{"id":15929,"date":"2015-02-06T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T08:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=15929"},"modified":"2015-02-04T16:21:46","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T00:21:46","slug":"animation-anecdotes-198","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/animation-anecdotes-198\/","title":{"rendered":"Animation Anecdotes #198"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/garfield-judgement-day.jpg\" alt=\"garfield-judgement-day\" width=\"600\" height=\"373\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15936\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/garfield-judgement-day.jpg 600w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/garfield-judgement-day-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/garfield-judgement-day-150x93.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Garfield\u2019s Judgement Day.<\/strong>      Even at the height of Garfield the cat\u2019s popularity in the late 1980s, creator Jim Davis couldn\u2019t interest animation studios in his feature length animated script, \u201cGarfield\u2019s Judgement Day\u201d.   <\/p>\n<p>The story revolved around the concept of how animals could really talk with humans, but it was just that animals had sworn never to do it. When a major disaster of a huge storm is approaching that only the animals can sense, the animals have a secret meeting to decide if they should break the vow of silence to warn their owners.  <\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l5XJAV-JPTY\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Voices were recorded, songs were written and recorded, and the film completely storyboarded but no studio was interested in funding the completion of the film since it was such an atypical Garfield story with a very dark, serious tone. <\/p>\n<p>Disney had shown some initial interest in the project but eventually passed on it, even after Davis did two substantial re-writes of the material. <\/p>\n<p>A documentary titled <em>Happy Birthday Garfield<\/em> aired on CBS in 1988 that featured a &#8220;sneak preview&#8221; of the special since reportedly, an estimated fifteen minutes of animation had been completed. <\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xe5rA-dTdzI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The story was eventually incorporated into a Garfield picture book (image above) of the same name in July 1990.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"color: #c00; background-color: #c00; height: 1px; border: none;\" \/>\n<p><strong>Animated Features That Never Were.<\/strong> \u201cLittle Lulu\u201d was announced as an animated feature in 1979.  In 1987, Henry Saperstein proudly announced he was producing an animated feature based on \u201cGodzilla\u201d.  TMS had artwork prepared for a \u201cVampirella\u201d animated feature that never got beyond that stage of development.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ralph Bakshi Talks Fritz the Cat (1972)<\/strong>.   In a 2008 interview, animation producer and director Ralph Bakshi stated, \u201cHeavy Traffic is a far greater film than Fritz the Cat. And Coonskin is a far greater film than Fritz the Cat. And American Pop is a far greater film than Fritz the Cat. And Wizards is a far greater film than Fritz the Cat. Fritz the Cat is the least great of my movies. I regret having made Crumb all of that money with that film.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe made millions of dollars from Fritz. He did his book. He made millions of dollars from the cat, but he still calls me a schmuck! He took the money. He took $60,000. That\u2019s a lot of money in the 60s. That\u2019s upfront money. He took that for the rights. He thought I was going to spend a year of work on Fritz the Cat and make him known as the greatest cartoonist in the world! Well, he got very angry at me, when the director got some credit. Directors always get credit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust because I\u2019m a fan of his work, doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m going to let him off the hook. If he\u2019s going to point a finger at me, I\u2019m going to point a finger at him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Gremlins Pilot<\/strong>.   In the 1990 special edition issue of <em>Bugs Bunny Magazine<\/em>, it was announced that coming soon would be an animated syndicated series based on Joe Dante\u2019s popular live action film, <em>Gremlins<\/em> (1984).  The cartoon series would have involved Gizmo, the good mogwai, battling against Stripe, the bad mogwai.<\/p>\n<p>Dante has claimed in interviews that what killed the animated series after a pilot was made was the poor reception to the live action sequel <em>Gremlins 2: The New Batch<\/em> (1990) that he also directed. <\/p>\n<hr style=\"color: #c00; background-color: #c00; height: 1px; border: none;\" \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/fearless-ferris.jpg\" alt=\"fearless-ferris\" width=\"600\" height=\"385\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/fearless-ferris.jpg 600w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/fearless-ferris-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/fearless-ferris-150x96.