Tag Disney

Cartoon Country: Disney’s The 7D

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The 7D, the latest animated outing from Disney Studios, made its’ debut this morning on Disney X-D. We’ve already previewed this show no less than twice here on The Twin Factor, but for those who are too lazy to re-read those, here’s the opening:

And now, the overview:

“In The 7D, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy, and Doc have ditched (or maybe haven’t yet met) Snow White in favor of Queen Delightful, the slightly dippy monarch of the contemporary fairy tale land of Jollywood. The Queen (and her long-suffering assistant Lord Starchbottom) are perpetually pestered by the husband-and-wife warlock team of Grim and Hildy Gloom — she’s the brains, he’s the…uh, husband. Each half-hour of The 7D promises 2 11-minute stories of the dwarfs foiling Grim and Hildy’s latest coup attempt with much comedic mayhem along the way.”

Thanks to Toon Zone’s Ed Liu for the synopsis.

The Dwarfs’ physical appearances and characters are more exaggeratedly toonified here, but are still what you’ve come to expect from them: Doc (Bill Farmer) is brainy and is skilled at steampunk inventions (complete with Inspector Gadget-like gloved robotic hands and other assorted gizmos stored inside his hat), Dopey (“voiced” by Dee Bradley Baker) looks like Harpo Marx and is prone to whistles, props, sight gags and silliness, Bashful is shy and soft-spoken, typically hiding behind characters and props, even to the point where he’s barely visible during the show’s opening sequence (his twee voice, when he does speak up, is provided by Billy West), Sleepy (Steven Stanton)’s outfit resembles pajamas and he dozes whenever and wherever possible, Sneezy (Scott Menville) is bulbous-nosed, nasally voiced and allergic to everything, sneezing with the ferocity of a hurricane, Happy (Keven Michael Richardson) is jovial to the point of being a little nuts, giddily leaping into cheerily inane songs at the slightest provocation, and Grumpy (Maurice LaMarche) is well…grumpy. (Could be because his hat is an inverted flowerpot.) Rounding out the voice cast is Leigh-Allyn Baker as Queen Delightful, Paul Rugg as Lord Starchbottom, Jess Harnell as Grim and Kelly Osbourne, yes, that Kelly Osbourne, as Hildy.

Personally, I thought it was pretty good myself. The writers did a good job of giving each character a little something to do despite each short only being 11 minutes long. The show’s a tad simplistic, but that’s to be expected given that The 7D was originally slated for Disney Junior (as evidenced by how the episodes’ titles are read aloud by the characters, for the benefit of younger tots who can’t yet read), and anyway not every show needs to be river deep in order to be entertaining. I’ve only seen 1 episode so far, but I can already see Doc, Grumpy and Happy shaping up to be my favorite characters on the series.

Overall, I liked what I saw today, and I’ll definitely be tuning in for more.

Peeks: First Impressions of Disney’s "The 7D"

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It looks like Disney beloved short people, the Seven Dwarfs, will be the next set of classic Disney characters to receive their own show.

“Accessing a classic fairytale and finding new ways to bring it to audiences, Disney Television Animation has begun production on the new animated series The 7D, a comedic take on the world of Seven Dwarfs, this time in a contemporary storybook world designed for viewers age 2-7 and their families. The series is slated to debut in 2014 on Disney Junior channels and programming blocks around the world.

The executive producer is Emmy Award-winning Tom Ruegger (“Animaniacs”). Alfred Gimeno (“Tiny Toon Adventures”) is the director and Sherri Stoner (“Pinky and the Brain”) is the story editor. The characters are designed by Noah Z. Jones (“Fish Hooks”).”

SYNOPSIS: The 7D takes place in the whimsical world of Jollywood (Jollywood? Does this mean we’ll be seeing people in tights dancing around in big, splashy musical numbers??), where quirky Queen Delightful relies on the 7D – Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy and Doc – to keep the kingdom in order. Standing in their way are two laughably evil villains, Grim and Hildy Gloom, who plot to take over the kingdom by stealing the magical jewels in the 7D’s mine. With seven very distinct personalities, the 7D always manage to save the day and send Grim and Hildy running back to their evil lair to try another day.

That sounds like fun and all, but there’s one little curiosity surrounding this show: namely, the Dwarfs’ designs. For some reason, the Mouse House has opted to redesign the mythical Vertically Challenged Folk for this series. What was wrong with these designs, I don’t know:

The-Seven-Dwarfs-classic-disney-6344378-1024-768
…But it is what it is. Who can fathom the minds of network executives?
******************************************************
First, these early promotional designs were submitted:
And the reaction was unanimous:

I mean, really who thought those designs were a good idea? I mean, Dopey is actually TALL. Just…no! And Sneezy looks like a clown! Why’s he so tiny?? I didn’t even realize that he was supposed to be Sneezy until doing a little process of elimination: I first thought he was supposed to be Dopey, but then I saw Stretch with the Harpo Marx look and put 2 and 2 together.

