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| From | "bob" <segarini@sympatico.ca> |
| Subject | Yabba Dabba Off Topic... |
| Date | Sun, 2 Mar 2003 05:08:09 -0500 |
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This sounds like a ridiculous amount of fun...
bob
Sunday, March 2, 2003
New spin on old 'toons
By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun
Like a lot of people their age, Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter grew up
with Fred Flintstone, Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, The Super Friends and Jonny Quest.
The difference is, they're still laughing at them -- and about them.
Ouweleen, 34, and Richter, 36, are the twisted minds behind Harvey Birdman,
Attorney At Law, debuting Friday night at 10 on Teletoon.
(Harvey Birdman is part of Teletoon's Detour on Teletoon/ Unleashed late
evening fare, which includes animated adult goodies like Family Guy, Clone
High and Ren & Stimpy.)
As the hour suggests, this is not a kids show. Rather, it is for cartoon
fans who never grew up, specifically people between the ages of 35 and 55
who zoned out in front of dozens of Hanna-Barbera shows on Saturday mornings
during the '60s and '70s.
While the Hanna-Barbera TV output was vast, it was never particularly deep.
The original Birdman, which ran in 1967, was a pretty lame low point. It
featured a second-rate superhero with an eagle's beak and giant wings. The
only thing vaguely memorable about the series was the opening credits, where
our hero roared, "BIRRRDMAN!"
Ouweleen and Richter, who were working on promotion spots at U.S. cable's
Cartoon Network, could observe firsthand the winking success of Space Ghost
Coast To Coast, an animated, real-time talk show featuring another
thick-headed H-B hero.
Their project picked up with Space Ghost contemporary Birdman 35 years
later, where the former action star is now hampered by arthritic knees. No
problem -- he's traded in his super duds and is now a blue-suited lawyer
(although he's kept the mask and giant wings). No longer able to smash punks
in the streets or battle arch villains, he's defending Hanna-Barbera
characters like Fred Flintstone and Scooby-Doo in the courtroom in each
15-minute episode.
What kind of trouble could Flintstone get into? In The Dabba Don, a
brilliant parody of The Sopranos, we find that Freddy has finally gotten fed
up with toiling in the gravel pit for old man Slate and now operates a
"legitimate business" of his own at the Dabba-Doo, a local strip joint.
When Harve drags his heels on his case, Freddy warns that it's his neck.
"Hmm, I wonder what he meant by that?" thinks Birdman, who finds a
Godfather-like surprise waiting for him in his bed that night -- the severed
head of Quick Draw McGraw.
In another case, Harve represents Race Bannon, who is suing Dr. Quest for
custody of Jonny, Hadji and Bandit after a lovers' tiff.
You won't find this courtroom on The Practice. Presided over by former H-B
superhero Mightor (from the 1967 series Moby Dick & The Mighty Mightor),
Birdman must battle in the courts with former antagonist Dr. Reducto. He
isn't afraid to stoop to his old super tricks in order to intimidate a
witness. "Back off!" he threatens in one courtroom scene, "or I'll make you
travel size!"
Ouleween says the Hanna-Barbera library was always screaming out for parody.
"It's kinda weird, but I (knew) when I grew up watching this stuff, that I
was going to do this," he says. "I would watch The Super Friends and go,
'God, why did they put those stupid sidekicks in?' Like I was already
writing them."
And while Ouleween and Richter both thought some of the characters and plots
were ridiculous, even for kids, they insist they are not just trying to
trash the legacy. Ouleween calls it being "respectful but irreverent."
Richter considers himself a "caretaker" of these characters. "We want to
take gentle shots," he says, "and not body blows."
Actor Gary Cole, who seems to be making a living goofing on '60s TV icons
(he's played the dad in the new Brady Bunch movies as well as the Uncle Bill
character in the recent remake of Family Affair) is the ultra-serious voice
of Birdman. At 46, he says he also grew up with these characters. "That's
why it's fun, and juicy too," he says, "to put a twisted sense on all of
them."
