Johnny Bravo

Johnny Bravo is an American animated series created by the Filipino Van Partible, broadcast on Cartoon Network and the second in the Cartoon Cartoons anthology. His eponymous character He is a muscular and braggart young man who lives with his mother in the fictional Aron City (or Aron City). He earnestly tries to flirt with women, but his egotism and coarseness condemn him to rejection and lead to all kinds of mishaps. He sometimes gets involved in strange situations, accompanied by friends or invited personalities, such as little Suzy (his neighbor) or Donny Osmond.

It is based on Mess O' Blues, an animation thesis Partible completed while attending Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles, California. The main character, an amalgamation of celebrities such as Elvis Presley and James Dean, went through several modifications to get his most characteristic features, such as his tight black T-shirt. A pilot episode was broadcast in 1995 within the compilation of short films What a Cartoon! -a Hanna-Barbera production for Cartoon Network-, of which more Later the television program derived. From the second season there were no contributions from its creator; instead, the creative team was restructured and the characters underwent a redesign. In 2003, for the fourth season, Partible rejoined and was around until the end of production. In total, the series comprises 65 episodes and a couple of episodes. specials broadcast between 1997 and 2004. creator produced in 2009 for India.

She was nominated for three Annie Awards, one YoungStar, and two Golden Reels, but failed to win any of these awards. MacFarlane and Butch Hartman. Its spin-offs include comic books, DVD releases, clothing, toys, and video games, and a live-action adaptation was even planned with actor Dwayne Johnson as a possible lead. The show received critical reviews. uneven across mediums: while some reviewers were unfavorable with the quality of its animation, others were sympathetic to the protagonist and the type of humor that accompanies his wanderings.

Premise and characters

Cosplayer by Johnny Bravo in the New York Comic Con 2015.

The series centers on Johnny Bravo (voiced by Jeff Bennett), a narcissistic, braggart, dim-witted, womanizing young man with sunglasses, a blond forelock and an Elvis Presley-like speech. His language Body is exaggerated and presumptuous, highlighting his worked muscles and execution of poses reminiscent of kung-fu. who is extremely accommodating to him. The episodes generally show his attempts to get a woman to join him on a romantic date, convinced that he is a "godsend" for this genre. However, his crude methods—such as telling them " mamacita"—lead to outright rejections and self-defensive reactions by the female. Other scenarios show Johnny embroiled in strange predicaments, such as being trapped in a mad scientist's mansion unaware of the potential dangers. His partner The usual is little Suzy (Mae Whitman), a sweet and active eight-year-old neighbor who he hardly likes.

Recurring characters include Carl Chryniszzswics (Tom Kenny), a young nerd who idolizes Johnny; Pops (Larry Drake), the unscrupulous owner of the local restaurant who advises the protagonist or provides him with food prepared with atypical ingredients; Master Hamma —or Master Hamma— (Brian Tochi), who tutors Johnny in martial arts, despite dismissing him as the weakest and most inefficient member of his dōjō; Donny Osmond (playing himself), a teen idol who irritates the protagonist with his joy and optimism, and Jungle Boy -or Child of the jungle- (Cody Dorkin), a wild and super-strong little boy who can communicate with animals.

Much of the humor is often supported by pop culture references and guest appearances by celebrities such as Adam West, Farrah Fawcett, Jonathan Winters, Mark Hamill, Mr. T, Shaquille O'Neal, and Osmond himself. Early in production, Van Partible had the idea for the mid-segment of the show to be "Johnny Bravo Meets..." ("Johnny Bravo meets..."), where cultural icons from the 1970s are featured. Various characters from the Hanna-Barbera catalog also appear in the series; including the Scooby-Doo gang, Fred Flintstone, and Blue Falcon.

As for adult humor, Partible claimed that in the 1990s "nobody really tuned into Cartoon Network [...] they [the channel] were pretty lenient with all kinds of things that happened [on the show]". Newsweek , however, mentioned that Johnny Bravo "raised a few eyebrows" at the nature of his jokes, and TVLine asserted that it was "not even remotely appropriate for children." ». The New York Times noted that the main character often uses the term "chick" to refer to women and that in a certain setting reference is made to the sacrifice of virgins, two examples of humor " inappropriate" for a child audience.

Production

Origin and development

Johnny Bravo is inspired by three popular icons: Elvis Presley, James Dean and Michael Jackson (from left to right in this box).

