November 2000
Charlie Brown and Snoopy on TV: Peanuts Animation and Video List
It was a real disappointment this Halloween season that CBS-TV chose to not air "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". But, with the upcoming Christmas season and the 35th anniversary of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", I decided to check out Peanuts on the web. What I found was a well researched page that richly deserves the Top Toon Site Award. The page is Scott McGuire's comprehensive guide to all the Peanuts TV specials, a part of the larger Scott's Peanuts Animation & Reprints Page. It includes titles, descriptions, trivia, broadcast and video information. Everything you've always wanted to know about the Peanuts specials.
October 2000
60's anime
(No
longer available)
Glen Johnson's great web site featuring such Anime classics as Prince Planet, The Amazing 3, Gigantor, Marine Boy, Astroboy, Space Ace, Phantoma, Speed Racer, Tobor the 8th Man, Kimba the White Lion, Princess Knight, Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero and lots more! There are even pages devoted to such non-anime stuff from the 60's as DePatie-Freleng's Super 6 and Super President. Each entry has been thoroughly researched, and includes many rare screen shots from the shows. This is the place to go for info on Japanese animated series from the 1960's!!
September 2000
Richard Llewellyn is the Life Sciences Librarian at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. His interesting web site features a chronology of animated movies, television programs, and short cartoons from around the world; a database of Japanese Anime television series; filmographies of significant animators, directors, and studios; a list of books and journals with animation information; and a listing of animation resources on the Internet. This site is full of information that will keep you busy for a while. Fairly regular updates, and well worth return visits. I sure wish that Richard was the librarian at my local library!!
August 2000
WillMeugniot.com
(No
longer available)
Cartoonist Will Meugniot has been active in TV animation for about 20 years and has produced many series, including Jem, ExoSquad, The Real Ghostbusters, and X-Men. His latest venture is this personal web site. It features, among other things, some interesting screen shots from a lost Aliens animated commercial. It also promises future looks at a lost Bonanaza cartoon and a lost Flipper cartoon. A very interesting site worth revisiting.
June-July 2000
A web site devoted to Mitch Axelrod's book about the Beatles cartoons. The web site, which has been online since October 1999, includes pictures, sound clips, FAQ's and complete episode listings. After checking out this site, be sure to run out and get Mitch's book, Beatletoons, The Real Story Behind The Cartoon Beatles.
May 2000
Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide
What would saturday morning cartoons have been without the cereal commercials? This great web site is devoted to breakfast cereal characters, including Captain Crunch, Quisp and Quake, Tony the Tiger, The Trix Rabbit and so many more. It features information on, and images of, over 500 animated characters from cereal boxes and other breakfast foods. There are also histories, marketing information, contact information... a cereal lovers paradise! While you're there, try out the "cereal name creator". It has over 300,000 possible names for a new cereal.
April 2000
The arrival of Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research on the internet gave me chills. I have been a fan of Jerry Beck's work for years. He has to be the world's ultimate "Toon Tracker", and this site "dedicated to classic cartoons: past, present and future" is another in his long list of contributions. Mr. Beck's work to preserve animation and it's history is an asset to animation fans worldwide and that work continues on this page. There are just about daily updates, with news, commentary, videos... visit this site regularly, you won't be disappointed!
March 2000
This site is dedicated to the animated and live action series from the long departed Filmation Associates studio. Included are pictures, information and air dates for most of the series. A few of the entries need work on this site, but it's coming along well, and a great source for the Filmation fan!
February 2000
The Fleischers' B&W; Popeye Cartoons
Brothers Gordan and Nenad Calma have put together a great RealVideo site dedicated exclusively to the black and white Fleischer Popeye cartoons from the 1930s. Each week visitors to the site can see a full-length Popeye cartoon in RealVideo, and have the opportunity to vote for the one that they want to see next week. Well worth the visit, week after week!
January 2000
Bob Clampett's Home Page
(No
longer available)
The official home page of Bob Clampett. Coinciding with the release of the new Beany and Cecil Special Edition DVD, this new web site is a Clampett lover's paradise. A wealth of information, pictures, filmographies, and lots of other stuff. After visiting this site, make sure that you run out and buy the GREAT DVD!!
