Octavia Heartstrings

@Tacodidra Same! "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" was my first exposure to Cecil, but I understood it even without the context of his first appearance. It's probably my favorite of the three Cecil vs. Bugs shorts, though all three are among the greatest.

Maybe he was!  They probably needed to come up with a name for the other mouse, and thought Hubie paired nicely with Bertie.

This definitely seems to have been a real "product of its time" type of year, and a bit more of a mixed bag compared to the previous few. Of the ones that I've seen, "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" is by far my favorite - the scenes with the gangster rabbits are absolutely hilarious. There's also the introduction of (proper names, I assume) Hubert and Bertram, the sadistic mice. I always quite enjoyed their cartoons.

Wow, a really fun lineup of cartoons this year! My personal favorite of these has always been "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", since I always found Killer's dimwittedness to be so hilarious. "Oh, no no no... nope, nope!" I also really enjoyed "Lights Fantastic" when I saw it, mainly for its animation. And of course, here's a legendary moment from "The Draft Horse":

With so many hilarious Bugs cartoons this year, it's no wonder he became the main star of the show. My favorite from this year is definitely "Tortoise Beats Hare" - Cecil was such a perfect foil to Bugs, and a total subversion of viewers' expectations.

Looking at all the significant cartoons produced in 1940, this was probably Warner Bros' biggest year yet. "You Ought to Be in Pictures" is awesome, and the cartoon adaptation of the Three Bears is hilarious. But most significantly, the definitive Bugs Bunny makes his long-awaited first appearance! I have definitely seen "A Wild Hare", though I don't believe I saw it on a DVD. "Elmer's Candid Camera", meanwhile, was a very strange watch for me when I first saw it. Interestingly, Chuck Jones himself actually hated this cartoon, as you can read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer's_Candid_Camera#Comments_by_Chuck_Jones

I remember seeing "Old Glory" on the second Golden Collection, and I remember finding it very unusual for the series, but also rather relaxing at the same time. I don't recall most of the others from 1939, but it seems to have been quite a productive year at the studio.

I can see that 1938 was definitely another big year!  It's really interesting to read about how the prototype versions of so many iconic characters got their start in the series. And I agree, the Do-Do definitely should have gotten more appearances - he was basically Daffy on crack!

Lots of important Porky cartoons this year, including the debut of Daffy Duck! The 1937 cartoon that I remember most is probably "Little Red Walking Hood", though I didn't realize that Egghead and the prototype Elmer were separate characters. Imagine if there was a short where the brothers tried to hunt Bugs and/or Daffy together.

A pivotal year for Looney Tunes indeed!  It's neat how Porky gradually rose from just one of the "Beans gang" to being the undisputed main character of Looney Tunes. And of course, "I Love to Singa" is so much fun - if only Owl Jolson had become a recurring character.

And now the first of Warner Brothers' Finest has made his debut! Looking forward to seeing how Porky eventually superseded his co-star Beans.

@Tacodidra I got that sense too when watching it. Gossamer as a kid... seriously? I get that he cried when Bugs Bunny put his fingers in the mousetraps ("Hair-Raising Hare"), but that is clearly a full grown monster! I vaguely remember seeing "The Duxorcist" once when I was young, but that's my only memory of the Ford & Lennon cartoons.

@Tacodidra I tried watching "The Looney Tunes Show" at one point, but I just couldn't get into it because the humor fell flat and the characters just didn't feel like themselves.

A time paradox where Bosko and Buddy meet the golden era stars would certainly be something!

@Tacodidra The high amount of character variety is one of the many things that made Looney Tunes great! Probably why nearly all of the characters from the golden era are still animation icons to this day.

@Tacodidra Quite an upgrade within the space of a few cartoons then. Well, that's what firing Tom Palmer will do for you.

Seeing a 30s cartoon mixed in with the more famous 40s & 50s cartoons was always surreal. Especially one from before even Porky was thought of.

I see that the animation is starting to improve at this point in the series!  I saw "Beauty and the Beast" once on Boomerang, and I was surprised that they included a cartoon from the Buddy days in their package.

@Tacodidra That's a really good point, a lot of the earlier directors tend to get forgotten simply because their cartoons aren't seen on TV as much. That's why it's important to track down the DVDs!

@Tacodidra I guess the studio preferred pigs over foxes, which must have led to Porky a few years later.

Tex Avery is an absolute legend - he created almost all of the main Warner Bros stars, and then he went on to have a great career at MGM too! One could argue that he was the most important director of them all.

@Tacodidra I have a feeling the animator just copied Foxy and took away the humanoid features. My favorite fox cartoon from any studio is easily Tex Avery's "Out-Foxed", starring Droopy. This one is absolutely hilarious - give it a watch if you can find it!

Some interesting history here! I always felt like the Warner Bros cartoons could have used more fox characters, since they're probably my favorite animal.

A great start to this retrospective series, my friend! I look forward to reading more of these as you continue through the years!

*hugs* 

You're more than welcome! We all love having you here on this forum, and I hope you'll stick around for as long as you possibly can! 

Pretty good for a first sketch, I must say!

Literally this.