After a pretty frazzled day here (culminating with a pretty bad hard drive crash today) I thought it would be fun to have today’s Thunderbean Thursday be all about *your* picks for cartoons. Think about these particular picks being for introducing a newcomer to different genres and eras in animation.

I teach at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, and one of the things I really love about teaching the History of Animation class the is getting to pick specific films to show. It does vary from year to year, but there’s definitely some films that really need to be show no matter what.

Quite honestly, part of the big reason to start doing DVDs with Thunderbean 2004 was really wanting better copies to many of the things I wanted to show in class. It gave me a great excuse to track them down and get a good transfer on many things… and I did get a little obsessed with some of those eras for sure – and maybe I always was, a little.

Yesterday in the CCS Animation History class was WW2 day, for example, and I think it was a pretty solid show. The Cartoons for Victory disc has a great selection of posters from WW2, so we started with that bonus feature, then onto Nimbus Libéré from occupied Vichy, Bugs Bunny Bond Rally, The bonus feature from the WB Popeye set called Popeye – the Mighty Ensign, then onto Dr. Churkill, some Private Snafu cartoons, then Education for Death from Disney. I think it’s a pretty good primer on cartoons from this period. Of course there’s a lot more!

So, in the spirit of sharing, if you had a pick some cartoons for brand new eyes in each of these periods, what would your top two be? Feel free to answer one or more than one era in your reply. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts!

1) Origins of cinema animation (the earliest stuff)

2) The dawn of sound

3) The Dawn of television

4) Experimental animation (pick what era!)

5) Cartoon Network’s best Era (I know you have opinions on this!).

Have a good week all, and looking forward to your answers!