December 1999
The Toonarific Cartoon Archive
Aaron Higgins bills his web site as "Cartoon Heaven", and it truly is. There's not much in-depth information on the site, but plenty of cartoon titles and rare pictures. Given the size of his archive you would be hard pressed to find a title that wasn't listed. There are massive updates done regularly, and this site is well worth being revisited on a frequent basis.
November 1999
The Enchanted World of Rankin-Bass
Rick Goldschmidt and Mark Sykora's page devoted to Rankin-Bass and the great book that Rick wrote highlighting the many movies, TV shows and specials from the studio that brought us the Animagic classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I highly recommend the book, and this site is a super companion piece to it. After so many years of little or no information to be found on this studio, it's great to find such a comprehensive look at the shows and the studio behind it. This web page, which features regular updates, is a must see page for fans of the Rankin-Bass classics, and well worth coming back to again and again!
October 1999
Alberto Becattini has had a very active life in the Italian comics scene. According to his web page "comics have always been one of his main interests, first as a collector, then as a researcher". He has authored an impressive list of books on the subject, with many also released in the United States. What drew me to his web page was a very informative mini-history of American Animators active through 1970. This well researched, alphabetical listing of animators, is a great source of information for animation fans worldwide!
September 1999
Home Page of Award-Winning Writer Jeffrey Scott
Jeffrey Scott is the Emmy Award-Winning writer of Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, and his web site is a very useful site for anyone interested in the art of scriptwriting. Jeffrey has examples of his script work for various types of shows, including science fiction, dramatic, comedy, and super-hero. The web site also has all The Write Stuff columns that Jeffery has written for Animation Magazine. Jeffrey, in addition to being a talented writer, comes from a famous and talented family. His father, Norman Maurer, invented the 3-D comic book and did work for Hanna-Barbera and others. His mother, Joan Howard Maurer, authored numerous books on The 3 Stooges, and the films of his grandfather and great-uncles, Moe, Curly and Shemp Howard, continue to entertain a world-wide audience. Jeffrey's web page is an interesting resource and well worth return visits!
August 1999
The Nickelodeon Nostalgia Site
Mike Babitsky's site dedicated to the earlier days of Nickelodeon, before Ren, Stimpy, Doug and the Rugrats. There's always been very little to be found on the net about the older Nick toons until now. This site does a great job of looking back at such older favorites as Belle and Sebastian, Spartakus, Mysterious Cities of Gold, David the Gnome, Bananaman and lots more. There is information on the series, pictures and themes. A great place to visit over and over!
July 1999
Castle Thorinia: The Wildfire Cartoon Archives
Mary Cooper's cyber-memorial to everything Wildfire. A look at the long-departed Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the mid-80's with lots of information and fun stuff. Mary's fondness for Wildfire is evident on this site, which is updated on a regular basis. Mary is a great person who never hesitates to help other fans out!
June 1999
Chip Ashley has created a very comprehensive look at the Hanna-Barbera Super Heroes. Lots of information, pictures, and FAQ's about Space Ghost, Dino Boy, The Herculoids, Shazzan, Birdman, The Galaxy Trio, Mightor, Moby Dick, Samson and Goliath and more. A labor of love worth revisiting!
May 1999
journey - The Kidd Video Web Page
A great web page that covers the fondly remembered 80's series, Kidd Video. This series has a large contingency of fans on the internet, and this site is doing a great job of filling in the details. From pictures and cast lists to episode guides and trivia, you'll find it all here in a well done site!
April 1999
Yesterdayland - Saturday Morning TV Cartoon Super Site
"Dedicated to the preservation of Saturday Morning...", Yesterdayland is a fantastic resource for the kid in all of us. Russell Scott has done a great job of putting it all together in one spot, with a great user-friendly interface and listings for just about every show imagineable. Another must see web site, worth visiting over and over again!
