Morris as Frankie, Wolfy, Mummy Jane Webb (Joanne Louise?) as Hagatha Jay Scheimer (wife of Filmation president and executive producer Lou Scheimer) as Petunia Pig (she also played Miss Wucher the teacher in Filmation's "Fat Albert")
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"Don't chew gum on camera. Don't whistle. You may kiss Bob Barker but please don't kill him." -announcer Johnny Olson briefing the audience of potential contestants for "The Price is Right"
(This post was edited by artytoons on Dec 9, 2012, 3:03 PM)
Re: "Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Goolies!"
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Scott Menville was also the voice of young Fred in "The Flintstone Kids" and Red Herring in "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo."
Also regarding the Warner/Filmation animator connections, Virgil Ross was one of Friz's top animators in the 1940s an 1950s. Additionally, this LT/Groovie Goolies movie also featured animation by LaVerne Harding and Ed Solomon, both of whom worked on the 1967-1969 shorts produced by Warner Bros. Animation under supervision of Bill Hendricks. Maybe that's why at some shots, Daffy Duck looked like he walked right out of "Skyscraper Caper?"
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From an artistic standpoint, this special was odd, campy, corny, convoluted, clumsy and all over the road: there seemed to several plots going on at once and there were numerous inconsistencies.
If the King Arthur story was just a movie that Daffy and the other Looney Tunes were making, and the Groovie Ghoulies were only there to stop the Phantom from eliminating all of the Looney Tunes' films, then why did the Groovie Ghoulies have parts in some scenes of the King Arthur story narrative?
Why were some of the characters' voices sped up so dramatically? Daffy's voice is usually just Sylvester's voice only sped up electronically, but here it was so sped up that Daffy sounded like one of the Chipmunks with a lisp. And Tweety just sounded like he'd been free-basing helium.
People have already commented on the nasally Rosanne Barr voice for Petunia Pig, which was performed by Lou Schiemer's wife Jay. No offense to Mrs. Schiemer, but if Petunia ever appears on The Looney Tunes Show, I hope that her voice sounds closer to that of Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, who voiced Petunia in a PSA spot which aired during the Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show on ABC during the 90's.
Speaking of voices, it was strange that Wile E. Coyote was a silent character here when the Road Runner was nowhere to be found. You'd think they would've gone with Wile's Super-Genius voice here. And speaking of strange, did anyone catch the scene where Pepe Le Pew states that he might be in love with King Arthur's horse? WTF?
The only reason I can see why Porky was listed in the title was because he was riding high on the popularity of the then syndicated Porky Pig Show, since his actual contribution to the story was rather minor.
It was weird seeing Daffy as the leader of the Looney Tunes, as that role typically goes to Bugs, but given the time of this special, Bugs was still in his AWOL period. At least Daffy, while still an egomaniac, was portrayed as a sympathetic character here as opposed to his 60's persona where he was just a mean bird you weren't supposed to feel sorry for.
Anyone not familiar with the Grovie Ghoulies show was undoubtedly scratching their heads at that bizarre live-action chase sequence in the middle of Act 3, and the equally bizarre musical number performed within that sequence. But as Space Demon pointed out, that was originally a stand-alone Ghoulies short from the series which was seemingly inserted into the special to fill out the running time. Otherwise it was completely irrelevant to the overall plot.
-Overall, while a campy, confused mess from an artistic viewpoint, from a viewer's perspective, this was unintentionally hilarious. Definitely one of those "so bad it's actually entertaining" deals. If nothing else, Daffy and Porky Meet the Groovie Ghoulies could be a fun special to riff on, MST3K style.
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In Reply To
If the King Arthur story was just a movie that Daffy and the other Looney Tunes were making, and the Groovie Ghoulies were only there to stop the Phantom from eliminating all of the Looney Tunes' films, then why did the Groovie Ghoulies have parts in some scenes of the King Arthur story narrative?
I actually assumed that it was because Daffy originally thought when the Groovie Ghoulies arrived that they were stuntmen. I just figured they were given some bit parts as well.
Thanks for explaining that live-action chase and song bit-- I had never seen the Groovie Goolies before having seen this special--and had never heard of them until I learned of this special.
Yeah, now that you mention it, that bit where Pepe talks about being in love with King Arthur's horse is bizarre.
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"Homer,we just brought Flanders back from the dead. Did you use the notebook to make a flock of penguins peck him to death?" Marge-"Murder He Wrote"-a Simpsons Comic story.
(This post was edited by Glowworm on Dec 9, 2012, 10:10 PM)
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Yup, we were all scratching our heads at the writing for this. In fact, Chuck Menville also wrote for Tiny Toons, including my appearance in the strange episode "High Toon" (again, my voice was dubbed over, and I had a bad fur day, but Glen Kennedy was directing and insisted I keep the style for my role as the Coyote Kid!)
I do admit, at least unlike "See Ya Later Gladiator," this TV movie has more of a "so bad it's good" feel to it. After this, Daffy became addicted to heroin and other drugs I don't remember until the late 1970s (Sylvester also took up smack at the time), and for a while they forgot all about doing this from the drug use! At least Daffy got his vocal chords restored the following year. Elmer Fudd had laryngitis, which is why he only had one line of dialogue
Maybe if they threw in Cool Cat, it wouldn't have been so strange? (He seems to fit more with the Groovie Goolies style... )
With Larry Storch already in the cast for the Groovie Ghoulies, his Cool Cat voice would be a natural fit.
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"Don't chew gum on camera. Don't whistle. You may kiss Bob Barker but please don't kill him." -announcer Johnny Olson briefing the audience of potential contestants for "The Price is Right"
(This post was edited by artytoons on Mar 23, 2013, 4:39 PM)
) So, ABC decided that for one of their "ABC Saturday Superstar" TV episodes, they bring us back, and so Warner Bros., desparate to still make money off us, loaned us out to Filmation Associates to co-star with their popular Groovie Goolies characters! (It was like the Animaniacs episode "Back in Style.") Bugs Bunny, however, refused to participate. He had become a hippie ever since 1969, and also disliked the idea of us being in a Hanna-Barbera -esque cartoon (this is one reason why he did not want to work for the Looney Tunes in the 1964-1969 period.) So, Daffy talked Filmation into letting HIM be the star on the Looney Tunes side, and he did get his way, except Filmation had him share his title with Porky (I think this was due to the popularity of "The Porky Pig Show.") 
) 
