4480. Daffy Duck

Daffy first appeared on April 17, 1937, in Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery and animated by Bob Clampett. The cartoon is a standard hunter/prey pairing for which Leon Schlesinger's studio was famous, but Daffy (barely more than an unnamed bit player in this short) was something new to moviegoers: an assertive, completely unrestrained, combative protagonist. Clampett later recalled: "At that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a cartoon character do these things. And so, when it hit the theaters it was an explosion. People would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck." This early Daffy is less anthropomorphic and resembles a "normal" duck. In fact, the only aspects of the character that have remained consistent through the years are his voice characterization by Mel Blanc and his black feathers with a white neck ring. Blanc's characterization of Daffy holds the world record for the longest characterization of one animated character by his or her original actor: 52 years. The origin of Daffy's voice is a matter of some debate. One often-repeated "official" story is that it was modeled after producer Schlesinger's tendency to lisp. However, in Mel Blanc's autobiography, That's Not All Folks!, he contradicts that conventional belief, writing, "It seemed to me that such an extended mandible would hinder his speech, particularly on words containing an s sound. Thus 'despicable' became 'desthpicable.'" Daffy's slobbery, exaggerated lisp was developed over time, and it is barely noticeable in the early cartoons. In "Daffy Duck & Egghead", Daffy does not lisp at all except in the separately drawn set-piece of Daffy singing "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" in which just a slight lisp can be heard. Daffy has no official middle name, but he has sometimes been given a "joke" middle name specific to the plot of a cartoon. In "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" (1949), he calls himself "Daffy Dumas Duck" as the writer of a swashbuckling script, a nod to Alexandre Dumas. Also, in the Baby Looney Tunes episode "The Tattletale", Granny addresses Daffy as "Daffy Horacio Tiberius Duck". In The Looney Tunes Show (2011), the joke middle names "Armando" and "Sheldon" are used.

2528. Road Runner

Wile E. Coyote (also known simply as "The Coyote") and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters (a coyote and Greater Roadrunner) were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese. The characters star in a long-running series of theatrical cartoon shorts (the first 16 of which were written by Maltese) and occasional made-for-television cartoons.
In each episode, instead of animal senses and cunning, Wile E. Coyote uses absurdly complex contraptions (sometimes in the manner of Rube Goldberg) and elaborate plans to pursue his quarry.
The Coyote appears separately as an occasional antagonist of Bugs Bunny in five shorts from 1952 to 1963: Operation: Rabbit, To Hare Is Human, Rabbit's Feat, Compressed Hare, and Hare-Breadth Hurry. While he is generally silent in the Coyote-Road Runner shorts, he speaks with a refined accent in these solo outings (except for Hare-Breadth Hurry), introducing himself as "Wile E. Coyote—super genius", voiced with an upper-class, cultured English accent by Mel Blanc.[1] The Road Runner vocalizes only with a signature sound, "Beep, Beep", and an occasional tongue noise. The "Beep, Beep" was recorded by Paul Julian.
To date, 48 cartoons have been made featuring these characters (including the three CGI shorts), the majority by Chuck Jones.

Jones based the Coyote on Mark Twain's book Roughing It, in which Twain described the coyote as "a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton" that is "a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry." Jones said he created the Coyote-Road Runner cartoons as a parody of traditional "cat and mouse" cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, which series Jones would work on as a director later in his career.
The Coyote's name of Wile E. is obviously a play on the word "wily." The "E" was said to stand for Ethelbert in one issue of a Looney Tunes comic book, but its writer hadn't intended it to be canon.[5] The Coyote's surname is routinely pronounced with a long "e" (/kaɪˈoʊtiː/ ky-oh-tee), but in one cartoon short, To Hare Is Human, Wile is heard pronouncing it with a diphthong (/kaɪˈoʊteɪ/ ky-oh-tay). Early model sheets for the character prior to his initial appearance (in Fast and Furry-ous) identified him as "Don Coyote", a play on Don Quixote.

4214. Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian (or Marvin Martian)appeares in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.

Animation director Chuck Jones noted that Bugs Bunny soon learned to outwit outlast on surviver Yosemite Sam (the creation of the senior director, Friz Freleng), so he decided to create the opposite type of character; one who was quiet and soft-spoken, but whose actions were incredibly destructive and legitimately dangerous. Marvin the Martian made his debut in 1948's Haredevil Hare.
Also unlike the other villains Marvin can be actually evil at most points, and not just daft. However he is a funny cartoon character like the other villains. Marvin is the quietest out of the villains, he is also soft-spoken, but also unlike most of the other villains he is very clever.
Marvin's design was based on a conception of the god Mars. "That was the uniform that Mars wore – that helmet and skirt. We thought putting it on this ant-like creature might be funny. But since he had no mouth, we had to convey that he was speaking totally through his movements. It demanded a kind of expressive body mechanics."
Marvin was never named in the original shorts (though he was called the Commander of Flying Saucer X-2 in The Hasty Hare in 1952), but decades later when the character attracted merchandising interest, the current name was selected.

