Ketchup Entertainment presents: COYOTE VS ACME

 That Effing David Zaslav has lost his battle against the LOONEY TUNES.

For many months since I've heard the announcement back in Summer 2023,

I, like all of you wonderful people, have been dreading the day that WBD under the leadership of one ASSHOLE DAVID ZASLAV would finally shelve the highly anticipated 

COYOTE VS. ACME.

And throughout 2024, despite all the efforts of collaborators like WILL FORTE

And heartwarmingly from actor ERIC BAUZA during the 2024 Emmy Awards

And he angrily demanded 

"RELEASE COYOTE VS. ACME!!!!"

using his DAFFY DUCK voice to get his point across SERIOUSLY!

WBD was sure to ignore all the backlash and go with their plans very firmly.

Have I mentioned that DAVID ZASLAV is a goddamn Heartless Asshole!?

His actions have no bounds but even after his removal of several Cartoon Network shows from the MAX platform and with all us people RANTING over his actions,

he just does not listen.

Well, like I said, he officially lost the battle.

And we can thank the phenomenal success of the most recent Looney Tunes film 

THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP 

for proving that the fight wasn't in vain.

To a point that after unsuccessful negotiations to buy the rights to COYOTE by other companies,

Ketchup Entertainment, who made THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP, 

Bought the rights to COYOTE and now we have until 2026 before COYOTE is released into movie theaters.

and by that, I mean

Your AMC Megaplex in the USA,

you Cineplex Cinema in Canada,

your Odeon Cinema in the U.K,

or whatever Multiplex Company has a monopoly in your region.

Now if WBD speeds up on selling Genndy Tartakovski's FIXED to another studio like Ketchup, then I can rest easy because at this moment, we can't trust new projects at WBD without Zaslav F**ing things up.

I have been anticipating doing a post about Coyote Vs Acme for the longest time since the Tax Write-Off announcement but all previous attempts made it look like I was perennially ranting at the top of my lungs so I held off until it was time which could be when the film was shelved completely or when it finally found a distributor.

Well, they found a distributor which is Ketchup, so let's hope  Ketchup lives up to the hype like they did with THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP because COYOTE has been highly anticipated since it's 2018 announcement.

Yes, I knew they found a distributor back in March 2025 but I was very busy with my personal life during that time but now is the time for me to provide said announcements.

Doug's Movie Theater Episodes avoid the Cliche I've seen in Children's TV Animation

As if the above sentence was any indication, I really mean it.

Have you ever seen an episode of a Children's Cartoon on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, etc.

And wonder about what the characters want to watch in Theaters?

There's this thing that's really bugged me for a while.

Why is it when these Characters want to watch a violent movie,

The highest the episode's screenplay can go for in terms of mentioning age ratings is PG-13?

What's wrong with mentioning the R-Rating? Too inappropriate for Children's television?

My guess is that due to issues involving moral guardians, these creators can't abide with having characters in Children's Cartoons sneaking into an R-Rated Movie without the risk of inspiring children to do the same so what they do is water down the screenplay just by a tiny bit by mentioning PG-13 as the highest the show can ever mention adult films shown in theaters.

Totally not referencing SOUTH PARK as this trope predates both the TV Show and the 1999 movie BIGGER, LONGER, & UNCUT.

Now Doug on the other hand, that's a different story.

There are two episodes throughout the show's 117 run spanning two networks that subvert the Kids Sneaking into an R-Rated movie trope that most shows water down the mentioning of the MPAA rating in their screenplays.

The first is NIGHTMARE ON JUMBO STREET from the Nick era.

The second is DOUG'S MOVIE MADNESS from the Disney era.

They both depict the title character watching an R-Rated movie as a way to teach viewers to be careful with what you watch as said movies can be give you nightmares.

Let's start with NIGHTMARE ON JUMBO STREET from June 20 1993.

It shows the Character fighting his nightmares after watching ...

The DOUG Wiki claims this episode is a parody of Wes Craven's 1984 film 

A Nightmare on Elm Street

but there's no parody of Freddy Krueger in that episode.

Instead, THE ABNORMAL is actually a parody of...

Both Christian Nyby's 1951 Film and the more well known John Carpenter film from 1982.

The part that parodies the John Carpenter film is THE MAJORITY OF THE EPISODE which is DOUG not knowing until the last minute what THE ABNORMAL really looks like.

Culminating in one of my favorite scenes from the episode which is THE ABNORMAL having assimilated Porkchop and giving him a voice.

"You've got to be turning me on! Give the boy his prize!

Here's Porkchop!!!"

Yes, that Abnormal who was volunteering to fill in for Porkchop in my Four Fingers blogpost the previous November after the latter stepped out in the Cold Vancouver weather. 

