Because They Haven’t Turned in Their Graves Enough…New Laurel and Hardy Cartoons
 |
You might remember the unfortunate Hanna-Barbera cartoons of 1966, made shortly after Laurel’s death. Well, Larry Harmon pictures, which coproduced those, just sold the rights to the French company Gaumont, which plans to make 78 new cartoons and “a range of licensed merchandise.”
“Laurel and Hardy are without a doubt two of the world’s best known icons, said Pierre Bela?sch, managing director, Gaumont Animation.
“To be given the opportunity to re-launch this unique iconic property has been a dream of mine for many years.
“Property?” They were people. The show is going to be aimed at children 5-8 years old, who presumably won’t know any better.
“We want to bring the world a totally new series with an updated look, design and feel while maintaining the slapstick humour that made this twosome world famous.”
Yeah. Because that’s the key to Laurel and Hardy. UPDATING them. Since nobody finds that old-fashioned shit funny today, I guess, right?
Below: one of the 1966 cartoons, and a 1929 live-action short. You tell me which holds up better.
About The Author
Luke Y. Thompson has been writing professionally about movies and pop-culture since 1999, and has also been an actor in some extremely cheap culty and horror movies you will probably never hear much about (he is nonetheless mostly proud of them, as he met his wife on one). As editor of The Robot's Voice since 2012, he can take the blame for the majority of the site's content, all of which he creates because he loves you very, very much. (Although he loves nachos more. Sorry.) Prior to TRV, Luke wrote for publications that include the New Times LA, Los Angeles CityBeat, E! Online, OC Weekly, Geekweek, GeekChicDaily, The L.A. Times, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, and Nerdist