Cartoons that had a troubled production

[Pooky]

The Amazing Stories episode aired years earlier, and there had been some advertising in 1991, but the series didn't air on CBS until July 1993. Treehouse of Horror III aired October 1982

 

[Fone Bone]

Not true. It aired in 1991. I watched it over the air. It premiered in January.

Edit:

Wikipedia says I'm wrong. Weird.

 

[Pooky]

This contemporary review of the first episode certainly suggests it aired after Fish Police;

CBS’ ANIMATED `FAMILY DOG’ HAS NO BITE

There are a lot of stars in a lot of shows who would be a lot more enjoyable if they talked a lot less, or not at all-the little girls on “Full House” or Gene Shalit on “Today,&#8…

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[Fone Bone]

This contemporary review of the first episode certainly suggests it aired after Fish Police;

CBS’ ANIMATED `FAMILY DOG’ HAS NO BITE

There are a lot of stars in a lot of shows who would be a lot more enjoyable if they talked a lot less, or not at all-the little girls on “Full House” or Gene Shalit on “Today,&#8…

www.chicagotribune.com

Yeah, I was wrong. My memory played tricks on me.

 

[RoyalRubble]

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest was in production for about two years with very little progress until the crew was fired, and two new teams were hired - one to finish up the first 26 episodes, and another team to make another 26 episodes long season (which was initially supposed to be a new show altogether, but ended up as the second season of Real Adventures even if it kind of ignored most of the stuff that happened previously on the series).

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Gainax were not adequately prepared to make a TV series when they made Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. The studio had no creative control, much of the staff had quit during production (including director Hideako Anno) and in the middle of its 39-episode run they started outsourcing animation work to South Korea. By the time it had ended, Gainax were deep in debt and, as they didn't own the rights to Nadia, weren't entitled to royalties or profits from merch sales.

It got so bad it sent a burnt-out Anno into a deep depression, the experiences of which he would channel into Gainax's next series—and biggest success—Neon Genesis Evangelion.

 

[ShadowBeast]

Would Hanazuki:Full of Treasures count since it never got to finish it's second season?

 

[JMTV]

Would Hanazuki:Full of Treasures count since it never got to finish it's second season?

I'm not sure I'd count that since that was more of screwed over by the network and Hasbro rather than behind the scenes production drama involving Hanazuki.

 

[stephane dumas]

The cartoon "My Life Me" who aired on Teletoon Canada in the early 2010s might fit that category when one of the studios involved in the production ended in bankruptcy.

 

[Pooky]

The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat is often noted as a troubled production, however a lot of the claims are hard to source. Here is what I believe can actually be corroborated;
. Milton Knight has recounted that there were a lot of conflicting ideas on what the series should be; animators who wanted it to be a modern revival of the silent shorts and Fleischer cartoons, the producer who wanted a strong Robert Crumb influence, Don Oriolo who wanted to honour his father Joe's 50s cartoons, Phil Roman who wanted more of a dialogue-driven approach etc
. Don Oriolo has noted that there were disagreements between him and the creative team (perhaps born out by a caricature of him that appears in the Second Season), although it seems rumours of him hating and/or disowning the series are at the very least exaggerated
. They couldn't decide on a voice for Felix, "settling" for Thom Adcox-Hernandez for Season 1 at the last possible moment, and recasting him with Charlie Adler for Season 2. Pesonally, I thought TAH was fine, and as it turns out so did Adler.
. Season 2 was retooled to be a somewhat more conventional TV animation, with Mark Evanier
. It seems that Evanier doesn't like to talk about his experience on the show, which given how happy (and prolific) he is with talking about everything else, certainly seems to suggest something.

Despite, or perhaps even partly because of, all that it turned out pretty well, even in the toned down second season.

Felix the Cat: The Movie was similarly a reportedly pretty troubled production (and it shows), but there's even less concrete info out there about it.

 

[Leviathan]

While it's not series-wide, 'Some Enchanted Evening' from The Simpsons was pretty contentious. Matt Groening and James L. Brooks wanted a live-action sitcom but animated, and Kent Butterworth and Gabor Csupo thought they were making a "cartoony" cartoon, and the miscommunication almost sank the show before it began.

While moreso animation than writing, a lot has been written about the problems Warner Bros. had with Kennedy Cartoons and Encore Cartoons on "Tiny Toon Adventures". "Strange Tales of Weird Science" in particular was so bad that two of the shorts have Alan Smithee credits, and the crew tried to hide it from Steven Spieilberg to avoid "bumming him out".

Besides Ren and Stimpy, I don't think you can name a messier production than Bonkers. Its mid-production retool was so messy than almost no one has ever spoke about the show or what happened on it. The trouble of the production is so blatantly obvious onscreen (like the one episode "guest-starring" Mickey Mouse).

