MOVIES MAKE GOOD

Ryan Baker  //  

Oct 5 / 8:00am

Film: "The Night of the Living Duck," 1988

There were two things I specifically adored when I was a child: Looney Tunes cartoons and monsters. When, to capitalize on the success of "Ghostbusters," Warner Bros. cobbled together a few supernatural-themed Merrie Melodies, there was little to stop my eager young self from perpetually renting the VHS tape from the corner video store.

The movie itself is little more than a series of classic cartoons haphazardly strung together by a weak narrative that offers the only few moments of new animation in the film; the cartoons, however, include Bugs Bunny's Transylvanian encounter ("Transylvania 6-5000"), a Sylvester and Tweety yarn made much more interesting with the inclusion of Dr. Jekyll's genuine, bonafided monster potion ("Hyde and Go Tweet") and, as you can see above, a completely new short cartoon that preceeded the film featuring a slew of monstrous cameos and the Velvet Fog himself, singer Mel Tormé.

When Warner Bros. miraculously put "Daffy Duck's Quackbusters" on DVD in 2009, I tracked down a copy the first day it went on sale.

Feb 20 / 12:06pm

Video: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," 1991

I can't speak for others, but "Tiny Toon Adventures" was my first introduction to They Might Be Giants; in a single episode, both their cover of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - originally recorded by the Four Lads in 1953 - and "Particle Man" were featured with accompanying animation.

Considering I grew up on a steady diet of classic Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons, the characters and sensibility always struck a chord with me, even though I wasn't even 10 years old when this originally aired. Add the fact the animation of "Tiny Toon Adventures" was indicative of its high production value - episodes had about 25,000 hand-drawn cels rather than the standard 10,000 - and it's easy to see why this series made such an indelible impression.