While serving his final semester at Loyola Marymount University, aspiring Filipino animator Van Partible produced Mess O' Blues (1993), a short thesis film centered on an Elvis Presley impersonator. Originally three crime-fighting impersonators, but the student pared it down to one for practical reasons. animation director Dan McLaughlin showed the result to a friend who worked for Hanna-Barbera, knowing that they were looking to produce new animation and "revive the great American cartoon" (as one of their advertisements put it). of the studio sympathized with the project; they asked Partible to develop it into a seven-minute format, and Partible sold the concept to them shortly thereafter.

Van Partible used to design Johnny's poses from images of physicoculturists. In this, also actor Ed Fury with the Jackie Coey model.

Arthur Fonzarelli of the series Happy DaysAnother Partible inspiration.

For the new short film, Partible took the lead from Mess O' Blues and called him Johnny Bravo, in reference to his birth name (Efrem Giovanni Bravo Partible) and an episode of The Brady Bunch in which Greg Brady adopts a similar alias. He characterized him as "an iconic character from the 1950s who looks like James Dean and talks like Elvis". The way in which Michael Jackson created "strong silhouettes" and used sound effects in his audiovisuals also inspired him to add "bumps of whip and crackle" whenever Johnny struck a pose. The character's T-shirt went from white to black (so the animation overlays wouldn't make it show through) and he gained muscular arms like Popeye's. Others that influenced the character Johnny's general were models, bodybuilders, Partible's friends with frequent trips to the gym, and those who enjoyed active social lives. The creator made the most common women around the boy his mother and the little girl next door, as he felt that they " they would humanize him." Voice actor Jeff Bennett was selected for this role thanks to his exaggerated imitation of the young Presley and spontaneous inclusion of the catchphrase "huh-ha!". team of animators, made the short film in the Hanna-Barbera studios and in the process implemented digital painting instead of acrylic. Using this technique —facilitated by the Animo software— meant an apprenticeship for the recent graduate, who was then already working at the studio for a modest amount of money. He told The Nation newspaper in 1997: "They said this would be my graduate school, because I had no formal training. I knew how to make a film on my own, but not how to do it with others."

The short, simply titled Johnny Bravo, aired on the animation compilation What a Cartoon! on March 5, 1995, as part of the World Premiere Toons project. from Cartoon Network, and competed with proposals such as The Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Laboratory to obtain a full slot on the programming. Its premise revolves around Johnny's attempt to capture a gorilla to impress a woman. The study concluded that the result was not "cartoonish" enough, so two more efforts followed: Jungle Boy in "Mr. Monkeyman" (1996) and Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women (1997). The former was another Partible proposal for a possible series, but ultimately did not win the approval of Cartoon Network. Three Hanna-Barbera executives—Ellen Cockrill, Janet Mazotti, and Julie Kane-Ritsch—insisted on the other, which Partible attributed to the fact that the women "know the Johnny Bravos of their lives and can relate [with the situations of the program]", in addition to the fact that "they enjoy seeing him receive what he deserves".

Seasons

Good audience reception led Cartoon Network to commission the first season of Johnny Bravo, which consists of thirteen episodes. Several writers, animators and directors from World Premiere Toons made up the production team, including Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, Steve Marmel, and John McIntyre. Veteran animator and trailblazer Joseph Barbera also served as a creative consultant and mentor early in this run. However, the team decided to do without him after a few weeks of receiving his contributions, since the tight budget did not allow them to pay him the sum of money that his representatives demanded. With the consent of his production manager, Partible was able to make the episode "Bravo Dooby-Doo", whose plot joins Johnny with the Scooby-Doo gang. On this occasion, it featured the original designs of Iwao Takamoto and the voices of Casey Kasem (Shaggy), Frank Welker (Fred), Heather North (Daphne), B.J. Ward (Velma) and Hadley Kay (Scooby).

With a 91% increase in viewership among children ages six to seven, Johnny Bravo premiered on the night of July 14, 1997 as Cartoon Network's second original animated series to come of the World Premiere Toons project. Within this chronology, Dexter's Laboratory was the first and Cow and Chicken the third. The channel also dedicated the "Dive-In Theater" event to its first "class of graduates", an initiative that brought together several children in water parks and municipal swimming pools around the United States, where the first episodes of the aforementioned productions were shown. To encompass the titles that defined the renewed identity of the signal at the end of the decade, the term "Cartoon Cartoons" was coined, which later included series such as I Am Weasel and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Some media have pointed to Johnny Bravo as an exponent of the "renaissance" that television animation experienced during the 1990s, as a result of the growing exposure to children's cable channels, new narrative airs and the integration of computer generated images into the two-dimensional format.