Cole says he came up with Birdman's deep superhero voice simply by "just
looking at ... this pompous bravado, ridiculously wardrobed guy. That's
basically what I based it on."
Canadian-born vocal ace Maurice LaMarche does several characters on the
series, including Fred Flintstone (taking over from the late Alan Reed),
Yogi Bear and the Apache Chief. Steve Landesberg (Barney Miller) shows up as
a bailiff, Patrick Warburton (The Tick) plays Mr. Morton, Laraine Newman
(Saturday Night Live) does Sybil Schussler, Michael McKean voices Pyro the
Dragon, Mad TV vet Phil LaMarr does Black Vulcan and Garry Shandling even
shows up as a "dude" in the Bill Gone Wild episode.
Some of the fun is seeing Harvey Birdman tackle some of the urban legends
that have sprung up over the years. There were always snickers about exactly
what Scooby-Doo and Shaggy were smoking in that Mystery Machine. And how
come there never were any women hanging around Race Bannon and Dr. Quest?
Still, you'd never catch Disney dissing their 'toon legacy. How did Ouweleen
and Erik Richter get away with it?
Turner Broadcasting acquired the rights to Hanna-Barbera in 1991 (founder
Bill Hanna passed away in 2001, while Joe Barbera soldiers on at 93). Since
Harvey Birdman originates on the U.S. Cartoon Network, which is owned by
Turner Entertainment, Ouleween and Richter have carte blanche to goof on any
Hanna-Barbera character they please.
"One of the beauties (of this) is that Fred Flintstone is not going to sue
you for defamation of character," Turner Entertainment president Brad Siegel
says.
Besides, it could be argued (probably in Birdman's cartoon courtroom) that
if these animated characters were real sitcom stars of the '60s and '70s,
they'd be trashing their own careers by now on junk like I'm A Celebrity --
Get Me Out Of Here or Celebrity Boxing (if they weren't already doing dinner
theatre).
Not everybody is thrilled with the concept, however. Prolific comic book
artist Alex Toth, who worked at H-B from 1965 to 1982, designed Space Ghost,
Josie and the Pussycats, The Herculoids, the Super Friends and hundreds of
other heroes, villains and secondary characters. Ouleween refers to him as
"the genius that did all the design work for this superhero stuff."
Toth, who signed off one fan site with "cursed be the fool who destroys
wonder!" is apparently not a Harvey Birdman fan.
"We've heard through friends that, you know, he's not psyched about it,"
Ouleween says.
All he and Richter can say is that they are fans of Toth and Ed Benedict
(designer of The Flintstones, among others) and Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera
and aren't just pooping on all their work. The characters are faithfully
rendered, even if they're behaving in a strange new way.
"It's kind of like what Moby does," Ouleween explains. "We're just taking
our culture and commenting on it."
And if you don't like it, prepare to feel the wrath of Mightor!
CLIENT LIST
"FREDDY" FLINTSTONE
ORIGINAL SERIES: The Flintstones (1960-66)
CRIME: The prehistoric family man gets quizzed about the legitimacy of his
business doings.
DR. QUEST
ORIGINAL SERIES: Jonny Quest (1964-65)
CRIME: Harvey reps Dr. Quest in a parental custody battle with Race Bannon
over Jonny, Hadji and Bandit.
SCOOBY-DOO, SHAGGY
ORIGINAL SERIES: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969-76)
CRIME: Busted for drug possession.
YOGI AND BOO BOO
ORIGINAL SERIES: Yogi Bear (1961-62)
CRIME: Yogi's sidekick is charged with being the Unabooboo.
APACHE CHIEF
ORIGINAL SERIES: The Super Friends
CRIME: Sues coffee shop after spilling latte in his lap and losing super
ability to "grow large at will."
X THE ELIMINATOR
ORIGINAL SERIES: Birdman (1967)
CRIME: Tried to kill Birdman in '68, now miffed that Harve doesn't remember
him.
MAGILLA GORILLA
ORIGINAL SERIES: Magilla Gorilla (1964)
CRIME: Property damage.
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