 

[Pooky]

While moreso animation than writing, a lot has been written about the problems Warner Bros. had with Kennedy Cartoons and Encore Cartoons on "Tiny Toon Adventures". "Strange Tales of Weird Science" in particular was so bad that two of the shorts have Alan Smithee credits, and the crew tried to hide it from Steven Spieilberg to avoid "bumming him out".

I believe it was no coincidence that High Toon was the last of the initial 65 episode order to air.

Interestingly Tom Ruegger has spoken fondly of Kennedy and in recent years and has spoken fondly of Kennedy and in recent years and has noted that, contrary to a lot of producers (and viewers for that matter), Spielberg was actually quite impressed by AKOM's work because he loved their use of "core shadows", which he felt added the kind of production value he was looking for.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Spielberg was actually quite impressed by AKOM's work because he loved their use of "core shadows", which he felt added the kind of production value he was looking for.

So there's another inside reference from "Phone Call From the 405", apparently.

"WE NEED MORE SHADOWS!"

 

[Kitschensyngk]

I won't say too much about Ren & Stimpy, but if you've ever seen the season 5 episode "Reverend Jack", you've had a glimpse into what it was like working with John K. It was based off the crew's experiences with their one-time showrunner before and after Nickelodeon fired him.

 

[Ed Nygma]

If we're including feature films, Cool World has to be the winner. Though I wonder how much of that was due to Bakshi being exceeding difficult. Such a waste, could have been something really cool and out there if they had just given him full creative control, and yet it (and Spicy City) ended up being his farewell to animation.

Also The Black Cauldron- would give a lot to see the bidding 10 minutes of animation. I'm positive Disney has it locked up in its vaults and just won't release it for some reason, along with Song of the South. Then again these are the same people who refuse to ever put some vanilla films on sale on iTunes like Mickey's Christmas Carol so perhaps I'm giving them too much credit for what is just general apathy.

 

[Fone Bone]

If we're including feature films, Cool World has to be the winner. Though I wonder how much of that was due to Bakshi being exceeding difficult. Such a waste, could have been something really cool and out there if they had just given him full creative control, and yet it (and Spicy City) ended up being his farewell to animation.

The special features documentary on the Blu-Ray was eye-opening. Frank Mancuso Jr is the absolute sweetest and most reasonable guy you could ever imagine. Any problems behind the scenes were clearly entirely Bakshi's doing. Bakshi is just a jerk.

Bakshi came from an era of "renegade animators" behaving badly. You think John Kricfalusi was that way on his own? Learned behavior.

Edit:

Cool World WAS relatively low budget compared to other blockbusters in 1992 but it DID still cost real money for the animation / live-action hybrid. The economics said the only way to recoup the investment was a PG-13 rating. And you can say "That made the movie suck and it sucking is why it bombed." Except ALL of Bakshi's movies suck on some level. The only other one besides Cool World I can remotely stand is Wizards. Maybe if Bakshi had a better box office track record he would have had the clout to do things his way. His only box office "successes" were Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, and Wizards, and calling them "successes" is stretching the definition of that word somewhat. Every single other one of his films died at the box office. Why SHOULD he get final cut with that much money on the line and a record of making crappy, cheap-looking movies nobody liked or saw?

 

[Pooky]

Bakshi's Lord of the Rings was a hit in terms of ticket sales, but Warners sensed, probably correctly, that the enthusiasm wasn't there for a sequel. Fritz was certainly a hit, but that had been 20 years by then, and an eventful 20 years at that. Mighty Mouse and the Harlem Shuffle video probably had at least as much to do with him getting the gig as his films by that point.

I have heard that the animators had a good time working on Cool World though, so that's something.

 

[Fone Bone]

Yeah, it was supposedly a good place for animators. Not so much actors and producers.

 

[RoyalRubble]

I was thinking of mentioning Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It seems originally it started out as a show called "Hulk: Gamma Corps" but then became this fine Avengers cartoon. The troubled production part, as far as I know, would be in the later episodes of season 2, which were re-worked by new writers (including Man of Action), and Spider-Man's voice actor was changed (from Josh Keaton to Drake Bell). These changes were probably in the hopes that the transition from this show to the new Ultimate Spider-Man, Hulk & the Agents of SMASH, Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy would be smoother.

 

[Pooky]

The Pebble and the Penguin ran into quite a bit of trouble towards the end; the Sullivan/Bluth studios in Ireland were being shut down, and Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were helping set up the Fox Studios in Arizona. MGM had several changes that they weren't interested in instituting so the film was finished without them (they did get the chance to change the color timing to fit their original vision some years later when the DVD was released). The production problems are evident in one musical number where the animation was clearly unfinished (several characters don't move).

Titan A.E. was kind of the opposite; around $30million had already been spent before Bluth and Goldman were brought on board, but not a single frame had been shot. Neither of them were particularly enthusiastic about the material (or science fiction in general), but it was either that or letting Fox shut down the animation studio (which of course they ultimately did when the film flopped).