The non-Pink Panther work of Depatie-Freleng is not to everyone's taste, but I've always enjoyed their work--the surreal visuals, always first-rate music, and quality voice talent and sound effects. Basically, the Ant and Aardvark series is cut from the same cloth as The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, or going back more, Tom and Jerry, with the Aardvark (called an "anteater" in the cartoons)being the aggressor and the Ant the pursued. The series had an incredible Dixieland musical score featuring such west-coast jazz legends as Shelley Manne, Pete Condoli, Tommy Tedesco, and the great bassist Ray Brown. I could LISTEN to these just for the music. Some of the series entries have a laugh track, some don't--this one doesn't. It's also one of the most Roadrunner/Coyote-influenced ones. The "instant hole" could have been an Acme product from over at Warner Brothers. Also, for some reason, the backgrounds used in this particular cartoon remind me of George Herriman's KRAZY KAT, which is some ways is the granddaddy of this whole genre. You can find sets of these cartoons without much trouble on the internet. I highly recommend them to people who like both The Pink Panther and Roadrunner or Tom and Jerry. And don't let me forget the wonderful voice talent of John Byner, who portrays BOTH characters, giving the Aardvark a Jackie Mason-like borscht-belt tone and the Ant a Dean Martin-like casualness.
3 Reviews
Always Expect Recycled Gags From Friz Freleng.
edrybaaudio4 September 2018
After Warner Bros. shut down it's animation department in 1963, Director Friz Freleng still had to eat, and so did his top guys from his Warner's unit. So Friz partnered with David H. dePatie, and they formed their own company to make cartoons expressly for television. The aforementioned gents were the Producers, while the animators from the Freleng Unit Directed and animated the cartoons for several series, the longest-running of which were the several iterations of The Pink Panther Show for NBC. Here, we're discussing The Aardvark and the Ant. Friz didn't mind "borrowing" a gag from someone else at Warner's, such as Warner cartoon Director Robert McKimson's Portable Hole, from the Looney Tune "The Hole Idea" - a cartoon McKimson wrote, animated, and Directed HIMSELF! McKimson didn't mind, as HE Directed a number of dePatie-Freleng cartoons for DePatie-Freleng! As with most animated TV half-hours, The Pink Panther needed a second feature, and that was The Aardvark and the Ant. For TV animation, which was and IS seldom good, Freleng's product was better than most. The Aardvark and the Ant cartoons were almost always funny, with the BEST musicians ANYWHERE!
"I hate you, Instant Hole"
TheLittleSongbird19 February 2020
1969's 'The Ant and the Aardvark' was a very solid start for one of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' best and deservedly most popular theatrical series. Maybe it was thin and predictable and the finesse was not always there, but what was there was an interesting animation style, a great music score, humour that was often hilarious both physically and verbally, a well-established tone already, two already interesting characters and John Byner's terrific voice acting.
All of this continues in the next cartoon 'Hasty But Tasty', which is in a way even better and shows that the series has not lost its promising touch. It is very true to what was established very well in 'The Ant and the Aardvark' and builds upon it, which is exactly what at least the next four or five cartoons after the first should do for any cartoon series. The problems with the previous cartoons aren't solved as such here, but 'Hasty But Tasty's' good strengths are the same to before as well.
'Hasty But Tasty's' story again is very slight and with not many surprises, most of the series follows a formula and one that is reminiscent of that for the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons which in itself was not a particularly innovative formula either. This is not a particularly big exception to this, though foucusing on a further obstacle to pit against was different, and the ending is pretty obvious.
While the animation mostly is fine, there is the odd bit of flatness and lack of finesse which was not uncommon with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' animation style in general. A lesser gripe, a very minor gripe, is there could have been more of the ant in an Aardvark-centric cartoon though the conflict between the Aardvark and the Instant Hole was done really well.
Like before, the animation is mostly very well done, with the beautifully stylised and richly coloured backgrounds and the inventive character reactions standing out. A big part of 'Hasty But Tasty's', and the Ant and the Aardvark series' appeal, is the music. Love music that's light-hearted and puts people in a good mood, and also music that is catchy and appealingly orchestrated, from the clever opening titles sequence to the last note/final gag the music here succeeds on all counts (not to mention that how it is performed is brilliant).