Partible was fired at the end of the first season, during the period Hanna-Barbera became a Warner Bros. property. After a hiatus in production, the series was renewed for a second batch of episodes to feature since 1999, then managed by a new creative team and with modifications in the character design. The latter can be seen in little Suzy, who began to have a smaller eye size and a longer face. With this there was also a change in the NTSC encoding system that allowed the program to be presented in high definition image. Partible was followed by years away from the entertainment industry, in which he suffered from low wages. In June 2016, he published a article where he put this period of his life into perspective:

When I got fired from Johnny Bravo I felt like a victim. I was told that it had a lot to do with the fact that it lacked the managerial skills necessary to manage a multi-million dollar production [...] Curiously, the orientation programme of the [hotel] Marriott had a managerial training course. It was there that I discovered the holes in my thinking and learned a multitude of skills that I still use today. The course was a great generator of trust in me, because it illuminated the fact that my dismissal had more to do with my inexperience than with my talent.

Some time later, Partible decided to return to Cartoon Network to present a new project, despite the uncomfortable atmosphere that resulted from his dismissal. However, according to what was expressed in his writing, something in that meeting convinced the channel to reinstate him to Johnny Bravo. Executives Linda Simensky and Khaki Jones allowed him to make the holiday special "A Johnny Bravo Christmas", which aired on December 7, 2001. Partible brought back the designs for the first season, although mixed with the second style for "continuity issues". Figures such as Santa Claus and Donny Osmond also reappeared in the series, and Kris Zimmerman once again directed the voice cast. This special was followed by another one devised by Partible, "It's Valentine's Day, Johnny Bravo!", with a Valentine's Day theme. As an employee at Cartoon Network Studios, the creator produced the fourth and final season, which aired on throughout 2004. This last installment began with the episode "Johnny Bravo Goes to Hollywood", which features performances by Alec Baldwin, Jessica Biel and Don Knotts assuming themselves.

Throughout the series, the use of smears (or an exaggeratedly stretched image) in rapid movements is notorious, thus avoiding the task of drawing an action by frames (see also: pose-to-pose animation). make things "cheaper, faster and easier". Model sheets help animators manipulate time-limited designs and detail the particular archetype of each character, all in favor of the change in animator not affecting the consistency of the visual style. Johnny's model, for example, is made up of various geometric shapes that define his posture and muscular build. According to Gary Hartle, who served as director on the series, the method of structuring an episode began with an outline of the story, then various ideas were taped to a wall, and whatever made the creative team laugh was considered for the final product. The results from these deliberations were then handed over to the storyboarder, with the rest of the work being defined in the pre- and post-production process.

Broadcast

Derivatives

The Johnny Bravo Diner offered fast food in the Cartoon Network theme area of the Turner Field Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

The series has been the subject of various merchandise such as toys, DVDs, decorative posters, card sets, clothing, cereal boxes, and comic books. During the year 2000, Johnny Bravo hosted JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show, a segment aired on Cartoon Network on Sunday afternoons, through which he communicated with children in real time by reading emails requesting a specific cartoon to be shown. In its two-dimensional design, it was located in a computer-generated environment and its movements were executed by motion capture software. by Johnny Bravo", and in March 2002 hosted "the first 13th Annual" Fancy Anvil Awards on Cartoon Network, which featured celebrities such as Al Roker, Debbie Allen and Daniel Radcliffe.

Variety magazine reported in 2002 that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to produce a live-action film of Johnny Bravo, and there was a possibility that the actor Dwayne Johnson played the lead, as he had declared himself a fan of the show. However, there have been no further official pronouncements regarding the project. In November 2011 the telefilm Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood, written by Van Partible and animated by Inspidea Studios in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is based on an 11-minute short of the same name that Partible made in 2009 "strictly" for India and featured at the International Film Festival from that year's Annecy Animation. The plot follows Johnny in his ill-fated attempt to become a Bollywood movie star, accompanied by his mother and Jiggy, a well-known local actor.

