Mystery Freakazoid moment origin explained: that "Yogi Bear is made of metal" sign is a reference to a question asked by Jean MacCurdy in a Warners writers' meeting in 1996. She asked me if I'd like to develop a show about Yogi and I said "Only if he were made of metal." (a reference to the DC comics slant then taking over much of WB animation - you had to be there.) At any rate, this quick response got a big laugh because everyone knew I meant 'no.' A few weeks later, for reasons known only to them, John McCann and/or Paul Rugg re-interpreted the moment as me writing and holding up that sign in this Freakazoid episode, with absolutely no set-up.
Freakazoid is brimming with such arcane stuff. As the late composer Richard Stone once lovingly described the series, "the inmates took over the asylum." Now this statement will live on the Internet for seventy-five years.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Yogi Bear Is Made of Metal!
A most welcome comment from Tom Minton explaining one of the most obscure in-jokes in that Freakazoid! cartoon:
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One further clarification, for the sake of history and 1996 trivia lovers: the caricature of me in that Freakazoid cartoon is based on a 1990 one done by Bruce Timm for a Tiny Toons episode. No one was attempting to make me resemble Tweety. Bruce's drawing is far better than any of the animation keys of my head in this Freakazoid picture. Bruce's original drawing was done with brush and ink, not pencil, and whoever animated it in Korea lacked the skill to adequately turn that abstract form in space. To be fair, the episodic model and board may have not provided them a complete turnaround, due to deadline pressures. I wasn't involved in the making of this short, my first wind of it was when John McCann showed me a color rough cut. My initial thought was "nobody on earth is gonna know what that means." But Freakazoid was the place to do such things. I was able to finally get "Toby Danger" on the air thanks to Freakazoid being short eight minutes in one episode, so to that series I'll always be grateful. And it should be on DVD!
Tom Minton
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