Patrick Ladwig's Top Ten Toon List

Before my submission of the Top 10, I would like to take a moment to lionize an animator for lifetime achievement: Chuck Jones has contributed so much outstanding entertainment, from the creation of Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote and the (definitive, yes) adaptation of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." For my money, though, his best work came in the re-vitalization of Tom & Jerry in the early sixties. (To see how badly they needed his touch, check out the horrible Tom & Jerry cartoons done by Gene Deitch the year before Jones took over...) Chuck's clever stories, flawless pacing and oh-so-lovable facial expressions make these my absolute favorite Tom & Jerry cartoons of all time. (And that says a lot, considering how much I love and admire Hanna/Barbera's originals.)

Tim comments: OK, if this list was top ten producers of animation, my list would be Chuck Jones, Chuck Jones, Chuck Jones.....

Okay, now to the Top 10:

• "Yellow Submarine"
  Forget the paper-thin plot and terrible impressions of the Beatles' voices (well, Ringo's wasn't too bad...) this film will be remembered as the pure distillate of the psychedelic era. The stream-of-consciousness storyline and nonsensical transitions wouldn't work in another film, but blended with the vibrant colors, intriguing character designs and all-you-need-is-love moral, this film says more about the idealized mindset of the Flower Era better than "Easy Rider" ever could. (The recent re-issue is worth a look, since they've enhanced the visuals, digitally enhanced the soundtrack and RESTORED the animated sequence for "Hey, Bulldog," which was never shown in the U.S. release.)
  
  
• "Batman: The Animated Series"
  Taking a HUGE cue from Fleischers' Superman, a team of fans at Warner Brothers animation put together some excellent stories (which were surprisingly faithful to the comic, given the history of super heroes treatments on TV) and fleshed them out with animation that was simply the best ever produced for television. After the initial 65-episodes of the first season, the animation quality began to decline rapidly. By the time it was re-dubbed "The Adventures of Batman and Robin," the animation had become merely standard quality, but the writing was still above par. Tune in to the Cartoon Network to see those original episodes. The 2-part stories "Cat and Claw," "The Demon's Head" and "Robin's Reckoning" stand out in my mind as the cream of the crop.
  
  
• "Creature Comforts"
  I know Nick Parks is better-known for Wallace and Grommit , and those are three fine mini-features, but this short stands out in my mind as one of the best pieces of work he and Aardman Studios have done. Unencumbered by a plot or story development, Parks is simply called upon to animate interviews with various zoo animals. Best viewed multiple times with the remote handy for quick rewind; what goes on in the background is often more hilarious than the main action!

  Tim comments: Rumor has it Nick Parks is working on a FEATURE LENGTH Wallace and Grommit!!!! Who's going to the theatre with me???
  
  

• "Spicy City"
  Ralph Bakshi made six phenomenal episodes for HBO Animation a few years back. They featured intelligent, challenging stories with what was, quite simply, the best animation Bakshi studios has ever done. The episode called "Love is a Download" (written by Bakshi's son) was a fantastic view of life in the internet chat rooms of the (not-too-distant?) future. Kudos also to the episode "Mano's Hands," which has GOT to be the weirdest damned story I've seen on TV. (Though it's not for the squeamish!) It made me forgive Ralph for foisting "Cool World" on us.
  
  
• "Heavy Metal"
  It made my Top Ten films list, so it's gotta be on this list, too! Being a young devotee of the magazine on which the film was based, this movie was everything I could ever hope for in mature animated feature: cool stories, nudity, rockin' soundtrack, naked babes, stellar voice acting (John Candy, Harold Ramis, John Vernon, etc.) and, of course, sex! When they finally worked out the tangle of music rights, so they could release it to video, they added a scene which "wasn't done in time" for the original theatrical release. (They tacked it on after the end of the feature and it speaks to the completist in me, but we really didn't miss anything by its omission.)
  
  
• "The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse"
  The year was 1989 and Ralph Bakshi Studios employed a young animator by the name of John Kricfalusi. This cartoon gave us a glimpse of things to come, when John K. would go on to stun parents everywhere with his over-the-top grossness of Ren & Stimpy. Now, I didn't have a VCR back then, and only caught a couple of episodes, but what I saw was some of the funniest, out-on-a-limb cartoonery that had been done all decade. It was Bakshi, once again trying to prove that cartoons didn't need to be "dumbed-down" to be entertaining. (If anyone has the collected works, I'd love to copy the tapes; I understand the "Bat-Bat" episode is a particularly biting parody of Batman.)
  
