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The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons

The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $16.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent--Highly Recommended
Review: A tip of the hat to Jeff Lenburg on another job well done. His encyclopedia of animated cartoons is well organized, well researched, well written and a fun to read. This book tells the complete story of everything animated and is so comprehensive in scope that I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves cartoons. They won't be disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great book on the wonderful world of cartoons!
Review: Ah, the good old days.... You and your brother turn on the TV and tune into the Saturday morning cartoons. They can remember old classics like the Flintstones, Cool McCool, Space Ghost, etc. And if you're living in the US/France, you got to see the cartoon/comic adventures of Lucky Luke, "the man who can draw faster than his shadow". You'll be excited to see info on your favorite cartoons the very first time you read it. Just read it! You'll see what I mean.

* This book does not include Lucky Luke because this comic/TV Cartoon is French

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: Recent Review
Review: From Book Page, July 1999 "The historical tidbits are wonderful."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Most helpful reference
Review: I am teh webmaster of 80scartoons.net and have found this to be the most helpful reference book available. As something of an amateur animation historian, I know that it can be difficult to find reliable information on obscure cartoons. Although there are a few minor mistakes in this book, I have found it nearly always reliable and very comprehensive. I found information not listed anywhere else. Even the airdates have proven helpful when tracking down information based on when programs aired. This book helped me round out my website and nearly complete my listing of 80's cartoons. I continue to recommend it to all animation fans I encounter.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Helpful reference
Review: I am the webmaster of 80scartoons.net and have found this to be the most helpful reference book available. As something of an amateur animation historian, I know that it can be difficult to find reliable information on obscure cartoons. Although there are a few minor mistakes in this book, I have found it nearly always reliable and very comprehensive. I found information not listed anywhere else. Even the airdates have proven helpful when tracking down information based on when programs aired. This book helped me round out my website and nearly complete my listing of 80's cartoons. I continue to recommend it to all serious animation fans I encounter. Note that it is sometimes flawed, but not to the point that it's an issue.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as useful as previous editions
Review: I have a previous edition of this book, so I was excited to find this latest one. However, the book now consists of ONLY the name of the series, a brief paragraph about it, and perhaps a voice actor list. In the process of adding more shows, the book became less interesting and useful as a resource.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazing in its scope, but should have gone a bit farther.
Review: I have been searching for this book since I was a child; I ran across an early version in a library about 15 years ago, and just this last week did I find this, most recent (2nd) edition, copyrighted 1999.

This book attempts to list and describe every animated theatrical short, theatrical feature, television special, and television series that has been shown in America. It does an amazing job- much more thorough than any other source I have seen. It contains listings of Japanese series not mentioned in "complete" anime guides; many of the listings are not acknowledged on IMDB. Hell, it lists Jot (the Dot), an animated religious show that only I seem to remember. It covers cable series, silent b/w shorts, everything... but it still doesn't go far enough.

On first perusal, I noted several missing features. For a book copyrighted 1999, there should have been mention of A Bug's Life or Antz. Even if the book were from 1997 (the information does not seem to go beyond this), where are the listings for Ghost in the Shell and Urotsukidoji (both of which had somewhat successful art-circuit theatrical runs)? Even odder, the book does not have a listing for Disney's WW2-era animated feature "Victory Through Air Power", but it's mentioned in the appendix covering Oscar nominations. It's missing Robotech the Movie (limited run), too...

Besides the missing entries, the one section the book desperately needs (in an update or companion book) is a listing to all of the straight-to-video animation that has been available over the years. There has been a deluge of anime, plus many American efforts (including many Bluth, Amblin, and Disney works), and many smaller unknown works that should be documented somewhere... (UAV's An Ant's Life: Bugs Bite, for example, an original 45 minute OAV marketed as an Antz/Bug's Life rip-off).

I have other complaints; slight inaccuracies in titles (It's Snoopy Come Home, not Snoopy Comes Home), a lack of information regarding home-video availability, and smaller/absent text pieces describing each work. Also nice would be opinion of some sort- on the quality of the animation, story, character design, etc. Some sort of non-objective review... after all, the author *is* well-versed in animation history, and his opinions would benefit those of us wanting to study animation seriously.

Despite my negative comments, though... this is an incredible book. It joins a lofty, small pantheon of indispensable pop-culture reference books; the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies Guide, Total Television and the Prime Time TV Show guides, the various Videohound guides, and the various anime reference guides. My complaints are only due to the fact that such a great book needs to be polished to perfection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A longtime prelude to bcdb.com
Review: If you're in search of information regarding a certain cartoon,you'll find it in this book. This book was first released in 1981,long before the debut of the Internet and The Big Cartoon Database,aka bcdb.com. This book only lists motion picture cartoons. It does not list comicstrips. Theatrical cartoons,Saturday morning television cartoons,animated features,you'll find them all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A "must" for students, fans, historians of cartoon animation
Review: In a fully updated and expanded second edition of The Encyclopedia Of Animated Cartoons, Jeff Lenburg offers more than 2,200 entries providing information on all aspects of film and television animated cartoons from Bugs Bunny to The Simpsons. All aspects of the medium are covers including creators, directors, promotions studios, voice talent, episode titles, release days and more. Every cartoon ever created is references including silent theatrical cartoons, sound theatrical cartoons, full-length animated features, animated television specials, and animated television series. Featuring more than 40 percent new material for this revised edition, The Encyclopedia Of Animated Cartoons is enhanced with a 16-page color section showcasing the best and the brightest art from cartoon animation's colorful past. The Encyclopedia Of Animated Cartoons is an important, benchmark publication for students, fans, and historians of cartoon animation.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Mr.Lenburg gives us a dismal history of cartoons.
Review: In his encyclopedia of animated cartoons.Mr.Jeffrey Lenburg tries to show us all.The history of animated films with text and illustrations that are neither complete or accurate or even interesting.The text has already been used in other books(With more accurate,informative and fun info than what has been presented here),illustrations that have been seen before and are depcited with inaccurate captions that do little to help enchance this book.The listing are incomplete and also untrue.Even the history of who hosted certain cartoons on local and network kids tv shows are inaccuate and insulting to the readers of this book.If you're a fan of inaccuate and ridicules triva? This book is for you.But if you're a true student of animation and kids tv/movie history? Avoid this book at all cost.Kevin S.Butler.


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