Cartoons, Cartoons

On Cartoon Network, there is a program currently airing that’s devoted to showing the best of experimental animation, and exposing new talent. That program, as many of you may know, is called “Cartoon Cartoon”. Now, the aforementioned may or may not be the official title of the program, but it is the title most publicized and so I am running with that.

“Cartoon, Cartoon” launched the careers of Gennedy Taratovsky--creator of “Dexter’s Laboratory”--and Van Partible, creator of “Johnny Bravo”. But the highest-profile alum of the “Cartoon, Cartoon” group of independent animators has to be Craig McCracken, whose “Powerpuff Girls” rose from the humble beginnings of the televised animated short to a multibillion-dollar property for Warner Bros.--not to mention the feature film.

McCracken is the lone success story in an industry full of sad stories. Everyone likes to hear a success story, but few like to hear what I would re-term as “Failure Tales”. Yet these tales are very necessary to hear, since they don’t encourage the listeners to see the entertainment industry as a “you-can-do-it-too” enterprise. Because not everyone “can-do-it”.

Eight new cartoons are premiering on the program, and the network will most likely pick up the short that gets the most viewers. A short called “Low Brow”, about two teens who encounter a machine (called a mecha) straight out of an anime series--and pilot it--is most likely going to get picked up, because it’ll get the most viewers, and Cartoon Network is starved for action-adventure shows.

The success of these animated projects only illustrates that if you take chances, you’ll seldom regret it. We don’t have many daring animated series on television. “Cartoon, Cartoon” is the last avenue of hope for originality, the oasis for serious viewers who despise the mainstream corporate crap.

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