Author Archives: Joe

December 28, 2018

Batman: The Animated Series – “Fire From Olympus”

By Joe

fire from olympus Episode Number: 63

Original Air Date: May 24, 1993

Directed by: Dan Riba

Written by: Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

First Appearance(s): Maxie Zeus

I hope all of that Christmas cheer the past month has re-energized you for another heaping dose of Batman. We’re not planning any more breaks until this thing ends right around this December, which feels crazy to think about. Our re-entry episode this week is a weird one, to say the least. Batman is going to tangle with Maxie Zeus (Steve Susskind), a head of a shipping company turned smuggler who also happens to think he is the god, Zeus. We’re used to seeing Batman tangle with foes who are obviously insane, but none make it quite so obvious as this guy.

Meet Maxie Zeus, the goof-ball with a cool staff.

The episode opens in a shadowy area of Gotham at night with Commissioner Gordon checking his watch apparently waiting for something to go down, and something does. A couple of sharp-dressed men are seen accosting a smaller gentleman, Yanni Stavros (Nicholas Savalas). They’re not very friendly and make reference to a “boss” not being happy with Stavros. Stavros is an informant, and whoever these guys are working for caught wind of what was going to happen. They chase him into an alley filled with used tires and Stavros is pinned between a whole pile of them and his assailants. A car pulls in and a shadowy figure emerges. Using quite flowery language, the figure expresses outrage that he has to journey to the mortal plane to deal with this problem and raises his arm. Condemning Stavros to Tarturus, a flash of lightning blasts the little man alerting Gordon (who is standing outside a Greek establishment of some kind). Gordon runs over to find Stavros, but no one else.

At the hospital, a nurse informs Gordon that the many rubber tires helped shield Stavros from the lightning strike. Gordon asks if he heard her right, because as far as he could recall the skies were clear that night. That’s what she’s going with though. Unfortunately, Stavros is in a coma so he can’t confirm the details at the moment. At police headquarters, Gordon shares this information with Batman before asking if he’s familiar with some new kind of weapon that’s basically a lightning canon. Batman is very familiar with it, and wouldn’t you know, the damn thing was recently stolen while in transit. Stavros works for Maximilian Shipping Lines and he likely would have known about the item and has a record of selling shipping schedules to smugglers. This seems like a pretty obvious lead for Batman to investigate.

Maxie’s assistant and lover Clio is pretty sick of the whole Zeus thing.

At the top of a very high building, our assailant dwells. Maxie Zeus, head of Maximilian Shipping Lines, has built his own Olympus atop this building. His assistant Clio (Bess Armstrong) is trying to impress upon him how reckless his actions have become. She reveals that Max is a smuggler and he’s never been caught, which is what she partly blames on his new god-like feeling of invulnerability. She also reveals that they’re a bit more than just boss and subordinate, and she pleads with Maxie to drop this Zeus stuff, but he won’t hear it. The man truly believes he is Zeus, and when the Batwing shows up alongside his home he is overjoyed to see the coming of his brother – Hades.

Batman is a bit unsure of what he walked into, but he remains his usual stoic self. Zeus beckons him in and even dismisses Clio, referring to her as his muse. Batman is not interested in pleasantries and cuts to the chase and asks Max if he knows anything about the stolen weapon. This angers Max who deems this a mortal problem and he questions why Hades would think he who can summon lightning bolts of his own would ever have interest in such a device? He gives Batman a demonstration of his interesting lightning staff as he melts down a little sculpture. He orders Hades to return to his domain and to never return unless summoned. To make the point clearer, he gestures to his “harpies” which are stone gargoyles with guns for eyes. They move at his command and aim at Batman, who gets the message and takes his leave. At ground level, Clio, having failed in an attempt to get Max’s handlers who happen to be the two guys who accompanied him in dealing with Stavros to intervene, looks up and sees the Batwing leave and bemoans the condition her boss/lover is in.

Most villains are not this happy to see Batman.

At her home, Clio is paid a visit by the old Batman where she reveals Max’s sad story. Well, it’s not that sad. He got into smuggling and she blames the stress of the gig as leading to his insanity. She hasn’t given up on him though and agrees to help Batman infiltrate his business and take him down. She drives the Dark Knight over to the main building, but as she enters Max’s goons confront her and take her prisoner.

Having disposed of Zeus, Maxie summons his lackeys Alex (Savalas) and “other guy.” Maxie rolls out the electronic canon that Batman and the police are looking for and intends to demonstrate his might. He fires the weapon at a patrolling police blimp causing it to burst into flames and fall from the sky. Clio is there to witness the horror and attempts to reason with the man once more. He teases for a moment that the fog inside his thick skull has lifted, only to snap-back into Zeus mode and declare Clio unfit to be in his presence. He has Alex affix her to the front of the canon; the next shot will obliterate her for sure.

Before Max can settle on a target though, he takes note of Batman/Hades on a security camera. He activates a trap door which drops Batman into a lavishly decorated room. He taunts Batman over an intercom and watches as he tangles with his “hydra,” which is just a very large snake. We’ve seen Batman handle gators before, so a snake seems like small potatoes. It manages to get its coils around Batman, but he pulls a spray canister off his belt that knocks the reptile out. As he gathers himself, he hears some grunting from down the hall. A warthog bursts through the wall, which seems less threatening than even the very large snake. Batman ropes it, but the warthog pulls him around the room causing him to crash through a window. Maxie thinks that has taken care of his “brother,” but we know better as several stories below Batman demonstrates he has superhuman shoulder joints by hanging onto a ledge.

Not his best idea of the episode.

Maxie then returns to the business with the canon. Taking aim at nothing in particular, he prepares to fire it and end Clio’s existence. Before he can do so, a batarang slams into the console. Maxie looks up to see the shadowy figure of Batman atop the building and orders his men to take him out. Alex expresses doubt, apparently he was fine with tying a woman to the end of a canon but attacking Batman is where he draws the line, which causes Maxie to train his “harpies” on him. Alex takes refuge in a swimming pool, while Batman topples the gun-toting statues. This leaves Batman to tangle with Maxie, which he is more than capable of handling even with Maxie armed with that lightning staff. He disables the canon and frees Clio, but by doing so he turned his back on Maxie. Maxie regains his lightning staff and fires upon Batman knocking him from the building. Satisfied that Batman is no more, Max returns to his throne and inexplicably leaves his staff out of arm’s reach. As he prepares to once more fire the canon, Batman re-emerges and grabs the lightning staff. Like a child who just had his favorite toy torn from him, Maxie screams out “That’s mine!” as Batman hurls it into the canon. Maxie jumps after it and grabs onto the end protruding from the canon. Electricity courses through him eventually causing him to fall many, many, feet and land with a sickening thud on a concrete ledge below.

At last, Maxie is home.

Surprisingly, Maxie Zeus survived the fall and we next see him being wheeled through Arkham Asylum. He’s been allowed to keep his headdress apparently as he’s wheeled on through bound by a strait jacket. As he is pushed along he takes in his surroundings and mistakes various other inmates (who aren’t in Arkham-issued jumpsuits and instead are in full costume) for gods. Poison Ivy is Demeter, a pseudonym she had used herself in a past episode. Two-Face is mistaken for the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and ends who was depicted with two faces. And Joker is mistaken for Hermes the trickster. As he’s left in his own cell, he’s actually quite happy and convinced that he is truly in Olympus now.

When I was a kid, “Fire From Olympus” was one of my least favorite episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. I thought Maxie Zeus was just too lame, too over-the-top, and just plain stupid. He’s a villain that would have been a better fit for the 60s Batman show and not this more grounded entrant. As an adult, I hate it less. I view it now as more of an off-beat episode. It’s a bit silly, which in turn allows it to entertain in a way most episodes of this show do not. I still hesitate to call it good though as Maxie lacks an emotional component, but not for lack of trying. The writers try to make Maxie sympathetic, and rely on the Clio character to drum-up some of that sympathy, but in the end he’s a criminal driven insane by his own criminal actions. And Clio isn’t just an innocent bystander, she’s complicit in his crimes as well as she is the one who shields him from justice. She could have turned him in years ago, but probably enjoyed the lifestyle afforded by Maxie’s criminal activities. He’s obviously quite wealthy to have such a dwelling and lightning-blasting staffs are not created overnight and for cheap. Had the episode followed more of a Joker template it might have been better served.

Joker gets to sneak in a quick cameo in this one along with Two-Face and Poison Ivy.

For those interested in Greek and Roman mythology, I assume this episode is a bit more fun. Maxie makes many references in his speeches as he’s quite consumed by his Zeus persona. The performance by the late Steve Susskind as Zeus is easily the episode’s strongest point as he brings a theatrical presence to each scene he is in. I am far removed from learning about all of that stuff, but even I was entertained by the numerous references. It is a bit confusing to see Greek and Roman references used interchangeably, and I suppose purists of one over the other might even be annoyed at that. All of the lines are spoken by an obviously insane and confused man, so I suppose that’s the in-episode justification for the slip-ups.

If you’re more like the child version of me, then you’re probably happy to know that this is the lone appearance of Maxie Zeus in the series. Even though I am more receptive in my older age to this episode, I am quite fine with this being the only appearance of Zeus. He’s not really the kind of villain we need to check-in with. I suppose it would have been entertaining to see him play a role in an upcoming episode where Batman finds himself inside Arkham, but there are plenty of other villains available to do the heavy-lifting. Had he returned as a featured villain in another episode he likely just would have been trying to steal something else that could be connected to Greek mythology and it would have just been filler. An episode where he regains his sanity and wrestles with his other persona also probably wouldn’t matter much considering he’s just not sympathetic enough. As a one and done villain, he’s at least memorable for his goofy alter-ego and kids probably thought his lightning staff was pretty cool. That’s better than being the Sewer King or Boss Biggis, at least.

1 Comment | tags: batman, dc comics, greek mythology, maxie zeus, olympus, steve susskind | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Television

December 27, 2018

Boss Fight Studio Storm Toad Trooper (Bucky O’Hare)

By Joe

In case you haven’t noticed or do not frequent this blog, I have quite a passion for Christmas. As a kid, my enthusiasm was directed at the holiday thanks in large part to the toys and such. As an adult, that enthusiasm has been transferred more towards the season and the build-up to Christmas. I like to indulge in it, but once Christmas comes and goes it leaves me feeling rather blue. This year though, December 26 had a bright spot when a package from Boss Fight Studio arrived at my doorstep containing the latest from the toy maker’s Bucky O’Hare line – the Storm Toad Trooper.

Boss Fight Studio has designated the Storm Toad Trooper as figure number 7 of its Bucky O’Hare line, but due to the presence of variants in the line, it’s actually sculpt number 4. This gives BFS a release schedule of a tidy 2 new sculpts per year so far. For what is essentially a niche line that’s pretty reasonable. This isn’t Hasbro with a Marvel license, after all. Plus these suckers aren’t exactly cheap, so having time to save up is not a bad thing, especially for an army builder like this one. This figure represents the first villain of the wave, and as it is of the lowly trooper (described as “Laser Fodder” on the card) there is a temptation to buy more than one. Like the more popular Storm Troopers from the Star Wars universe, these bad boys are all bark and no bite. They couldn’t hit a moving target to save their life and are constantly brushed aside by the good guys of the series. And while they strike a mean pose, our heroes are likely only shaking in their boots when encountering a horde of them as opposed to one.

The Storm Toad Trooper stands a tick under 4.5″ and is about as tall as Jenny. He’s noticeably taller than Dead-Eye and Bucky (when ignoring his ears). As far as the source material goes, it’s a bit hard to say as the toads of the cartoon are often hunched over, but it looks about right. These figures, as far as I know, are done to the specifications laid out by series creator Larry Hama who had figures in mind when he originally designed them. The cartoon may have possibly used a slightly different scale, of that I don’t know, but it passes the eyeball test. Because these are to Hama’s designs, the Trooper is different in the area of color scheme with his animated counterpart. Those characters wore a blue suit, but these guys sport a black one like the blister card picture. They’re also more detailed as the show simplified some of the designs a bit for animation, a common practice. Just comparing him with the blister art and he looks pretty damn exact with the only difference I see being a tank on his rifle that isn’t present on the toy’s version.

As the principal grunt of the Toad army, the Storm Toad Trooper has a Hasbro equivalent from the old line. Despite his lowly status, it was one of my favorite toys from that line because of how much I enjoy the design of this character. He’s very expressive and has a fun, toon, look to his mouth and eyes. The dark green helmet that sits flush along the pale green skin of the head is just so pleasing to me. The green and black also works well together, and the gold and pink accents in the belt and eye lens really pop. I love the hot pink of the weapons too as it’s such an of its era touch and I’m happy no one decided to try and update the look with something more real world, or opt for the light blue occasionally used by the cartoon. Speaking purely on aesthetics, he might be my favorite of this line so far and that’s no small praise given the rest.

Moving beyond just the look of the figure reveals so much more. Boss Fight Studio made the helmet removable, which feels like a brave move given how flush it’s supposed to sit on the character, but it looks fantastic. You would have no idea it’s removable just by looking at it, but it’s relatively easy to pop off and it snaps back on in a very satisfying manner. Underneath the helmet is a detailed headsculpt with camouflage-like green spots. There’s a gap in the head for the helmet to snap into, so this isn’t a toy you would display without headgear, but given how well the helmet works I’m not sure if it would have made sense to try and accomplish this in another fashion. He comes with three additional hands to go along with the stock weapon-holding hands. Two open palms and a pointing finger, which feels fairly standard. His weapon outlay is a bit more robust as he comes with a rifle, pistol, and sickle-shaped bayonet. He can hold the bayonet like a weapon, or it can be attached to the rifle by removing a piece of the rifle’s stock, which I suppose could then double as a grenade. The weapons click into his belt nicely, and his hands are all easily removable which is an aspect of these figures that seems to be improving with each new figure. In addition to all of that, he also has a second head, which is a first for this line as the previous figures just had swappable face plates. The second head sports a different expression, though both could be described as angry and aggressive. There’s also a hat he can wear instead of the helmet.

