Slappy Squirrel Animation Smear -- "Bumbie's Mom"

Here's a beautiful animation smear of Slappy Squirrel from Jon McClenahan, Barry Caldwell and the Startoons crew in Chicago.  

The series:  Animaniacs.  The episode:  "Bumbie's Mom."  

At the local multiplex, Slappy's nephew Skippy is enjoying the movie -- "Bumbie" -- until there's an onscreen gunshot and it appears that Bumbie's mom has been killed by a hunter.  Skippy burst into tears, waking Slappy from a sound sleep and resulting in the one frame Slappy smear featured below.  

Spoiler Alert:  The episode has a happy ending.  

Startoons's brilliant creative team animated and produced many of the very best Slappy and Skippy Squirrel cartoons during the entire Animaniacs run (1993-1998).   The Startoons Slappy cartoons include:  "Slappy Goes Walnuts," "Guardin' the Garden," "Critical Condition," "...And Justice For Slappy," "Scare Happy Slappy," "Soccer Coach Slappy" and "Bully for Skippy," among others.   All feature the brilliant voice performances of Sherri Stoner as Slappy and Nathan Ruegger as Skippy Squirrel.  And many of the Slappy cartoons are written by Sherri, as well as John P. McCann, Earl Kress, Nick Hollander, Nick Dubois and me...   

Animation Smears, Wild Takes and Strong Poses from "Woodstock Slappy"

Animation Lesson:

 

1.  Here are some in-between smears that intensify the acting and animation in "Woodstock Slappy."

Slappy leans in on Skippy with a smear face stretch.    

 

Slappy makes a fast, single-frame gestures toward the stage... 

 

Slappy uses her arms to beseech Skippy to answer the question that's driving her crazy:   "Who's on stage?"

Skippy stretches up then goes down into a squash and freaks out as Slappy sings along with her accordion.

  

2.  Some wild takes from "Woodstock Slappy." 

Slappy wakes up to the song stylings of a screaming Janis Joplin... 
 

 

 

3.  And here are some excellent strong poses and acting from director Audu Paden and his brilliant crew of artists, story-boarders and animators on "Woodstock Slappy,"  helped by some great vocal performances by Sherri Stoner, Nate Ruegger and the rest of the cast.

 

  

"WOODSTOCK SLAPPY" PAN -- 5OTH ANNIVERSARY OF WOODSTOCK

IN CELEBRATION OF THE 5OTH ANNIVERSARY OF WOODSTOCK...

Here's a pan of the Woodstock crowd as Slappy Squirrel tries to shoo them away form her summer treehouse in "Woodstock Slappy" from "Animaniacs" (1994).  

And here's Slappy grabbing Jimi Hendrix guitar in an attempt to bring the concert to a close.  

 










 

"Animaniacs" 20th Anniversary: Sept. 13, 1993 -- Sept 13, 2013

Happy 20th Anniversary to Animaniacs, to all its fans, and to all who made it possible!

 

  

 

 

 

 

"Animaniacs" Returns To TV on Christmas Eve: 12/24/12

A six hour Christmas-themed marathon of Animaniacs episodes airs today/tonight on THE HUB.  The marathon starts at 4 PM Eastern, 1 PM Pacific, with a partial repeat later in the evening.  Faboo!

Happy Holidays!

Animaniacs Marathon on Christmas Eve -- on the Hub

Daily broadcasts of Animaniacs return to your TV starting in late December 2012/early January 2013 on The Hub.    Gooooooooo, the Hub!

As a sneak peak, the Hub is running a four-hour Christmas Eve Animaniacs marathon of holiday themed episodes.  Here's the press release:


As the perfect Christmas gift, Animaniacs will join The Hub on Monday, December 24 with a marathon from 4-8 p.m. (ET).

Here are some of the episodes airing:

• “Twas the Day Before Christmas; Jingle Boo; The Holiday Concert”  – Slappy Squirrel reads a classic Christmas poem to nephew Skippy in “Twas the Day Before Christmas.” Chicken Boo dresses up as Santa Claus in “Jingle Boo.” Wakko performs “The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert,” and the Warners make mischief in “Toy Shop Terror."”
•  “A Christmas Plotz; Little Drummer Warners”  – On Christmas Eve, the Warner siblings subject Warner Bros. chief, Thaddeus Plotz, to a Dickensian nightmare in “A Christmas Plotz.” Later, the three Warners star in “Little Drummer Warners,” a musical version of the nativity.
• “My Mother the Squirrel; Oh Say Can You See; 12 Days of Christmas”  – In “My Mother the Squirrel,” the Bluebird thinks Slappy is his mother. The Flame helps Francis Scott Key write our nation’s anthem in “Oh! Say Can You See,” and the Bluebird returns to sing his version of a holiday song in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
• “Cutie and the Beast; Boo Happens; Noel”  – The Tazmanian Devil plays the Beast and Dot is Cutie in “Cutie and the Beast.” In “Boo Happens,” Chicken Boo relives the life of “Forrest Gump.” Then, the Warners have fun with puns in a Randy Rogel musical number sung to the tune of classic Christmas carol, “Noel.”
• “The Christmas Tree; Chicken Part 1; Prom Night; Chicken Part 2”  – Slappy Squirrel awakens to find her house is now “The Christmas Tree” at “Rockyfellow” Center, Katie Ka-Boom tries to negotiate a mutually acceptable curfew for “Prom Night” with her dad, and the entire cast appears on the TV news program “Punchline.”

