So many people cite Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, the team at Disney as early animation influences; not me. With Blink Kitty Love, you put Rocky and Bullwinkle, Scooby Doo and Josie and the Pussycats in a blender, press mince and here we are, having a blast + burning a hole in our Wacom tablet.
Not Chuck Jones, you say...no Daffy, no Porky, NO BUGS???!!!!???? No, my mother thought they were too violent and we weren't allowed to watch them. I didn't really get the full Looney Tunes experience until college when, bless them, Northwestern had a Looney Tunes weekend every year around Memorial Day. So the first time I saw "What's Opera, Doc" was at Tech, from the balcony, on the big screen. And I think that was the way to do it. My first Tex Avery exposure was the Wolf and Red comic book adaptations my comic book guy at the time thought I would enjoy. And I did, although I was a little creeped out by how much he was enjoying them.
But I do remember waking up Saturday mornings with my brother, pajamas on and sugary cereals in bowl and being fascinated by Saturday morning cartoons (and some of the late night Monty Python animated chicanery). Scooby Doo, Stop That Pigeon*, bunches of Hanna Barbera stuff, Schoolhouse Rock, Rocky and Bullwinkle (don't think they were a Saturday morning type thing), Justice League, He-Man, Jetsons, Pink Panther, Johnny Quest, Space Ghost -- first run, repeats, they're all a blur...(here's a fun and mostly unrelated You Might Be A Child of The 80's if blog post.)
Writing this page is giving me an intense Space Ghost Coast to Coast craving, one of the best reimaginings of an extremely ordinary cartoon ever.
Where were we...oh, right Rocky + Bullwinkle + their very visual verbal humor, Scooby Doo + the group ethic with backdrops that stayed fairly static and Josie + The Pussycats in Space for girls in very little clothing w/ guitars + tails. And that, I think brings us to Blink Kitty Love.
*I am giving up watching things I only have vague memories of...tried Wacky Races again last year and was appalled at how awful it was...I remember Dastardly and Muttley being fun, as well as Penelope Pitstop, but Wacky Races was just awful + repetitive. So now I'm a bit wary of the hazier portions of memory lane, although I do still break into the Hong Kong Phooey theme song.