The articulation and build quality is what consumers have come to expect from this line and Boss Fight Studio in general. All of the joints are affixed to plastic ball joints which make posing easy. The ball joints also practically ensure you won’t accidentally break your figure when posing, as they’ll simply pop off if too much force is placed upon them. I found this figure to be pretty free and easy right out of the box, which was nice as both Bucky and the standard version of Dead-Eye were not for me and required a breaking-in period. The odd shape of the shoulder “pads” this figure sports make his arm movements a bit more restricted than the other figures, but I haven’t found it really inhibitive. The legs have a bit less motion at the hips when compared with the others, but this guy’s gigantic feet still allow for some different posing options in spite of that as he’s so easy to stand.

The second head didn’t like the helmet.

Nothing is perfect though, and I did find a few shortcomings with the Storm Toad Trooper, though nothing that would cause me to reconsider my purchasing decision for even a moment. For one, his rifle is oddly shaped and difficult to pose. I wish it had a handle behind the trigger, but this is how the gun was also supposed to look. I had to work at it a bit to get it to look okay, but I think the figure actually looks better with the pistol in hand instead and the rifle affixed to his back. The second head also gave me some trouble. I was never able to get the helmet to seat on it properly. It’s possible if I hit it with a hairdryer I’d have more success, but it wasn’t something I tried. The hat is also tough to get on as it doesn’t really click-in nicely like the helmet. With some effort though, I did get it to sit properly on the second head. As long as it fits on one I’m happy.

Still probably not a threat

They got you now you rascally rabbit!

Like the other figures in this line, the Storm Toad Trooper retails for about $35. Knowing fans were likely going to want more, Boss Fight Studio offered an “army builder” two-pack for $65. It doesn’t feature any different packaging or anything (which I should add, the default packaging is awesome and resealable, a strong point for this line), it’s just an order for two figures, but the 5 dollar savings is a nice gesture on their part and it prompted me to buy two for myself. The inclusion of the hat and second head made it an easy call as it’s possible to display both figures I acquired while having them look different. I’ll stay at two for now, but I expect re-paints to come along eventually which could tempt me further. An obvious re-paint would be to make the figure blue and yellow to better reflect the cartoon while the Bucky O’Hare arcade game contained different color variations that would be more drastic and possibly more eye-catching. The animated series also featured the characters Frix and Frax, a pair of twins that wore Storm Toad Trooper uniforms but with an admiral-styled hat instead of a helmet. Such a variant would be more costly for BFS as it would require new heads, but it would be another opportunity for a two-pack as fans would want a figure for Frix and one for Frax. It’s likely something they’ve considered or will consider, though I don’t know if I would go so far as to say it’s likely.

The Storm Toad Trooper is an excellent addition to Boss Fight Studio’s Bucky O’Hare line. He looks great among the other figures and the addition of the hat and second head make buying two feel like a necessity. The build quality is excellent, and just like the other three figures it’s easy to make a case for this being the best one yet. I look forward to seeing what’s to follow for this figure in the form of variants and re-paints, as you know there’s at least one to follow. As for the line itself, Boss Fight Studio has already announced that the next figure will be Bruiser and he’ll be going up for pre-order in January. He’ll be the first figure to really bust the mold on this line as far as size goes as he’s much larger than the other characters. As such, Boss Fight Studio has already announced he’ll retail for more than the others, but the prototype they’ve shown off is something special to behold. They also teased another sculpt is pending approval by Continuity Comics so it looks like the company is on-track to maintain its output of two new sculpts per year and I can’t wait to see what’s next. In the meantime though, I’m quite happy with what I have and I’ll be looking to come up with some fun displays between now and then.

2 Comments | tags: action figures, boss fight studio, bucky o'hare, continuity comics, larry hama, storm toad trooper, toys | posted in Comics, Television, toys

December 25, 2018

Dec. 25 – A Jetson Christmas Carol

By Joe

Original air date December 13, 1985

Merry Christmas! We have reached the end on our advent calendar celebration of the holiday season. This is the third complete 25 day advent calendar here at The Nostalgia Spot and fourth overall. For this year, I managed to shy away from the tropiest of the tropes when it comes to Christmas television specials – adaptations of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. For this final feature though, I’ve decided to go traditional. I like to weigh these features by visibility, so if I’m covering a special that might actually air on TV during the countdown I try to put that up front. For the ones that have no shot, I tend to save them for the end. In the case of “A Jetson Christmas Carol,” I saved it for last since it’s a conventional holiday special that many people have probably seen. While it’s unlikely to be broadcast on a major cable channel, it’s easy enough to find in the wild and it’s a perfectly satisfying take on the classic Christmas tale.

The Jetsons first preiered September 23, 1962

The Jetsons was Hanna-Barbera’s logical next step following the success of The Flintstones. Where The Flintstones depicted a fictional family of prehistory, The Jetsons focuses on a family of the future. It premiered on September 23, 1962 in prime time on ABC and was the first show broadcast on that network in color. It would last one season with the final new episode airing in March and reruns taking it all the way around the calendar where it was removed from the lineup in September of 1963. It was then moved to Saturday mornings where reruns were shown for the younger audience. It’s popularity endured though into the 1980s and with cable now expanding television lineups Hanna-Barbera would return to the series to bring the total episode count to 65. A third season of ten episodes would follow and the series was essentially capped-off by the 1990 animated feature film. The Jetsons would continue to have a presence in syndication, along with a lot of Hanna-Barbera’s works, for much of the 90s before eventually being ousted by newer programs.

In the future, everyone has terribly ugly laser trees.

The Jetsons may have seemed derivative of The Flintstones, but it’s take on the common nuclear family played well for audiences. Where The Flintstones focused more on the adult problems of Fred, The Jetsons was more confident in spreading things around. The family, as introduced by the very catchy and lavishly produced theme song by Hoyt Curtin, consists of George Jetson (George O’Hanlon), his wife Jane (Penny Singleton), teenaged daughter Judy (Janet Waldo), son Elroy (Daws Butler) and they’re also joined by the family dog Astro (Don Messick) and robot maid Rosie (Jean Vander Pyl). For the second season, the little alien Orbitty (Frank Welker) was added to the cast as another pet, of sorts. George is a typical working man who has a job at Spacely Sprockets working for Mr. Spacely (Mel Blanc), a short man with a big temper who often is at odds with his employee. They live in a future as envisioned by folks in the 60s so Jane is a stay-at-home mom while George is the bread-winner. Their lives are made easier by technology with Jane’s housework largely automated or falling to Rosie while George just pushes buttons from a console at work. They have flying cars, video phones, and a host of other contraptions some of which have since become reality while others remain just fantasy.

What would the Jetsons be like if they were rich? Well, we’re going to find out.

“A Jetson Christmas Carol” is from the show’s second season and it first aired on Friday the 13th in December of 1985. As the title implies, this is a re-telling of A Christmas Carol. In the place of Scrooge we have Mr. Spacely with George serving as the Bob Cratchit of the tale. In the role of Tiny Tim is surprisingly not Elroy, but Astro the dog who’s very life depends on the actions of Mr. Spacely.

George is a bit concerned with the size of the Christmas shopping list this year.

The episode opens with the family sitting at the table while machines feed them breakfast. Jane is talking about how she needs to finish the Christmas shopping while the kids are eager to hit the mall. Astro is off in the corner sneaking a peek at Jane’s Christmas list until she snatches it from him. When George sees it he asks aloud how they can afford so many gifts and Jane matter-of-factly informs him that they can’t, but also that they can’t worry about such things at Christmas (what an awful sentiment). George, surprisingly cheerful, leaves for work while Jane hopes he can get out early for Christmas Eve. She and the kids leave for the mall, though not before Judy expresses some indecision on what to wear (all the while using space puns or 80s teen lingo) before just settling on the same outfit she always wears. Once they’re gone, Astro heads for the neon Christmas tree with hovering ornaments and starts snooping around.

The mall on Christmas Eve is crowded no matter what year it is.

While the kids shop at a very crowded mall, George hosts an office Christmas party attended entirely by robots, other than himself. He jokes with his computer partner RUDI (Messick) who shares a corny joke until Spacely catches them via video monitor and orders everyone back to work while also declaring he hates Christmas. After Elroy gets a lesson on “want” at the mall, we head home to find Rosie whipping up some eggnog (ingredients: one egg and one nog). Astro helps Elroy hang up some mistletoe and then goes back to gift-snooping. Orbitty calls Astro out and Jane catches him opening his gift. When she tells him it’s supposed to be a surprise, he insists he is surprised (Astro is on the same level as Scooby Doo in terms of communication skills) and finds a toy cat inside. The robot cat (Welker) rolls around on a wheel while Astro gives chase and seems to be enjoying himself.

And you thought Futurama was the first to depict drunk robots.

Back at Spacely Sprockets, George is literally counting down the seconds until quitting time, but just as that time arrives Spacely pops-up on the video monitor to tell him he’s working late. George, sullen, doesn’t really offer up a fight and turns back to his console. Jane soon phones in and gets the bad news, while George returns to work wishing some ghosts would visit Spacely like they did Scrooge.

This is unfortunate for Astro, but what about the obviously sentient robot cat?

At the Jetson residence, Astro continues to chase his toy while the family seems to be getting along all right without their patriarch. Astro ends up catching his toy leading to a crash. The robot explodes and as Astro is left lying on his back a single sprocket lands in his mouth and is ingested. The family runs over to him with worry, while Astro’s fur takes on a greenish hue. They bring him over to the couch for a look and all are worried. Elroy wants to call a vet, but Jane isn’t certain they can find one on Christmas Eve. As he and Judy head out to find one, Astro wails that he’s dying. This is actually kind of dark.

Hopefully there’s some booze leftover from that office party.

At the office, an exhausted George is finishing up the orders as he lays on the terminal pushing the last button. Spacely pops back in on the monitor to ridicule George for working too slow. He tells him he’ll see him in the morning, but George at least stands up for himself a little by reminding Spacely that tomorrow is Christmas and it’s a day off, to which Spacely remarks “Too bad,” to himself. George beats a hasty retreat only to emerge in a snowstorm. Remarking he’ll be lucky to get home by Groundhog’s Day, his car seems to have little trouble lifting itself out of the snow. At home, Astro is running a fever of 102 as Elroy and Judy return home with bad news: they couldn’t find a vet open at Christmas. Jane tells them things are looking grim, as George makes his triumphant entrance. He’s in a celebratory mood, but finds the family is not. He takes a look at Astro and arrives at the same conclusion as his wife, though when he finds out Astro got hurt chasing his toy he admonishes him for opening his gift early. He then questions if he’s faking it while Judy scolds him.

That’s what you get for peeking, Astro – death!

At Spacely Sprockets, Mr. Spacely is seated in his office enjoying his money. Since it’s too late to deposit it at a bank, he decides he better spend the night with his money at the office. Upon falling asleep he’s greeted by the ghost of his former business partner, Marsley (Blanc). Marsley gives him the usual Jacob Marley talk while Spacely angrily insists he’s dreaming and orders Marsley to go away before remarking he was always a bit of a sicko. He goes back to sleep only to be awakened by a weird, floating, robot (Messick). It’s the Ghost of Christmas Past, and he takes Spacely back to his days on the playground where he had little Georgie Jetson run his lemonade stand. A young Spacely (Welker) flies in to find George counting the cash and snatches it from his hands returning only a penny. When George questions this arrangement the young Spacely tells him to not be greedy before taking off. They then journey to a fly-in movie theater where a college-aged (and bald) Spacely (Welker again) is watching The Flintstones with his future wife. When she questions if he loves money more than her he insists that of course he loves money more! He promises to take half a day off for their wedding, which is apparently good enough.

Jacob Marsley – not one of the show’s better puns.

Spacely is returned to his office in quite a happy mood. He saw nothing wrong with the actions of his past as he resumes his sleeping only to be roused by yet another ghost (Welker). This one is a giant Christmas present, a too on the nose joke on the Ghost of Christmas Present. The giant box with extendable arms takes Spacely to the home of the Jetsons where they look at the family as they worry over Astro. Spacely is unmoved by the family’s plight, insisting he’s a business man and not a dog-father. He’s returned to his office, but he’s not alone for very long.

That would be ghost robot number one.

A giant, black-green, robot with red buttons looms over him. Spacely is a bit unnerved by this silent third ghost who soon zaps him to the future. There they arrive at a mansion and Spacely is over-joyed to see what he assumes is his future home. Instead though they find the Jetsons inside happily discussing how fabulously wealthy they are. Spacely is annoyed to see this and demands to know how they got so rich, and even though George can’t hear him, he’s happy to fill him in. They attained their wealth thanks to a lawsuit against Spacely after Astro’s death as a result of swallowing that sprocket. The family is sad recalling their old dog, though if they’d give up this new lifestyle to bring him back I’m not sure. George then elaborates on what became of Spacely as Spacely questions how George could sue his beloved boss, thus proving he has no concept of how people really feel about him. After the suit, his company went under and his wife left him. Last anyone knew, he was on skid row. As Spacely turns to the ghost to ask if this is all set in stone or just a vision of what might be, the ghost zaps him back to his office.

Did I say Marsley was bad? Okay, this one is worse.

