The classic character idea sort of remained, but characters were given slight redesigns to avoid copyright issues. The bar scene has the gorilla waiter from "Lady Play your Mandolin", Oswald the lucky rabbit coaching the fight in the background, Flip the frog being consoled by what I thought was an Oswald expy at first. Then Bosko and Honey smooching in that other clip. The characters being obviously those characters likely presents a host of rights issues for re-release too...
Okay seriously, why can this guy not get any views? His work is good. I’m sympathetic, but I’m mostly just baffled. I wouldn’t assume it would blow up, but I don’t see how this doesn’t get at least a few grand in views?
Adam Devore I agree! I stumbled across his videos a few days ago and have been hooked! I was born in 1986 so the Nick I grew up watching spanned through the 90’s to the very early 2000’s. I have always been fascinated though about it’s early history, especially the “Green Vegetable” Period as he refers to it in his videos. He has so much knowledge, information, and archival footage which is great to see! He’s the only person I know who has created videos going this in-depth on this period in Nickelodeon’s history. Awesome work!
Algorhytems. The current one now, 5 years after you asked, recommends videos based on likes from viewers who are subscribed to multiple of the same channels. It's a huge improvement.
Man, that Ralph. Hell of a man, hell of an animator. It's hard to know where I stand on a guy like that, someone so out there and bonkers and probably unpleasant to be around, but passionate about the potential of animation. Thanks for posting!
Apparently five minutes worth of animation in this special was also done in-house, featuring a few veteran animators on staff like Irv Spence (MGM) and Virgil Ross (WB). The rest though was sent overseas to Wang FIlm I believe.
No joke, as soon as you started talking about Bakshi I got a phantom whiff of cigarettes and stale, old man sweat. It was . . . unnerving. I rewatched "Tattertown" a couple years ago (thanks, RU-vid!) and yeah. Unpleasant is the word. Muffet really gets screwed over.
Happened to see this on my front page when it was posted 32 seconds ago. I never post, but figured I may as well just to be annoying. But yeah, discovered this series through Reddit about a month ago, maybe a little more. I find the amount of research put into these very impressive. I've also been going through the Animorphs reviews and am enjoying those.
16:16 I remember this primarily from the 1 or 2 years they aired it in prime time, back to back with the Eureeka's Castle Christmas Special. My grandparents were babysitting that night. Jeez, the random things that stick out and remain in your memories all these decades later.
My feelings towards Bakshi is mixed, however my feelings towards his protege and son in law, John K, are not. I HATE John K, but I'll save that rant for the Ren and Stimpy episode. This special is kinda like a mini bio of Bakshis work, dirty, old timey, and jaded. What happened to Cool World was fucking tragic. What it was supposed to be would have changed animation as a whole in the west. Looking forward to the next episode!
The story behind the production of Cool World really is tragic and I can't imagine how frustrated Bakshi must have been, because at a certain point things were pretty much completely out of anyone's control and the final product was just a complete cluster fuck of a movie.
I’m with you there on your stance on these two notable figures from the Animation industry: While I appreciate their contribution to Cartoon History, but I don’t like them as people. Also, Cool World was a fun movie, but I felt it was vastly overshadowed by Who Framed Roger Rabbit? :/ There’s also a whole other discussion of Nickelodeon’s Ren & Stimpy (both the John K and Games Animation versions) and the Adult Party Cartoon revival that I’d be curious to hear once Ren & Stimpy’s episode pops up on Nick Knacks.
@@BOutdoorsman Cool World wasn't overshadowed by Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Cool World was a ripoff of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That wasn't Bakshi's doing. The changes forced onto the film's production, out of Bakshi's control, made it that way. There are just enough differences between the two films to keep Cool World out of legal trouble.
It was Christmas of 1988, and an 8-year-old me was seeing ads and promos for this very hip and "cool" animated special that was to air in Nick's prime-time slot Nick-At-Nite. It was unlike anything I had seen before, except of course maybe Mighty Mouse The New Adventures (another saturday morning cartoon I loved as a kid.) This special had a deeper focus on old-style cartoons though, something I was obsessed with since forever. Black and white cartoons are still among my favorites of the classics. The story, well, I always found that to be pretty problematic. Just let the dolly be her own person! I thought maybe I could enjoy it on an ironic level, but the only enjoyment I get out of the special is the rather superficial "coolness" of it. It was another case where it felt like the kid's network was making entertainment for a more sophisticated older crowd and made smart kids like me feel special. Despite the weird uneven nature of it, it IS somewhat sophisticated for a christmas special. You just need to ignore all the creepy implications. And yes, when Cool World came out I DEFINITELY noticed that Sidney and Nails were pretty much the same character voiced by Charlie Adler.
I do remember coming across Bakshi's early work when I was really getting into the late 70s/early 80s that era of the really gritty adult animation stuff. Guess it's just as well I have no memory of this one, though... doesn't seem like it really came together in the end.
Isn't it funny how we all lamented the loss of live action programming on Nickelodeon, but any attempts Cartoon Network made to bring live action in was regarded with contempt?
This movie still gives me "Cool World for kids" vibes. I know Ralph John Kricfalusi's style & could guess he was involved. But why does the doll have a 5'o'clock shadow? I remember feeling sorry for the doll & thinking the human girl was in the wrong for imposing her ideals on everyone else & not respecting the doll's wishes.
This is my favorite holiday special saw it on Nickelodeon i was 7 in 1991 until i was 8 in 1992 disagree with you fully its a great special yes it’s twisted but hiliarous animated special if ren and stimpy show had a holiday special this what it would look like😊
14:10. "Cool World" was actually in *1992,* not 1982. But it's OK. Ralph's become one of my favorite animators, and this was a well-done and informative look-back on his take on a Christmas special. 👍🏻
Okay, so I didn't mishear it. I knew 1982 wasn't right because Who Framed Roger Rabbit came out in 1988 and Cool World came after it, but I just assumed my crappy hearing made me mishear him.
