BLAM! Disney lowers the bar again!

[flippyshark]

Here is a post at Cartoon Brew with YouTube links to several segments apparently running on the Disney Channel. A seriously obnoxious hyper-voiceover kills any joy that might result in watching classic Disney cartoons (http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disney-remixes-old-cartoons-into-blam.html). Really, who thought this was anywhere close to something worth airing?!

[CoasterMatt]

I tried to watch the first Donald clip and couldn't make it through- I refuse to see what they've done to Goofy.

[scaeagles]

oh good lord

[CoasterMatt]

It may be the worst thing to happen to animation since Clutch Cargo.

[Capt Jack]

wow. are they actually aired like that?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Actually, it was leaked from an emergency board meaning. They were produced after the executives admitted that they didn't understand what was happening in the cartoons they were airing.

[Disneyphile]

Actually, it was leaked from an emergency board meaning. They were produced after the executives admitted that they didn't understand what was happening in the cartoons they were airing.
:snap:

[Tref]

(Pic related)
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z1/Tref_foto/1272315458788.jpg

[keith - SuPeR K!]

That is terrible!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I can't believe this.

[Scrooge McSam]

Did anybody make it past the first one?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Did anybody make it past the first one?Not me.

[innerSpaceman]

Um, I don't see what the big deal is. They're not saying these are the original cartoons. They're taking the material and doing some weird crap with it to supposedly appeal to the ADHD generation. I don't particularly like them, but I never liked the original cartoons either (Disney cartoons were lame - - Warner Bros. were cool).

Plus, I'm not the demographic aimed at. So ... a big shrug and who cares? from me.

[Ghoulish Delight]

What would your reaction be to the same "remix" applied to a Bugs Bunny 'toon?

[innerSpaceman]

As long as they weren't marketing it as the "new" versions of those cartoons, I'd have no problem with it. (But I call shenanigans on the premise of your question, since those were funny to begin with - and no one would tinker with them to make them so.)

[Ghoulish Delight]

I find the entire thing insulting to the intelligence of the viewer. It's pantomime, play-by-play narration is a mind-numbingly stupid thing to add to it (not even mentioning the style of the narration). "You're all too dumb to figure out that putting rubber cement in pancake batter is a bad thing, Douchey McGee better let you in on the joke!"

[innerSpaceman]

That's the complaint I've heard a lot, but on watching that one - I didn't so much think the commentary was to make you comprehend what you were seeing, but to riff on what you were seeing. Oh, I agree it was done in the most lame way imaginable - but I think there was more to it than merely narrating what was going on (and yeah, most of the "here's what you're seeing" part of the riff commentary was unnecessary - but was it talking down to the target audience of, I expect, 4 year olds??)

[CoasterMatt]

If they just had these "remixes" as something out there to remarket the originals, no problem- but unfortunately, it seems when they come up with schemes like this, the originals become that much more difficult to come by.

[innerSpaceman]

I will state again, that perhaps the reason the originals become more and more hard to come by is that they are generally not well regarded as excellent cartoon shorts.

[Alex]

Yeah, not particularly amusing, but then I'm not six. On the other hand I don't see anything particularly sacriligous about it, it's just a pre-pre-adolescent version of the stupid clip shows that litter half of cable being, which are simply pre-adolescent and apparently drawing an adult audience. When whoever did this grows up they'll write for tosh.0 or something on G4.

Also don't understand the linked article saying that while Mouse Factory did it first, Mouse Factory did it well. Is that Don Knotts thing really considered amusing?

[flippyshark]

Mouse Factory was certainly a bit less insulting to the intelligence, but it doesn't hold up as must-see viewing. (Even its nostalgia value wears off pretty quickly.)

My main beef with the new segments is that I have seen so much better material for very young children, and I'd love to think that Disney could play in this league, but this stuff is clueless and depressing. If Disney was clever enough to repurpose old cartoons and characters in the same way that Cartoon Network used to do (Space Ghost Coast, To Coast, Birdman: Attorney at Law) I would be all for playing around with the stuff from the vault. (Granted, those were aimed at "boomers," but kids loved 'em too.)

[Cadaverous Pallor]

As John Lasseter said, kids will watch anything.

On the other hand, I would never let my kids watch such bastardization.

[BDBopper]

I don't really care for the BLAM either.

A little addition to this is that what Disney is currently doing is taking classics from the vault, redubbing them with the current voice actors the kids are used to hearing, and airing them. Then sometimes they are remixing them into BLAM segments to fill some time that a six minute cartoon won't fit into.

The "Have A Laugh" concept is pretty cool...but BLAM is terrible. Get rid of it!