If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know exactly what I think about "Looney Tunes Cartoons". But put simply, I firmly believe it's one of the single best revivals of a classic cartoon property in modern years, I'd argue even better than Paul Rudish's Mickey Mouse shorts. Apart from it being exactly the type of labor of love from all ends of the production process that I simply live for, it's also one of those reincarnations that knows exactly what to keep familiar and what to update. Sure, "The Looney Tunes Show" was really witty and clever in its own way, but it simply does not compare to the energy and passion put into this.
Many of the positive elements are consistent no matter who's directing. The characters are just as insane and wacky as you'd expect; not a single drip of energy is spared. If anything, the extremity is being pushed further than normal with many of the designs and dynamics harkening back to the more offbeat Bob Clampett/Tex Avery era (though some Freleng and Jones influence is clearly there too). The animation takes full advantage of Toonboom by making the drawings both highly detailed but incredibly flowing, and despite the workload being split by several different studios, each one manages to turn out consistently strong work. Even when tweens can become easy to spot, you find yourself not really caring because they only make the actions land that much harder and the faces that much more expressive. And they even managed to bring back a number of the less iconic characters who WB often leaves out, like Rocky & Mugsy, Ralph & Sam, Beaky Buzzard... even Petunia Pig gets a cartoon to herself.
That said, while many of the directors' styles aren't immediately distinct from each other, there is one person who has managed to stand above the rest despite directly heading only a small handful of the work. The man who no one expected would make a fantastic fit for such an illustrious cast, the main mind behind this incarnation: Pete Browngardt.
Easily the best place to start would be, as it turns out, the first cartoon of the series (both in listing and production order, conveniently enough): "The Curse of the Monkeybird".
Right off the bat, anyone expecting a familiar, Chuck Jones-like portrayal of Daffy Duck are in for a major reality check. Look at how flexible and hyper they make him in these images alone. That, and the scene seems to give us a little bit of every trait that makes this Daffy who he is: emotional, selfish, chummy, insensitive, and unaware. Incredible that they managed to do that in just 30 seconds, and intermixed with other gags at that.
You have to love the speed and variety present with Daffy activating all the booby traps at Porky's expense. While it follows a clear pattern: oblivious interaction with an object, pain ensues, get more extreme over time. But the fact they think of everything you might find in a temple and what pratfalls they may ensue, and even a few things plain ridiculous like a service ticket. And even though the pig gets horrifically beaten, it's all funny because it's just absurd and quick enough to get a laugh rather than it registering as painful.
This particular gag, where Porky tries to suck venom blood out of Daffy's leg (only for him to appear behind him and the leg turning into the Monkeybird), feels ripped straight out of Uncle Grandpa. But it translates shockingly well to a series like this, especially when working with a character like Daffy.
The color work during the chase from the Monkeybird is much more dark and dramatic than what we've seen before despite there being no natural reason for it. But man, does it look pretty. The greens echo the ominous dread that comes with the setting, and the purples make the monster stand out from everything else. And the light hits the characters just right.
Note the backgrounds turn into simple color gradients when Daffy tries to woo over the Monkeybird, which makes for a good contrast when it actually starts to work, as well as making the viewer focus purely on his really goofy expressions. Also, Bauza's performance here gives it just the right balance of sarcasm and earnestness. No wonder he was hired for the role on the spot.
And yes, this comes completely out of nowhere and it's a hilarious twist. Again, pretty reminiscent of how Uncle Grandpa would escalate its own plots.
And the 'curse' is about the perfect ending gag for this little journey of insanity.
Pete has also directed at least one other Daffy/Porky cartoon named "Elf Help", listed under Bugs Bunny's 24-Carrot Holiday Special. It's extremely similar in spirit, from the speed, to the expressions, to the twists - and therefore is about just as entertaining. I especially love how the main gift that has to be manufactured isn't the general woodship toys, but a high-tech game console. This is how you make a timeless classic more contemporary, folks. So if you liked what I showed you in the caps above, I'd definitely give this cartoon a look as well.
Next one I'm covering is "Shell Shocked", which goes way back in Bugs' roots as a character in a way that I'm surprised they were able to do. The main reason Cecil Turtle seemed to disappear after his trilogy in the 40s was because Bugs had evolved from a snarky rebel to a more easy-going, self-aware, but still smartass type. This doesn't translate well to making him be the hare in this Tortoise and the Hare dynamic, as he would be more and more established as the character being wronged in some capacity, and thus who the audience is expected to root for. Even when the turtle finally returned in "The Looney Tunes Show", while he shows some clear irritability, it still mostly plays out as Bugs being the definitive good guy. But this is so clearly not the case here, as I will detail.
This painting is all kinds of awesome. Cecil's smug pose, the loud, in-your-face text, the scathing commentary on newspaper obsolescence...
Gotta love that having Cecil advertised all across the city wasn't enough, they actively used Bugs to hammer in his superiority complex.