That ABNORMAL.


The only part of THE ABNORMAL that parodied the CHRISTIAN NYBY film from 1951 was of course..... SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Which resulted in...

"Hey Abnormal,"

"Your Zipper's showing!!!"

"?????"

*Unzips Costume*

(Haruo Nakajima, eat your heart out.)

*Funny Music plays while them Poodles shiver because of the Cold weather.*

And yes, John Carpenter's The Thing, 

Christian Nyby's The Thing from another world, 

and Doug's THE ABNORMAL...

they were all inspired by JOHN W. CAMPBELL'S 1938 novella

WHO GOES THERE?

Considering the June 1993 airdate of this episode, My guess is DOUG and friends should have been watching JURRASIC PARK at their local AMC BLUFFINTON 19 cinema or AMC Four Leaf Clover 16 integrated mall Multiplex Cinema instead of watching THE ABNORMAL.

Next we have DOUG'S MOVIE MADNESS from the Disney era circa November 16 1996.

This movie is about DOUG and Friends wanting to watch the biggest action movie premiere of 1996 called TargetMan, which is a parody of 80s Action movies with Cyborgs like The Terminator but mixed in with masculine badassery from the likes of RAMBO.

Unlike THE ABNORMAL which was meant to be a parody of Cheap-Ass 50's horror film tropes,

TARGETMAN is a parody of overtly expensive, ultra-violent action movies that were popular in the mid to late 90s before Michael Bay changed the action movie landscape for better or worse.

As well as parody overhype but that's a different story for another time.

I would like to share some photos from my own Avermedia captures but how about you watch an embed video from TV Tropes instead:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoExamples/Doug

The First video is of the one from MOVIE MADNESS and who ever uploaded that must have captured it using their Laptop or Xbox and was using either an Avermedia or El Gato Capture device because there's no Network bug from ABC or Kisscartoon and certainly no VHS or DVR Artificing just the way I like it.

(And probably disabled HDCP Detection too.)

Just hold your breath on DOUG's Voice though because I still prefer Billy West's performance.

*COUGH*STUPID VIACOM & THEIR*COUGH*1994 BUDGET FREEZE*

While both THE ABNORMAL & TARGETMAN don't have their MPAA Ratings mentioned, the Usher from MOVIE MADNESS did ask DOUG and SKEETER if they're over the age of 17 and are accompanied by a parent or guardian...

which could mean JIM JINKINS was also sick of the whole PG-13 Screenplay cliche that his contemporaries were using in their children's cartoons so that figures.

But what both episodes do a good job with is that it realistically shows that you need to be ready to handle the Horrors of what you can stomach in terms of Horror Movie content or the amount of ON-SCREEN GIBS your brain can handle.

For THE ABNORMAL, DOUG made the stupid decision to close his eyes during the climax of the film which prompted him to wait until the last minute before he saw the cheap zipper on the monster itself and proceeded to have a laugh over the unfortunate VFX Flub.

For TARGETMAN, DOUG sure wasn't ready for the amount of LUDICROUS GIBS that the movie had but then again, he probably won't even ready for DUKE NUKEM 3D which launched for computers back in 1996.

Plus, the Funnie Family didn't get their first PC until 1999 but even then, Phil and Theda would still ban DOUG from playing Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition on the Power Portal PC 2000.

Remember, this was 1996 and Chadly Macho Men voiced by Jon St. John were all the rage back then.

Why did I mention AMC Theaters?

Because DOUG lives in the state of Virginia and although there were Regal and GCC cinemas in that area back in the 90s, 

AMC Theaters holds a monopoly in the Multiplex space in the U.S

the same way Cineplex holds a monopoly in the Canadian Multiplex theater space.

More DOUG Blogposts?

I want to avoid Maverick Quickies this month and beyond so I had to resort to DOUG Posts.

First post for April 2025 huh?

I didn't want to post on April 1st due to APRIL FOOLS

and I certainly didn't want to post on April 2nd due to personal reasons so it's a given.

Happy 25th Anniversary THE ROAD TO EL DORADO-The memetic majesty of DreamWorks SKG's Cult Classic Second Animated Feature

I'd never thought I'd finally cover this film in a blogpost but it's happening...

This film, released on March 31 2000, is a culmination of a film that fought a bad box-office clout and has since become a cult classic in it's own right, especially for us late Millennials and early Gen Zers.

So in celebration of the film's 25th Anniversary, I dedicate this blogpost to the one film that fought everything from rewrites, to Box-Office Clouts, to memes, etc.

It all started back at Disney Animation Studios.....

sort of.

It was originally one of said pitches that was advertised internally as one of the ideas that would be made into a movie by the MOUSE HOUSE.

The title would be called "THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING."