Spacely wakes up on his hands and knees begging for another chance. When he realizes where he is, he immediately perks up and sets out for the home of the Jetsons. For now it’s Christmas morning, and the family is still worried about their dog who at least made it through the night. Spacely arrives with his personal vet whom he dragged out of bed (this is still Spacely, after all, who will absolutely force a man to work on Christmas if it means saving his money) to treat Astro. He demonstrates some neat future tech when he whips out a portable X-Ray to spot the sprocket in Astro’s stomach. Then he demonstrates that vet technology has only come so far as he simply reaches down Astro’s throat to remove the obstruction. Astro immediately feels better and Spacely also announces he’s brought gifts for the whole family. Elroy gets the rocket guitar he was eyeing while Judy gets some nuclear roller skates. He departs by telling George he’s getting a big, fat, raise as he heads home to spend Christmas with his wife. George and the family then join arms to sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” with Astro and Orbitty getting the honors of the last line as our holiday special comes to an end.

Simple yet fearsome. I like ghost number three.

That last act gives this special an interesting wrinkle. Spacely’s motivation for acting “good” is purely to save his money, unlike Scrooge who is motivated to save Tiny Tim out of the goodness of his heart. Had Spacely not acted, Astro would have died, but the Jetsons would have been thrust into an easy life. No more crappy job for George while Elroy and Judy would find their higher education not limited by financials. The kids are a bit spoiled in the future vision, so perhaps their character suffers, but George is also quick to remind them of how they ended up in this position so it isn’t as if they’ve lost sight of what the costs were for this new life. There aren’t many episodes to follow, but for what it’s worth Mr. Spacely remains unchanged following this one so he didn’t really learn anything.

Spacely to the rescue!

Being one of the 80s episodes of the show, it actually is animated a little better in places than it was in the 60s. There’s less of characters just standing around, and best of all, no laugh track. There are a few instances of that canned running sound Hanna-Barbera was so fond of, but the voice acting is overall quite good. It’s pretty neat that the studio was able to return the entire original cast for the relaunch of the show, though O’Hanlon and Blanc would eventually both pass away during production on The Jetsons Movie. Some of the backgrounds are a bit abstract or even empty, and the trip through time with the ghosts and Spacely is surprisingly static. I suppose in most versions of the story there is little depicting the change in time between past, present, and future so I suppose I can’t really deduct points here. The plight of Astro is actually genuinely sad. The poor dog knows he’s dying and is borderline hysterical. The show is quite honest in how grim his outlook is.

An early joke about Judy taking forever to pick an outfit even though she can change outfits literally in an instant.

A lot of the humor in this show stems from essentially the same joke. A character complains about something, then we see how trivial the complaint is. For example, Elroy complains about how long it’s going to take Judy to get changed, when she literally steps into a machine that can instantaneously change her outfit. The joke is basically “Ha, they have no idea how easy they have it!” There’s also a lot of material meant to appeal to working class folks with the greedy Spacely lording over Jetson. He makes Jetson do all of the work while he sits back and takes in all of the money. This feels like a mainstream attitude back then that has some-what shifted, and that shift seemed to begin in the 80s where wealth became the be-all end-all measurement of success. If you’re not rich then it’s because you didn’t work hard enough. It’s preposterous, but it seems to permeate our culture today and a leading cause of current clash division. Then there’s also the dated jokes at Jane’s expense where she’s characterized as a do-nothing housewife. In her case, times have obviously changed as fewer and fewer women can even afford to be stay-at-home mothers and housewives. It’s not as if the show though portrays George as some work-a-holic though as he often gripes about work while being shown doing actually very little. Though in his defense, many people now have jobs where they just sit and push buttons, and while it may not be manual labor, it’s strenuous and ultimately still a job that keeps us from doing things we’d rather do.

Hey! A Flintstones cameo!

It’s a bit surprising how dated a show about the far-off future can seem, but there’s no predicting where society is truly heading when looking so far ahead. The Jetsons is actually fine entertainment and I would probably prefer to watch it over The Flintstones. Neither show is as good as some of the prime time animation that followed, but for its time it was good enough. This version of A Christmas Carol can be described in similar terms – good enough. It has a few laughs, some down moments, and ultimately a happy ending. It’s a fine ending for the 2018 version of The Christmas Spot.

This one isn’t afraid to get a little grim.

If you’re hoping to sneak in a viewing of “A Jetson Christmas Carol” before the holiday is through then you’re in a relatively good spot. The Jetsons are available on DVD and there are even special holiday editions of Hanna-Barbera cartoons sold separately likely destined for the discount bin tomorrow. Season Two of the show was a manufacture on-demand release so it’s a little tricky to come by, but hardly impossible. While the show isn’t presently streaming on a major service in 2018, episodes of this show (including this one) can be found online for free rather painlessly.

In the end though everyone is pretty happy.

Well, that about does it. I hope you enjoyed 25 days of 25 blog posts on 25 pieces of Christmas media. For me, it’s a great way to really bask in the season both writing and reading similar pieces, not to mention actually consuming all of this media either again or for the first time. Even though it’s a lot of work, I always enjoy doing it so I have no plans on stopping. I hope to see everyone back again next year when we do 25 more. As always, thanks for reading and I hope you have a very, merry, Christmas and a happy new year!

2 Comments | tags: abc, christmas, christmas specials, daws butler, don messick, frank welker, george o'hanlon, hanna-barbera, janet waldo, mel blanc, penny singleton, the flintstones, the jetsons | posted in christmas, Television

December 24, 2018

Dec. 24 – Ren & Stimpy’s Crock O’ Christmas

By Joe

Released by Sony Wonder on September 21, 1993

In 2018, it feels like the novelty music genre is mostly dead. Back in the day when radio was the primary vehicle for delivering new music the novelty song had a place. Usually they would be part of commutes or morning shows when producers thought a laugh was in order. I know where I grew up the local rock station had the Free-ride Funnies in the late afternoon when novelty tracks would be played along with stand-up routines and prank calls. Weird Al had a place on MTV along with other novelty acts and songs (remember Green Jelly’s rendition of The Three Little Pigs?) that would be played along with more “legitimate” music. As such, novelty albums were more popular though I feel like the general experience with novelty albums was hearing a funny song on the radio, buying the record, then kind of regretting it. Even some Weird Al albums couldn’t shake that feeling.

It should come as no surprise, or maybe a little surprise, that The Ren & Stimpy Show got in on the novelty Christmas album game when it released Ren & Stimpy’s Crock O’ Christmas in 1993. This album arrived during the height of Ren and Stimpy’s popularity and after the departure of series creator Jon K. It was the second album attributed to the dog and cat duo following You Eediot! which was released just a month prior. That album contained mostly music from the show, while this one was all new.

A brief bit from the show called Yak Shaving Day is the originator for all of this extra content.

The album is called Crock O’ Christmas, but it’s not really about Christmas and is instead about the fictional holiday of Yaksmas, which was referenced in a prior episode. Many of the songs are parodies of popular Christmas songs and usually just reading the title will clue you in on what the song is going to parody. As the voice of both Ren and Stimpy, Billy West is called upon to do the heavy-lifting in both singing and speaking roles. Bob Camp illustrated the cover which depicts Stinky Wizzleteats and the Gilded Yak piloting Stinky’s sausage cart while Ren and Stimpy pull it dressed as reindeer. This album is a precursor to the “Scooter for Yaksmas” episode, which we covered last year, and a lot of the lore for the holiday found in that episode originates here. Bob Camp and Jim Gomez provided the lyrics for most of the music while the whole thing was overseen by Vanessa Coffey and Charlie Brissette.

Since the format of this advent calendar styled journey through Christmas media is to provide a synopsis and walk the reader through the episode, we might as well just go with a song by song breakdown of this interesting piece of largely forgotten media.

The reverse cover for the original release.

The first track is “Fleck the Walls,” and it’s to the tune of “Deck the Halls” as Stimpy and Ren introduce the listener to Yaksmas Eve. They talk about flecking the walls with dirty diapers and detail the events of Yaksmas Eve such as filling your uncle’s boots with coleslaw, wearing rubber nipples, and licking up shaving scum left behind by the Gilded Yak. It’s quite gross, but par for the course with The Ren & Stimpy Show which really started to double-down on the gross aspects of the characters during the Games Animation era.

The second track is “Cat Hairballs” which is a parody of “Jingle Bells.” It’s basically Stimpy bragging about the wonders of his hairballs and how useful they are. Ren chimes in he has had enough hairballs which provokes Stimpy into coming up with more uses for them like making cigars and underwear from them. Gross. They then venture to their neighbor’s house to sing for them, and because the guy who lives there owes Ren five bucks. They encounter the husband and wife (Cheryl Chase) and wish them a Merry Cobbday so we apparently have two holidays to celebrate. They then are introduced to a goat, who is the pet I suppose of the neighbors. The husband then confesses he’s depressed because he never gets what he wants for Yaksmas. When Ren asks what it is he wants, he replies “a hairy chest.”

The album was re-released in 97 with re-arranged artwork.

This takes us into song three, “We Wish You a Hairy Chestwig” (“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”) as Ren and Stimpy wish a chestwig for their neighbor. Shelly Williams takes over as the wife as the duo sing with Ren and Stimpy (Billy West is the husband) about wishing for a chestwig. It’s the most simple of the parodies so far and not very disgusting, just silly. At the end of the song they find themselves at The West Pole which is where Stinky Wizzleteats lives. They knock on the door and meet the old man, but find he’s not too kind. He demands Ren act like a dog then calls for his wife to get his dog wallopin’ 2×4. When Ren explains they want to sing him a Yaksmas carol, he calls for his dog wallopin’ guitar.

This takes us into the next song, “It’s a Wizzleteats Kind of Christmas” which is an original tune. It explains Stinky’s role in the holiday introducing us to his sausage cart and detailing the traditions of the holiday including falling down the stairs and eating pre-chewed gum. It will be recycled for the Yaksmas episode of the show and it’s amusing enough and it’s nice to have some added visuals in that case. When Stimpy finishes the song, Stinky gives him some praise then goes into a song of his own about a chicken getting eaten by giant worms. It seems to unnerve Stimpy and the two slip away deciding to go to the mall.

That’s where our next song takes place, “We’re Going Shopping” which is another original song, though it’s pretty dialogue heavy. Stimpy has dragged Ren to the mall and is a compulsive shopper. We also get a circus midget joke which is a reference to the fire chief from the show; a joke that hasn’t ages well. Ren doesn’t want to shop and complains about his feet hurting while Stimpy tries to sell him on a glass diaper pale (“You can not only do your duty, you can see it too!”), but he’s not interested. The song ends with them arriving at the Royal Order of Yaks where Stimpy explains how the Gilded Yaks are selected to pilot the enchanted canoes on Yaksmas Eve.

Back cover of the 97 re-release.

This leads into “Yak Shaving Day,” where the characters sing about, what else, Yak Shaving Day. If you saw the bit in the show then you know what to expect. It might be the most basic song so far and least entertaining. It’s also an original tune. It ends with Ren and Stimpy back home to welcome Stinky (the fart, not to be confused with Stinky Wizzleteats) and his bride Cora from “Son of Stimpy.” Stinky and Stimpy then recount how they spent their first Christmas after thumbing through a photo album which brings us to…

“What is Christmas?” where Stimpy and Stinky basically refresh us on the events from Stinky’s debut episode. The song (another original) is actually rather sweet, even if it’s about a cat’s affection for its fart. Because it’s actually executed quite well as a sentimental track, it’s not very funny. The humor really needs the visuals of Stimpy hugging his fart cloud to work. Interestingly, our characters are now openly singing about celebrating Christmas making this whole holiday season really confusing

That song ends with dialogue about Stimpy introducing All Cobb’s Eve. It apparently coincides with Yaksmas Eve and it’s a custom from Stimpy’s native Gibberland. He then sings “Cobb to the World” (“Joy to the World”) detailing how Wilbur Cobb visits you in the night to pass out on your lawn (a trait that will be given to Stinky Wizzleteats later). The song describes Wilbur Cobb, a character from the show, in all of his gruesome glory. It’s all about how his body parts fall off with some other old man traits described as grossly as possible. The parody nature of the song limits it, but it gets its message across. Meat, corn, and cheese logs are apparently all part of this “holiday’s” celebration.

Wilbur Cobb is the subject of his own holiday, though it may be one only celebrated by Stimpy.

After that lesson on All Cobb’s Eve, Ren just wants to go to bed, but Stimpy reminds him they have somewhere to be. It’s Muddy Mudskipper’s Holiday Hop, which is the subject of “Happy Holiday Hop,” a fun little rockabilly jam. Ren and Stimpy aren’t on the guest list, but they politely ask to crash the party while singing about Muddy. It’s not a direct parody of anything, but it’s pretty generic 50’s rock in its presentation which makes it probably the most danceable of the album so far. It’s just about a party so there isn’t anything gross. If you wanted to add a track from this album to a generic Christmas mix, this is probably the song you’d go for.

Our next song is “I Hate Christmas” where Ren acts more like the Ren we know from the show as he confesses his disdain for all of this holiday stuff. He does it after Stimpy goes to bed who recounts all of their Yaksmas Eve activities thus far before doing so. He playfully asks Ren if he’ll be joining him in bed, a some-what subtle gay joke. Ren says he’s going to “tickle the ivories” instead which is a metaphor for playing the piano I had never heard before and is rather clever. Ren’s song starts off kind of mopey, then he gets angry, as it turns into more of a lounge type of song. He particularly hates Christmas music, which is deliberately ironic, I presume. It’s the most relatable track so far if you find yourself getting run down by the holiday.

Our penultimate track is the “The Twelve Days of Yaksmas,” and I assume you can figure out what it is a parody of. It begins with Ren getting a package in the mail (“Wow, that’s the biggest package I’ve ever seen!”) from Ignoramia, home to cousin Sven. The song is them going through the package of gifts from Sven which is mostly gross stuff: jars of spit, used bandages, golden hairballs, etc. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is quite possibly the worst of the traditional Christmas songs and it’s pretty annoying. They manage to run through it in about 4 minutes, so this isn’t too bad, but it still over-stays its welcome.