  
• "King of the Hill"
  I was one of the few people who would stand up for the merits of (the still-underrated) "Beavis and Butthead." So when it was announced that Mike Judge would create a primetime series for Fox, I was again in the minority of people who were excited about the potential such a "mainstream" production had. (Judge had said that most TV shows seemed to about New York or L.A. and he wanted to do a show about everything in between: Texas.) Critics have repeatedly heralded this series, as having the most "real" family on TV, and they're right. The subtle complexities of the writing in this series never cease to astound me. Here's a heartfelt wish for a run as long as "The Simpsons." (Another fine series, in its own right.) For those who may be crying "foul," because I site so many series, rather than individual episodes, may I recommend the cigarette smoking episode from the first season, or the deer hunting episode from the second. ("Single Plastic Female" is also a classic.)
  
  
• "The Tick"
  In my opinion, the most faithful adaptation of a comic book on TV. Ben Edlund's weird world of heroics-gone-insane was recreated here without one significant alteration. (Okay, so there were no Ninjas in the TV show, but that's splitting hairs.) Arthur lost a bit of spark when Mickey Dolenz went back to the Monkees (and the Terror was never the same), but the stories were consistently goofy (as in the comic) and endearing. What ever possessed Fox Kids to cut the legs out from under this show, just when word-of-mouth was building will remain a mystery to me. Two recommended episodes (of many) would be "The Tick vs. Arthur's Bank Account" and "The Tick vs. Education."
  
  
• "Jason and the Argonauts"
  Combining live action and animation is never easy -- and quite often looks like crap -- but Ray Harryhausen's Dynamation always made it look easy (if sometimes cheesy). The Sinbad movies were all fun, but this movie had that little something extra. Some people would rank "Clash of the Titans" as Harryhausen's best work, but that was just his last; I'd have to give the nod to "Jason" as his best. The skeleton sword fights are the best. (Major points to the live actors who had to fight convincingly against no one.)
  
  
• "Princess Mononoke"
  First, let me say that I am purposely prejudiced AGAINST current releases when compiling any best-of list, but this one really did edge out "Akira" as the finest Anime feature I've seen. Sure it's very Japanese (sometimes painfully so) but if you can divorce yourself from your Western need for setup/action/development/action/climax/denoument, then you may be able to appreciate this film for its many subtle merits. The tree spirits alone make the movie worth the price of admission; no one in the West could ever conceive of these creatures (since Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali are both dead)

Honourable mention:

• "Duckman"
  (If this had only been a Top Twenty list...) For 3-1/2 wonderful seasons, USA featured the most deliciously subversive and politically incorrect cartoon ever made (until "South Park" came along, that is.) Featuring the voices of Jason Alexander, Nancy Travis, Dweezil Zappa and Tim Curry in a recurring role, it was delightfully crude (bordering on the profane) yet often poignant comment on modern society. Not enough episodes to syndicate and I doubt there was enough of a fan base to warrant releasing the collection on video, it is destined to live on only in the collections of us, the animation videophiles.
  
  
• "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas"
  A fantastic Hallowe'en tribute to the classic stop-motion holiday specials, like "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
  
  
• "Beast Wars"
  An underrated TV show. Excellent writing, outstanding character development and some of the best computer animation produced to date. (Wish I'd taped it when I had the chance...)
  
  
• "American Pop"
  It's a little slow moving, so I can't put it in my Top Ten, but Bakshi did do a nice job of tracing five generations through the history of America and American music.
  
  
• "The Simpsons"
  Ten seasons old and still going strong. "Treehouse of Terror" is an annual event I always look forward to.
  
  
• "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest"
  One of the rare instances where the update/revival outshines the original. Great stories were a hallmark of the original and the new ones are at least as good, but this time the animation doesn't stink! The inclusion of CGI for the VR environment of Questworld is an added treat in many episodes.
  
  
• "Fantasia"
  Oh, yeah, this one's good, too.