Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers cartoon series that preceded the Merrie Melodies series, and is both WB's first animated theatrical series and the second longest continuous animated series in any medium.

Contents

1 History 2 Characters 3 See also 4 External links

History

The two series were given two separate names because originally, Warner Bros. wanted them to be two separate cartoons series (in the same manner that Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies were separate from the Mickey Mouse series).

In the beginning years, both Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies drew their storylines from Warner's vast music library.

From 1934 to 1943 Merrie Melodies were produced in color and Looney Tunes in black and white; after that the only real difference between the two was in the variation between the opening theme music and titles. By this time the theme music for Looney Tunes was "Merrie Go Round Broke Down" by Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin and the theme music for Merrie Melodies was an adaptation of "Merrily We Roll Along" by Charles Tobias, Murray Mencher & Eddie Cantor.

Bosko was Looney Tunes first major star, but when he moved over to MGM in an entirely different incarnation, Buddy took his place. However, when Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny were introduced, Looney Tunes deviated from its original musical concept. The Warner Bros. cartoon shorts themselves continued to be box office draws no matter what cartoon series name they came under.

The characters' popularity was strengthened even more when they began airing on network and syndicated television in the late 1950s under various titles and formats.

The original Looney Tunes theatrical series ran from 1930 to 1969 (the last short being Bugged By A Bee ). Theatrical animated shorts then went dormant until 1987 when new shorts were made to introduce Looney Tunes to a new generation of audiences (new shorts have been produced and released sporadically since then).

In 1996, Space Jam, a feature film mixing animation and live action was released starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan, who at the time was retired from basketball. The movie was somewhat successful, and it introduced a new character named Lola Bunny .

In 2003, the show Baby Looney Tunes, which has a similar premise to Muppet Babies, premiered. Also in 2003, another feature film was released in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts, the live action/animated Looney Tunes: Back In Action. The film was a box-office disappointment, thus putting the theatrical future of Bugs and company in limbo.

However, thanks to continued television airings, revival theatrical screenings, and the Golden Collection DVD box sets, the Looney Tunes and its characters have remained a part of Western animation heritage.

Characters

• Characters introduced in The Thirties : Beans -- Bosko -- Bruno -- Buddy -- Bugs Bunny -- Cookie -- Daffy Duck -- Egghead -- Fluffy -- Foxy -- Gabby Goat -- Goopy Geer -- Ham and Ex -- Honey -- Little Kitty -- Oliver Owl -- Piggy -- Petunia Pig -- Porky Pig -- Roxy -- Sniffles -- Towser -- Wilbur

• Characters introduced in The Forties : The Barnyard Dog -- Beaky Buzzard -- Bobo the Elephant -- Cecil Turtle -- Charlie Dog -- Claude Cat -- Colonel Shuffle -- Elmer Fudd -- Foghorn Leghorn -- Goofy Gophers -- Granny (Looney Tunes) -- Gruesome Gorilla -- Henery Hawk -- Hippety Hopper -- Hubie and Bertie -- Inki -- Marvin the Martian -- The Mynah Bird -- Pepe Le Pew -- Quentin Quail -- Road Runner -- Rocky and Mugsy -- Sniffles -- Sylvester -- The Three Bears (Looney Tunes) -- Tweety -- Wacky Worm -- Wile E. Coyote -- Willoghby the dog -- Yosemite Sam

• Characters introduced in The Fifties : Clyde Bunny -- Crusher -- Frisky Puppy -- Hector the Bulldog -- Jose and Manuel -- Marc Antony and Pussyfoot -- Michigan J. Frog -- Miss Prissy -- Pete Puma -- Ralph Phillips -- Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf -- Slowpoke Rodriguez -- Speedy Gonzales -- Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier -- Sylvester Junior -- Tasmanian Devil (Taz) -- Witch Hazel

• Recurring Characters introduced in The Sixties and Beyond : Bunny and Claude -- Colonel Rimfire -- Cool Cat -- Cornbread -- Lola Bunny -- Merlin the Magic Mouse -- Second Banana

See also

• Termite Terrace
• Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies filmography

External links

• Looney Tunes http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Warner_Bros_/Looney_Tunes/index.html at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Page on Toonzone http://looney.toonzone.net
• Wikiquote: Looney Tunes: Back in Action http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes:_Back_in_Action