By Chris Cosci

For decades, classic Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and dozens of other characters have been making people laugh. While these cartoons aren't as edgy or satiric as some of today's animated shows, they still have a sharp wit and clever gags that are as fresh today as they were forty or fifty years ago. What's even more impressive is that these cartoons are enjoyed and respected by kids and adults alike. While kids laugh at the visual slapstick, adults are amused by the quick humor and sly wordplay... okay, they also laugh at Wile E. Coyote getting crushed by an anvil.

Over the last few years, the people at Warner Brothers have had a hard time matching the quality of the early classics. Sander Schwartz, president of Warner Brothers Animation, recently announced that it's time for a change. With the critically and publicly praised release of some all-time classic Looney Tunes cartoons on DVD, one would be hopeful that this change would involve a return to the glory days. Maybe they will stop trying to make Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters "cool" and "hip," and instead make them what they used to be: funny.

With so many promising possibilities, Schwartz revealed the next, big idea: "What we're doing is taking Bugs Bunny, a classic, and changing him for the kids -- making him fresh, cool and hip." That sound you just heard was the dreams of all Looney Tunes fans shattering into a million pieces.

Schwartz not only missed the boat, he showed up at the wrong port. The problem has nothing to do with how stylish Bugs Bunny is. The original Looney Tunes staff wasn't concerned about that kind of stuff. They were just trying to make people laugh -- period.

Now, because of this error in judgment, Warner Brothers has unveiled a new look for our favorite wascally wabbit. If you haven't seen the picture, let me try to describe it to you. It's what Bugs Bunny would look like if he were green, had pure white eyes, appeared evil and was drawn in the angular style of Japanese animation. In other words, it looks nothing like Bugs Bunny.

Of course, it isn't really Bugs Bunny. Instead, it's what the studio is calling a "re-imagined" version of Bugs Bunny. This new character will be called Buzz Bunny and will appear this fall on a program called "Loonatics." The show will involve Buzz Bunny hanging out with his crime-fighting friends in the year 2772. And if the new, re-imagined look wasn't bad enough, Buzz Bunny will also be a martial arts expert with laser eyes. That sound you just heard was the shards of Looney Tunes fans' dreams being crushed into unrecognizable piles of dust.

In addition to desecrating one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in the history of animation, Warner Brothers has also created re-imagined versions of Daffy Duck (complete with built-in sonar), Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and the Tasmanian Devil. According to Schwartz, the new series will be action-oriented, filled with chases and fights, and each character will possess special crime-fighting powers. In other words, it will be exactly like a dozen other Saturday morning cartoons.

Of course, it takes more than one person to turn one of the most influential animation franchises into another derivative cartoon series. David Janollari, president of the Kids' WB, raved over the new concept, gushing, "What a great way to take the classic Looney Tunes franchise that has been huge with audiences for decades and bring it into the new millennium." Absolutely. I've always felt that the best way to deal with something incredibly popular is to completely change it. Look how well it worked with New Coke.

No matter what happens, there will always be one final issue that will be nearly impossible to deal with: the name Buzz Bunny is not entirely new. As it turns out, Buzz Bunny is also a brand name for a particular electronic product used primarily by women. I'll give you a hint: it vibrates. (It's amazing the information you find doing searches on the Internet.) If "Loonatics" does become popular, kids may be in for a big surprise when they surf the Web looking for Buzz Bunny pictures. I guess this new show has something to laugh about, after all.