There may be reservations with the formulaic plot, but none with the gags and dialogue. Plenty of both, physically and verbally, and they range from very funny to hilarious. Most of it consists from a running gag regarding the "instant hole", put to great (very funny and clever) a big danger with running gags is being repetitive and getting old too early. Found this type of gag with the hole one of the best and funniest ones for any cartoon seen recently. 'Hasty But Tasty' also contains one of the Aardvark's best lines ever and one of the funniest lines of the whole series, the one in the review summary, on my first watch of the cartoon that line made me spit out the mouthful of my drink back into the glass.
Found that all the characters were handled very well, a slight imbalance but the interesting and well-established and contrasted personalities remain as do the perfect timing of the wild gags (the anvil gag is also well done) and the irreverent witticisms, sarcasm and how the audience are made to feel they're in the cartoon. Not to mention the sparkling character interaction. The Aardvark is a little funnier and more interesting but as said he features more here so that was inevitable, but the ant is still amusing and the hole is a scene stealer. There have been great examples of voice actors that excelled in voicing more than one character and giving them individual and different voices and personalities to the others. Mel Blanc was the king at this. Pat Harrington Jr did it wonderfully in The Inspector series. And John Byner is equally fantastic voicing both the ant and the aardvark here, with vocal influences of Jackie Mason and Dean Martin.
Summing up, very nicely done. 8/10
All of this continues in the next cartoon 'Hasty But Tasty', which is in a way even better and shows that the series has not lost its promising touch. It is very true to what was established very well in 'The Ant and the Aardvark' and builds upon it, which is exactly what at least the next four or five cartoons after the first should do for any cartoon series. The problems with the previous cartoons aren't solved as such here, but 'Hasty But Tasty's' good strengths are the same to before as well.
'Hasty But Tasty's' story again is very slight and with not many surprises, most of the series follows a formula and one that is reminiscent of that for the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons which in itself was not a particularly innovative formula either. This is not a particularly big exception to this, though foucusing on a further obstacle to pit against was different, and the ending is pretty obvious.
While the animation mostly is fine, there is the odd bit of flatness and lack of finesse which was not uncommon with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' animation style in general. A lesser gripe, a very minor gripe, is there could have been more of the ant in an Aardvark-centric cartoon though the conflict between the Aardvark and the Instant Hole was done really well.
Like before, the animation is mostly very well done, with the beautifully stylised and richly coloured backgrounds and the inventive character reactions standing out. A big part of 'Hasty But Tasty's', and the Ant and the Aardvark series' appeal, is the music. Love music that's light-hearted and puts people in a good mood, and also music that is catchy and appealingly orchestrated, from the clever opening titles sequence to the last note/final gag the music here succeeds on all counts (not to mention that how it is performed is brilliant).
There may be reservations with the formulaic plot, but none with the gags and dialogue. Plenty of both, physically and verbally, and they range from very funny to hilarious. Most of it consists from a running gag regarding the "instant hole", put to great (very funny and clever) a big danger with running gags is being repetitive and getting old too early. Found this type of gag with the hole one of the best and funniest ones for any cartoon seen recently. 'Hasty But Tasty' also contains one of the Aardvark's best lines ever and one of the funniest lines of the whole series, the one in the review summary, on my first watch of the cartoon that line made me spit out the mouthful of my drink back into the glass.
Found that all the characters were handled very well, a slight imbalance but the interesting and well-established and contrasted personalities remain as do the perfect timing of the wild gags (the anvil gag is also well done) and the irreverent witticisms, sarcasm and how the audience are made to feel they're in the cartoon. Not to mention the sparkling character interaction. The Aardvark is a little funnier and more interesting but as said he features more here so that was inevitable, but the ant is still amusing and the hole is a scene stealer. There have been great examples of voice actors that excelled in voicing more than one character and giving them individual and different voices and personalities to the others. Mel Blanc was the king at this. Pat Harrington Jr did it wonderfully in The Inspector series. And John Byner is equally fantastic voicing both the ant and the aardvark here, with vocal influences of Jackie Mason and Dean Martin.
Summing up, very nicely done. 8/10
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