Loonatics Unleashed - The Music Villain (Snark)

Here we go with the kickoff to the finale of Loonatics Unleashed. Technically they consider the finale to be a two-parter, and that’s the two after this one. But forget that. This episode leads straight into the last two and has events you need to know about for those to make sense. It’s a three-parter.

This episode’s called “The Music Villain,” eh? As in the stock member of a superhero rogues gallery with a music motif?

The Loonatics are at Zadavia’s little underwater house where she’s praising how much more formidable they’ve gotten, like Bugs with his magic sword and Wile E. in the “non-technology hero department.” No idea what she was watching to make that assessment, since if anything the show relies on his inventions even more now than the last season. In fact as she says that we clearly see footage of him using his turn-things-to-water gun from “Cape Duck.” “I’ve been trying to get out of the lab more” indeed.

Right after this they’re interrupted as Zadavia gets a talking email saying she and guest are invited to the show at the Cosmic Abyss that night, but it’s only from “a friend.” Lexi says that’s apparently a mondo venue, and despite being some kind of super vague important dignitary/law enforcement official, Zadavia’s curiosity’s greater than her caution and she decides to see who sent the tix.

Daffy acts as if he’s obviously going to accompany her to this, but she comeidcally picks Wile E. instead. At least she didn’t pick Bugs. Daffy shows up anyway, since it’s hard to keep teleporters from gate-crashing these things. He even acts like a jerk and tells Wile E. to get them some drinks, and Wile E. does. Hey, if he’s a jerk, you’re a doormat.

Check the reactions on the crowd.

The generic music act ends, and introducing the next act is none other than Mr. Leghorn, almost unrecognizable yet somehow more recognizable than ever because of how much more Doug Dimmadome-y he became in between seasons.

Meet Bootes Belinda, an annoying funk musician OF THE FUTURE! He sounds a lot like the guy who talks over the intro sequence, actually, because, well, it is the same guy, Bootsy Collins. Dang, went all out for a name for his character, eh? He constantly says “Hit me!”, and I’m inclined to humor him.

After a minute Zadavia recognizes the music the band’s playing, and Bootes calls out to “Zadie” before he starts blasting lasers from his stupid future guitar into the stands

The entire band starts destroying the stadium, and despite having energy powers sufficient to go up against fighter ships, I have to notice Zadavia’s content to do nothing more than blast a few pieces of falling debris before they hit her and her escorts. Not other people, just her, Daffy and Wile E. This leaves the two Loonatics present to try and subdue the militant musicians. Granted Zadavia was just talking about how much they’ve honed their skills, but is this really the time to promote their personal growth?

Daffy and Wile E. aren’t much use and get flung into the stands, and the band fly away on their floating stage, having achieved…something.

Back at Loonatics HQ (and not the underwater house) Zadavia’s still sure she heard that short bit of music before, and right then Bootes easily hacks their communications and taunts Zadavia that they do indeed have a shared past even though she claims to have never seen him before. Flexing his Batmanesque Detective Skills™ once again, Bugs suggests they “do some snoopin’ and see where handsome and his funky band play next.” Which will work! Because after collapsing their previous venue and attacking the attendees, he’ll show up to play wherever he’s booked next and WON’T be intercepted by legions of police and/or military waiting for the guy to show his face. Besides, he’s obviously interested in Zadavia, so even if the Loonatics do run into him at his next gig, what are the odds it’ll just be a distraction so they won’t be around to stop flunkies from grabbing her? I’m going to go with high to very high.

But we don’t even have to wait. Retiring to her underwater house, Zadavia’s flabbergasted to find “the Lumarius Flower of Freleng” floating in her room, since “it can’t be, not here.” When she touches the bloom, it sucks out her rainbow powers. Bootes was hiding and comes out to explain how the flower’s “the black dwarf daisy, a cosmic light sucker. No photons escape its petals.” And since her powers are apparently light-derived, she’s badly weakened. Although if she was able to recognize the flower you’d hope she’d know that and know better than to touch it.

