There was once a legend that Bill Watterson was making a Calvin movie from his house, hand-drawing it panel by panel...
Ugly Americans animator Adam Brown made this test footage, dreaming of a show that likely can never be, due in part to Calvin creator Bill Watterson's resolve never to sell out, but also his doubt that any voice for Calvin could possibly be the equal of the one in the reader's head. (Ain't that the truth; I remember how long it took me to adjust to Lorenzo Music's Garfield.) I think The Boondocks probably made the best transition to cartoons, but it should be duly noted that doing so killed off the comic strip in the process. And incidentally, the Uncle Ruckus movie didn't get funded.
I understand Watterson's desire for purity, but would we be better off with a few items of high-quality merchandise...or endless knockoff designs of the lead character urinating?
Don't answer all at once.
via Gawker
Tags: Calvin and Hobbes
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31 comments
Yeah, C&H was the first time I really did respect the author's wishes instead of paying lip-service to that. I will always wish for stuff like this, but be more than happy with just having the best comic strip I ever read and nothing else.
A C&H comic would be very nice, but Watterson said he never had any plans to licence his strip, which is a shame. I accidentally bought a Calvin shirt in France, before reading that. Still, amazing comic though, so I can keep on reading and rereading those.
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I'm not sure I've ever said this online, which is odd since anything that annoys me as much as this does, I usually post about, but anyway:
I can't be the only one who absolutely detests those "peeing Calvin" stickers, right? To me, everything that Watterson fears would come from licensing his creation is encapsulated in that one image. Calvin and Hobbes was smart, sophisticated, light, and oddly optimistic in spite of the satirical edge it could take at times. That asinine drawing is dumb, juvenile, and mean-spirited in a way that can only appeal to shit-headed thirteen year-olds. When Robot Chicken parodied Calvin and Hobbes, I didn't really care for it personally, but I can admit that they had a very clever concept and followed through with it in a good way. That fucking drawing just makes me want to throw things.
But yeah, that was a nice little animation.
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@NakedAmericanMan You are not the only one, I don't understand the reasoning behind it.
@NakedAmericanMan I agree 100 percent! I have no idea how someone could take a character like Calvin and use him in such a crass way. I don't like toilet humor, but if someone else likes it, I don't usually care. Humor is subjective, but it's much worse when they twist a character from such a smart, and funny series like that.
That animation was good. I wouldn't mind seeing more of the same if they're able to keep it in the spirit of the comics.
@RamonaFlowers @NakedAmericanMan One of my favorite Venture Brothers moments is a critique of this, when Hatred says he has a tattoo of them hugging, not of Calvin peeing. Usually all for the subversion of even my most beloved icons (C&H is one), but that's just so... meh combined with disrespectful of the author. Even Robot Chicken going for the Son of Sam angle was better (and that may have been the first time I realized their style was becoming hackeneyed).
@NakedAmericanMan You're exactly right. Which is why I think taking control of merchandise rather than banning it is the best plan.
Look at Alan Moore, also. Got the DC Direct Watchmen figures scotched, so they eventually made prequel toys much later.
@AluminumFalcon And now I'm a hypocrite because I really want a C&H video game! Hey, they don't have to have voices, which is a third of Watterson's reasoning against this stuff!
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ah, calvin and hobes! planting the seed of bestiality into the minds of the innocent and unsuspecting!
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I would be happy to enjoy the strips done like this. Small mini-episodes posted on youtube or even a website dedicated to just the strips, no back story, no full length features, just this.
i am sure once bill dies his family will sell the cartoon to rights to calvain and hobbes to the highest t bidder
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@J12345 Probably. And then we'll get some horrible 3D CG thing that will have at least one piss joke in it.
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@James.k.Polk "Cell phones suck."
Is that your company's motto when you sell cell phones?
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I /adore/ Calvin and Hobbes, but I don't want this. I'm not of the mind that everything that was wonderful on the page will be wonderful on the screen--even though everybody else seems to be, judging by the trends in book-based movies of late. Some things are better when they come to life in the mind instead of directly in front of the face.
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@ToplessRobot this warms and crushes my heart like only your first comic love can
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@Gallen_Dugall As great as that was, few comic strips can make it as a cartoon and some never survive the attempt.
That looked great and will give me warm geek fuzzies and I don't have to worry about the show being old and stale recycling the same jokes over and over.
I would let a 22 minute special be made though. Christmas with Calvin, or whatever.
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@Someguy I can picture a series of short special features with titles like
"Something Under the Bed is Drooling"
"Weirdos From Another Planet"
and
"Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink'"
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Well, I guess SNL already has dibs on the "Lazy Sunday" title.
I'd kinda love to see a 22 minute special from "Yukon Ho."
And it would be awesome to see a short film called
Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