I know 5-year-olds in kindergarten who can do better with their crayons. In fact, I’ve puked up better designs after an evening bender. So after the tarring and feathering, the artists staggered back to the drawing board and came up with these designs instead:

Much better. I still didn’t think there was anything wrong with the original movie designs, but this is a vast improvement over those craptactular first designs. These are much more colorful and vibrant, and the characters are much more distinct. Dopey is still sporting the Harpo Marx look, but now he retains the classic Dopey look as well. I particularly like those little mechanical arms emerging from Doc’s hat; that says to me that the producers may be going for a kind of “wacky inventor” shtick with Doc, which would please me, as I like loony scientists. Happy kind of looks like Santa Claus, fitting, and I like the polka dots on his and Dopey’s hats.
One minor observation, though: is it just me, or does Bashful now look like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids?
“Uhhhhhh…..yeah……I don’t see it.”

 

Building a Better Mouse House

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There’s a thread on the Toon Zone Forums (specifically, in the Disney Animation Forum) titled “How Would You Improve Disney?”, and since I can’t respond to the thread on TZ, I’ll instead say what I would do here. In order to improve the Disney Studios’ productions, I would:

1. Re-re-invent the Disney Channel – And I don’t just mean the logo. I have no problem with the DC logo looking like this
But I do have an issue with TDC’s current programming. I don’t really care about the tween sitcoms. I think that most of them are stupid and a waste of space, not only because they’re not funny, but also because they’re all pretty much interchangeable, and running them all in the same block makes them look like endless carbon copies of one another, like Dawn of the Stepford Shows. But they aren’t made for me nor for my age demographic, so I just ignore them. Plus, as insipid as those shows are, they do bring in ratings and put butts in seats, so I know they aren’t going anywhere. Like Hot Topics in the mall, they’re here to stay. However, I don’t think that TDC should cater to teens and tweens exclusively. I preferred it when DC actually had a variety to it’s lineup and provided entertainment for the entire family, not just the teens, which brings me to the next thing that I would do…
2. Put the old theatrical shorts back on TV. – I hate to sound like a nostalgia person, but for once I agree with them. It’s whicketty-whack that we can no longer see classic Disney shorts on the Disney Channel. Back in the ancient 1970s, the Disney studio didn’t loan out it’s properties to syndicated markets and network affiliates. There was never a “Bugs and Mickey Show” or a “Daffy & Donald” or a “Goofy & Popeye” half hour. The only time we got to see the Disney shorts on TV was on Sunday evenings during NBC’s The Wonderful World of Disney, and even then, I’d be hoping that they would show cartoons that week and not something like Lefty, the Ding-a-ling Lynx. Then the Disney Channel was invented and suddenly, we could see old Disney shorts everyday on the umbrella titles like Good Morning, Mickey!, Donald Duck Presents and Mousterpiece Theater. Sure, most of the Disney shorts paled in comparison to Looney Tunes and the MGM shorts, but it was still pretty cool that we could see them regularly. But now, the shorts hardly ever air on TDC anymore. Pretty much the only time that ever see Mickey, Donald or Goofy on TDC is in the mornings during DC’s Playhouse Disney block. Occasionally, and edited-for-time Disney theatrical short will air between shows on TDC under the title Have a Laugh, but that only once in a blue moon. Sure, many of the Disney theatrical shorts are available on DVD and some are floating around on YouTube, but still, it’s kind of stupid that one place you can’t see the old Disney shorts is on the flipping Disney Channel.
3. Revive The Disney Afternoon – And no, I don’t mean to just bring back shows DuckTales, Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop (although it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Disney to air those shows somewhere). Rather, I’d like for Disney to produce some new and original shows that are made in the same vein and creative spirit as those shows aforementioned. More specifically, I’d like to see Disney produce some more animated series built around the studio’s established characters which aren’t strictly geared to tiny tots (which doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t want there to be any more series starring original characters such as Phineas & Ferb and Gravity Falls, because those shows have their place also). In the 1990s, the Disney studio actually took risks. The carried the attitude of “Yeah, the old Disney shorts were good, but this new stuff with Donald Duck, Goofy, Baloo and the like are good too”. Unlike now, when the Disney studio execs seem to have this idee fixee that the only thing that Mickey and the gang are good for is for entertaining preschoolers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that Mickey and the gang are still around, but I think that he and the other shorts characters deserve better.
4. Either kill Disney X-D, or remake the channel into something else. – Why, exactly, do we need to have a Disney Channel for boys and a separate Disney Channel for girls? Why can’t there just be 1 Disney channel that airs good and entertaining programs? Disney X-D was apparently created to be a Disney Channel for boys, but when did TDC become exclusively a girls’ channel? There’s no reason for this channel to exist at all. Hey, Disney. You want to have programming for the boys? Fine, create a program block for them, but you don’t need an entire channel just for “dude bro” shows.  At least Toon Disney offered something of an alternative to TDC; it showed nothing but cartoons, and everything was fine until the Jetix action cartoon block was added and then the block spread throughout TD like a virus, eventually devouring the entire channel. i’m not really sure what I’d with Disney X-D. An old-school Disney Channel wouldn’t work, since most people don’t want to just watch old stuff 24/7, but a Vault Disney block could conceivably work. I’d probably just merge TDC and DXD into one and possibly revive Toon Disney.
5. Kill ABC Family – Just kill it. Kill it with fire. It’s a wasteland for reality TV and trashy teen dramas. The ONLY thing on ABC Family that’s worth watching is “The 25 Days of Christmas”, and that’s only once a year.
Overall, I think that The Disney Channel should go back to being a channel for everybody, not just teenyboppers. This doesn’t mean that I think there shouldn’t be any teen pop stuff on TDC at all, mind you, just that the tweenybopper stuff shouldn’t be the only things on the channel. Surely there are enough hours in the day for TDC to designate certain times for certain types of shows.