Our final track is “Decorate Yourself,” another original tune. The title is rather self-explanatory. It’s basically a rock ballad and comes in at over 5 minutes making it the longest song on the album. It has some silly lines, but isn’t very gross and the prior forty minutes of sillier stuff dampen the comedy element of the song. It mostly feels like putting a bow on the whole album. It ends with the duo saying goodbye to the audience as Stimpy tries to wish a happy holiday for every made-up holiday they cited on this album as well as some new ones prompting Ren to just tell him to shut up so they can leave. An appropriate ending for a Ren and Stimpy production.

So you want to get a novelty Christmas album to spin at your party this year? This would probably work out all right if your audience is familiar with The Ren & Stimpy Show. It’s more childish in its humor than other novelty albums, so it might only work on nostalgia really. If you’re counting on it being a memorable part of your holiday then you may be let down. As a little supplement to the show and its other holiday episodes, it’s kind of fun. If my kids ever get into the show I’ll probably try this on them and see what they think, though it is somewhat handicapped by the fact that the show skews a bit older than this probably would.

An interview disk was distributed with the promo version of the album.

The album was first released by Sony on its Sony Wonder label. The production is actually really well done and there’s a band, choir, and orchestra utilized. Some talented people put some time into the compositions and it shows. The lyrics could be better as there is perhaps too much that is just nonsensical. A 90s trait of Nicktoons was just to make something like cheese funny all by itself, when it never really was in the first place. It’s a tactic that works on kids (just watch the show All That which is almost entirely what I call unhumor that somehow worked on children of the era) but less so on older audiences. The booklet is pretty nice and includes original art on the cover as well as stills from the show inside. It’s festive, and there are lyrics printed inside as well along with transcripts of the character dialogue. West does a nice job with what he’s given and his level of performance is on par with the producers and musicians who participated. The album was re-released by Kid Rhino in 1997. It features some cosmetic differences like re-arranged artwork and a different layout for the booklet, though content wise it’s the same. I’d say the presentation is a bit louder visually, though not necessarily better or worse.

If you want to hear Ren & Stimpy’s Crock O’ Christmas in 2018 your best bet is to just head to eBay. There the CD version of the album will only set you back a few bucks with the Kid Rhino re-release apparently commanding a bit more money. There is a cassette version as well if you want to go that route. If you consider yourself a big fan of the show and you like Christmas then I think this is probably worth a look considering it’s relatively cheap to acquire. If a Christmas album by Ren and Stimpy sounds like something you would not like then you should probably trust your instincts there. You can hear most of this stuff on YouTube if you’re just curious and not eager to add any physical media to your Ren & Stimpy collection. If you’re expecting this to be the funniest Christmas album you’ve ever heard, then once again you may be let down. It’s just okay, but very much in the spirit of the show which makes it charming for fans.

Leave a comment | tags: billy west, bob camp, christmas, christmas novelty music, games animation, kid rhino, nickelodeon, nicktoons, sony, the ren & stimpy show | posted in christmas, Music

December 23, 2018

Dec. 23 – A Very Woody Christmas

By Joe

A Very Woody Christmas/It’s A Chilly Christmas After All/Yule Get Yours all from The New Woody Woodpecker Show first aired December 25, 1999.

If you were a major motion picture studio in the 1940s and you didn’t have a mascot cartoon character then you really weren’t a major motion picture studio. The big ones were at Disney and Warner while Tom and Jerry reigned at MGM. Universal was one of the later entrants, but they struck gold with their own creation of Woody Woodpecker. Woody was the creation of Walter Lantz, and like seemingly every major cartoon character from the era who didn’t originate at Disney, he was originally voiced by the great Mel Blanc. Woody debuted in the cartoon Knock Knock in 1940 and would go on to become a star. And like most cartoon stars of those days, he would make the move to television in the 1950s where his cartoons would be packaged together and shown in a half hour format. These shows were on television in some form or another well into the 1980s and even into the 90s in some places when they eventually faded out for one reason or another.

Woody’s original and seldom seen first look.

In the late 90s, Woody received a makeover and a new show. The New Woody Woodpecker Show would air from 1999 to 2002 and it typically followed a format similar to the old show of three shorts shown together. Usually you got a new Woody cartoon, a Chilly Willy, and then another Woody cartoon. Woody was now voiced by Billy West and most of his friends and foes returned like Buzz Buzzard (Mark Hamill) and Wally Walrus (West). It tries to capture the spirit of the old cartoons, while also toning down some of the violence. In the first season it produced a Christmas episode among it’s 26 season order and it actually premiered on December 25, 1999. Was this the last new Christmas special to air before the new millennium? I’m not sure, but it must be rather close.

This is the look most probably associate with the character and his friends.

Like most episodes of the show, this one contains three cartoon shorts and all three are Christmas themed. The first is A Very Woody Christmas which naturally stars Woody Woodpecker himself. It opens with Woody walking down the street talking to himself about what people are getting him for Christmas and what he got them in return. He realizes he forgot to get gifts for Knothead and Splinter, his nieces, or nephews, or something. He dashes into a store just before it closes and snags a couple of robots while passing the owner a few bucks. He then notices a dilapidated looking stand offering free gift-wrapping (too good to be true, Woody).

And Woody’s redesign for this show, though his feet should be orange.

The stand is being run by Buzz Buzzard and his lackey Tweaky (Hamill). Their scheme is to take the gifts and replace them with rocks as they wrap and then return them to the patron. Woody picks up on this, but Buzz just launches him into a nearby Christmas tree. Decorated as an angel as a result, Woody swings down from the tree in Tarzan style and kicks Buzz into a snowman decoration, causing Tweaky to confuse him for an abominable snowman. The two then jump in their getaway sleigh, leaving Woody behind.

Tweaky has a pretty crappy tree.

The pair arrive at their warehouse hide-away. Tweaky is worried that Santa won’t come to visit them because they aren’t asleep yet (even though it’s still daylight) while Buzz informs him that they just stole a bunch of gifts so Santa isn’t coming. He takes off to get a celebratory pizza. Outside, Woody was watching from a window and Tweaky’s Christmas spirit gives him an idea. He puts on a Santa costume and enters much to Tweaky’s delight. Woody convinces Tweaky to go to bed, but while he does he lists off all of the stuff he wants for Christmas. If you were feeling bad for Tweaky, since he’s bullied by Buzz, then you don’t have to anymore as all of the stuff he wants from Santa are crime-aiding devices. He knows what’s doing.

I pretty much assumed Woody would dress-up as Santa at some point in one of these shorts.

As Woody tries to reclaim the goods, Tweaky keeps interrupting him causing Woody to have to put him to bed, only for him to re-emerge and get put to bed in a more comically restrictive fashion. It’s exhausting, and Woody seems like he may lose his tempur and blow his cover, but he’s able to convince Tweaky to pull the sleigh of stolen goods for him. As they’re ready to leave, Buzz returns and is incensed to see what his cohort is up to. Unlike Tweaky, he knows that this isn’t Santa and he tells Tweaky he’ll get him whatever he wants for Christmas if he’ll just stop, but Tweaky isn’t satisfied. Unless the gift is from Santa, he doesn’t want it. He takes off acting as Woody’s lone reindeer while Buzz is eventually run over by the sleigh. As Tweaky pulls the sleigh through town, Woody laughs and tosses out the stolen goods to their rightful owners.

Penguins apparently are not happy in the cold.

The second cartoon is It’s a Chilly Christmas After All and it stars the mute penguin Chilly Willy. Chilly Willy is a classic cartoon star and he still is here. His segment opens with him freezing in his igloo at the South Pole. He’s watching a weather report remarking how cold it is which also goes into a little detail on Santa’s upcoming voyage that night. The weatherman (Billy West) points out all of the warm climates Santa visits which apparently gives Chilly an idea. He races out of his igloo to the literal South Pole which is poking out of a hole in the ice. He slides down the pole and into the hole and re-emerges at the North Pole! There he finds Santa’s workshop, and inside is old foe Smedley (West doing a pretty good Daws Butler impression) the hound dog. Smedley has apparently taken up a job as Santa’s elf and he’s trying to make sure everything is in tip-top shape for tonight. If all goes well, he hopes to be brought along as Santa’s exclusive Christmas delivery helper.

Better check it twice, Smedley.

As Smedley narrates his existence for our viewing benefit, Chilly slips in and dashes for Santa’s sack of toys. Smedley intercepts him and lightly admonishes him for trying to sneak a peek in Santa’s sack before tossing him outside. Chilly will then make further attempts to get into that sack, only for Smedley to catch him. Chilly in turn uses some violence to escape, at one point dropping a bowling ball on Smedley’s toe. Santa himself then enters and he seems pretty joyful and oblivious to what is going on here. He has Smedley go inspect the toy assembly line in preparation for departure and Smedley obliges. You would think this would present an easy opportunity for Chilly to just jump back into Santa’s sack, but comedy demands that he jump into the toy assembly line. He doesn’t escape Smedley’s notice though and is promptly tossed away.

It is cartoon law that all toy planes are pilotable provided there is a character small enough to fit in it.

Chilly is forced to sneak back in where he finds Smedley putting the finishing touches on a model airplane. Chilly hops in and takes off forcing Smedley to ground the airplane. Apparently having enough, Smedley then breaks-out a home chemistry set to whip up some kind of adhesive to catch the penguin. As he does his thing, Chilly sneaks in behind dressed in a lab coat and blastshield and mixes up something dangerous looking. As Smedley continues adding ingredients to his concoction, he grabs the beaker containing Chilly’s mixture, informs us it’s nitroglycerine, and casually explodes. Santa sees Smedley all covered in soot and remarks that he looks in need of a rest and tells him to take the night off. Before Smedley can explain he doesn’t want that, Santa takes off (with only two reindeer – preposterous!) with Chilly along for the ride. Smedley tries to hang onto the sleigh, but that just results in him taking a nasty spill. As the sleigh flies away, he shouts for Santa to make sure that Chilly Willy gets nothing but coal!

Poor Smedley just wanted to be a good elf.

Back at Chilly Willy’s igloo, the little penguin is standing outside bouncing a lump of coal off his flipper while Santa flies away. Don’t feel bad for old Chilly though, he heads back inside and tosses the coal into his fireplace. Santa left him with a mountain of the stuff which is apparently just what he wanted for Christmas.

That’s a lot of coal.

Our final segment is another Woody Woodpecker cartoon titled Yule Get Yours. It opens with Woody at a toy store waiting in a line to see Santa. He’s impatient and the line is long, so he burrows under the carpet to emerge on Santa’s platform to get the big guy’s ear. This Santa is a lot rounder than the one we just saw in the previous cartoon, and he has an elf attendant voiced by Rob Paulsen. After Santa confirms that Woody is the bird who lives in a tree and laughs obnoxiously (my word, not his), the elf steps in to let him know he’s been very selfish this year. In fact, he’s been so bad he’s not only getting coal but also having his previous Christmas gifts repossessed.

Woody is a bit of a dick in this one, which I actually prefer.

Dejected, Woody slumps his way down the street until he notices a video camera in a storefront. He decides if he video tapes himself doing good deeds tonight, it will be enough for Santa to put him on the good list. We then jump to Woody outside his neighbor Wally’s house where he removes a panel from Wally’s fence. He then turns the camera on to show him repairing the fence, but he ends up knocking the whole thing over by accident. Moving along, he heads to his other neighbor’s house, a Ms. Mimi, and tries to get himself on tape clearing her walkway of snow. As he uses a snowblower to tidy up, a delivery man shows up with a package. Seeing another opportunity for a good deed, Woody films himself signing for it. The package turns out to be a giant, decorated, Christmas tree and as Woody carries it to the house he accidentally turns on the snowblower. It goes haywire and chases Woody around the yard. Eventually, he turns to smash it with the tree, but the snowblower just grinds the tree up.

I don’t recommend using your own snowblower as a substitute wood chipper.

Failing once again to do a good deed, Woody decides to decorate Wally’s house with more lights. In order to do so he steals lights from the other houses in the neighborhood. When he turns on the lights, the circuitry gets overloaded and Wally’s house catches fire. Woody then grabs a hose from Ms. Mimi’s yard and races to her roof to water Wally’s house and put out the fire. Once the fire is out, he loses track of the hose which covers Ms. Mimi’s house in water. It freezes, then crumbles, and Woody is left under a pile of ice. The elf from earlier then walks in to point out the obvious – Woody is just trying to look good without actually being good, and in doing so he’s done a lot of harm. As Woody tries to plead his case, the elf tells him Santa will be by in five minutes and he can take it up with him.

I hope Wally isn’t home.

Woody realizes he has to act fast if he wants to save his own Christmas. He scoops up the wood from Wally’s ruined fence and hastily reconstructs both houses out of it. They look like shit, and Santa soon arrives (still with two measly reindeer). He tries to land on one of the houses, but the wood breaks under the weight of the reindeer causing Santa to tumble out of the sky. Woody races to catch him and succeeds, but of course gets flattened by the bulbous man in the process. Nonetheless, Santa thanks him and is impressed with Woody’s selfless act. He goes on a bit about how wonderful an act it was or something before remarking he was wrong about Woody. As he flies away, he puts a finger to his nose. Suddenly, the houses are rebuilt and Woody’s house is flush with presents causing Woody to proclaim that Santa is “da man.” As Santa flies past the moon, he calls out a merry Christmas and laughs in a manner similar to Woody, who waves and returns the laughter. The end.

This elf seems to delight in Woody’s failure.