And remember Bugs’s plan to check where Bootes’s band will be playing next? They’re not calling around or checking booking records to find that out, the Loonatics are out randomly hitting nightclubs hoping to find one he’s playing at. I just…wha…why…how did…<deep breath> We went from Bugs solving mysteries with his master detective skills to randomly throwing out lines hoping for a bite? Why nightclubs when he was big enough to get booked at a huge stadium? And perhaps best of all, the Loonatics aren’t out checking different clubs, so as to make semi-effective use of their time with this gambit. All of them are together for some reason as they do this.

Daffy apparently got a bit of action while they were in there, though, leading Bugs to declare “You’re hopeless, Duck.” Consider who came up with the genius plan he’s not sticking to before you remonstrate anybody, oh Great Leader.

Bugs’s watch goes off then, and he automatically can tell that Zadavia’s in trouble and they speed to her underwater house to the rescue. You see?! I told you, you were just leaving her ripe for the picking, but noooooooooooooooo!

They run in and find the place trashed, which I guess Bootes did just to be a dick since obviously no struggle took place.  “Looks like the maid’s in for a butt-kicking,” Daffy opines. “Uh, I don’t think a maid did this, Duck,” Bugs replies. And I don’t think he was serious, ya big-eared twit.

Wile E. plays back the security cam footage, showing Zadavia touching the flower and getting sucked dry before Bootes himself calls them on the holo-phone. He shows them he’s got what’s-her-face hostage, but is willing to let her go for “a little cosmic guitar” that Wile E. can “funkenstein up.” Wile E. traces the signal (which Bootes was expecting him to do), but first it’s off to funkenstein up that cosmic guitar. And that’s all they’re telling us about this thing for now. Cosmic guitar.

Zadavia put a security camera in her ow bedroom?

Upon arriving at the rail yard to meet up with Bootes, Bugs asks if everybody knows the plan. You’re only asking now? Everyone says yes while brandishing progressively larger weapons. Yeah, that’s not gonna turn the situation ugly. Bootes shows up and quips, “if it ain’t a blast from the past!” He does ignore all their weapons, though, and just wants the guitar.

As soon as he has it, the band attacks the Loonatics but proves more than a match for the varmints’ firepower. That is, until Wile E. gets them with his trusty jello gun. Somehow being trapped in jello exposes the band members to be robots (or “mannequins”) except for the keyboard player, who somehow uses his keyboard to set two trains on a collision course with the car where Zadavia’s being held. Gotta say, it’s actually pretty clever for this show to have the real villain trick the heroes into thinking one of his flunkies is the leader to take them by surprise. Even if none of them noticed how he was suspiciously absent before.

The Loonatics stop the trains just in time, but Zadavia proves to be a holographic dummy, and this gives the keyboard player time to free his puppets and make off with the cosmic guitar. And none of the Loonatics bother to think of pursuing with those jetpacks they got there with.

Back at his hideout, the keyboard player siphons Zadavia’s rainbow powers, which she still has somehow despite the thing with the flower, into the cosmic guitar which makes it truly cosmic, I guess. Zadavia wakes up and remembers seeing him before, back on Freleng, this menacing personage proving to be one Rupes Oberon.

The villains to come from Freleng have all been insultingly one-dimensional, but this one’s just painful. Rupes, or as the credits call him and so shall I, Keyboard Man, became embittered and joined a cabal for universal domination because…Zadavia ignored his composition for a new Frelengian national anthem (How can a planet have a “national” anthem? To quote one of the masters, “Doesn’t the fact that it’s universal make it international?”).

Although as usual Zadavia hardly comes out smelling like a rose. “But Rupes, we already had a national anthem. One that had words.” That’s why you turned him down? Because of the existence of lyrics??

She’s only explaining this now, by the way. The way it plays out in the flashback he’s serenading her, then Deuce whispers something in her ear and she gets up and leaves without so much as a “thanks but no thanks.” Yeah, he’s a maniac for becoming a force of evil over that (I almost said lunatic). No doubt. Who knows what might’ve happened if she’d been polite about it instead of getting up and walking away, though?

