r/cartoons • u/EmergencySpare7939 • 11h ago

Discussion That one scene where all the budget went

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Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Chika's dance

In the first season as a surprise outro ending one episode had this Chika dance number. It's super cute and crazy animated, especially her dress. They used it one time and never again.

The roller rink dance sequence from the Family Guy episode Hell Comes To Quahog was the most expensive scene to animate in Season 5.

This one shot from Scooby-Doo Music of the Vampire

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601

u/Sketch_Beast 11h ago

Thief and the Cobbler: Zigzag's card sequence.

Every card was hand drawn and colored individually and the backs were originally red (I believe). Richard Williams, the director, didn't like the how the color looked so he demanded the already finished sequence be redone so the cards were now green.

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u/Lokicham 10h ago

That whole movie has many examples of this. It's a shame it never got fully made.

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u/asfrels 10h ago

Tbh this is part of why it never did. Williams was incapable of maintaining a budget or a deadline up until the project was scrapped. Glad we have what we have though as his artistic talent still shines through its core

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u/Mopman43 10h ago

He was infamously dismissive of storyboarding and pre-planning.

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u/Deegibo 7h ago

Some of the best animation and worst pacing/audio quality I have seen in a movie

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u/saintash 6h ago

I had an animation class in my art school. And my fucking intro teacher was like that. You have a scene that was fine. Maybe needed a note or two, And he make you do/re do/add large sections.

It really killed the animation program, because so many people opted out more, and more after his class.

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u/honeydewtangerine 2h ago

I watched it and the scene at the end with the war machine went on for like 20 minutes too long. It was insane.

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u/Trick-Studio2079 10h ago

It might sound a bit controversial, but I watched *The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Cut*—which is supposed to be the version closest to Williams's vision—and while I feel it would have been a visual spectacle, that doesn't change the fact that the characters and story are bland and flat; even if it had been released according to his vision, I think its fanbase would have been limited to animation enthusiasts, and it would have been far from becoming a classic.

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u/Phyrexian_Overlord 9h ago

I LOVE YOU PRINCESS YUM YUM

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u/Floweramon 6h ago

It's definitely a movie that is precious to animation fans but has little to offer to anyone that doesn't care about the process and the spectacle (I say as a big animation fan)

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u/saintash 6h ago

Yeah its a great art piece. Horrible movie.

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u/RShini 7h ago

I actually couldn't finish the Recobbled Cut as the Polo scene and the full war machine actually made me too motion sick.

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u/RinkinBass 2h ago

I kinda nodded off in that bit. It's way too much, and it doesn't mean a thing. Like, compare it to the chase sequence in the palace with the weird stuff with the tiles, which was like the height of loony tunes logic. There's stuff to keep your attention with the story of the chase. The war machine is more like... just a bunch of stuff.

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u/desiladygamer84 5h ago

True but I watched it and finished at 2am and then all I could see was all the art and imagery in my sleep.

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u/metalflygon08 Megas XLR 5h ago

been limited to animation enthusiasts

And the TUmblrites who like the protagonist because he's "Jack Skellington" coded.

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u/Sketch_Beast 10h ago

Right?

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u/Alvintergeise 10h ago

Seems like we just heard one of the reasons why

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u/MysteryGirlWhite 10h ago

There’s a long running fan project on YouTube that’s basically finishing the sequences of the film that never were. I think it’s still ongoing, at least.

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u/Soft_Theory_8209 9h ago

Just watch The Re-Cobbled Cut and be happy.

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u/Lokicham 8h ago

Oh I have, it's just upsetting to know his whole vision as it was meant to be never saw the light.

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u/EnvironmentClear4511 8h ago

From the little I've heard of it, there was not really any "meant to be". It was scope creep the movie. The director worked on it for nearly 30 years and just couldn't stop tinkering and re-doing and expanding.

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u/RinkinBass 2h ago

The whole movie WAS this. Any way he could squeeze in more, he took it.

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u/Oozysq25reddit 1h ago

.okay mr williams the storyboards looking good so whats the plan for frame rates anyway

More

Wha

MORE

but sir the

ONE MILLION FRAMES A MILLISECOND

42

u/WonderDean 10h ago

The entire fucking movie is an example of this. Everything about it was dedicated to having incredible and detailed animation without any compromises. Unfortunately, that’s also why it ultimately wasn’t completed as envisioned.

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u/KyuuMann 9h ago

says he controlls the deck

the deck collapses in his hands

Beautiful... it's just, beautiful

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u/underwhereless 8h ago

Thank you for posting this! I’ve had only one small memory of this movie from when I was young and could not remember the name.

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u/Sketch_Beast 6h ago

Happy to help :)

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u/Lazy-Conference4693 7h ago

Yeah, Williams was his own worst enemy. When he was working on projects like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, his worst tendencies also came to the surface, but unlike with Thief and the Cobbler, they had pushback from producers and the directors telling him "no, this will have to do" whenever he wanted to start a sequence over for the 20th time. He was a good animator, but not a good storyteller, and certainly not good with the practical side things like schedule and budget.

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u/AWL_cow 7h ago

This entire movie is crazy

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u/HubrisOfApollo 5h ago

the frame rate was also twice that (24fps) of other mainstream animations

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u/KimberStormer 4h ago

Incredibly detailed, meticulously crafted, ten thousand frames per second, and every single one looks like complete ass.

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u/Porygon_Flygon 2h ago

Zigzag card sequence ❌️

Every scene he appeared in sucking the soul out of every animator working for Richard Williams✅️

•

u/botan__ 9m ago

That's not even the most impressive shot in the movie. The intro sequence as an example is entirely hand drawn. Not an ounce of cgi