Year In, Year Out

Year In, Year Out
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Clear-cut losers (and there weren't many): Family Guy. I'm sure that Seth MacFarlane is truly a very nice person. His show, however, is too often mean-spirited, the animation is average at best, and one ought never -- never -- have a precocious talking dog and a precocious talking baby in the same toon. Tough breaks for Danny Antonucci (Ed, Edd n Eddy) is a better cartoon than The Brothers Grunt, but not by much), and Ralph Bakshi (Don't let Spicy City get you down, Ralph; you'll be back). Finally, I can't say I was pleased with the Cow and Chicken spin-off I Am Weasel. These characters seem better suited to blackout gags and bumpers than a series, and I.R. Baboon's posterior ceased to be funny countless episodes ago. David Feiss tried to add some spark by drafting "The Red Guy" from the first series to help out, but I'd rather see him face off against Super Cow (or even Boneless Chicken) any day.

How do you capture that elusive GenX audience in prime time? Simple: Make your animated show resonate with the essence of Scooby Doo, of course. Mission Hill did just that. Start with a character who physically resembles Shaggy (Jim). Add a pretty but clueless girl like Daphne (Posey). Mix in one brainy nerd in specs like Velma (Kevin, in a bit of transgendering). Stir in one dopey dog (Stogie) and another mostly bland male like Alan (Andy) and you have the perfect throwback. This show does have more wit and angst than Scooby (not to mention an elderly gay couple), but this toon will likely be gone before the Mystery Machine's next tune-up. And then there are the real mysteries: Did Warner Home Video really spend $65 million dollars promoting Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost? If true, the horror exceeds anything the goofy Great Dane will ever face. And why such a quick hook on the very promising Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot? What did Fox think this was, Stressed Eric? Something is truly strange here...

Whatever the new year and millennium brings us, we can be assured of one thing: animation will continue to progress, entertain, and provide some of the most memorable images ever to appear on movie and TV screens. As technology advances, things can only get better. Perhaps someday Mickey's 3D hologram may be cheerfully strolling around our living rooms, or we may be joining him in a computer-generated environment that gives reality to Toontown. While we await such happy days, we can content ourselves with the fact that 1999 was, on the whole, a very good year.

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman is a longtime student and fan of animation. He lives in Anderson, Indiana.