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fearless Ferris and the Misfits.<\/strong>   Famed comic book artist Wally Wood had an idea for a science-fiction Saturday morning animated comedy series that would have a team of human, mechanical and alien characters having adventures in outer space and the different worlds they encountered.<\/p>\n<p>He had experimented with this concept about a young spaceman hero named Bucky Ruckus and his diverse crew.  He produced a special limited edition holiday comic strip for NEA to syndicate to newspapers entitled \u201cBucky\u2019s Christmas Caper\u201d that was printed in December 1967.<\/p>\n<p>In one of Wood\u2019s sketchbooks was the idea he called \u201cBoy Gladiators:  Star Fighters\u201d with Captain Jeff (a young human boy), Tinker (a robot), Woogy (a creature) and Alf (an alien humanoid).<br \/>\nFor the animated series proposal, he took many of these ideas he had experimented with and came up with \u201cFearless Ferris and the Misfits\u201d.  Ferris (\u201cbrave\u2026will try anything, cute leader of the bunch\u201d according to Wood\u2019s notes) was a young brunette boy in a costume similar to the superhero Dynamo, the character that Wood had created for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. <\/p>\n<p>Ferris didn\u2019t have any powers like the rest of his crew but depended on all kinds of scientific devices that would help him do things like flying.<\/p>\n<p>Wood never seemed to finalize the crew and their names. <\/p>\n<p>At various times he had Glom (\u201cstrangest creature in the universe\u2026from Jupiter\u201d who looked like a version of Marvel\u2019s The Thing but with smooth skin), Venus (an attractive blonde female with a pony tail \u201ccan walk through walls, from Venus, of course\u201d), Bang Head (\u201csecret weapon\u2026hard nose\u201d), Handy (\u201cfriendly Martian, can do four things at once\u201d that looked like a four-handed spider), Ragmop (a space looking child who \u201ccan go to the fourth dimension\u201d), The Blur (who moves so fast that people only saw a blur even when he was standing still), Zero (\u201cblank\u2014controls temperature\u201d who was just an outline), Scat (a cat like alien who \u201ccan see in the dark\u201d), Miss Fitt (a different version of the Venus character but with brunette hair), I.Q. (a \u201cbaby brain\u2026scientific genius\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhenever something develops normal authorities can\u2019t handle\u201d said Wood\u2019s notes, Fearless Ferris and his crew would go into action from their Sky Island floating high in the atmosphere.  The various foes would be menacing \u201cShadows with Eyes\u201d, little aliens inside of giant robots and the huge Devourosaurus. <\/p>\n<p>At the time, this juxtaposition of bizarre funny characters would have been unique and Paramount animation studio was definitely interested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter I penciled the presentation from Wood\u2019s character sketches, Wood inked and delivered. And Paramount chose that same month to close down its cartoon studio (Dec. 1, 1967): end of brilliance,\u201d wrote Wood\u2019s friend and assistant at the time, Bhob Stewart.<\/p>\n<p>Fearful that this idea might be stolen as he felt his idea for a sword and sorcery idea was by animation producer Ralph Bakshi for the film <em>Wizards<\/em> (1977), Wood teamed with Bhob Stewart (as a writer) to produce a three page story featuring similar characters and printed it in Witzend #4 (1968) where the team was called \u201cThe Rejects\u201d. More images were posted at Stewart&#8217;s Wood-blog, <a TARGET=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/potrzebie.blogspot.com\/2010\/04\/wood-chips-17-fearless-ferris.html\">Potrzebie<\/a><\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rejects.jpg\" alt=\"rejects\" width=\"578\" height=\"501\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rejects.jpg 578w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rejects-300x260.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rejects-150x130.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rejects-100x87.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Garfield\u2019s Judgement Day. Even at the height of Garfield the cat\u2019s popularity in the late 1980s, creator Jim Davis couldn\u2019t interest animation studios in his feature length animated script, \u201cGarfield\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[1092,104,1136],"class_list":["post-15929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation-anecdotes","tag-garfield","tag-ralph-bakshi","tag-wally-wood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}