March 1999
The Official Daws Butler Website
A terrific website devoted to Daws Butler, the great voice artist who gave life to the majority of Hanna-Barbera's early stars. Joe Bevilacqua, a pretty great voice artist himself, and his equally great graphic designer/artist wife, Lorie Kellogg, have put together a super website, Joe & Lorie's Comedy-O-Rama, which is home to the Official Daws Butler Website. Check out the whole site, it's a great resource for the various comedy elements of our past. And besides all that, Joe is a super guy. My contacts with him have been a real pleasure. He's always been very helpful, from my early web days when I put up the Time For Beany page, to the present.
February 1999
Evan Backes has put together one of the best websites devoted to animation. His site features news, reviews, profiles, and more, all in a very nice looking package complete with plenty of graphics and quicktime clips. The site is updated regularly, and well worth checking out frequently.
January 1999
Guide To The Animated Star Trek
Curt Danhauser's tribute to the "forgotten" Star Trek - the animated version from Filmation Associates. Curt presents a very comprehensive, in-depth look at the often neglected series, which was, in my opinion, the greatest animation ever to come from Filmation. Many thanks to Aaron Handy III for making me aware of this great site.
December 1998
"Walt Disney" by Disney Producer Charles Shows
An entertaining little site from Charles Shows, the award-winning writer-director-producer who worked on many fondly remembered TV shows and cartoons from television's golden years. If you're a Disney, Beany & Cecil or Hanna-Barbera fan, chances are you have been entertained by Mr. Shows efforts. The site isn't as in-depth as some others, but is still well worth a look.
November 1998
TV Party's Saturday Morning Shows of the 60s & 70s
Billy Ingram's TV Party is a great treasure for fans of Classic TV. Not only does he spotlight Saturday Mornings, but his site also covers Lost Kids Shows, old Sitcoms, Action Shows, Variety Shows, Scandals and more!! Lots of great audio and video clips are available here, and more info than most other sites. This place is just too good to be true, and must be seen to be fully appreciated.
October 1998
Hanna-Barbera According To Wingnut
Ronn Webb's tribute to Hanna-Barbera is an on-going project. Very thorough, and nearly a complete look back at those H-B characters alot of us grew up with. There are pictures, sounds, QuickTime movie clips, episode listings and more. A great place to revisit some old (and recent) animated friends.
September 1998
Maavwik's Dexter's Laboratory Page
Allison Brannen has a super site dedicated to Dexter's Laboratory. There are Dexter sounds, a picture gallery, episode summaries, interviews, and lots of downloadables (including games, a screensaver, Dexter theme for Windows, and more). Really a great site, dedicated to a great cartoon. Allison has done lots of work and research here, and the site is regularly updated. Well worth a return visit.
August 1998
Animation of Heaven Hell in 3-D!
Tim Fitzpatrick has a great site that spotlights Art & Gloria Clokey's Davey & Goliath, George Pal's Puppetoons, Ladislaw Starewicz, The Brothers Quay, Jan Svankmajer and the whole world of 3 dimensional animation. There are sounds, images and quicktime movies here. A very thorough and fascinating look at these seldom seen works of art.
July 1998
This months recipient goes hand-in-hand with last months. Max Fleischer's Popeye cartoons are, in my opinion, one of the greatest animated series of all time, and this web site does a great job of bringing them to the web.
June 1998
Mark Mentzer has put together a great page about Leslie Cabarga's tribute to the classic Max Fleischer cartoons. Very thorough, with lots of pictures and information about Koko, Betty Boop, Popeye and the rest of the Fleischer Studios. The site even utilizes Shockwave. Well worth the visit!
May 1998
Bill Paolucci's page devoted to Gerald McBoing Boing is back online! This page is a wonderful look at one of UPA's animated classics.
April 1998
This site, in my opinion, is what true animation fans are looking for. Factual, historical information, directly from the source. Bill Melendez Productions, Inc., the studio behind the Peanuts specials (among other animated classics), has a great site here, with lots of info on Bill and his work.