I have some conflicting emotions about this one. First of all, I think it’s great Universal tried to bring Woody and the gang back in a new show. Woody mostly looks pretty good, and West is fine in the role. His voice may be pitched a touch too high, but the character is supposed to be annoying. The look of the show is pleasing enough. There are lots of bright, solid, colors on simple backgrounds. The animation is largely fine, save for maybe the reindeer which looked kind of shitty. My main issues are more with the creative direction. The first cartoon just wasn’t very funny and none of the gags were memorable. The second Woody cartoon was a bit more interesting, and I prefer a more rascally Woody, but the resolution was pretty stupid. Santa even says Woody’s heart was in the right place – no, it wasn’t, you dope! I probably liked the Chilly Willy segment the best. It didn’t contain any physical comedy bits that haven’t been done before, but the general look was better and the format lended itself well to the gag-centered pace.

You were bad and you should feel bad, Woody!

Before this I had never watched this show for more than a minute. I don’t feel like I missed out, but it does make me want to revisit some classic Woody shorts as I haven’t seen those in decades. I’ve never really heard anybody talk about this show, and I can kind of see why. I don’t want to judge it on one episode, but it didn’t leave me with a great impression.

Needs more deer.

The New Woody Woodpecker Show hasn’t received a home video release outside of the first 13 episodes. It was on Netflix for a time, but now is not. If you want to watch this one though, there’s an official Woody Woodpecker Show channel on YouTube and it streams a lot of content for free, including this one. There are a bunch of ads inserted into it, but you get what you (don’t) pay for.

1 Comment | tags: billy west, chilly willy, christmas, christmas specials, mark hamill, universal, walter lantz, woody woodpecker | posted in christmas, Television

December 22, 2018

Dec. 22 – Eek! The Cat – It’s a Wonderful Nine Lives

By Joe

Original air date December 19, 1992

For the second year in a row we are returning to Eek! The Cat, a Fox Kids property that’s probably not remembered by many. At least I never encounter anybody who has anything to say about Eek! The Cat, be it positive or negative. My lack of foresight means we’re working backwards in relation to last year’s post as this episode comes from season one and it’s the first Christmas special the show made.

If you’re unfamiliar with Eek, he’s basically a good-natured character that is always able to look on the bright side. He always tries to do the right thing and is unfailing in his optimism, and since this show existed during the very cynical 90s, it means misfortune befalls Eek at every turn. This is one of those loud cartoons where characters often scream as a result of intense pain being inflicted upon them. For the sake of voice actor Bill Kopp I hope they were able to re-use his screams as Eek for several episodes rather than force him to repeat them. Eek is otherwise a house cat, and his family largely doesn’t seem to care about him. He has a girlfriend named Annabelle who has a pet shark-dog that hates him, even though he tries to befriend the dog whenever he can. It’s a world where animals are able to communicate with humans when needed, though they still remain subservient to them.

Eek! The Cat had a solid run of 76 episodes on Fox Kids from 1992-1997

“It’s a Wonderful Nine Lives” sounds like it’s going to be a parody of a rather famous Christmas movie, but I’m happy to report it’s not. Instead it’s a story about Eek coming across a gift intended for an orphan named Joey and his quest to make sure it reaches him for Christmas. Along the way he’ll meet some new faces and also lots, and lots, of misfortune.

The subject of today’s episode, a little green gift bound for Little Orphan Joey.

The episode opens with a narrator. This show is terrible with its credits, so I don’t know who is voicing this narrator as they just list a principal cast at the end of each show. Needless to say, he introduces the story with a few call backs to other classic Christmas tales. The camera then settles on Eek looking up at the sky from inside his home as he sees Santa come speeding by. He has seven reindeer, including Rudolph, which is a Christmas tragedy. He has to swerve to avoid a 747, and as he does so a present falls from his sleigh to land in Eek’s front lawn.

Eek has a neurotic appearance, but he’s actually a constant optimist who just happens to get hurt a lot.

So far, the narration and dialogue from Eek is following a rhyming scheme. Note to television producers, if you want to make sure your Christmas special is considered annoying and not re-watchable, have everyone speak in rhyme. Eek retrieves the gift, and seeing it’s bound for an orphan named Joey in Dudd City, he sadly imagines the poor lad waking up on Christmas morning to find Santa passed him over. This breaks Eek’s heart and he vows to make sure this present gets to Joey. He tries to go back inside the house first, but finds the window and door locked. When he tries to climb through an open window, Mom (Elinor Donahue) doesn’t notice him because she’s engrossed in some language learning tape and shuts the window on his fingers. At ground level, children Wendy Elizabeth (Elizabeth Daily) and J.B. (Charlie Adler) can’t pull themselves away from the television to notice Eek’s plight.

Eek winds up on an out-of-control sleigh to get his journey started.

Eek is forced to set off on his own, and immediately he somehow winds up on a sleigh speeding through the snowy streets. He’s going to collide with skiers and attract the attention of a polar bear and even encounter a penguin on a ski jump. It’s an elongated scene meant to soak up time and allow Eek plenty of opportunities to scream. He loses the present for a bit, but it finds him when his sleigh comes to a stop eventually.

Poor kitty.

Once that business is done, Eek dawns a festive Christmas outfit that’s very Dickens in its style. He boards a train traveling through, but not in a conventional sense and actually ends up on top of the train. The present gets jostled and comes to rest over a box car that is full of shark-infested waters. Why would a train be carrying such cargo? I don’t know – it’s a cartoon, dummy! Eek is forced to tightrope across the opening and, of course, he falls in, but actually jumps out rather unscathed. He retrieves the gift, only to be clothes-lined by a water tower. He winds up on the roof of a traveling truck and wonders where he is. He needs to find Dudd City, which he promptly smashes into a sign for. Unconscious, he slides off the sign to land in the back of a farmer’s pickup on a soft bed of hay.

Oslo Piggy, who’s plight is far worse than Joey’s.

Eek wakes up in the same truck in a barn, and he overhears a pig playing a sad song on his harmonica. The pig is named Oslo (I think), and he’s pretty bummed that he’s on the menu for Christmas the next day. Eek decides to help him out by fetching the key to the shackles that bind him, but before they can leave the barn they’re met by the farmer himself (Brad Garret, who sounds like he’s doing a Rodney Dangerfield impression) who is brandishing a double-barreled shotgun. He’s not about to let Eek leave with his pig, but Eek takes notice of the farmers torn shoes and offers to trade his boots for the pig. The farmer tries on Eek’s red boots and finds them to his liking, but rather than let Eek leave with the pig, he decides he’d rather have ham the next day and a cat to make a new hat out of. The duo are forced to flee, and Eek pulls on a rope that opens a compartment in the ceiling for hay to fall from and crush the farmer, a rare act of (justified) violence on the part of our protagonist.

I’m a bit down on the visuals in this show, but that’s a nice looking scream.

Free from the farmer, Eek and Oslo are walking alone on a long, empty, road. Oslo is thankful for Eek’s help and seems interested in Eek’s mission to make sure this gift gets to Joey. Oslo is concerned though that they won’t be able to find this Joey, but Eek assures him that if they have faith, and wish upon the Christmas star, they’re sure to find their way. Oslo alerts Eek that it isn’t a star he’s wishing upon, but the headlights from a truck! It’s the farmer, and he runs the two off the road. Eek comes to land on a block of ice in a fast-moving river. The present for Joey is floating in the same river, and Oslo jumps in to grab it. Eek winds up on the precipice of a waterfall, basically a repeat of a gag with the sleigh on a cliff from earlier, and Oslo and the gift smack into him knocking them over. Eek is able to grab onto a branch, but Oslo ends up in the water below. Wishing him well and a merry Christmas, Oslo tosses Eek the present as he goes over another waterfall. Eek catches it, but in doing so he releases his hold on the branch and ends up in the water too. He’s still rather upbeat, even though Oslo might be dead, as he gets sucked into a pipe and sent through the stinky sewers to arrive in (presumably) Dudd City.

Worth pointing out that The Simpsons and Eek did share a network.

Once Eek emerges from the sewers, he encounters a mother dachshund who bares a strong, stylistic, resemblance to Santa’s Little Helper from The Simpsons. She has three puppies and a problem. She was supposed to spend Christmas with her sister but lost the address. Now she and her pups are out in the cold. Eek gives them his top-hat and scarf to sleep in, which is more than adequate. He wishes them well then resumes his search for Joey.

This is where we say good bye to that jerk-ass farmer.

Now naked, Eek seeks out what everyone in the 90s would seek when lost – a phone booth! And lo and behold, Little Oprhan Joey is listed and Eek is overjoyed to finally have an address. When he turns to leave though he’s met by the farmer, who now without a pig because of Eek decides to take the gift instead. He chases him around, and arms himself with a swordfish (they’re on a dock). Things look bad for Eek, as Santa-hat wearing sharks roam the waters below. As the farmer closes in, he’s felled by some garbage and a banana peel. It’s Oslo! And he’s on a garbage barge eating and enjoying being a filthy pig. The farmer winds up in the water, where the sharks apparently gobble him up.

Are cartoons still doing the rabies gag in 2018?

With that out of the way, Oslo and Eek bid each other farewell at a bus station. Only Oslo is riding in the back of a garbage truck. While Eek waves goodbye, the present goes missing. A line of people waiting for a bus all have gifts that look identical to Joey’s. Eek starts frantically searching each one which attracts the attention of a guard who kicks him out. He is sent flying into a root beer bar and collides with a woman, leaving root beer foam all over his face. She screams “Rabies!” and within seconds Eek is on the streets and fliers depicting his foam covered face are all over the city and the hunt is on. Eek is forced to take shelter in a dumpster where he sadly hopes for a Christmas miracle that gets that gift to little Joey before falling asleep.

So that’s Little Joey.

Eek is woken when a garbage truck dumps a bunch of garbage on him (isn’t it supposed to work the other way around?) which just so happens to contain the present for Joey! Eek is delighted to be reunited with the package as he sets out for the Our Lady of Really Really Dumped On Children Orphanage. He gets hit by a few cars along the way, but he finds it. It’s Christmas morning though, so he has to be quick. He finds that inside the children have not awoken to find their gifts yet so he sneaks in. He gets caught in the window, and he’ll get squished by a door too, but he succeeds in placing the gift under the tree. He sees all of the children come running in and out like a tornado. One child is left, who looks just like how Eek imagined Joey earlier. Only, it’s not Joey and he calls for the real Joey to come get his gift. Enter Joey (Cam Clarke), who’s not a little orphan boy at all but a rat. He’s in clothes and stuff, so it’s kind of weird how he fits in socially, but whatever. The present ended up containing his family, so he’s not an orphan at all!

And that’s what was in the present. They’re certainly a colorful looking bunch.

Eek is happy to have brought Christmas joy to Joey. As he readies to leave he runs into the big man himself – Santa Claus! Santa thanks Eek for delivering that gift for him. Now that Eek’s job is done, he succumbs to the trials of his long, long night and falls asleep in Santa’s arms. He then wakes up back at home, and assumes it was all a dream. He mistakenly moves over to the door to the livingroom and the kids Wendy Elizabeth and J.B. slam the door on him (really Eek, avoid doors) as they attack their tree and leave it barren and beaten. Having retrieved their gifts, they head for the TV while Eek notices a gift underneath the tree addressed to him. It has a letter from Santa affixed to it which thanks him once again for his efforts the prior night. Inside the box is another note which orders him to “open the door.” When he does he’s greeted by all of his friends, including Oslo, who are there to wish him a merry Christmas. Eek got what he wanted for Christmas as well, a Christmas with friends and family – how swell!

We have to give Santa a little screen time.

So that’s Eek! The Cat’s “It’s a Wonderful Nine Live” Christmas episode. The title is certainly misleading, but I suppose Eek went through most of his nine lives during his harrowing night. The rhyming in the episode is certainly annoying, but at least Eek is so likeable it makes it hard to get mad at him or the show. More annoying is the script’s over-reliance on Eek’s catch phrase “Kumbaya!” which I could do without ever hearing again. In comparison with the other Christmas episode from this series, I feel like this one is a lot uglier. There’s not a lot of detail to the characters and everything looks really cheap. The reveal of Joey I suppose is supposed to be both surprising and funny, but I was mostly indifferent. The voice acting is good though, and the show has a real rock and guitar driven soundtrack which is probably its signature distinction when measured with its peers.

Eek did a good thing and wound up having a merry Christmas. Mission accomplished?

Is this a good Christmas special? Eh. I suppose if you have fond memories of Eek! The Cat then you’ll probably enjoy revisiting it. I was never a regular viewer of the show, though I must be less cynical with old age as I don’t find the character as annoying as I did when I was younger. The show is not available really anywhere and it absolutely will not be shown on television this holiday season. If you want to give this one a look yourself, it’s easy to find on YouTube and elsewhere since no one seems to care about old Eek the Cat.

1 Comment | tags: bill kopp, cartoon christmas specials, christmas, eek the cat, fox kids, savage steve holland | posted in christmas, Television

December 21, 2018

Dec. 21 – Rick and Morty – “Anatomy Park”

By Joe

Rick and Morty is Adult Swim’s latest hit. Premiering in December 2013, it appeared to be just another Adult Swim cartoon, but come the season 3 premiere it seemed to really take off. That was the episode, you may have heard, that involved a certain flavor of discontinued McDonald’s McNugget sauce that went viral. It caught the attention of McDonald’s, who seeking to capitalize on the spotlight, re-released this sauce in limited quantities and geeky fans did what geeky fans do – they went nuts.

As a result of that debacle, Rick and Morty seems to have engendered a bad reputation. Or rather, its fan base has. Some of that is due to lead character Rick, a super scientist of extreme, almost god-like, intelligence who also happens to have real character flaws. He’s a user and an abuser, but he’s almost always right and the victor of each episode causing some fans to view him in a positive light. He’s really not supposed to be though and viewers should be laughing at him, not with him, as the saying goes. He’s kind of like a Walter White, or if you want to get real nerdy, a Raistlin Majere before that character had his redemption arc.