At Loonatics HQ, the varmints are actually taking time trying to figure out who the band’s puppetmaster was. Clearly not the guy it obviously was in the last scene!

Look at this guy. He does not look like a cool, butt-kicking, crime-solving hero. Sorry.

Wile E. finally deigns to explain the significance of the cosmic guitar, and that it ties into string theory. To hear him tell it, “Think of the universe as a galactic orchestra. The Keyboard Man knows that if he can channel Zadavia’s energy into his guitar, he can use that power to control the universe.” Simple enough, not that he’ll ever do anything of that magnitude, but what does that have to do with your description of the universe as an orchestra?

Bugs magically intuits that what Keyboard Man wants above all else is attention. That’s right, but how does he know? Anyway, it means he’s going to try whatever he’s going to try at Galaxy Fest, the biggest music fest ever. Which has nobody there when the Loonatics go there and when the band attacks them again.

As before the Loonatics prove a poor match for the band and get knocked all over the place by their musical energy blasts, even without the bad guys busting out the cosmic guitar. As usual Wile E. has a device to fit the occasion (Really getting to strut his non-inventor stuff, isn’t he?), a satellite dish to reflect the band’s attacks. Bugs goads them into shooting by insulting Bootes’s mama, which works even though he’s just a puppet being controlled by Keyboard Man.

Where is that coming out of? Is he Inspector Gadget all of a sudden?

The mannequins are handily destroyed by their own reflected attack, but Keyboard Man appears to be all too happy to be rid of them, as it’s only then he busts out the cosmic guitar and uses it to drop the de-powered Zadavia off the stage and open a portal that’ll take him to meet some other powerful baddie he can join up with to complete his grand scheme.

Unfortunately Roadrunner catches Zadavia, who moans. “I’m afraid the guitar isn’t the only thing he’s taken,” Zadavia moans. “He’s also taken my powers.” Which you were getting so much use out of, with the way you make them do all the dirty work.

By the way, Bugs tries to console her by saying they can always get the guitar back. Even though he himself said before it made Keyboard Man invincible, and it gives a deranged musician control of the fabric of the universe. Please be in a hurry to do something about this, Greatest Action Hero of All Time! Man, this show was never that great, but it’s gone downhill fast the last couple episodes.

Who should Keyboard Man be paying a visit to but Optimatus! Who’s chained to a chair even though he wasn’t last time we saw him. I do hope they’re going to explain that.

But I ain’t betting on it.

And now...back to the two-part series finale.

Loonatics Unleashed – In Search of Tweetums, Part 2 (Snark, Series Finale)

After the recap, open on Wile E. appraising Bugs of the situation with Deuce, with Bugs reacting only with a “thanks for the update.” You found out Deuce stole your ride, and he’s using it to bring a supposed ultimate army of emotionless killers to a place that he can use as a staging ground to invade anywhere in the universe he pleases. And all you’ve got to say is “thanks for the update.” Not even an “oh man”?

We see Zadavia in a cabin on her brother’s former, now reclaimed, flagship. Deuce mocks that without her powers she might “catch your death of cold” and tosses her her cape. She fires back that he might have her powers for now, but ultimately they’ll be his downfall. Is there any reason why they won’t be your downfall, maybe, Big Z?

“Accept your fate. You will never rule again.” I ask again, what was stopping her from going back to Freleng and being the ruler? Her flunkies defeated Optimatus who only became a threat again very recently. Did Optimatus blow up the planet and his asteroid headquarters from this time last season was all that was left? A little more effort in the world-building would've been nice.

As they fly along, chasing down the trail of clues to Tweety’s hiding place his decoy promised them, Bugs addresses his posse, “Hang tight, gang! We’ve gotta reach the real [Tweety] before the bad guys!” Good thing you’re here! The usual pre-theme song prologue was replaced by a recap this time, so this isn’t even for the benefit of people who missed part one.