March 1998
Ricardo Teixeira has put together a team of contributors to present a great look back at the Walter Lantz cartoons. Pictures, sounds, and lots of information here, in a unique "newspaper" format.
February 1998
Randy's page is a great resource of information on MGM cartoons, and the original Tom and Jerry shorts. There are lots of sounds and pictures, and listings of the individual shorts with release dates, credits and notes. There are even some non-toon items and a page of Cartoon Links.
January 1998
Clutch Cargo Jr.'s CARTOON-O-RAMA
Paul Carey has been adding to his site at a rapid pace. You'll find Clutch Cargo, Milton the Monster, Cool McCool, and LOTS of old Hanna-Barbera here. Ignore the occasional dead link or misplaced graphic - there is some real neat stuff on Paul's pages, and definitely worth a repeat visit.
December 1997
Aaron's New Tom and Jerry Information Site
Aaron Handy III has taken Hanna-Barbera's 1975 Made-For-TV revival of their classic Tom and Jerry cartoons and built a web-shrine to them. His site started out small, but continues to grow with pictures, episode and credit listings. While my personal tastes lead me towards the originals, the remakes weren't as bad as some critics lead us to believe and Aaron covers them extremely well. I'm looking forward to the promised wav files of the themes.
November 1997
The Superhero Cartoon Database
The Pazsaz Entertainment Network has put together an amazing collection of over 80 different cartoons. If you're looking for pictures and information on superhero cartoons, as well as action/adventure cartoons, this place probably has it. The listings are frequently updated with new information and pictures. Well worth revisiting on a regular basis.
The Unofficial Flintstones/HB Homepage
Cassie Veselovsky has been doing this page since 1995, and has emassed quite an impressive amount of material on both the Flintstones and Hanna-Barbera cartoons in general. There are pictures, sounds, trivia, and links to other pages highlighting Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Michelle Klein-H�ss, a self-proclaimed "Animation Nerd" and the author of numerous articles on animation, began this page in 1995. This is a great site, and is now sponsored by Toon Magazine. It features in-depth animation news, reviews, guest columns, the famous Nerd Tour, and lots of other things of interest to hard core Animation Nerds. Unfortunately, Michelle has announced that she will no longer be able to update this site.
October 1997
The Unofficial Hal Seeger Productions Home Page
Out of the Inkwell. Batfink, Milton the Monster...Dave Mackey covers them all, completely and compactly. There are even images and episode guides. While you're there, check out Dave's other animation related pages. Now... if only we could see that long promised Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter page!
The Unofficial Hal Seeger Productions Home Page
I just recently ran across this site, and I am glad that I did! Tom Howell Productions has put together a fascinating look at vintage animation, animation technology and a whole lot more. There are even examples of vintage animation clips available in RealVideo!!
A great "little tribute to the genius of Tex Avery". Forget that stuff that DIC is trying to pass off as Avery, this is dedicated to the real thing!! Charles Stroud of Paigewerks has done a super job of paying homage to the great man who created such classics as Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Droopy, Little Red and many more.
Cartoon World
(formerly Animation and Cartoon Heaven)
Erik Schubach has a fantastic site dedicated to all types of animated greats from the past. There are gif's, wav's, avi's and much more here. The main page even highlights upcoming holidays!!
September 1997
Animation Blast
(formerly Animation and Cartoon Heaven)
This page is an up-to-date source for animation news, in addition to other features of interest to animation fans. Amid Amidi does a super job of pulling it all together in a nice, neat package.
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
Jon Cooke loves Looney Tunes and it shows! In addition to maintaining the great Unofficial Beany and Cecil and Chipmunks pages, Jon has put together what has to be the ultimate site for Warner Brothers animation fans. Update your bookmarks, because it is now at a new location!
Dan McCormick not only puts out the greatest page devoted to Jay Ward's Hoppity Hooper, he's a super nice guy. His insightful commentary on this lost classic is a definite plus, and his extra little goodies make the page well worth re-visiting.
Charles Ulrich has to be the world's foremost expert on Jay Ward. The wealth of accurate information on this site makes it quite the resource for animation fans.
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Since October 2, 1997