NO!!!! This is not a ONE PIECE REFERECE. In fact, this story idea predates ONE PIECE by almost 3 years.

However in 1994, Jeffery Katzenberg had a big fight with Michael Eisner.

Without the mediation from Frank Wells, who died in a Helicopter crash that year, Katzenberg gave Eisner the finger and left Disney, taking this film's idea alongside others with him while also leaving behind films about Lions, Indigenous Americans, Catholic Hunchbacks, Greek Heroes, A Chinese Heroine, etc.

Can you guess what film opened in the Summer of 1994 that topped the BOX OFFICE and got acclaim from Critics?

Anyway, shortly after forming DreamWorks SKG in October 1994 with help of both Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, 

Katzenberg met with two Screenwriters who go by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, both who promptly gave Katzenberg a copy of HUGH THOMAS' 

CONQUEST: MONTEZUMA, CORTES, AND THE FALL OF OLD MEXICO.

While the rights could not be secured to make a literal or Disneyfied adaptation of HUGH's book, the three decided that a movie inspired by the book would be a perfect concept to make for the newly christened studio.

By Spring of 1995, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio wrote a story treatment, inspired by all those classic BOB HOPE and BING CROSBY "ROAD TO" films,

about two comedic anti-heroes who set out to find the lost city of Gold after acquiring a Map.

Sounds like our film we have today but what's interesting is that EL DORADO was originally meant to be a DRAMA instead of a Buddy-Comedy.

Sort of similar in tone to Disney's KINGDOM OF THE SUN concept which at the time was also in active development... 

Before that got retooled into THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE.

The retool is just right.....(Makes a  JUST RIGHT gesture to prove his point)

If you want to read about the development of THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE, 

here's the link to said blogpost:

https://maverickmartinezarchive.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-sweatbox-trudie-stylers-true-story.html

But unlike with KINGDOM OF THE SUN, 

EL DORADO was meant to be a LARGE-SCALE DRAMA, 

Kind of like THE TEN COMMANDMENTS(1956)

In fact, one of the story ideas initially had MIGUEL conceived as a raunchy SANCHO-PANZA styled character who died but came back to life to a point that the natives assumed he was a god.

And fan-favorite CHEL would have had a much raunchier role in the film where she wore nothing but a Poncho.

But shortly while THE PRINCE OF EGYPT was in production, Katzenberg decided to discard whatever he was working on and demanded that EL DORADO ditch the serious ADULT approach for the film and instead aim for a family-friendly ADVENTURE COMEDY.... but still have hints of ADULT INNUENDO as to differentiate DreamWorks away from DISNEY or their competitors.

So multiple changes were made at the behest of Katzenberg to appeal to a PG-rated audience.

Miguel and Tulio were rewritten as Petty Swindlers.

The City of El Dorado was remade to be more of a paradise than what was dissimilar to the 1950s epic films of that time period.

Amongst one of the changes Katzenberg forced upon the crew was to change Chel's wardrobe.

Shown below is the original PONCHO CHEL.

I've read on TV TROPES that this design was rejected because as it turns out, Chel is practically naked underneath that Poncho....

For example. If Chel bent over or did a handstand, her breasts and privates would have been exposed to the masses. Including towards our Favorite loveable Con-Men Miguel and Tulio.

And despite the original PG-13 approach that filmmakers were going for in the initial drafts back in the late 90s, Katzenberg wanted a more family friendly approach and a PG rating was about as high as he can allow for an animated film...

Yes.... A PG Rating.

as if THE BLACK CAULDRON was any indication 15 years prior.

Katzenberg may have cut almost a quarter of THE BLACK CAULDRON's runtime

 but it still didn't fluence his views on how high of an age rating his 

DreamWorks animated films would be.

So Poncho Chel was written out...

But instead, 

what we got would become a beloved Sex Symbol for many a Late Millennial and Early Gen Z'er.

"Barring a few controversial comments from critics back in 2000 regarding my portrayal and wardrobe but thank the gods that Late Millennials and Early Gen Zers don't give a crap what those critics say about Sex Symbols.."

If we like our Sexy Chel the way she was approved and voiced by Rosie Perez, we stick with it.

Don't ask me or Rosie Perez how this design managed to get Katzenberg's approval. 

I think this is still one of the best designs for Chel in early 2000s animation.

The digital Ink and Paint Animation is pretty spot-on though that's par for the course especially with 2D animation made in the late-90s where it's virtually required to use computers to color the animation cels.

In fact, compared to Disney's work which uses Proprietary software written by engineers within the Mouse House, DREAMWORKS opted for the much preferred OFF-THE-SHELF software from CAMBRIDGE ANIMATION and Toon Boom Animation.

Half of the animation was outsourced to STARDUST in London, England but most of the animation was done in my hometown of VANCOUVER.