Oh, Mickey, Where Art Thou?

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Recently, I read a post on the Toon Zone forums about members requesting what shows they would like to see airing on Hasbro’s fledgling cable/satellite channel The Hub (which debuted on 10-10-10 and as of this writing is 1 year and 4 months old). In this aforementioned thread, one member, a self-described “Classic television fan” requested that The Hub should air old-school Disney cartoons such Ducktales, Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and even the classic Disney shorts starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto and company with the reasoning that “Disney Channel isn’t airing them anymore, so why not bring them to The Hub?”.

I’ve read similar posts like this before with fans wanting Disney cartoons and Nicktoons to air on Boomerang and similar requests. Now, I think at this point that it’s obvious that you’re never, never, NEVER (and did I mention never?) going to see Disney cartoons on The Hub, and it should be equally obvious why this will never happen. Disney and Viacom are notoriously stingy when it comes to loaning out their properties; they don’t play ‘sharsies’. Exactly how would Disney benefit from loaning out shows featuring it’s trademark characters to a competing network so the competitor can make money off of them? And how would Hasbro benefit from their channel becoming a vessel for the competition? A “Disney Too” channel, if you will? Answer: They wouldn’t. Not in the least. Yeah, I know that The Hub has aired Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which is a  Disney movie, and  I know that The Hub has aired Muppet movies, and the Muppets are also currently owned by Disney, but here’s the thing: Cartoon Network has also aired less celebrated Disney movies such as Operation Dumbo Drop and Angels in the Outfield. Movies and TV shows that aren’t directly associated with the Mouse House are OK, but anything with Mickey, Goofy, Minnie, Donald, Buzz, Woody, Belle, Ariel or any other characters that are synonymous with Disney, forget about it! That would be like promoting the competition. Disney would sooner sit on those cartoons than let one of it’s rivals get rich off of them. Sure, from a fan’s perspective, that would be great, but from a business perspective, that wouldn’t be a smart move. At all. Mickey’s head doubles as the studio’s trademark. Disney loaning out it’s trademark characters to The Hub would make as much sense as KFC letting Popeye’s have it’s secret recipe.

In response to others’ statements regarding this, the Fan goes on to type:

I think Disney should let them go and air elsewhere as opposed to them just sitting around collecting dust and not getting any air exposure. From a viewer standpiont, I could care less where they air as long as they air SOMEWHERE. I want to see them.

Ignoring the fact that saying “I could care less” is incorrect. The expression is “I couldn’t care less”, as in “I couldn’t possibly care any less than I do now”. Saying “I could care less” implies that you could care more, It’s the general attitude conveyed in the above statement that annoys me. First, this goes back to what I covered earlier; Disney wouldn’t benefit financially in the slightest by “letting their cartoons go and air elsewhere” as in on a channel that’s owned by one of their competitors, so doing so would be just plain stupid. Second, In my time on message boards, I’ve read this rhetoric several times. This attitude from so-called “fans” that they’re dissatisfied that their favorite shows aren’t airing on their favorite channels anymore, but they’re not so dissatisfied that they’d be willing to get up off of their duffs and actually do something about it. Yes, it is too bad that we can’t see Disney theatrical shorts on the Disney Channel anymore. I agree with that, but it’s not like Disney has completely washed it’s collective hands of the “classics”. There are DVDs currently available of the classic Disney shorts, as well as some of the Disney Afternoon shows. If you really want to see them again, buy the DVDs. Look for them on legal streaming sites such as iTunes or Amazon.com. Look for them on YouTube. That’s a much more reasonable course of action than just sitting on the couch waiting for the networks to come around to your way of thinking.