They land at a ring of stones where their first clue is carved into the rock in alien writing. “What’s black and blue and red all over?” Daffy corrects Tweety-bot that it’s “black and white” and the answer’s a newspaper. Even seven and a half centuries in the future, huh? He spots a rolled up newspaper on the ground nearby, but when he picks it up triggers a booby trap that drops a load of orange slime on him. Easily shaken off orange slime at that. If that’s this planet’s idea of a booby trap, I’m starting to see why the bad guys had so little trouble walking in and taking over. The newspaper turns out to be a map, and it wasn’t even ruined by the slime. Gee, how wrong this could’ve gone if the bad guys had the advantage of numbers and found the map first.

A clue, apparently.

Via the miracle of recycled footage we see Deuce’s commandeered ship cruising through space. Then, Zadavia escaping her cell/cabin through an air vent. Wearing her big, voluminous cape while doing so for some reason. I don’t know, that just seems like something you’d ditch if you were trying to be stealthy.

She’s able to do this because even though her room has no door, the robot guarding her’s facing the hall. If there’s nothing keeping her in there but the guard himself, why wouldn’t he be facing her, I ask? Because if the robots lived up to their reputation, the heroes would be screwed. The robots don’t even prove to be that tough, because Zadavia climbs down from above and easily rips one’s head off with her knees and then kicks it aside with one blow.

Big Z opens a closet that she just happens to know contains the cosmic guitar and handily isn’t locked. Villain arrogance or bad writing? You decide.

She’s caught before she can re-absorb her powers from it and just uses it to shoot music lasers at the robots chasing her, then flees to the hangar to commandeer a ship. Deuce catches her, and despite Zadavia blasting him with a music laser he mysteriously isn’t torn to bits like his robots were. Admittedly as I was going through here pausing repeatedly to get screencaps I could see that Deuce somersaults out of the way, but with the spastic light effects it’s hard to tell that he doesn’t get hit while watching the actual scene. And she still shot that at him knowing what it did to his robots, and that it has the power to warp the fabric of reality.

He gets the last laugh by shooting a control panel that opens the bay doors and sucks her into the void. Bye bye, Zadavia!

Back to the Loonatics, who are in a network of caves. “So, uh, which one’s the lucky tunnel?” Bugs asks. Don’t you guys have a map? If this is where it ends and you need to solve another puzzle for your next set of directions, could somebody say that?

Oh, but there is no puzzle, as Tweety-bot explains Daffy’s supposed to guess. “That’s what makes it fun!” And Daffy does guess, steps on a pressure plate and gets squashed by falling rocks. That’s what the ruler of the most important planet of the universe, one so significant it can plunge the galaxy into centuries of war, thinks is fun. And the show wants you to think the universe is in good hands with him in charge.

Daffy’s okay, because that was supposed to be funny. They make it to the end of the trail which is marked by a door and an obvious panel of levers to open it. Again, they have to randomly select the right one or suffer the humorously painful consequences. Screw you, Tweety! You specifically said follow a trail of clues, not a trail of lucky guesses!

Daffy refuses to play Tweety’s games this time, and tries to make Sylvester do it. He refuses too and makes Taz do it. Taz picks one that makes rocks fall, but in predictable humor fashion the falling rocks squish Daffy and Sylvester instead. It does open the door, prompting Lexi and Bugs to praise Taz’s random guess and ignoring the others still buried underneath ten tons of rock.  More on that kind of thing in the wrap-up, but right now, is that supposed to somehow keep out intruders? The rocks don’t even fall on the guy pulling the lever, even if it was something that would hurt him.

They find an awfully lavish back-up throne room behind the door, and after an annoying song from Tweety, Sylvester decides he’s had enough and stalks over to make a snack out of him only to fall down a trap door (even though we clearly saw he has a jetpack). Tweety declares, “Well, I left you plenty of clues Mr. Duck. But you sure took your sweet time getting here.” Maybe that’s because most of your clues were “here’s your options, close your eyes and pick one,” smart guy.