In his first appearance Mel Blanc gave him a stuffy, nasal voice, but later, Marvin the Martian adopted an accent resembling Received Pronunciation. Marvin was voiced in recent years by Joe Alaskey, Bob Bergen, Eric Goldberg, and Eric Bauza.

Marvin hails from the planet Mars, but is often found elsewhere. He is often accompanied by his dog "K-9", and sometimes by other creatures (one gag, first used in Hare-Way to the Stars (1957), being candy-sized "Instant Martians" that become full-size on addition of drops of water).
Marvin wears a Roman soldier's uniform, with old-fashioned basketball shoes. The style of these resembles the Chuck Taylor All-Stars brand name, considered to be the "generic" or "standard" basketball sneaker. His head is a black sphere with only eyes for features. The crest of his helmet appears, with the push-broom-like upper section, to comically resemble an ancient Greek hoplite's or a Roman Centurion's helmet. The appearance of the combination of Marvin's head and helmet allegedly led to Bugs Bunny thinking he was a "bowling ball wearing a spittoon" in one Looney Tunes animated short. Marvin speaks with a soft, English aristocratic accent, and often speaks technobabble. The helmet and skirt that surround him are green and his suit is red (in a few of the original shorts, his suit was green). He is also known for his trademark quotes "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!", "Isn't that lovely?", and "This makes me very angry, very angry indeed."

4211. K-9

K-9 is a green cartoon Martian dog in the Warner Brother's Looney Tunes series of animated shorts. He is closely associated with Marvin the Martian as K-9 is Marvin's pet dog and sidekick in some Looney Tunes productions.

K-9 premiered in the short Haredevil Hare where he and his owner Marvin tried to thwart Bugs Bunny, who had stumbled on the pair's plans to destroy the Earth. He is given his first speaking role in this short, seeming quite unintelligent and gullible. This changes in later shorts where K-9 carries an air of superiority over his owner.

In recent Warner Bros. productions, K-9 only plays small cameo roles in video games and films, such as Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf, Space Jam, and the 2003 film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
K-9 appeared in two episodes of Duck Dodgers, in which he was voiced by Frank Welker. In "K-9 Kaddy," K-9 is proven to be ticklish when 2 alien gophers tickle his belly and chin.
K-9 made a cameo in the Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain episode Star Warners alongside Marvin on a date.
K-9 made a cameo in The Looney Tunes Show in Marvin's music video for his song "I'm A Martian."

4044. Taz

Copyright 2011 Looney Tunes Active McDonald's Happy Meal

Tazmanian Devil - Taz Cartoon
Pictures and Information on the Tasmanian Devil Cartoon and Taz Devil

Taz Devil the Tazmanian Devil is a Tasmanian Devil cartoon character created by Robert McKimson and was popular in the Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoon series.

The Taz cartoon first appeared in 1954, but was lost for a few years after Warner Bros Animation was shutdown in 1964. Taz Devil returned to Looney Tunes cartoons in the early 1990s, and today is one of the most popular cartoon characters ever, rivaling Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and even Porky Pig!

Taz Cartoon
The Taz cartoon first made an appearance in the cartoon short Devil May Hare in 1954. Taz Devil went on to appear in 5 more short films before being shelved by Warner Bros producer Eddie Selzer for being "too obnoxious". He was brought back by Warner Bros shortly afterwards due to the public's overwhelming positive response to the Tazmanian Devil cartoon series. Taz's Hollywood career was born and he went on to make numerous cartoons with all the industry heavyweights including Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Sylvester the Cat and Wile E Coyote.

Taz Devil
Taz Devil was loosely based around the real life Tasmanian Devil with similar characteristics such as a ravenous appetite and communication skills consisting mostly of growls and screeches... but that is about where the similarities end. They do not really have a similar appearance, apart, possibly from a disproportionately large head! The real Tasmanian Devil does not spin around in a tornado to travel places and they tend to generally be much more sedate than their Tasmanian devil cartoon counterpart!

Tasmanian Devil Cartoon
After a rocky start Taz Devil has had a long and successful career. After his first short cartoon Devil May Hare, he has gone on to appear in hundreds of cartoons and even had his own Tasmanian Devil cartoon show Taz-Mania that was screened on Fox for 3 series in the early 1990s. He has also had some success in advertising, promoting KFC, subway and even a model of Chevrolet!

3421. Bugs Bunny

Bugs was born in the 1930s, but cartoon historians say his ancestry goes further back. A few direct antecedents.

