The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil

The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
Poor Bob Clampett...
Genre: Animation Comedy Running Time: 30 minutes Country: United States Release Date: September 10 - October 29, 1988 Network(s): ABC Created by: John Kricfalusi Distributed by: ABC Starring: Billy West Jim MacGeorge Maurice LaMarche Mark Hildreth Cree Summer Laura Harris Jane Mortifee

The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil was a very short-lived revival of Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil. It was produced in 1988 by DIC Animation City. Only eight episodes were produced, five which aired during its original run. This incarnation of the show was produced and directed by John Kricfalusi, who would later create Nickelodeon’s The Ren & Stimpy Show.

Plot

The revival of the classic Bob Clampett series is about the adventures of a boy and a sea serpent who goes on adventures.

Bad Qualities

1. Weird and disturbing gross-out material, which ruined the reputation of Beany and Cecil, and Bob Clampett. Such as Cecil biting a tiger's butt in the episode "Radio With A Bite".
2. Some pop culture references that are unnecessary, such as Michael Jackson, along with his album, "Bad".
3. Some stuff that is added is just random nonsense, even by Beany and Cecil standards. Examples include Pinocchio who is on a wrecked boat inside a whale, And the part where Cecil jumps and somehow goes as far to the space after drinking an exploding juice.
4. Dishonest John acts mean-spirited and immature, but then again, his name is Dishonest John.
5. False advertising: The ending of the theme song is misleading by saying it's "A Bob Clampett Cartoon" even though Clampett wasn't involved with the project and died of a heart attack on May 2, 1984, in Detroit, Michigan, six days before his 71st birthday.
6. It barely even stays true to the source material.
7. Terrible animation for 1988 standards that ranges from being bland and simplistic to just plain uncanny and creepy-looking to the point where it wouldn't feel out of place in a Hanna-Barbera, Terrytoons, UPA, Warner Bros. Seven-Arts or DePatie-Freleng cartoon. Even other '80s cartoons with a low budget had way better animation than this.

Good Qualities

1. Beany and Cecil are still likable.
2. It started Billy West's career, who later voiced Stimpy, and later Ren on Nickelodeon's The Ren & Stimpy Show.
3. The designs are still good, expressive, and stylish.
4. Some jokes could be funny.

Reception

The more ABC strove to soften the show, the more Kricfalusi pushed for shocking and offensive material. The Clampett family were ultimately not very happy with the cartoon but remained supportive of Kricfalusi. ABC canceled the show after a handful of episodes as they found the humor not suitable for children's programming. As a result, ABC replaced it with The Flintstone Kids. It has a 6.4 rating on IMDb.

Trivia

• The same font for the logo was later used in The Ren & Stimpy Show.
• This was the first cartoon that the late Chris Reccardi worked on in the animation industry.

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