Tweety basically tells us why his scepter’s so important, whichi Zadavia already told us, and that he hid out here because it’s the one place the bad guys would never find him. And wouldn’t you know it, right then Optimatus flies out of the trap door Sylvester fell down, carrying the bad ol’ putty tat. You know, when the plot only works because the characters on both sides are dummies, it makes it hard to figure out how to root for.

Deuce shows up too, along with his robo-troops. And they blow up the same wall twice with the footage flipped the second time (Yeah, sorry guys, you're messing with a Dragon's Lair vet). So much for the bad guys would never find you there, huh?!

The robots prove completely useless, and even Sylvester gets to kick some butt, but they provide enough of a distraction that Deuce is able to grab Tweety and demand that Bugs hand over the scepter. “You’re a very, very bad man,” Tweety informs Deuce. And you’re a very, very unbelievable benevolent monarch.

Daffy pleads with them to spare Tweety’s life, but as soon as they toss Tweety to Bugs, the bad guys put him in a force field to take with as “A little insurance policy, in case your friends get any ideas.” They reveal their true colors right away anyway, having the robots shoot out the ceiling to bury the Loonatics. All they actually do is create a wall of rubble that cuts them off from the Loonatics. Lexi tries to blast through, but the room’s so unstable Bugs warns her against anymore or it could bring the roof down on them. Oh, now the show's in "serious mode," and rocks falling on them would be dangerous instead of funny, huh?

I guess we weren't in "serious mode" before when the Loonatics were trying to find the big MacGuffin that will let the bad guys rule the universe. Bad guys who aren't played the least bit comically. Once again, I definitely think the same show can be both funny and serious and still be entertaining as all hell. But this one switches between them poorly and just feels schizophrenic.

Optimatus gloats about ruling the universe, but it turns out Deuce is backstabbing Optimatus. Just like Bugs. And Sam. And Zadavia. And Keyboard Man. So I have to disagree with Daffy when he says “I did not see that one coming.” Deuce puts Optimatus in a bubble that contains his rainbow powers. And for some reason they switch Daffy’s force field out for handcuffs that block his powers.

Back to the other Loonatics, who are stuck in the throne room. Even though Bugs was worried about any big shock bringing the roof down on their heads, the shaking from Wile E. drilling into the room via his drill-mobile from “Going Underground” doesn’t do anything. So…the Loonatics have another spaceship, allowing the others to find their friends on Blanc? Which one? And they knew where to find the others because of homing thingies.

Tweety explains things aren’t over yet, because his scepter can’t actually control portals without a jewel hidden in the necklace that was the only part of the stupid knight costume Daffy’s still wearing. Handy, huh?

We see Optimatus in a cell, and strangely not in that bubble that contains his powers anymore. Who should show up then but Zadavia, with her rainbow powers restored. She frees him, by shooting him in the chest and not his restraints, and he automatically rainbow-blasts some robots coming in to recapture them. After all the evil plots of his, being happy to kill people on a planetary scale just to get rid of her, Optimatus keeps her from being shot in the back by a bunch of robots.After she just shot him in the chest.

That looks real friendly, don't it?

But no, Optimatus’s entire worldview has been completely shattered. One he had even before Zadavia shot him in the face with rocket exhaust. Just like that, Optimatus is a good guy. Just. Like. That. Very convenient. So much so it's almost as if the writers knew the show was ending and didn't bother trying. Yet...well, we'll get to that.

Wile E. and Roadrunner are staying behind in Tweety’s throne room to keep an eye on him, and suddenly the room’s filled with his little egg-bots. Where’d they come from? And what could the show possibly be getting at by showing so many…?

The other Loonatics and Sylvester fly to the core of the planet where Deuce and his robo-army are preparing to deploy. And make no effort to just shoot the dopes down despite seeing them coming.