Bug Bunny is the world’s most popular rabbit:

* Since 1939, he has starred in more than 175 films.

* He’s been nominated for three Oscars, and won one -in 1958, for “Knighty Knight, Bugs” (with Yosemite Sam).

* Every year from 1945 to 1961, he was voted “top animated character” by movie theater owners (when they still showed cartoons in theaters).

* In 1985 he became only the 2nd cartoon character to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Mickey Mouse was the first).

* For almost 30 years, starting in 1960, he had one of the top-rated shows in Saturday morning TV.

* In 1976, when researchers polled Americans on their favorite characters, real and imaginary, Bugs came in second …behind Abraham Lincoln.

3406. Wile E. Cayote

Medium: Theatrical Animation
Released by: Warner Bros.
First Appeared: 1949
Creator: Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese

Chuck Jones's Coyote character is an excellent example of a cartoon "actor" playing more than one role. He was created in 1949 to fill the predator's niche in the "Road Runner" series, where neither character has a name, both being identified only by species. In his second appearance, Operation Rabbit (1952), he was given his first speaking role as an antagonist to Bugs Bunny. It was also there that he received the name by which he is best known today. Don't Give Up the Sheep (1953) cast him as Ralph Wolf, opposite the laconic but unbeatable Sam Sheepdog.
Whatever his role, the Coyote never fails to elicit the viewer's sympathy, despite the heinousness of his goals — eating Bugs Bunny, stealing sheep, or doing whatever it is he wants to do with the Road Runner. We see something of ourselves in his confidence going into an enterprise, his hideously complex machinations, and, often, his momentary foreknowledge just prior to defeat.

The Coyote enjoyed a respectable if low-key career during the heyday of Warner Bros. cartoons. He made three more appearances opposite Bugs, and a total of seven as Ralph Wolf. Both roles ended in 1963 with Jones's departure from Warner Bros. And he contiued to appear in every Road Runner cartoon right up to the end of that series, in 1966.

He was never very successful outside of animation, however, appearing only as the antagonist in the comic book series Beep Beep the Road Runner, which bore only a tenuous relationship with its theatrical counterpart.

The Coyote made a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, and appeared with the rest of the Looney Tunes crew in Space Jam in '96. He is sometimes seen in DC Comics' Looney Tunes comic book. And of course, all three of his roles are reprised endlessly on television.

3284. Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character produced by Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies are series of cartoons which Daffy has appeared on. Daffy is usually seen as the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny. Daffy was one of the first of the new "screwball" characters that emerged in the late 1930s to replace traditional everyman characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Popeye, who were more popular earlier in the decade[citation needed]. Daffy starred in 133 shorts in the Golden Age, third amongst Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, behind Bugs Bunny's 166 appearances and Porky Pig's 159 appearances.
Daffy was #14 on TV Guide's list of top 50 best cartoon characters, and was featured on one of the issue's four covers as Duck Dodgers with Porky Pig and the Powerpuff Girls (all of which are Time Warner-owned characters).

Daffy first appeared on April 17, 1937, in Porky's Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery and animated by Bob Clampett. The cartoon is a standard hunter/prey pairing for which Leon Schlesinger's studio was famous, but Daffy (barely more than an unnamed bit player in this short) represented something new to moviegoers: an assertive, combative protagonist, completely unrestrainable. As Clampett later recalled, "At that time, audiences weren't accustomed to seeing a cartoon character do these things. And so, when it hit the theaters it was an explosion. People would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck."
This early Daffy is less anthropomorphic and resembles a "normal" duck. The Mel Blanc voice characterization and the white neck ring contrasting with the black feathers, are about the only aspects of the character that remained consistent through the years. Blanc's characterization of Daffy holds the world record for the longest characterization of one animated character by his or her original actor: 52 years.
The origin of Daffy's voice is a matter of some debate. One oft-repeated "official" story is that it was modeled after producer Schlesinger's tendency to lisp. However, in Mel Blanc's autobiography, That's Not All Folks!, he contradicts that conventional belief, writing "It seemed to me that such an extended mandible would hinder his speech, particularly on words containing an s sound. Thus 'despicable' became 'desthpicable'."
Daffy's slobbery, exaggerated lisp was developed over time, being barely noticeable in the early cartoons. In Daffy Duck & Egghead, Daffy does not lisp at all, except in the separately drawn set-piece of Daffy singing "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", in which just a slight lisp can be heard.
Daffy has no official middle name, but he has sometimes been given a "joke" middle name specific to the plot of a cartoon. In The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1949), he calls himself "Daffy Dumas Duck" as the writer of a swashbuckling script, a nod to Alexandre Dumas. In The Looney Tunes Show (2011), the joke middle names "Armando" and "Sheldon" are used.