Odds & Ends

You may have noticed how on current affairs shows, when they cut back to Ray Martin after a story, he often says: "We'll be following that story and keep you posted on any further developments." Which means that they'll immediately forget about the poor victim whose case they were beating up, unless something else sensational happens, or the original story rates its socks off. Well, I'm not like that. So when I broke (okay, repeated) the news of the Bugs Bunny redesign, I followed up the further developments (here and here).

And now comes the news that Warner Bros are backing off on the whole concept. Or are they? This news report sells it as the story of a giant multinational forced to back off by the internet petition of 11 year old cartoon fan Thomas Adams:

Warner Bros. Entertainment spokesman Scott Rowe said his company wants the thousands of fans upset by the made-over characters unveiled in February to know "that's NOT all, folks."

Those "early drawings" have been revised into characters that are softer and less menacing, he said.

"We heard the outcry from fans, including Thomas," Rowe said...

The "Loonatics" - scheduled to air Saturday mornings come fall on Kids' WB! - is aimed at 6-to-11-year-olds. Test-groups loved it, Rowe said.

It's not intended to replaced the original characters, which appear in new episodes on Cartoon Network and classic shows on the network's station Boomerang.

"We just wanted to create something that would be accessible and fun to a new generation of kids," he said.

He said the redrawn characters will be unveiled at a later date but that "Loonatics" will remain an action-adventure show.

As for the eleven year old Thomas Adams himself: while I suspect that even as we speak he is being forcibly removed from his lunch money, I must admit that this is so the kind of geeky thing I would have done when I was eleven. Thomas, I salute you.