Is it the show’s fault when its fans act stupid in its name? Yes and no, but I lean more towards the “no” side. Ignoring the drama, Rick and Morty is just a really fun, inventive show created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland. It’s ugly, cynical, gross, and strangely captivating. It took me a little while to get into it, but that was mostly because the Rick character and his constant burping and drooling just kind of grossed me out. I don’t know what it is about his constant burps, but it just makes me queasy and I’m not usually the type who is turned off by gross humor. I got over it though, and once I did I got pretty well hooked. This is the kind of show I can just drop in and out of and usually have a laugh. There is some connective tissue between episodes, but in general you don’t need to keep up with it to know what’s going on and to enjoy an episode by itself.

Are you ready for a Jurassic Park parody at Christmas?

At its core, Rick and Morty is like a deranged Mr. Peabody and Sherman with a touch of Back to the Future. Rick is the old man and a super genius. Morty is his neurotic grandson. Together they go on interdimensional adventures where sometimes Morty learns a lesson, and sometimes he does not. Sometimes they stay home and watch television and don’t even bother with the adventure. They have a some-what combative relationship. Morty is a need for Rick and the why is a bit of a deep dive I don’t want to go on right now. For Morty, Rick is a presence who exerts controls over him. Sometimes he’s a means to an end, and usually his ends are like most teenaged boys, and sometimes he wants to go on crazy adventures, but usually he does not. Do they love each other? It’s hard to tell. Sometimes the show will tease genuine affection on the part of Rick only to reveal it was a farce and sometimes it does but leaves the interpretation open. He’s probably not a truly repugnant grandfather, but he’s certainly not the best.

Rounding out the cast is Morty’s family. Rick lives in their garage and the home is owned by his daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke), a failed doctor who had to settle for veterinary work. She embodies some of her dad’s poorer qualities, like alcoholism and likely depression, and she’s in a rather loveless marriage to Jerry (Chris Parnell). She and Jerry got pregnant young and had a shotgun wedding and never really figured out if they were even in love, though they seem some-what dependent on one another. Jerry is a meek and insecure individual and he loathes Rick and the influence he has over their son. Summer (Spencer Grammer) is Morty’s older sister and is a fairly typical teen. She tries to ignore the dysfunction of her home life, but sometimes she gets pulled into one of Rick and Morty’s adventures.

“Anatomy Park” is the show’s third episode and it’s lone Christmas episode to this point and it originally aired on December 16, 2013. What starts off as a fairly conventional sitcom plot, turns into an outrageous Jurassic Park parody. It also gets rather dark and uncomfortable for a sitcom Christmas special, but that’s Rick and Morty for ya!

Jerry’s parents have arrived and they’ve brought an unexpected guest.

The episode opens with Jerry, dressed in a festive sweater, getting angry at his family for being too attached to their various electronics on Christmas. He makes them all put their tablets and phones into a stocking, and when Summer refuses he threatens to create a Facebook profile. He tells them his parents are due over any minute for Christmas dinner and it’s revealed they haven’t been by in several years. The rest of the family seems indifferent. Meanwhile, Rick shows up with a gross looking Santa. When Gerry questions who this guy is Rick says his name is Ruben (Jess Harnell) and every Christmas Rick takes him in and gives him a full check-up as some kind of charity case. Jerry isn’t buying it, and the only thing Ruben can say is “Pearl Harbor” while the rest of the family seems charmed. Rick and Ruben disappear into the garage and Jerry’s parents then turn up with an unexpected guest. Leonard (Dana Carvey) and Joyce (Patricia Lentz) have brought Jacob (Echo Kellum), a young african american male, along for Christmas dinner. They don’t really explain who Jacob is, and when asked they explain they’ve had a spiritual awakening of some kind and are focused on experiences and living while in the twilight of their lives. This seems to please Summer and Beth, but Jerry is just confused and anxious.

Rick also has a festive surprise guest.

Rick pops back in to greet Jerry’s parents, but mostly to take Morty with him to the garage. Once there we see Ruben, naked on a table save for his tattered Santa hat, who Rick says is in bad shape. He’s speaking rather hastily and pushing Morty along who is growing increasingly concerned and panicked as Rick outfits him to look like a poor man’s astronaut. Rick doesn’t explain what’s needed of Morty, and only barks out important instructions as he shoves him into a device and then shrinks him into a tiny syringe. As he jabs the syringe into Ruben, Beth pops in to ask where Morty went and Rick explains he’s busy.

The episode is a parody of Jurassic Park, but Anatomy Park is also clearly a parody of Disneyland. And the show is not above going for the easy jokes here.

Morty finds himself injected into Ruben’s body and there he finds Anatomy Park. Rick has constructed a microscopic amusement park inside the man’s body and he introduces it in grandiose fashion as Morty walks around and takes it all in. He seems impressed and strangely not panicked, until he arrives at the liver. It’s a scary place, and Rick fills him in on Ruben’s alcoholism and mentions you have to be in a pretty bad place to let someone build an amusement park inside of you. Rick needs Morty to find Dr. Xenon (John Oliver) as something has gone wrong. He first encounters Poncho (Gary Anthony Williams), a crazed military man who freaks him out. Dr. Xenon, some kind of a sentient germ or something, shows up though and welcomes Morty and also introduces his fetching young assistant Annie (Jackie Buscarino) whom Morty takes an immediate liking to. With them is Roger (Harnell) who resembles Steve Irwin. Dr. Xenon explains the security systems have gone haywire as a giant, yellow, xenomorph-like creature bursts onto the scene.

Our “heroes” of Anatomy Park. Most of them will die.

Back home, the rest of the family is seated down for dinner. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves except Jerry, who is still really thrown off by the presence of Jacob. When he pushes the issue, his dad fesses up to what’s going on. Seeing as they’re getting older, Leonard and Joyce are focusing on the connections that will last beyond their years: their spiritual one. Less important is the physical, which is what brought Jacob into their lives. Jerry gets rather worried and asks if Jacob is their lover and is relieved when his dad says, “No.” That was a bit of a fake-out though as he explains that Jacob is actually his mother’s lover, he just likes to watch and often while wearing a Superman costume. Jacob acts like this is not the least bit awkward and the rest of the family seems amused by it, except Jerry.

Beth and Summer seem to enjoy the hearing the truth about Jacob.

Inside Anatomy Park, the others run from the creature and flee into the lungs. There they’re joined by a cast member of the park dressed like a dog (Rob Schrab). When he removes his mask he is immediately chastised by Dr. Xenon; apparently breaking character is forbidden. As they look around the lungs, Morty decides to bounce around and have some fun, until they’re attacked by tuberculosis. The little black beings descend like spiders and Poncho opens fire, which rips holes in the lungs causing Ruben to cough. The dog-guy gets caught in a cough, but Morty grabs his hand and requests his name (it’s Alexander), but another cough causes him to go shooting out of Ruben peeling the skin from his bones. He splatters as phlegm on Rick’s face.

Fare thee well, Alexander.

Rick then starts to pass along advice to our adventurers and prepares to cure Ruben’s TB, until he flat-lines. Proclaiming he can’t cure death, Rick starts to advise Morty that things are going to get dark so he should try riding Pirates of the Pancreas, which is a ride he designed and is really proud of (he insists it wasn’t white-washed and the pirates get really rapey). He also adds that getting them out of the dead man alive is the priority, but why not treat yourself too? Morty is not amused by Rick’s logic.

After the business with Rick is concluded, Dr. Xenon seems ready to eulogize his beloved park, but Morty shuts him up and insists they find a way out. Dr. Xenon explains, rather frankly, the way out is through the digestive tract and Morty insists they head there while Poncho is annoyed he’s supposed to listen to “some 12-year-old.” Dr. Xenon then warns Morty that what has happened to Anatomy Park is the work of an inside job, and cautions him about Annie in particular who was written up for her work at the churro stand. Undaunted, Morty tries talking to Annie where he awkwardly tries to explain he’s not 12, but 14, and it doesn’t go well prompting Rick to make a comment at his expense.

Dr. Xenon is the only one who seems to enjoy this endless ride.

The group is then shown on the digestive tract ride, which is styled after It’s A Small World and apparently goes on for miles. They’re then set upon by gonorrhea, which rises from the brown water in a rather threatening manner. Dr. Xenon cautions that if they don’t move it won’t see them, then says “whoops” as he mistook gonorrhea for a T-Rex. Their boat is soon capsized, and they’re forced to swim away in the nasty looking “water.” They arrive “on shore” while the penile gonorrhea looms. Poncho then recalls Dr. Xenon saying the chamber was filling with gas and lights a match. With a cool parting line about a burning sensation, he tosses the match at the grotesque monster causing an explosion and destroying it.

At home, the family is gathered in a drum circle all except Jerry who is moping in the corner. Beth offers some consoling his way, but he knows she’s enjoying this. A teenaged boy then shows up and we find out it’s Ethan (Daniel Benson), Summer’s boyfriend. He’s pissed that Summer hasn’t returned any of his texts, but that’s because Jerry took her phone. Summer gets angry in return while Jerry demands to know if he is indeed Summer’s boyfriend which just causes Jacob to step in and defuse the situation suggesting that Jerry needs to get closer with his family.

You don’t want gonorrhea. You really don’t want gonorrhea.

Back inside Ruben, the “heroes” of our story have reached the end of the digestive tract. They need to gain access to the enlarger ray or whatever it is that gets them out. Before that happens, Morty notices a weird, black, slime creature poking out of Poncho’s backpack. It’s bubonic plague, and it turns out Poncho is the traitor who released the TB virus earlier. He grabs Annie as a hostage and explains he hates working for Dr. Xenon and a lot of people would pay for the plague if he smuggled it out (damn, Ruben had a lot of shit going on in his body). Morty attacks, likely wanting to impress Annie, and Poncho tosses him aside but he does release his hold on the girl. The plague breaks free though and bites him. He loses his balance, and plunges to his death off of the catwalk they’re all standing on. Roger then lets them know they need to go, as the retaining wall they built for Ruben’s bowels is about to burst. As they run, Roger’s foot gets caught. He tells them not to worry, then goes into a long-winded speech about telling his wife what happened to him as the damn breaks and he’s killed by poo.

In the livingroom once again, Jacob is trying to counsel Ethan who is a very angry and troubled young man and the source of his anger is Summer. Jacob works his magic and of course the scene ends with Summer and Ethan in tears making an uncomfortable display of affection in front of everyone. Everyone is pleased, and Joyce is apparently turned on as she and Jacob begin making out while Leonard ducks into the closet to observe from a distance. This causes Jerry to finally blow and declare he hates this, and he’s immediately reprimanded by his mom. Declaring he hates Christmas, Jerry takes his leave.

Ruben is going to go for a little ride.

Inside Ruben, the three living beings are for some reason taking in a show. It’s a parody of Great Moments with Lincoln, only it’s hosted by an animatronic Ruben. Dr. Xenon is enjoying it while Morty and Annie make out. Rick asks Morty to shut the radio off so he doesn’t have to listen in when Jerry bursts into the garage. Apparently they can’t get out via the digestive tract any more, and something Jerry says about his relatives gives Rick an idea. He has Jerry get him some dynamite and as he cuts open Ruben and shoves the explosives inside him Jerry decides to leave. Rick then tosses the cadaver in his spaceship and takes off, telling Morty he needs to get to the left nipple.

Dr. Xenon explains they can take the bone train and goes into a bit about it that Morty gets irritated by. When they get to the platform Dr. Xenon explains that one person will have to stay behind because the train doesn’t have an autopilot. He lets that hang in there an uncomfortable length of time before conceding he was a dick for doing that. Since Anatomy Park was his responsibility, he’ll be the one to stay behind. Before they can say good-bye they’re beset by ecoli and Morty and Annie jump into the train. As Xenon releases it he realizes it does actually posses an autopilot, but then claims he wanted to die heroically, but he’s not convincing.

The train takes Morty and Annie to where it needs to, while Rick deposits Ruben into space. There he enlarges the body well beyond its normal proportions (he’s a super scientist, after all) and Ruben floats over the United States. There the news picks up on this giant Santa and we see how everyone is reacting with relative calm at a giant, naked, Santa in the sky. All except a poor lumberjack who had the misfortune of being where Ruben’s penis made land.

Saved by hepatitis!

Morty and Annie are preparing to flee through the nipple duct, when they’re attacked by the big yellow guy from early in the episode. Before it can get to them though they’re saved by Hep C in true Jurassic Park style. It gives the duo a thumbs up, which just confuses Morty as the two are rescued by Rick who can only admonish Morty for losing Dr. Xenon Bloom as Ruben explodes.

On earth, the explosion causes blood to fall from the sky. The family was preparing to head out for some holiday fun, without Jerry, but instead are forced to retreat in terror. There Jerry gets to comfort them assuring everybody things are going to be all right because the TV said so. He returns their tablets and phones and encourages them to relax. In the garage, Rick is a bit down that Dr. Xenon is dead claiming he was the only one capable of building an amusement park inside someone. Annie then chimes in that she thinks she learned enough from him and that she could possibly do it. Rick, apparently convinced, immediately shrinks her and puts her away for later use, which disappoints Morty. Rick assures him he dodged a bullet citing a “floppy vagina” but Morty doesn’t see the problem there. The two then head into the living room and find the family absorbed in their electronics. Rick goes on a rant about it being Jesus’s birthday and they’re all being self-absorbed, but no one cares and Jerry mugs for the camera. In a post credits scene, Rick is on speakerphone with Annie and her new team of developers as they build a new Anatomy Park. They question Rick’s design for Pirates of the Pancreas, causing Rick to hang up on them. The camera pans and we see it’s Ethan they’re inside and when he questions what’s going on, Rick goes on a rant how they’re building a monument to compromise inside of him. The episode ends when Ethan asks who’s paying him.

