How's this for a bizarre crossover?

Drtooth

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This one absolutely threw me. While Tom and Jerry has become the new Scooby-Doo for Warner Bros, getting at least one DTV per year, their latest one seems very interesting to say the least.

Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest (featuring Johnny Quest.

Yeah. And it's every bit as awesome and strange as it sounds. JQ characters did pop up on Mystery Inc and an issue of Scooby-Doo Team Up. that's true. But they're similar enough in style and design and made in the same era. They've paired the characters from the theatrical career start of Hanna Barbera with their 1960's action series. Now, WB wanted to do something with the characters for so long that they forced all the parody versions of the characters on Venture Bros to have parody names in case they made a movie they were planning. Obviously they didn't.

What I see in this over all is using the strong Tom and Jerry brand to effectively sell Johnny Quest, who doesn't really have a hold on anyone under the age of 30 (at least). I like the kinda cartoon designs the characters were given here.
 

mr3urious

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The last time there's been a new Johnny Quest series was back in the '90s, which was critically mixed at the time. Don't know how well this crossover will turn out.
 

Drtooth

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I couldn't speak for how the crossover will turn out, but I can say that these Tom and Jerry DTV's are a mixed bag. By no means as bad as the Rescuers ripoff theatrical one that's barely good for the memes. They are by all means watchable (at least the ones I saw bits of) and know how Tom and Jerry are supposed to work. But most of the time they're kinda there for branding purposes. Certainly the case of the one I caught on Boomerang, the Jack and the Beanstalk one. They did have some role to play, but mostly they took a backseat to Jack, the Giant, and a crapload of MGM owned Tex Avery characters. I mean, Paul Reubens played Screwball Squirrel. That goes to show how higher profile the Avery characters were. Though, to be fair while I usually roll my eyes at this odd refusal to separate T&J and Avery characters, it worked out better than it could have.

So yeah, I'm wondering how big a role T&J will play in this one. They're clearly trying to tap back into the Johnny Quest franchise, but they need the help of stronger characters to do so. I can see some nice sequences with Tom, Jerry, and Bandit. How they'll work with a more serious and grounded cartoon is the mystery here.
 

JJandJanice

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I don't know, I don't really find this one all that bizarre, a bit random, but not too strange.

When I think of a bizarre crossover, instantly Archie and the Predator comes to mind,:smile:.
 

fuzzygobo

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It makes my head spin trying to follow who owns what anymore. I'm not quite sure how Warner Bros. acquired MGM properties like Tom and Jerry and "The Wizard of Oz" (a lot of dizzy wheeling and dealing). Popeye (long-time Paramount property) now under Universal, and so on.

I guess money talks. Put enough zeroes on the check and anybody's heart, soul, and intellectual property can find a new home.
But I'm sure it frustrates you if someone spends a gazillion bucks to buy the rights to someone else's creation, and then nothing gets done with them. Buy this series just to put it back in the vault. Go figger.
 

mr3urious

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It makes my head spin trying to follow who owns what anymore. I'm not quite sure how Warner Bros. acquired MGM properties like Tom and Jerry and "The Wizard of Oz" (a lot of dizzy wheeling and dealing). Popeye (long-time Paramount property) now under Universal, and so on.

I guess money talks. Put enough zeroes on the check and anybody's heart, soul, and intellectual property can find a new home.
But I'm sure it frustrates you if someone spends a gazillion bucks to buy the rights to someone else's creation, and then nothing gets done with them. Buy this series just to put it back in the vault. Go figger.
Ted Turner's company (which has been owned by Time Warner since 1996) owns the rights to MGM's pre-1986 library, which includes T&J. They also own all of Hanna-Barbera's library.

But Turner at least did stuff with it, unlike with Filmation's library being bought up by L'Oreal (yes, that L'Oreal) right after going bankrupt.
 

Drtooth

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I guess money talks. Put enough zeroes on the check and anybody's heart, soul, and intellectual property can find a new home.
But I'm sure it frustrates you if someone spends a gazillion bucks to buy the rights to someone else's creation, and then nothing gets done with them. Buy this series just to put it back in the vault. Go figger.

Like Disney and everything Saban owned?

I remember when Turner and Warners merged they did everything they could to market the heck out of the just acquired HB characters, even obscure ones. Most of everything has been released on DVD, you can still find some HB character merchandise with a strange line up of popular and retro characters that haven't been in anything since the 80's, and Scooby-Doo became Warners' big cash cow franchise right up there with Batman.

