For those of us who've been yearning for Nickelodeon to actually, well, you know, DO SOMETHING with the Terrytoons characters, we offer a cautionary tale of how Nick actually tried once, and failed spectacularly.
Curbside was a hybrid talk show parody/anthology produced by some people with no prior knowledge of the Terrytoons roster. Cartoon historian Jerry Beck was originally attached to the project, but was long gone before the show actually was completed.
You had The Mighty Heroes, back in their heroic attire, 12 years after Ralph Bakshi had rebooted them as retired and running an accounting firm on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, as a house band for Heckle & Jeckle, who have gone from magpies to crows, the creative staff assuming the two breeds of birds are actually the same. In fact, the twin magpies' names were mixed up, according to one account. Instead of two distinct personalities and voices to match, Heckle (Toby Huss, King of The Hill) has lost his Brooklyn accent, and Jeckle (Bobcat Goldthwait) no longer is British. Instead, they're brothers.
Tom Terrific (Haley Joel Osmont) has lost his shapechanging powers and his canine sidekick, Mighty Manfred. Now just an ordinary boy, Tom has to rely on Mighty Mouse (Dee Bradley Baker) for help with a giant. Baker also voices Silly Sidney, who's still got issues in the jungle. Deputy Dawg (Billy West, Futurama) has recruited frenemy Muskie (Rob Paulsen) as a sidekick, but their pal Vincent Van Gopher is now an unrepentant scoundrel.
Judge for yourselves, folks.
They tried to emulate the Bakshi/John Kricfalusi animation style for Mighty Mouse, but the damage to the brand was so severe, as a whole, now you know why Nick is so hesitant to try again.
Rating: C-.
2 comments:
Funnily enough, as a kid I thought Heckle & Jeckle were crows, as I didn't know what a magpie was at that time.
But yeah, that wasn't so good. It should be noted, though, that I've never been a big fan of the John Kricfalusi style. Too gross, wannabe cool ("Look how graphic, edgy and not-for-kids we're being!") and unnecessarily extreme for my tastes. It's nice to know that somebody tried to do something new with the Terrytoons characters, but not a good effort overall.
Sounds to me like the high-ups at Nick got lazy with the production.
Post a Comment