A massive fight breaks out with the soldiers Deuce was going to take over the universe with going down like wet cardboard. And they still fall for that shooting at their targets from both sides and shooting each other instead trick.

Bugs does almost get thrown over a ledge, but then Zadavia shows up and—this is hilarious—uses her rainbow beams to totally blow away the robots holding Lexi, but all that happens to Lexi is she falls to the ground exactly where she was. And countless other robo-soldiers. “I told you your disloyalty would be your undoing,” she snipes at Deuce. No, you told him your stolen powers would be his undoing. The exact line was “Traitor! You may have my powers for now, but they will ultimately be your undoing!”

Despite her bravado the robots soon appear to be gaining the upper hand. Deuce even brazenly asks if they have any last words, with Daffy replying, “I’ve got a few, but I’d have to wash out my mouth with soap.” He’s the butt of all the jokes and gets all the flak from his teammates, but he’s the only one who ever gets a halfway-decent one-liner.

Sylvester (appropriately) pussies out and tries to change sides by telling Deuce about the missing part of the scepter and Daffy having it. Who should show up to bail our “heroes” out of trouble but Tweety and his egg-bots, who’ve been “retro-fitted” with super-strong armor. Which Wile E. and Roadrunner managed to do all by themselves in the little while it’s been since we saw them (maybe if they’d explained the armor’s actually a special paint or something…), and the raw material for armor and the equipment to apply it on the egg-bots were handily nearby somewhere despite Wile E. only coming up with the idea to turn the egg-bots into an army after he saw them all there. Meaning he didn’t bring it with him intending to do that.

But anyway, with Deuce’s advantage of numbers neutralized the Loonatics are able to fight free and start to gain the upper hand again. Deuce tries to open the portal hub and Bugs follows him inside, with Deuce putting the scepter into some kind of compartment that makes the thingy do the portal stuff.

Bugs and Deuce meet for a final duel. The sad thing is, this is obviously supposed to be not just the climax of the season, but the climax of Bugs and Deuce’s rivalry from way back in “Secrets of the Guardian Strike Sword.” Which as I went into there, doesn’t work that well because it’s between the most generic wise-cracking action hero stereotype and one-dimensionally self-obsessed powermongering villain in memory. And that was the only episode they were given to develop the rivalry between these characters. Which those more sophisticated cartoons from Japan would’ve never given such short shrift.

Yes, yes, they backed off and softened the show, but they still went ahead with it. If they weren’t after Toonami’s audience anymore, then who? With the ever-increasing leanings toward lightness and humor I’m tempted to say young viewers in general, but the serious and silly elements are both so poorly-balanced I’m hesitant to commit to any answer.

The cardboard cutouts fight.

Bugs: “I see ya still have the old moves workin’ for ya!”

Deuce: “And a few new ones that you haven’t seen!” <Punches Bugs in the face>

Not only is the quipping during the climactic fight pathetic, a plain old straight to the face is supposed to be a cool move?

Deuce announces his plans to escape, build a new army and return. “I don’t think so! Looks like you bought yourself a one way ticket!”

Bugs uses his laser vision to break a deadlock (That seems like cheating when Deuce has nothing comparable) and the show reaches the culmination of flat out lying to your face about how he’s the greatest hero ever. The kickback from the laser vision knocks Deuce into the heart of the portal thing, and Bugs uses the Guardian Strike Sword to activate the portal (by stabbing the controller) and suck Deuce off into the ether. Deuce vanishes with an agonized yell, but given the very safe nature of this show and the fact that we’re about to end on hopes for another season, I doubt very much it would’ve been anywhere he couldn’t come back from, and I’m almost positive Bugs knew that too.

 

Hell, shooting Deuce into the unknown depths already came back to bite him once!

And Bugs did this in the interests of banishing Deuce from planet Blanc, but in doing so, gave the villain what he wanted: an escape. Way to go! Nice to see you haven’t improved at all! Sylvester goes to jail, why not Deuce?