In June 2009, Blast! Entertainment and MumboJumbo published the video game Johnny Bravo in The Hukka Mega Mighty Ultra Extreme Date-O-Rama! for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 systems. It contains eight mini-games that accompany Johnny on a talk show. contests that he has promised to give him "a dream date with a hot girl" if he wins the challenges. One or more characters from the series also feature in the games Cartoon Network Speedway (2003), Cartoon Network: Block Party (2004), Cartoon Network Racing (2006), Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall (2009) and Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion (2011). For phones running the Java ME platform, GlobalFun designed the mobile games Johnny Bee Good (2009) and Johnny Bravo: Big Babe Adventure (2010). In the first, Johnny collects hearts through various settings in order to deliver them to a girl who has promised him a date, and in the second, after being kidnapped by a mad scientist, he explores a vast laboratory in search of a way out.

Home Format

Home releases were provided by Warner Home Video, which released the first season on DVD in June 2010 as part of the Cartoon Network Hall of Fame collection. of Cartoon Network fame." In addition to the original thirteen episodes, this two-disc package included audio commentary by Van Partible, actor Jeff Bennett, producer Kara Vallow, and writers Butch Hartman and John McIntyre, plus bonus Bringing Up Johnny Bravo, which provides a retrospective on the development and production of the show. Additionally, the miscellaneous DVD 4 Kid Favorites: The Hall of Fame Collection (2012) contained several episodes by Johnny Bravo, such as "Bravo-Dooby-Doo", "Hip Hop Flop" and "Cookie Crisis", accompanied by others from Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd n Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog. The themed compilations Cartoon Network Christmas: Yuletide Follies, Cartoon Network Halloween 2: Grossest Halloween Ever and Cartoon Network: Christmas Rocks included the episodes "A Johnny Bravo Christmas", "Frankenbravo" and "Twas the Night", respectively.<

Reception

In the words of David Perlmutter, author of the book America Toons In: A History of Television Animation (2014), Johnny Bravo is a “satire on gender relations modern with an affectionate and violently retro style" that, while "weak" in substance, is "sleekly done [and] kept the audience laughing and entertained for a long time". In 2009, the website IGN published its listing on the 100 Best Animated Series, which ranked seventy-first. ». Instead, Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club asserted that the biggest problem with it is its animation, considering that it looks "cheap" as a result of its low cost being disguised with "an impressive use of stylization". However, he also blamed this defect on the animation. most of Cartoon Network's early productions. KJ Dell Antonia, of Common Sense Media, stated that the show's humor is especially aimed at teenagers and adults, but it equally manages to entertain elementary school children. For his part, Andrés Glass of the newspaper Página/12 exposed the main character as "a fierce critic of the American way of life": he described him as a "fetishist" controlled by a "snobbish" mother, a facet that represents "an effective irony as the boy—despite being beautiful and lean—is a "failure". DL Keatis of Comic Book Resources said that Johnny seems to have become a "model role for many", but in more "conscious" times as well " is no longer funny", in view of his "blatantly misogynistic attitudes".

Several members of the creative team went on to have successful careers in the American animation industry. Among them is Seth MacFarlane, who conceived the series Family Guy while working as a writer on Johnny Bravo, and Butch Hartman, creator of The Fairly Odd Parents! and other cartoons on the Nickelodeon channel. The latter comments on material included on the first season DVD:

When Johnny Bravo It came out [in the air] for the first time, I think a lot of people didn't have great hope in it, and I think it was really great to prove what exactly character it was. Nobody really thought I'd go somewhere. [But] not only has he gone somewhere, he actually remains present, he is very iconic now.

Martin Gitlin, co-author of the book A Celebration of Animation: The 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters in Television History (2018), ranked Johnny as one of the best animated characters on television and summarized it as someone "hilarious". He found her particularly funny because, even after failing in each of his flirtations, he "remains undaunted and equally sure of his status as God's gift to women". When the show premiered in 1997 along with Cow and Chicken, Harlene Ellin of the Chicago Tribune newspaper said it was "the weaker of the two" and called it "drab": "If only the dialogues were funnier, maybe it would help make this very simple character more endearing." Instead, the Empire magazine team called Johnny "one of the great underrated characters of the 1990s" and highlighted the moments when he shows his side. endearing. User ratings on the Internet Movie Database have also placed the show among Cartoon Network's highest-rated classics of that decade. Regarding Johnny's audience appeal, Van Partible commented in 2011: "People You know this character because they have uncles, cousins, and friends who act like him. He's fun to watch, even though he's kind of a narcissist.” However, he reckons the cartoon of him made it into a TV show by luck:

I don't think my presentation was polished enough to sell in the current context. At that time, Cartoon Network was in a position where they could afford to risk a college graduate without experience. No one was really paying attention to what they were doing. Today there is much more at risk.

Nominations