Toonheads (and the historical preservation of cartoons)

diet_orange

Dragon Slayer
Level 2
3%
Joined
Dec 9, 2024
Messages
105
Level up in
145 posts
Reaction score
255
Points
727
Location
Mobile, Alabama
Growing up, one of my favorite shows was this program called "Toonheads" that served as a "historical showcase" of older cartoons that were in the wheelhouse of Turner Broadcasting/Warner Bros
It kind of lit a passion in me that cartoons, along with a lot of other things, were art and deserved to be preserved, warts and all

Unfortunately, as far as I know, Toonheads only exists today via copies made from VHS tapes and is not a part of the greater HBO Max catalog as it should be. Which is a shame
 
These cartoons do need to be preserved in their own ways, I liked the animation, no doubt that the company might have it sealed away in a vault of sorts, but as far as preserving it goes, Toonheads might not be preserved in the public domain state rather than the company's state.
 
Disney had something similar called "Ink and Paint Club" which used to air at like 5 in the morning. It would show all the older Disney animated cartoons.
 
RIP Boomerang.
I loved Boomerang, but I also was totally against separating classic cartoons from the main CN channel (they did still have The Bugs And Daffy Show on CN for a long time).

There is Me TV Toons on the old Rabbit ears if you can get it. The station that has it here has impossible reception
 
Companied will only make older works of fiction accessible if lands it's in the corporate sweet spot:
1. To not be in the public domain
2. None of the animators/Creators signed contract which provides them royalties
3. The property hadn't been used as a tax write off.
IE: The product is bared from being re-released as it was sold thee state. The only way it could be re-distributed is if the previous owner purchases it back from the state. (This never happens. RIP Megas XLR/Sym-bionic Titan)

That's the depressing reason why so much old media is lost.
If a corporation can't exclusively profit from a work (Hence my inclusion of royalties, they're THAT petty :( ) then they would rather it be lost to time.
Then there the argument over retroactive censorship/political correctness which can & has nuked certain media.

It's super cool that Toonheads exists!
But it's a dying form of distribution. ::sadkirby
 
Companied will only make older works of fiction accessible if lands it's in the corporate sweet spot:
1. To not be in the public domain
2. None of the animators/Creators signed contract which provides them royalties
3. The property hadn't been used as a tax write off.
IE: The product is bared from being re-released as it was sold thee state. The only way it could be re-distributed is if the previous owner purchases it back from the state. (This never happens. RIP Megas XLR/Sym-bionic Titan)

That's the depressing reason why so much old media is lost.
If a corporation can't exclusively profit from a work (Hence my inclusion of royalties, they're THAT petty :( ) then they would rather it be lost to time.
Then there the argument over retroactive censorship/political correctness which can & has nuked certain media.

It's super cool that Toonheads exists!
But it's a dying form of distribution. ::sadkirby
i think if nobody is able to own and distribute it, it should be made public domain for free. Otherwise it's being hoarded instead of making any kind of profit. I get that creators want to hang onto their work and don't want anyone else making money off of their creation with bootleg DVDs, but at the same time they aren't selling it themselves and the networks get pissy about it. The only way would be to either pirate it to preserve it or to find some legal loophole to make it public domain. Music rights was one of the reasons we couldn't get a release of Megas XLR.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Connect with us

Support this Site

RGT relies on you to stay afloat. Help covering the site costs and get some pretty Level 7 perks too.

Featured Video

Latest Threads

AMD vs Nvidia

Which do you prefer?
I'm definitely leaning more towards AMD recently
Read more

I think I have a solution to the physical media vs digital future problem

1754012979809.png

What if indie game developers and 3rd party game developers distribute their games...
Read more

Can a homie get a retro horror recommendation?

I'm not looking for the obvious ones (Resident, Silent, Fatal, etc.), I'm looking for stuff that...
Read more

RGT Labs

Alright, who plastered photos of RGT-Tan all over the walls of Level B3?
Read more

Online statistics

Members online
114
Guests online
1,252
Total visitors
1,366

Forum statistics

Threads
11,010
Messages
271,088
Members
845,872
Latest member
JetSetter

Advertisers

Back
Top