It’s kind of like the Macy’s parade, but bigger and with more penis.

“Anatomy Park” is a vehicle for awkward humor that ties in the Christmas holiday. It wants to turn the holiday upside down, and is fairly successful at doing that. The holiday gathering with Jerry’s parents is basically a B-plot. After the reveal of Jacob’s relationship with Jerry’s parents is out-of-the-way, it’s fairly typically paced with the beloved outsider sort of usurping the holiday spotlight from the disgruntled patriarch. It runs out of steam, but those scenes are few and brief so it doesn’t overstay itself. The Jurassic Park parody is where the meat of the story lies, and it’s punctuated fairly well. The plot points aren’t afraid to “go there” with the poop jokes and such, but it’s really driven by the dialogue more so than the actual comedy bits. There are so many little jokes interwoven into the dialogue and I would be doing it a disservice by regurgitating them all here. Suffice to say, while this isn’t as outlandish an episode as it appears at first blush, it’s still very entertaining and I always like it when Christmas gets a little dark.

“Anatomy Park” should be an easy special to come by this holiday season. Adult Swim will likely show it multiple times, so if you were keeping up with the various holiday viewing guides you probably have seen it by now. And if you like waiting until the last minute (or first), Adult Swim is running “Anatomy Park” at midnight on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. If you prefer to watch without commercials, Adult Swim streams it and it’s also available as part of season one on Blu-ray. I recommend just getting that as the whole season is full of laughs and it’s definitely worthy of a purchase.

2 Comments | tags: adult swim, cartoon network, christmas specials, dan harmon, dana carvey, jurassic park, justin roiland, rick and morty | posted in christmas, Television

December 20, 2018

Dec. 20 – The Garfield Show – “Caroling Capers”

By Joe

Original air date December 15, 2009

Back in the 1980s, Garfield was pretty damn popular. His presence was pervasive in pop culture, so much so that younger people today would probably be surprised. He originated as a comic strip by Jim Davis, but his popularity grew enough to pave the way for some prime time animation specials. These proved popular, and were the springboard for his own show: Garfield and Friends. Of those old specials, one of the most celebrated was A Garfield Christmas. It’s one of my personal favorite holiday specials and I included it in my countdown a few years ago as one of the 10 best holiday specials of all-time. It premiered in 1987 on CBS (my mother, who liked Garfield, somehow missed it when making our Christmas tape VHS that same year) and would be shown every holiday season for a few years, though it quietly disappeared in the 90s. Maybe audiences grew sick of Garfield, but I’m a bit surprised just how fast it fled from the annual network rotation. Later on in the 90s you could sometimes find it on cable, but now the special is seldom shown.

The Garfield Show ran from 2009 to 2016.

What’s not really remembered too fondly is the second cartoon series based on the fat cat. Simply titled The Garfield Show, it premiered on Cartoon Network in November of 2009 and would run for over 100 episodes, eventually making the move to Boomerang in 2015. The Garfield Show is a CG animated program executive produced by Davis and it actually returned a lot of the cast and creative group behind Garfield and Friends. It was a half-hour based program in which each episode was split into two cartoons. It’s not a show I am that familiar with. I was aware of its existence when it originally aired, mostly just from seeing it on the channel guide and mistaking it for the old cartoon. It’s not something I was supposed to be aware of though since I didn’t have kids at the time and few of my friends did. It was created to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the character and I assume it was to re-introduce the characters to a new audience. Since it ran for so long I’m left to assume it was fairly successful.

“Caroling Capers” is the show’s first Christmas episode and it aired during the first season on December 15, 2009. It features the main cast of characters. There’s Garfield (now voiced by Frank Welker as Lorenzo Music passed away in 2001) whose personality is unchanged from his other iterations. Odie (Gregg Berger) the dim-witted mutt with a heart of gold. Jon (Wally Wingert) is just as awkward as always and is constantly being pestered by his cat for more food. And in this episode we also have Nermal (Marc Saez) the vain kitten from next door who annoys Garfield to no end.

“Caroling Capers,” like most Garfield stories, is all about Garfield trying to get some free food.

The episode opens with Jon decorating his Christmas tree and having a difficult time with the star. He remarks how Christmas is his favorite time of year and that it feels like just yesterday he took down the Christmas decorations from last year. Garfield, watching television and looking quite relaxed in a lounge chair, remarks that’s because he probably did and that Jon rarely gets to taking them down before Halloween. Odie is watching TV as well and seems very into the Christmas special they’re watching. He angrily glares at Garfield who won’t shut up about his growling stomach (the sound of which also seems to annoy Odie). On television, Garfield takes note of some carolers in the program Odie is watching. They sing for an old woman, who then gifts them some treats. Garfield, after being informed the Christmas turkey is still hours away from being ready, decides that this may be the solution to his tummy trouble.

Putting on a festive hat and scarf, Garfield hits the neighborhood hoping to score food in exchange for Christmas carols. He first shows up to the front door an old man whom he interrupts while cleaning the floor. He sings a carol and his performance is quite terrible prompting the grumpy old man (Welker) to toss a bucket of water on Garfield and slam the door in his face. Undeterred, Garfield goes to another house and its the home of some bachelor who I have seen featured in other episodes (and is also voiced by Welker, who basically voices everyone, it seems). Garfield again performs for this guy and he’s just as awful as before so the man fetches a spray bottle to get Garfield the Hell off his property.

Garfield’s singing fails to impress.

Odie has been watching this whole time and laughs at Garfield’s misfortune. Nermal then shows up to offer his 2 cents and also to demonstrate how to properly carol. Nermal invites Odie to be his backup singer and the duo perform for the same man that just sprayed Garfield. He falls for the two and offers them a prime rib dinner and figgy pudding. Garfield faints in shock while the two chow down, with Nermal remarking you either got it, or you don’t.

Garfield rises from the ground and gives chase, proposing they share some of that delicious food in keeping with the holiday spirit. Nermal shoots him down pointing out that Garfield never shares his food with them, which Garfield is forced to concede. He then suggests he could be their vocal coach, and Nermal seems to find the idea absurd. Garfield demonstrates his singing once more, and a Christmas ornament on a decorated tree in someone’s yard shatters (which makes no sense, since Garfield is singing low, not high). When Garfield tries again, the needles fall off the tree. Even after such a poor demonstration, Nermal offers to let Garfield in on their caroling if he can hit a high C note. Garfield explains the best way to do that is to yank out a nose hair, which he does and then (mostly) hits the note while running around in pain. Nermal lets him in, and Garfield explains he’ll be the conductor at the next house. When they begin their caroling for an elderly woman, Garfield stops them and demonstrates how he wants them to perform, prompting the woman to dump a bucket on his head. Nermal and Odie then resume their duet for food as he reminds Garfield he’s just not adorable enough.

Garfield is about as good at conducting as he is at singing.

Garfield decides he needs to find a way to be more adorable if he wants to score food with this idea. He peeks in on a gentleman watching the same special Odie had been watching and notes that the carolers all sing rather high. Garfield decides he needs to sing higher if he wants to impress, which strikes me as a bad idea. Garfield tries some warm-ups, that sound terrible, then tries again on the next guy. He seems startled to see this bulky gentleman in the doorway, but he goes through with his performance. Singing so high he sounds like Welker’s version of Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters, it’s not much of an improvement, but it certainly is higher. The gentleman at the house is not impressed though and thinks Garfield is making fun of his unusually high voice. As the high-voiced man glares down at the cat, Garfield runs away suggesting maybe he needs some back-up singers.

Garfield is then shown conducting in a shed. It sounds fine, and it’s revealed he’s leading a trio of performing mice. The mice agree to join Garfield’s troupe so long as they get first dibs on any cheese gifted their way. With that, Garfield leads his new band to the next house which happens to be inhabited by a young woman. She sees the cat and his three mice performing and immediately freaks out. She grabs a broom forcing the critters to run. The lead mouse tells Garfield they’re out.

Nermal and Odie actually make for a fun pairing.

While Garfield is wearily walking down the street, Nermal and Odie are performing for the first house Garfield hit. They have a wagon full of food at this point, and the old man who once dumped water all over Garfield happily gifts them a pair of hams. Garfield can’t believe it, and angrily kicks a can that was sitting on the sidewalk which lands in a nearby wheel barrow. The pinging sound catches Garfield’s ear, and he gets an idea. Rummaging through a nearby trash can, he comes out with some sticks and more cans. The sound of steel drums are then heard and they attract Nermal and Odie who find Garfield drumming on the cans which he placed in the wheel barrow. They both look at each other as if to suggest they have an idea, and soon we get a montage of the two caroling while Garfield plays “drums.” The people they visit all react favorably and hand out more food, and Garfield finally gets to share in the festivities.

The montage ends at the Arbuckle residence with Jon setting out the turkey and calling for Garfield and Odie. Odie drags the wagon into the room with Garfield laying in it, patting his full stomach. Nermal is there as well and they’re all too stuffed to consider eating dinner. Jon remarks that Garfield not being hungry must be a Christmas miracle, which causes Garfield to rethink his fullness. He smiles at the turkey while remarking that maybe he can handle a few bites as the episode ends.

Jon is also still around and still making way too much food for a bachelor and his pets.

The Garfield Show, for one, really shows its age. I don’t think it looked particularly good when it aired, but the CG looks pretty dreadful in 2018. The show basically looks like a Playstation 2 game with very simple textures and backgrounds. There’s obviously some other limitations at work as Garfield and his buddies keep hitting the same houses throughout the episode instead of showing us new faces. Garfield’s mouth also moves this time, implying he (and Nermal) are actually talking though the mouth movements aren’t particularly good. There’s also lots of animation shortcuts as we usually see the aftermath of the water being tossed at Garfield, or the needles falling off of the tree, rather than seeing those things actually animated. I would not call the show ugly, but it’s definitely not as charming as the original specials and cartoon. I will say the Christmas decor looks fairly nice, and I like the festive clothing worn by the characters in this episode.

As the voice of Garfield, Frank Welker is obviously trying to do a Lorenzo Music impression and he mostly does a decent job. It’s sort of odd that someone with Welker’s background would feel the need to imitate another voice actor, but maybe he just also felt this was the most appropriate voice for the character. Garfield is a low energy character, and the sleepy quality of his voice is part of his charm. The other music in the episode is kind of weird and sounds like an episode of Rugrats. For the carols, the characters just say “La-la-la” or “meow-meow-meow” to the tune of “Deck the Halls” which is fine. The sound design on Garfield’s drums is quite nice though.

One thing this episode does get right is the humor of Garfield. It’s not a laugh out loud kind of show and is more of an understated brand of comedy. It fits with the character, it’s the limitations of the technology behind the show that ultimately hold it back and keep it from being a true holiday classic. I’d much prefer to watch the classic holiday special, which in addition to being funnier is also rather sweet and does a better job of getting that Christmas message into the show. This one is just fine though, and as a 12 minute cartoon the caroling scheme works well with the character. Garfield just wants to get fed while doing as little as possible.

If you want to watch this one this Christmas, then you have several options. While I don’t expect Boomerang to air it, the entire show is on Netflix. There was also a holiday themed DVD of the show released titled Holiday Extravaganza which may or may not be easy to come by. There’s also an official YouTube channel for the show, so I feel comfortable actually linking you to this episode since it’s apparently official. It’s also free!

1 Comment | tags: boomerang, cartoon network, christmas specials, frank welker, garfield and friends, jim davis, lorenzo music, the garfield show | posted in christmas, Comics, Television

December 19, 2018

Dec. 19 – Stitch and Santa!

By Joe

Originally aired in Japan on December 24, 2008

Stitch, of Lilo & Stitch fame, is apparently quite popular in Japan. Disney is popular in general over there, but it seems like Stitch struck a chord. He has a lot of Japan exclusive merchandise and his popularity has extended well past the movie from which he originated. In the US, Stitch and his pal Lilo did get an animated series as well as multiple direct-to-video films so it’s not as if he isn’t popular domestically as well. He’s just so popular in Japan that he’s received multiple anime series that ran from 2008-2011. Following that, a series of specials aired with the newest released as recently as 2015. Since then, Stitch has actually switched markets in Asia and gone to China, where a new series launched in 2017.

Stitch! premiered just over 10 years ago in Japan.

The first of these anime was the Madhouse produced Stitch!. It premiered on October 8, 2008 so happy ten year anniversary to Stitch!. Unlike the American cartoon series, Stitch! is not a continuation of the story started in the film but a reinterpretation. Stitch (Ben Diskin) fell to Earth and is accompanied by Dr. Jumba (Jess Winfield) and Pleakley (Ted Biaselli). He ended up on the island of Izayoi which is near Okinawa where he encounters The Spiritual Stone. He befriends a young girl named Yuna (Eden Riegel), the Lilo of our story, and is promised by The Spiritual Stone to be made the strongest in the universe if he can complete 43 good deeds. Stitch is quite mischievous though, so completing these deeds will not be easy because a bad deed takes away from his total. Pleakley crafts him a counter to keep track of his deeds, and together with Yuna, they set out to complete the task.

Standing in Stitch’s way are other experiments of Dr. Jumba gone rogue. The main villain is Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel (Kirk Thornton), who looks like a cross between a hamster and a rabbit. He attended college with Jumba and seems to just want more power and he sees a way to attain that via Stitch’s good deed counter, or something. He’s also not a new villain as he premiered in the direct-to-video sequel to the original movie, Stitch. Gantu (Keith Silverstein) from the film works for him after he was dishonorably discharged from the Galactic Federation for bad karaoke and he’s rather incompetent. He has an obsession with an Earth soap opera called The Young and the Stupid, in particular with its lead actress. Also joining them is Reuben (Dave Wittenberg), Experiment 625, who basically just makes comments and sandwiches. He loves sandwiches and he also previously debuted in Stitch.