The studio?

BARDEL ENTERTAINMENT.

Yes, truly it was a golden age for 2D Digital Animation.

Like I said, at the Turn of the Millennium, all the animation studios in AMERICA were required to make the switch to Off-The-Shelf Digital Animation Software regardless if it's SGI or HP Workstations.

Unless you were working for JUMBO PICTURES back in the mid to late-90s and despite working with Disney at the time, DOUG still refused to use off-the-shelf Digital Ink and Paint software from Cambridge or Toon Boom even with their theatrical film which premiered in theaters exactly about a year prior to El Dorado.

Seriously, DOUG's 1ST MOVIE doesn't even use Digital Ink & Paint, despite saying so in the credits. Just like with PRINCESS MONONOKE from 2 years prior, DOUG only ever used Computers for Color Correction of the cels & the AVID MEDIA COMPOSER Final Edits before sending the digital film files to both Technicolor and EASTMAN for the 35MM filmstock to be shown in theaters in 1999.

But back to El Dorado and DreamWorks from before COMCAST bought them.

El-Dorado's Digital Ink and Paint Animation is pretty spot on.

You can see the attention to detail was made on those Pencil Drawings before they were scanned into them Animator's SGI Workstations.

And then they also had to color the Outlines, Paint the insides of the cels with the Paint Bucket Tool, add diffused shading, etc.

This is referring to an Age-Old technique in 2D Animation called TRADIGITAL ANIMATION where it's still hand-drawn on paper but the characters and props are colored and manipulated in the Computer once they're scanned into the computer with one of them expensive photo scanners.

And it depends on what software was used.

For the 2D Animation, I'm going to guess it's TOONBOOM which ,Surprise Surprise, is the exact software that I use for 2D Animation.

When done right, the results can be amazing even for theatrical animation.

Such as this scene of a determined Miguel and the closeup of his bleeding forehead

But the CGI is also a real standout.

CGI in 2D ANIMATION? 

A marriage that's elicited mixed reactions from the community with many complaining that it's seen as  rather lazy to integrate the two instead of drawing in Perspective like Richard Williams.

But deadlines are there and you have no choice but to use CGI for things like:

ships, 

barrels, 

waves and splashes, 

background characters for crowd shots, 

First comes the animation of said CG Background Character...

Then comes the Test Animation to check the keyframes, Cel Shading, etc.....

Final Rendered Scene

and yes, even with GOLD.

Yes, you could elect to draw all the gold traditionally on paper, scan it into the computer, and add a gold filter onto the digital cels which certainly was the case for several scenes in the film...

But DREAMWORKS wanted to use actual CGI Gold instead of shades of Yellow, even with diffusion. So they actually wrote a piece of software that generates GOLD on the CG models.

Just like with how memetic THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE is,

El Dorado is not short on scenes that prove to be memetic.

Many include:

"On one hand...."

"GOLD!!!"

"On the other hand...."

"PAINFUL..."

"AGONIZING...."

"FAILURE!!!!"

here's another:

"And so dawns the age of the Jaguar..."

"Happy New Year."

Another:

"Holy Ship!!!"

The rather inappropriate joke about ascending horizontally:

Even Miguel finds the joke rather humorous if somewhat ribald.

The reference to Jaws:

and my personal favorite:

"You fight like my sister!!!"

"I fought your sister, that's a compliment!!!"

There are so many memetic scenes out there but listing them all would have caused this blogpost to run too long so I'll leave it here until I'm ready to update it more.

Screenshots are from my December 2000 DVD....

As a matter of fact, I still have this DVD in my collection for the past 25+ Years.

This here is my Original Special Edition DVD from the early 2000s

 and it's still in my collection to this day.

This film sort of holds a special place in my heart because it may as well be my absolute first DVD I've ever owned.

The DVD player I used those many years ago is long gone, but the DVD is still in my collection with no scratches.

My Current Disc players I have are my PS5 and my LG Blu-Ray burner that’s Mounted in my PC's FRACTAL POP AIR Case and that's being used to get my VLC screenshots.

I had some issue with VLC Player crashing during DVD Playback and Screenshots so I decided SCREW IT and just straight up Ripped the DVD Contents into my PC using VLC's Convert tool so I at least have something to use.

That's one of the reasons I demand to have an ATX Case that has an Optical Drive Bay so I can mount a Blu-Ray Player to the case.

An external solution is nice but not what I call reliable for my needs due to issues like using Laptop Components.

That's why I chose the Fractal Design POP Air case in the first place.....

Though I wished I went with the Fractal Define 7 XL instead.....

Oh well, what you gonna do?

So a majority of my screenshots are from the Ripped MP4 file but the Behind the Scenes Documentary is still from the DVD Through and Through.