#cartoonmania

Some of my comfort characters lol

Based on this:

Okay.

So remember that post I made about James and Matthew yesterday, and how the latter would most likely never get 320 Freleng Avenue off the ground due to how much his reputation is in the goddamn toilet?

About that....

Yes.

He actually got it out.

That son of bitch actually got it out.

Just like many others, I never thought Matthew would.

But he did.

And in all honesty.....

He actually might be cooking for once.

Believe it or not, it's a surprisingly solid pilot.

And I really don't have too many issues with it.

And when compared to the original CartoonMania, it's a massive step-up in every regard.

For starters, the animation.

One thing you can still give Matthew is how much his animation quality has greatly improved over the years.

Comparing this to the very first episode of CartoonMania feels like utter whiplash!

Then there's the comedy.

CartoonMania's comedy was among one of its many flaws.

Due to the awkward writing and stilted animation.

But here, it's fairly decent throughout.

And the slapstick is much better executed thanks to the actually fluid and lively animation.

Plus the dialogue is much stronger and sharper.

And lastly, there's the characters.

One thing to acknowledge is that 320 Freleng Avenue actually features other voices besides Matthew.

Which is a shock considering....

1#) Most of the characters in the original CartoonMania were voiced by Matthew himself.

2#) Given Matthew's track record when it comes to the treatment of voice actors, pretty much everyone wasn't excepting him to get ANYONE in general.

But he did!

Almost all of the secondary characters who talk in the episode, who were voiced by Matthew in the original, are voiced by other actors.

And they all do a good job.

And they're much better than Matthew's performances.

While Matthew is a not a bad voice actor....

1#) The fact that he voiced SO MANY CHARACTERS in the original CartoonMania was getting a tad repetitive.

2#) You could feel how limiting his vocal range was, as some of the characters he voiced is literally sounded exactly like each other. I'm sorry, but Matthew does not have that Dee Bradley Baker prowess.

But here, they are kicking it out of the ballpark.

It also helps with how their personalities are shown.

They're not super complex (not every character needs to be), but these versions of the CartoonMania characters just have much more going for them when compared to their original counterparts.

For example, The Duck Brothers.

Yeah, I'm assume some of you didn't even know that Wacky Quacky even had brothers.

Largely because like so many of the other characters, they didn't really talk and were more of background characters.

But here, they actually have presence.

Wacky is pretty much the same as he was in the original.

Jacky is wisecracking and fairly smug.

Zack is somewhat cautious and unsure.

And Macky is essentially the straight man of the brothers.

Then there's Norman, who while still being Sylvester's security system, he's more playful and sassy this time.

Speaking of Sylvester, even he was not too bad himself.

While he's voiced by Matthew and pretty much his self insert, he actually has some depth to him.

For starters, he's already an animator working at an animation studio.

And while he still has a bad temper like the original Matthew, it's a little more justified here because the establishment of him being stressed out because of trying to meet a deadline for his job (something I'm pretty sure every animator can sympathize with) and suffering from art block (something I'm sure every artists can sympathize with).

But the highlights are undoubtedly Timmy and Tanya themselves, who are the main focus on this pilot.

And saying they are better than they're original counterparts would be the understatement of the FUCKING CENTURY!

As I've said before, although Matthew had a main cast for the original CartoonMania, you wouldn't be able to tell unless you read the comics or been on any of his socials.

Largely because with the exception of Stanley, they were HEAVILY underutilized due to Matthew not having any voices for them yet.

And so, they were reduced to glorified background characters.

But Timmy and Tanya didn't even have that luxury!

They appeared the least of the main six toons! Only being in like, 5 of the 32 episodes.

Plus they were only referred to by name ONCE!

Even in the movie (where they actually talked), despite playing big roles in the plot (especially the climax), they still don't have that much screentime.

Only having a little less then 10 minutes.....in a movie that's an hour and 37 minutes long!

But here, they're main characters through and through.

They also have more of an actual dynamic here as well.

Being more of two halves of a whole doofus type thing.

With them being playful and fairly mischievous.

But even then, there's still enough to differentiate them.

Timmy being a little more reckless and being into comedy.

Tanya being the more sensible and being into....

Yeah let's go ahead and get this elephant out of the room.

Tanya is a still belly dancer.

And while it is very much weird given Matthew's history, it may not be as amoral as it was before.

And that's largely thanks to the voices of the duo.

They're both really good!

But one thing to note is how they sound.

While they're clearly young, Timmy and Tanya (especially the former) don't really sound like kids.

They sound more like young adults.

Like college-aged to be exact.

Now while it's very likely that Matthew's gonna use the "they don't have ages" excuse, it appears that he's trying to make them older than they were in the original.

And if that is the case....

JESUS CHRIST THANK YOU!

Still makes the whole Tanya being a belly dancer thing pretty awkward, but hopefully not as disgusting.

And lastly, the show actually has some worldbuilding.

Like Sylvester haven been a professional animator for some time now (presumably several years) and Timmy and Tanya being revealed as the 319th and 320th toons Matthew ever made.

Plus we actually get to see Toon Lake City.

But anyway, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually kinda interested to see where this goes.

One thing that I want to acknowledge that I find rather strange is how we don't see the other main toons.

Ya know: Stanley, JoJo, Victor and Satan.

It seems strange since in the canon of the series that Matthew has shared to his Instagram and BlueSky, they were the last toons to be made before The Tigers.

I'm assuming that Matthew is planning for each of them to have their own introductory episodes.

And I'm hoping they're also shown to be better than their original counterparts, especially you-know-who.

I've seen a lot of people already trashing on this pilot solely because of who made it.

And in all honesty.....I can't blame them.

But I figured I'd give this pilot more of a fair review.

I know that sounds strange since I'm probably the biggest Matthew slanderer on this site.

But even then, I can still find something good or decent in his works.

But overall, I'm cautiously interested in where this series go.

Largely because the last time Matthew had worked with a crew.....it didn't go well.

So I'm hoping Matthew doesn't cause history to repeat itself.

Because even though I've said Matthew will probably never change, that doesn't mean it I think he isn't capable of change.

Everyone is.

And this series could be his last chance to show everyone that he has changed.

Note: I DO NOT support Matthew Littlemore or his actions!

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