Sure more Mel Blanc episodes would be great…but I think you have to realize a couple of things…
1, part of what made Looney Toons great in his era was the writing and animation style. The animation style can come back, sure…but the writing is (probably) long gone.
The casual racism and stereotyping might be “acceptable” soon, but the level of cartoon violence has little room in modern family screen time.
2, part of what makes the greats “great” is the finite amount of work they’ve contributed to. This is as true for voice actors as it is for any other art.
Let’s look at a modern example…Jim Cummings is probably the biggest and most well known voice actor today. He’s had tons of memorable roles over the years and many of his characters are uniquely his, such as Monterey Jack and Pete (Goofy’s villain)…to the point that my kids are giving eye rolls when I say “Is that Jim Cummings”, look it up, and of course, it is.
Jim is in his 70s now and likely doesn’t have many professional years left.
The idea of having an infinite amount of Jim Cummings voice work actually sounds tedious. I love the guy and all his work, but if they use his likeness in AI for anything, I’d hope it be to gracefully retire his recurring characters…not immortalize him with infinite new content. That’s the type of sendoff a legend like him deserves. Not for his kin to hear him do things he never did.
I would also be sad if AI voices became common in cartoons because it doesn’t give us a chance to hear new interesting voices from creative people. We would just get resurrected old voice actors.
Sure more Mel Blanc episodes would be great…but I think you have to realize a couple of things…
1, part of what made Looney Toons great in his era was the writing and animation style. The animation style can come back, sure…but the writing is (probably) long gone.
The casual racism and stereotyping might be “acceptable” soon, but the level of cartoon violence has little room in modern family screen time.
2, part of what makes the greats “great” is the finite amount of work they’ve contributed to. This is as true for voice actors as it is for any other art.
Let’s look at a modern example…Jim Cummings is probably the biggest and most well known voice actor today. He’s had tons of memorable roles over the years and many of his characters are uniquely his, such as Monterey Jack and Pete (Goofy’s villain)…to the point that my kids are giving eye rolls when I say “Is that Jim Cummings”, look it up, and of course, it is.
Jim is in his 70s now and likely doesn’t have many professional years left.
The idea of having an infinite amount of Jim Cummings voice work actually sounds tedious. I love the guy and all his work, but if they use his likeness in AI for anything, I’d hope it be to gracefully retire his recurring characters…not immortalize him with infinite new content. That’s the type of sendoff a legend like him deserves. Not for his kin to hear him do things he never did.
I would also be sad if AI voices became common in cartoons because it doesn’t give us a chance to hear new interesting voices from creative people. We would just get resurrected old voice actors.