Yeah, he’s supposed to be lost without the scepter, but he got sucked inside a wormhole back in the first episode he appeared in too, and that didn’t last. Why not put him someplace where you can keep an eye on him, instead of shunting him conveniently off-screen to get up to all sorts of season-driving mischief?

And even if we’re supposed to believe Deuce is lost in a wormhole, well, Keyboard Man didn’t need an instruction manual to go through a wormhole and find Optimatus. And they had no trouble finding Deuce on a runaway space train. What, because he’s a musician he instantly knows how to control the fabric of the cosmos? Deuce didn’t need any help figuring out the cosmic implement either. Pardon me for saying this show actually makes it look like navigating a wormhole’s easy. And it’s not that he’s trapped, according to Zadavia it’s that “he’d never find his way out again.” But as I just said, this show doesn’t actually make toying with universal forces look hard, and Deuce probably only didn’t escape before because that would’ve blown the surprise. Thirty seconds after Bugs sucked him into the portal Deuce probably landed right on top of some Neolithic guys thinking “If only the gods would send someone to rekindle our people’s warrior spirit…”

How does the scepter thingy even work? You can go anywhere, but you can’t come back without someone who stays behind because the thing you need to control it has to stay there? Or can you use the scepter to open a portal from the other end? Maybe they were planning to go into more detail if they made it to another season...

Outside, the energy pulse from Bugs doing this takes out Deuce’s robots. Handy, with how much time they have left in the episode. While we’re still sort of on the subject of our heroes improving, with the menace seen off for now, Zadavia announces she and Optimatus are going back to Freleng now, and that the Loonatics are no longer just heroes in training. They don’t need her to look out for them anymore, and must “rise to the next level, and become guardians of the universe.”

“Guardians of the universe? I like the sound of that!” Bugs enthuses. Yeah, well, don’t like it too much. You guys already got your greasy fingerprints all over one Warner Brothers-owned franchise. It’s bad enough how Blanc’s the planet at the center of the universe…

By the way, we never heard about that “heroes in training” before. Makes you feel better about all the stuff the Loonatics got up to before, knowing they were only technically trainee heroes, doesn’t it? There probably wasn’t an actual ranking system in place, no, but still, what was Zadavia waiting for to declare their training complete? Most superheroes don’t stop training once they start fighting actual villains. What, saving the world at the end of last season wasn’t enough, they had to wait for a chance to save the whole universe??

This gets even more embarrassing if you think about the push to play up the ties to the original Looney Tunes this season. Fighting all those other villains and saving Acmetropolis from Optimatus on two occasions wasn’t worthy of recognition (the first being “The Comet Cometh”). It’s only after triumphing over Sylvester, Granny, Sam, Fudd, Pierre le Pew, Porky, Flipper, Roadrunner’s slacker kid brother and a villain seriously named Keyboard Man that the Loonatics are finally considered pros. The first season’s villains were nothing great, but most (not all, but most) of the threats faced by our heroes this season were even less so.

Oh, and now we’re hearing about Freleng again. Took you frigging long enough. Despite Optimatus having been taken out and somehow imprisoned even more thoroughly off-screen, evidently the Loonatics needed her more than however many million Frelengians were left without a ruler throughout this whole season. Despite, as I said, the Loonatics having a world-saving and several lesser villains under their belts already. And despite me still having next to no idea what Zadavia actually did for the team besides call them with new developments sometimes.

The Loonatics decide to make Blanc their new headquarters, with the portals allowing them to go anywhere in the universe they’re needed. Yeah. They're going to take on all the evil in the universe. That sounds like something the six of these barely second-string punks can handle.

  

The show ends with Tweety bashing Daffy over the head with his scepter one last time. And Daffy shows himself to be the least shitty Loonatic one last time, because he at least has the ability to learn from his experiences and gets a helmet on in time. And thank heavens that’s the end, because if this had gone on for another season, Tweety would've been the new Zadavia, and the one we had before was bad enough.