Look at just how flexible they make Bugs with these expressions, a far cry from the more refined, Chuck Jones-esque design we're all used to seeing (even in this series to some degree). That second one in particular looks like he walked straight out of an early 40s Avery cartoon.
Not to mention how furious they make him, which would be super uncharacteristic elsewhere, but in a cartoon where he's supposed to be irritable and competitive, it works. This is such a perfect "god, shut this guy up" expression.
Here's a gag you usually don't see with Bugs: in a vain attempt to rush by, he morphs into this freaky bullet thing for a split-second. Check out the ears as the wings. Still pretty hilarious though, as it plays right into him being just that fueled by pure rage.
Bugs also gets much more hysterical, again akin to how he'd come across under Tex Avery or Bob Clampett. You'd never see him drawn even remotely like this from the 50s to the 2000s.
Not only is this cartoon getting away with portraying Bugs as an antagonist, something you'd think WB would never allow in this day and age, but drawings like these and even an evil laughter complementing the first shows a kind of commitment I have to admire. They know they wouldn't get this chance every day, and they are going to milk the opportunity for all it's freaking worth.
Probably the only look more freaky than the bullet is this super exaggerated, fake-cutesy look as he tries to lure Cecil into another scheme. Like, he is just so far gone by this point, you almost want to sympathize with him in a messed up sort of way.
But that said, it's still incredibly satisfying to see the plan quite literally blow up in his face. Pretty good look of defeat from him. Again, this portrayal may take getting used to for someone more used to a more traditional take on Bugs Bunny, but the fact it's so rarely captured past his earliest years (let alone with this level of dedication) makes this cartoon only stand out all the more in the right ways.
But what about when Pete tackles the type of Bugs cartoon people are more familiar with? Well, let's see with "High Speed Hare".
Already, this Bugs is night and day from the previous one we saw, particularly in the fur color and general physique. Part of it is because this cartoon was animated by Snipple, but it also had a different team of designers on. Plus it makes sense for Bugs to look closer to a Friz Freleng or Robert McKimson-type look because of what it centers on.
Gotta love the bland uniformity of these smart cars. I don't know if this was meant to be social satire, but it's how I choose to read it.
Fantastic, confident poses aside, the scenery changing to a live-action beach is another staple of Pete Browngardt's work that manages to look surprisingly seamless here. I think it helps that the change in medium is part of the joke.
The fact gremlins are apparently attracted to something this specific is an amusing enough way to spice up the plot, but check out this demented drawing of the gremlin itself. I don't exactly know what it's meant to convey. Sadism? Insanity? Grumpiness? It's pretty out there.
You obviously need to put Bugs Bunny in a place of vulnerability, that's just how his cartoons naturally play out. And while he's prone to getting nervous for sure, rarely do you see him look outright scared to death. That second cap is relatively simple, but conveys way more than it has any right to.
Before he can quite outwit the gremlin, he takes a number of pretty heavy hits. Not something you immediately associate with Bugs, but the more flexible design makes it work really well, even when it genuinely seems painful like the extreme speed of this glass gag.
Even when going against a rightful foe, they show no hesitation in giving us some really twisted, memorable Bugs drawings. That first one makes him look downright out for blood, but the second where he flashes different colors based on the stoplight's position is a pretty funny visual.
"Put it back on, ya maniac!" Eric Bauza's performance is unbelievable in general, but this is easily one of his absolute best moments. The way he captures the hysteric bits is what puts him above Bergman and Alaskey as the best post-Blanc Bugs in my opinion.
And while the ending is a bit of an anti-climax (which I'm not giving away if you haven't seen it), it's definitely the kind of super unrealistic note you'd expect from Pete, and it manages to close the cartoon on just the kind of thematically fitting note it needed.
And much like the Daffy and Porky outing, there's also a good compliment to this one in the later cartoon "Bone Head", where Bugs is antagonized by a dog using his rabbit hole to bury a bone. The main things that stands out about this one in comparison, is both the more muted, woodland color scheme (a nice change of pace in my opinion) and the fact it largely focuses on the antagonist. This choice harkens back to a stylistic choice seen in many of the classics that you normally don't see in new iterations, but makes so much sense to see put to use here as it make the one-off all the more defined and worth rooting against. Do check that one out too.
In the end, while most of what I've described are not exclusive to the segments that Pete directed, they are definitely the most prevalent and successful within them. And even though there are a ton of high points worth mentioning across all 1,000 minutes of the work being given to us, his are easily among the highest in my book. If you are on the fence on checking out "Looney Tunes Cartoons" for yourself, I would without a doubt start with the five I mentioned here.
It's amazing to think a guy could come from making multiple Cartoon Network shows that were met with mixed-as-best reception (granted, partly due to stigmas going on in fandoms at the time, but I digress), to passionately giving us the most unbarred, loyal revival of such a legendary ensemble. And even though this is no longer in production, the fact he recently made a deal to produce more content for both CN and WBA I think is something we should all be very excited about.