ANIMANIACS: "Smell Ya Later" with Jonathan Winters

Here's one of my favorite Slappy Squirrel cartoons, directed by Rich Arons and Lenord Robinson, written by Earl Kress and yours truly, and starring Sherri Stoner as Slappy, Nate Ruegger as Skippy, and guest starring Luke Ruegger as Bumpo Basset and the one-and-only comedy genius Jonathan Winters as Stinkbomb D. Basset.  

Bumpo and Stinkbomb D. Basset planning an attack on Slappy and Skippy Squirrel in "Smell Ya Later" from Animaniacs

 Watch "Smell Ya Later" here.

A major highlight of my career in cartoons was getting to work with Jonathan Winters -- and one of the highlights of being a dad was being able to introduce my sons to one of the greatest comedians of all time.   I am still thrilled that they had the chance to work alongside Sherri Stoner and Jonathan Winters in the same cartoon.  "Smell Ya Later" is one of my all-time favorite segments from Animaniacs. 

Happy 4th of July from Skippy and Slappy Squirrel

"In the land of the free, now that's com-e-dy!"

Cel set-up from the final scene of the Animaniacs episode entitled "Woodstock Slappy," directed by Audu Paden, written by John P. McCann and me, and featuring the "Who's on Stage?" sketch performed by Slappy (Sherri Stoner) and Skippy (Nathan Ruegger).  

Animaniacs Probed by "Mental Floss!"

Check out this nifty Animaniacs article at Mental Floss written by Rob Lammle. 

Animaniacs Temporary Tattoos #8

A double dose of Dot...one with a 'doo from another era.   I think disco had been finished for at least a decade before these temporary tatoos were marketed.   

Along with the two Dots:  Skippy's review of "Cowboys & Aliens."   

Animaniacs Temporary Tattoos #2

The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part One

Here's Part One in a gallery of some of the very talented people responsible for making Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.


Barry Caldwell

Barry Caldwell, director, designer and storyboard artist on both Animaniacs and Tiny Toons, is pictured here in his office at Warner Bros. Television Animation in Sherman Oaks, California, circa 1994. 

Among Barry's many achievements, his story board designs breathed new life into the personalities of Babs Bunny, Shirley the Loon, Fifi LaFume and Elmyra in many of the best Tiny Toon episodes, including "Prom-ise Her Anything" and "Fields of Honey."  

And Barry's boards and direction gave us some of our funniest and most memorable Animaniacs segments, including "Bumbie's Mom," "Sir Yaksalot," "Ragamuffins," "The Flame Returns" and "Puppet Rulers."  

 

Also on Animaniacs, Barry directed both the first Minerva Mink cartoon produced ("Meet Minerva") and the first Mindy and Buttons cartoon produced ("Cat on a Hot Steel Beam").


                                                                **************

The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part Two

Sherri Stoner

Sherri Stoner served as a writer, story-editor and producer on Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.  Here, she holds up one of the segment cards from Tiny Toons.

Sherri started writing cartoons with Babs Bunny's very first Tiny Toons script, "Debutante Devil," and Sherri hasn't stopped since.  She wrote a bunch of Tiny Toon episodes that have become fan-favorites, including "Hollywood Plucky," "Fields of Honey" and "Thirteen Something."  

In the photo above, Sherri stands in front of the Wall of Cards, which we used to build half-hour shows from various segments, each segment written up on an index card.  Sherri is holding up the card for the Tiny Toons segment "Milk It Makes A Body Spout."

By the way, directly behind Sherri is a Steven Spielberg Bop-Bag, drawn by Bruce Timm (on the back of a Yogi Bear Bop-Bag™.)   This sits in my office to this day, still fully inflated with 1992 air!  

On Animaniacs, Sherri not only helped write and produce the series, but provided the voice for one of the show's stars, the cranky octogenarian, Slappy Squirrel.  

Above, Sherri and fellow Tiny Toons story-editor Paul Dini  celebrate Easter 1991 by posing with the Easter Bunny at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.  Apparently, Paul was traumatized by the bunny and had a meltdown.