I understand fans wanting to complain about their favorite shows not airing on “their” channels anymore, but what I don’t understand are these “TV or nothing” fans or this bizarre sense of entitlement that many (not all of them, mind you, but some) seem to carry around with them like spoiled children, as if the networks owe them something. The networks don’t owe you these shows any more than they owe you an explanation as to why they’re not airing them anymore. Entertainment is a business, just like any other, and in order for a network to stay in business, it must keep moving forward. Networks don’t program for individuals, and they can’t endlessly loop their shows from 1 era for all eternity just because a small group of fans refuse to let go of the past. Your wanting to see the Disney shows isn’t Hasbro’s concern, and The Hub is no more obligated to provide you with old Disney cartoons than The Disney Channel is.

Anyway, you’re not at the mercy of TV. There are other resources out there. You just have to look for them. And to the people who reply with “Not everybody has a job and can buy DVDs”, My response to this is: Irrelevant. Alcoholics will do whatever they have to do in order to get a drink. Junkies will do whatever they have to do in order to get their fix. You just need to think of your favorite shows as your personal drink or drug. If you want them bad enough, you’ll do whatever you need to do in order to enjoy them, and if you’re not willing to do that, then it obviously doesn’t mean that much to you, so there’s no point in complaining about it. These people always seem to be the ones making the most noise about how dissatisfied they are, but at the same time, they don’t want to do anything that requires any sort of effort on their part. If you’re not willing to leave your “comfort zone” or compromise even a little to get what you want, then don’t go around calling yourselves “fans”, because a true fan would do whatever he or she needed to do in order to get their TV goodness, and if you’re not willing to muster any of your cash to buy DVDs or get up out of your chair to search the internet, then you obviously don’t want it bad enough, which makes you only a fair-weather fan, and as we know, close only counts in horseshoes.


The Disney Toons Show (an idea)

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This morning, I was lurking on the Toon Zone forums. Someone at the Disney Animation forum suggested that Disney studios produce an animated series which would be the Mouse House’s equivalent to Warner Brothers’ The Looney Tunes Show on Cartoon Network centering on Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. After thinking about this suggestion this afternoon, I think that such an idea could work for Disney, if it were handled properly. This would help the Mouse House because a) The Disney Channel would have another successful animated series besides Phineas & Ferb, and b) this series could be aimed at a more general audience (kids, teens and adults alike) could prove that the Disney shorts characters (aka Mickey and the gang) have broader appeal and are capable of doing more than just entertaining preschoolers. Also, I like the idea of there being a single city/town/area in which nearly every Disney franchise would reside (with the obvious exception of the Pixar movies, of course). Not unlike Marvel’s The Super Hero Squad Show. Basically, this series would take the Disney’s House of Mouse concept a step further by showing what the Disney gang does when they’re not performing at the club. I know that I’m in the minority here, but I actually like the idea of all the Looney Tunes characters residing in a single neighborhood. I’m calling this series idea Disney’s Toontown. This is more of a broad outline than an actual idea, but nonetheless, here the skinny:

The series’ main setting would be the Cartoon Suburbs, a suburban cul-de-sac in which the shows’ principal characters, Mickey & Minnie would share a residence (as newlyweds, perhaps-Originally, I was going to have Mickey, Donald and Goofy as roommates, but I figured that fans would want to see Huey, Dewey & Louie and Max Goof on the show and I didn’t want all of those characters living together under 1 roof, as that would make for 1 overpopulated house, so I instead went with this idea. Plus, having Minnie as a main character might attract more female viewers). Pluto would be the Mickster’s loyal pet, no mystery there. M&M’s neighbors would be other characters from the Disney barnyard shorts; Donald Duck and his 3 nephews would have a house. Goofy and his son Max would have a house. Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and even Pete would be their neighbors.

Right beyond the Cartoon Suburbs would be the main metropolis. Let’s call it Big City. Big City would be a cross between Duckburg (the setting of Ducktales) and St. Canard (Darkwing Duck). Characters such as Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck and Bonkers D. Bobcat would reside here.

Beyond Big City would be several specialized lands for the other Disney characters: a Fairy Tale Land where the characters from the Disney fairy tales (such as the Disney Princesses) would reside. An undersea kingdom where the characters from Disney’s The Little Mermaid would reside. A Jungle Land where characters from Disney’s The Jungle Book and The Lion King would reside, etc. there would also be an area called the Toon Underground, a seedy underbelly located within the bowels of Big City where the Disney villains would hang out.

Now, I’m not saying that this is the best way to introduce the Disney characters to a new more modern audience, nor is this the only way to do so, but it is a way. All things considered, I’d say that this is pretty good for something that I just pulled out of my pants this afternoon. If Disney made a show like this, I’d watch it.