The thing is, HB did a lot of cartoons, especially in the 70's (and I don't want to get on that rant again). The Flintstones, other than the Seth MacFarline show that never took off (and before anyone says how grateful they are for that, you really forget how crappy Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as teenagers was) they're barely still associated with their own cereal (it's Shaq now. Yeah... all kids love Shaq because it's 1993) and a WWE crossover movie, really haven't done anything for a while (but they still merchandise them). Hong Kong Phooey continues to get merchandise (and it still manages to disappear faster than most HB merch) even though the movie (thankfully) never took off. You might find some Secret Squirrel stuff from time to time. But as HB productions go, it's either Scooby or Tom and Jerry, and they're still threatening to make Yogi Bear 2, which won't come out until 5 years after the audience of the first one stopped being Kindergarteners who actually liked it.

Other that, there's a HUGE library of characters they're not doing anything with. Anchoring Johnny Quest to Tom and Jerry will no doubt get the younger audiences energized about the character. Though the Scooby-Doo movie with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt in it didn't exactly bring those characters back. Not that it was bad, but disappointing that Blue Falcon was a TV show in that universe (unlike Mystery Inc).
 

Drtooth

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When I think of a bizarre crossover, instantly Archie and the Predator comes to mind,:smile:.
Whatever Archie does, it doesn't surprise or shock me anymore. They've kind of always had this whole "we're still relevant" type vibe. And they already did that odd thing with The Punished where they nerfed the heck out of him. Archie's getting more relevance lately, and somehow Afterlife with Archie, despite being the Johnny come lately to the dying zombie fad, was supposedly excellent. I don't care about an Archie title unless there's a certain blue hedgehog or super fighting robot in the title. But I'll admit that Archie vs. Predator seems like such a reach. When was the last time Predator was relevant outside its fanbase?

Still think the weirdest comic book crossover ever was the time Spidey was on SNL with the original cast. And Statler and Waldorf for some reason.
 

JJandJanice

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Whatever Archie does, it doesn't surprise or shock me anymore. They've kind of always had this whole "we're still relevant" type vibe. And they already did that odd thing with The Punished where they nerfed the heck out of him. Archie's getting more relevance lately, and somehow Afterlife with Archie, despite being the Johnny come lately to the dying zombie fad, was supposedly excellent. I don't care about an Archie title unless there's a certain blue hedgehog or super fighting robot in the title. But I'll admit that Archie vs. Predator seems like such a reach. When was the last time Predator was relevant outside its fanbase?

Still think the weirdest comic book crossover ever was the time Spidey was on SNL with the original cast. And Statler and Waldorf for some reason.
That's the case with me too, when it comes to Archie, I only read Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man or the older TMNT series. I only read Archie's main title when I get an Archie comic on free comic book day, :smile:.

Though I was actually interested in reading that "Life After Archie" series, I've heard good things about it too.
 

Drtooth

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Hey. Remember how bizarre this toy line was?

Randomly mashing a completely unrelated video game into a famous toy line instead of just creating their own. The very thought of G.I. Joe crossing over with Street Fighter was the most ridiculous, inane thing out there that has no substance or point?

Well.....


20 years after that odd toy line, it looks like they've finally made good on a true Street Fighter G.I. Joe combination. Now if only Capcom, Hasbro, IDW, and Archie can come together for a Mega Man vs. Transformers series...
_____________________________________________________________________

EDIT: here's one that's bizarre for all the wrong reasons.


Yeah. Mattel is trying to mash up two of its toy licenses ala Hasbro and getting it...kinda wrong. Not talking about the awesome, but depressingly SDCC exclusive M.U.S.C.L.E./He-Man collections. That is unspeakably cool and a nice way to not have to make a deal with Japanese animation studios and publishers. When Hasbro takes Marvel properties and works them into their own toy lines, you get some great stuff like Super Hero Squad (which came out of their stylized Star Wars figure line), Spudder-Man (or whatevwer it was called), and to a much lesser extent Marvel Transformers. Thing is, Thomas is a Mattel license, not property. And really, the farthest thing from super heroes are Thomas and Friends. This doesn't seem to be just a one off web cartoon so much as a trailer for a product line. Even toning the characters down to an extreme (Harley and Joker causing vandalism and mischief instead of violent acts) still manages to make this a confusing, if not poor fit.

Not saying this wasn't fun or the toys won't be kinda cool regardless, but just... why?!
 
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