Pee-yoo! When I finished up the first season I said the second one was a little better, but I officially amend that statement to say it’s only better in the sense of making for better riffing

But what was anybody expecting from a premise sick from birth and not long for this world? I know Loonatics Unleashed has its fans, but I’ve yet to hear of anything that doesn’t. And “so bad it’s good” shows count too.

This show didn’t succeed not just because of a premise that never would’ve caught on, but because, like lots of attempts to cash in, the people behind it made too little effort to understand what the audience they were after liked about what they were trying to copy. Warner Bros. seems to have missed the memo that a big part of the reason anime was catching on was because, while there were way cool fight scenes, on the whole it devoted more effort to characterization and plot because of the long, arcing stories they usually have too. Whereas many Western action cartoons could, aside from a pilot episode that established the setting and perhaps a big doomsday scenario to end the season, often be watched in any order. Loonatics Unleashed does little to venture from this.

That’s a big reason I got so mad at “It Came From Outer Space.” We’re evidently left to assume, mainly from one instance of Lexi hugging Bugs in the first season, that Bugs is refusing to let anyone take Lexi because of an understated romantic interest between the two of them. In most anime worth their salt, the capper for that episode would be the characters realizing the depth of their feelings for each other and either taking their relationship to the next level or realizing they can’t do that while <X big threat> is still hanging over their heads. Thus resulting in subdued but still present romantic feelings. In Loonatics Unleashed, they went home, had one last lame gag, and end credits.

Even when it tries to inject a bit of humor into the proceedings, it can’t find a good balance between that and its bigger emphasis on action, and changes gears poorly. Case in point, Daffy having huge rocks fall on him twice in a row in this episode and being okay, because it was supposed to be funny. Then immediately after that, the show decides it's going to be serious now and rocks falling on the Loonatics will suddenly kill them.

Then again, there’s the big changes that took place, and how maybe I shouldn’t be comparing this show to anime since they made it more in the style of DC Animated Universe. Populated by such favorites as Batman the Animated Series, Superman the Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League (Unlimited), and so forth, because of the unfriendly reaction the original trailer got. But I dunno, maybe part of the reason those shows succeeded where Loonatics Unleashed failed is because they were about superheroes that had been around for decades and were already familiar to audiences. Yes, everybody knows who the Looney Tunes are, but whenever they did superhero cartoons, those were always parodies. And despite my insistence on sticking to the old names because these can hardly be called a new cast, the show wants you to think that’s not Bugs, Bugs is this guy’s ancestor! Totally new set of characters!

And those shows did make time to explore their characters. Especially ones like, oh, the star of Batman Beyond who didn’t have any previous adventures to refer to.  Even the guy from Zorro: Generation Z had a life outside of fighting crime, but not the Loonatics. Lame one-liners are not character development. Not all by themselves, anyway.

And taking the show’s new directions a step further, there’s the proliferation of reinvented characters this season, in an attempt to make this show viable after the serious direction didn't prove marketable. What if that idea worked, as they were obviously hoping it would? Where was there left to take the lighter direction? What new versions of old character were there left to roll out other than, like, Lightspeed Gonzales, (Planet) Crusher, and Space…Witch Hazel?

Where was there left to go with that idea? In case you don’t remember, and who could blame you, I made a point that the characters who were harmless comedic antagonists before are still harmless comedic antagonists now. Fudd, Sylvester and Sam didn’t work as threats this time, forget about round two. The only old/new villain who with any believability was Marvin, who was so tough the Loonatics only beat him because the show literally forgot his ship was supposed to be indestructible

Would they have ventured even farther looking for guest characters? Maybe descendants of Pinky and the Brain? Well, they already had the voice actors…

Guess that’s it, nothing much else to say.

Oh wait, my reaction to the “guardians of the universe” remark?

Can't be any plainer than that, can I?

Might as well add I was no fan of Duck Dodgers, but if you want an example of a cartoon that combined Looney Tunes-style humor with serious action when the story called for it and did a decent job, there you go.

Merry whatever-you-celebrate!