Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Disney meets Family Guy?

Living in the dorms we loved watching Family Guy. A few years after it was canceled you could find the entire series (at the time) for less than $30. Due to high DVD sales, probably to other college students like me, Family Guy was brought back on the air. But by the time new episodes aired (it can take a year to produce an episode) I had graduated and moved on to the animation industry. Suddenly I couldn't stomach Family Guy...


After focusing on animation, I saw how "cheap" Family Guy was. The writers literally wrote storylines that used the least amount of animation possible, sometimes freezing a pose for 30+ seconds or even randomly switching to live action sequences just so they didn't have to animate. Characters would shift to the same poses and freeze repeatedly while rambling awkward phrases that were only funny in a certain mindset. A job working as an animator on Family Guy did not sound like a good job, nor one that required much talent (at the very least the work stifled strong talent).


This week's episode involved a plotline where two characters visited different universes with versions of the Family Guy characters. One of those 'verses was a Disney-drawn universe:
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If this was animated by the normal Family Guy animators (and not farmed out) then I am very impressed. And angry! If the animators can create this, then the producers need to allow more opportunities for animators to create high quality work! Yes, the final joke is crude and based on urban myths proven false. But the animation, for a TV show, is superb. I would love to see a Family Guy movie animated this well. It doesn't need the Disney character styles, but if the current character designs moved and flowed as well as they do here it could be a very entertaining movie.

The Robot Chicken joke afterwords is funny too, especially since the voice of Chris is the creator of Robot Chicken.

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