Stitch is quite excited about this whole Christmas thing.

Stitch! was first run in Japan, but was also dubbed in English for other regions, though surprisingly the US was not really one of them. Only five episodes aired in the US on Toon Disney before the show was abruptly pulled. It’s possible Disney just felt it was too different from the franchise that is featured here and didn’t want to confuse audiences. Or someone just didn’t like it. The main English cast also was not utilized for the show, but that’s not surprising. As you can imagine, the show has not been released in the US as a result.

That’s quite a Christmas tree.

The episode opens with Yuna getting ready for Christmas. Stitch has no idea what Christmas is, but Pleakley is happy to inform him since he is an Earth expert and all. He confuses basically all of Earth’s holidays as one and even thinks part of Christmas is the consumption of red-nosed reindeer, which gets Stich quite excited. Venison and presents! His excitement messes up Yuna’s tree decorating, but he refashions it into a facsimile of himself. It’s an improvement. Pleakley did at least get the Santa stuff mostly right, giving Stitch something to look forward to that night. Yuna also gifts her alien friends stockings of their own so that Santa can leave them a present tonight.

The villains of the show with really only Hamsterviel being an actual villain. Gantu only cares about a soap opera while Reuben is just really into sandwiches.

In space, Hamsterviel is plotting to utilize Christmas to get rid of Stitch. He is planning on masquerading as Santa Claus to gain the trust of the Earth children and Stitch, and launch a plan from there. Reuben and Gantu are expected to help, with Gantu to just seeing this scheme as a means to stop his favorite actress on The Young and the Stupid from getting married. On Earth, Yuna receives a letter from Santa instructing her to meet him in the forest for her Christmas present. She and Stitch are so excited they don’t notice the obvious Hamsterviel stamp on the envelope.

These kids want their present!

Turns out, more than just Yuna received a letter from Santa as the island’s children are shown heading for the designated spot. Along the way they talk amongst themselves trying to figure out why Santa would change things up. A particularly bratty girl named Penny (Meghan Strange) is the most vocal. When they arrive at the area, Hamsterviel is there floating in an egg-like device dressed as Santa. Gantu is dressed as a reindeer and is playing music while Reuben is just there making sandwiches. Santa Hamsterviel offers the children a cookie, and when they eat it they grow whiskers and buck teeth. It becomes clear they’re under Hamsterviel’s control, but he does still give them presents – sandwiches and plush versions of he and Gantu.

These kids aren’t very smart if they think that’s Santa.

Not present at the gift ceremony is Yuna, who with Stitch is running late. They’re hopeful that all of the presents aren’t gone. They’re intercepted by Kijimunaa, a little yokai who’s basically a mouth and a pair of nostrils with a mop of hair on top. He witnessed what happened with the kids and warns Yuna and Stitch that it isn’t Santa who’s giving out gifts. They confront Hamsterviel and see the transformed children who threaten to bite them and tickle them with their whiskers. Seeing there isn’t much they can do, Yuna and Stitch retreat to seek the help of Jumba. He’s irate to find out Hamsterviel stole his idea for mind-control cookies so he’s happy to help foil his scheme. He quickly builds a little, golden, cat idol that spits out cookies. These cookies should reverse the mind control Hamsterviel inflicted upon the children.

Yuna and Stitch are not putting up with this crap, especially not on Christmas Eve!

Armed with the statue, Stitch and Yuna return to the forest where apparently Hamsterviel was content to just hang out and have the kids massage his feet. Stitch jumps around and fires cookies out of the idol at the children who consume them and return to normal. With the spell on them broken, Hamsterviel and company are forced to retreat. As the kids walk back to town, they’re all a bit dismayed they fell for such a scheme. It leads them back to the topic of Santa Claus, and Penny is that kid who wants to spoil everyone’s fun and insists that Santa is their fathers. Stitch is shocked to hear such a thing, but Yuna insists Santa is not their dads. Penny’s response is to point out that of course Santa isn’t Yuna’s dad because her dad is never home (unlike Lilo, Yuna’s dad is alive, he’s just always working so while this is a vicious burn it isn’t as vicious as it would be if she and Lilo shared the same origin) which upsets Yuna and causes her to stop dead in her tracks. She then sadly remarks, mostly to herself, that’s how she knows Santa isn’t her dad because he is never around.

Santa apparently doesn’t dress lighter when delivering gifts in Hawaii.

At home, Yuna is a bit more upbeat than she was following her encounter with Penny. She writes a letter to Santa, but won’t tell Stitch what’s in it, that she places beside her pillow as she goes to bed. Stitch seems a bit thoughtful, but he too lays down to sleep but is soon awoken by a sound on the roof. He heads outside to find the big man himself, Santa Claus (Dave Wittenberg), on the roof. He thanks Stitch for what he did in stopping Hamsterviel earlier and also asks for his help. Stitch is very eager to help Santa, and the jolly old elf outfits him with his own Santa suit (Stitchy Claus!) and a tiny, one-deer, sleigh. Stitch surprisingly doesn’t seem tempted to eat his lone reindeer and Santa hands him a sack of toys to deliver throughout the island.

All right, that’s pretty damn cute.

Stitch sets forth and the action unfolds as a montage. He visits most of the kids we saw earlier and places a gift in their stocking, which most seem to hang from their bed (a Hawaiian tradition?). He even gives that jerk Penny a gift, and saves Yuna for last. In the morning, the kids are gathered at Yuna’s house to show off their presents. Yuna got exactly what she wanted, while Penny got a book on how to be nice. Even Hamsterviel is shown as having received a gift – a giant hamster wheel because he’s out of shape. Gantu received a costume from his favorite soap opera, which brings him to tears, while Reuben has decorated their tree with nothing but sandwiches. On Earth, Kijimunaa asks Stitch what Santa got him, which causes Stitch to realise he didn’t receive a gift! He heads back to his room and finds a letter from Santa thanking him for all he’s done. Stitch then checks his good deed counter and watches it increase by five deeds. This excites him quite a bit as he looks to the heavens and the episode ends.

But this is actually cuter.

“Stitch and Santa” was a pretty charming way for me to get acquainted with this series. Prior to this, I knew it existed but had never sought it out. It looks like a fairly typical anime, while the character designs of the characters we know from the films largely look the same. The voice cast is fine and Hawaii is still a lavish setting. I enjoyed the design of Hamsterviel who is so cute he isn’t threatening and it was interesting to see the new interpretation of Gantu. A lot happens in the 20 minutes the episode lasts to build up to the climax of Stitch helping Santa. There’s something really charming and cute about that whole sequence making it a really nice pay-off following the rather breezy scheme plot.

Stitch saying “Thank you, Santa” is also pretty adorable. I can’t handle the cuteness!

Since the lore of the show is so different from the film it makes it a bit difficult to just drop-in. Stitch being friendly with Jumba and Pleakley isn’t too odd since that’s basically how the movie ended, though the presence of Yuna is confusing. I at first thought she was just an anime version of Lilo, but obviously I was mistaken. I had no idea about the deed counter though, so Stitch’s ultimate present was a bit of a head-scratcher until I read-up on the series. I’m a little disappointed this didn’t get a US broadcast and release as it seems like it has potential. Because it wasn’t released, it would seem Disney doesn’t care about protecting its asset so this was exceptionally easy to find streaming online. If you like Stitch and want to see a different take on him, go ahead and check it out. There’s enough Christmas feels here to make it a worthwhile holiday viewing experience.

1 Comment | tags: anime, christmas, disney, lilo and stitch, madhouse, santa claus, stitch | posted in christmas, Television

December 18, 2018

Dec. 18 – I Am Weasel – “Happy Baboon Holidays”

By Joe

Original Air Date September 30, 1997

For today’s installment, we’re taking a trip back to Cartoon Network of 1997 and the animated short I Am Weasel – “Happy Baboon Holidays.” I Am Weasel originated as a segment as part of the Cow and Chicken show, which was part of the second wave of Cartoon Cartoons to become a full-fledged show. Like Dexter’s Laboratory, Cartoon Network asked the show’s creator, in this case David Feiss, to pair off the characters with another original character to provide some variety for the show. Feiss’s creation ended up being I. M. Weasel, a heroic weasel (voiced by Michael Dorn) who is beloved by all and always does the right thing. As an antagonist, there’s I.R. Baboon, a moronic and mean-spirited baboon who refuses to wear pants and hates Weasel. The pairing of a weasel and a baboon was inspired by the classic nursery rhyme/song “Pop Goes the Weasel,” and Feiss just thought it would be funny to have a heroic weasel instead of the typical weasel character which is usually scheming and selfish.

I Am Weasel ran from 1997 to 1999.

I Am Weasel ended up being popular enough to get spun off into its own show. The old segments from Cow and Chicken were also packaged together making the broadcast order of the show a little confusing. It technically spanned five seasons, though it really only had one 27 episode season as its own show. “Happy Baboon Holidays” was part of the first season and originally aired with episode 12 of the Cow and Chicken show which first debuted on September 30, 1997. None of the other shorts appeared to be Christmas themed, and I don’t know why a Christmas I Am Weasel was inserted into a Cow and Chicken episode before Halloween. As we saw with Johnny Bravo last year and Dexter’s Laboratory earlier this month, Cartoon Network didn’t seem to think it mattered if Christmas episodes premiered out of season.

The comedy of I Am Weasel is largely slapstick in nature, and it also relies on the dichotomy of the two leads. It also, like Cow and Chicken and many 90s cartoons, thinks butts are inherently funny. I. R. Baboon’s bright red rump is almost always in frame when he’s present and there are plenty of close-ups on it. It’s probably the most detailed aspect of the character too. The audience is also expected to laugh at how poor and miserable Baboon is justified by the fact that he’s stupid and mean. The squeaky clean Weasel is actually rather boring as he’s pushed into the straight-man mold. He speaks intelligently and is often accompanied by a heroic theme. The series was aware of the fact that Baboon was really the star, since the humor flows through him, and he basically overtakes Weasel in the fifth season.

Of course, he exits butt-first.

This episode opens with I.R. Baboon (Charlie Adler) in his dilapidated trailer doing laundry. Baboon is too poor to own an actual trailer that one would live in and actually lives in something closer to a camper. There’s a knock on his door and he peers through the peephole to see his family: mom, dad, and sister. His mom (DeeDee Rescher) announces they’ve decided to surprise him for Christmas, and Baboon goes into panic mode because his home is not prepared to host for the holiday. He jumps out the window, leaving his family outside in the snow, to go fetch a Christmas tree.

Weasel’s tree actually isn’t much better than what Baboon ends up with.

As Baboon goes off tree-hunting, time passes and snow falls causing his family to freeze. Weasel sees them and drags them into his lavish home which towers over Baboon’s trailer and thaws them out. Once free from their icy prison, the Baboon family is quite taken with Weasel’s home and find him quite charming. Mom even seems tickled by Weasel, but concedes she’s married and offers up her rather large daughter (Marabina Jaimes). Weasel is much too polite to decline the young baboon’s affection, though he’s clearly not interested.

Easily the episode’s best visual.

Baboon returns home with a gigantic tree that he shoves through his front door and through the back of his trailer. It basically just lays there looking ridiculous. He notices his family is gone, but looks up and sees them singing carols with Weasel from his balcony. This enrages Baboon and he takes his wrath out on Christmas. He smashes the inside of his home and totally trashes it, destroying anything resembling Christmas. He even rips all of the needles off his freshly harvested tree, but he’s not done, for he needs to take revenge on Weasel. He seals Weasel’s chimney so Santa can’t come and covers the roof of his house with explosives to ensure his Christmas is ruined. After his trap is laid, he seems to lose his enthusiasm for mayhem. He returns to his ruined home to cry.

Baboon’s rather large sister really takes a liking to Weasel.

Weasel takes note of Baboon’s sad state, though his reaction feels a bit detached like he doesn’t even know who this Baboon is. He realizes that Baboon needs to be cheered up so he puts on a Santa costume and stuffs a giant sack into Baboon’s home. Baboon looks upon this “Santa” with cautious eyes as the sack is opened to reveal Baboon’s family. He snaps out of his depression and is now happy to have his family in his home for Christmas.

Baboon revolts against Christmas.

Unfortunately, he fails to tell Weasel about the trap he left for the real Santa. An explosion rockets Santa (Bruce McGill) off the roof and plunges him into a snow bank outside of Baboon’s trailer. Weasel frees him, but finds Santa is feeling a bit blue as this is apparently not the first trap-laden roof he has come across this evening. To help reinvigorate Santa’s Christmas spirit, Weasel directs him to look in on the Baboon family where he sees the four happily exchanging Christmas gifts. This seems to warm Santa’s heart, and all is right on Christmas as the brief short concludes.

Weasel does get to play Santa in this one.

“Happy Baboon Holidays” is fairly low-key for an episode of I Am Weasel. There aren’t even many butt jokes, save for Baboon’s boxer shorts containing a hole to display his prized rear end. Baboon’s tantrum is rather brief, but I suppose the most entertaining part of the episode. It’s kind of sad to see him smash his meager possessions, though I think it’s supposed to be funny to see him stupidly harming himself. The Baboon family doesn’t offer much, and the giant, ugly, sister isn’t really funny either. I don’t think I actually laughed at this show, though I did find the visual of Baboon stuffing a full-sized tree into his trailer kind of amusing.

Visually the show is pretty simple. Backgrounds are rather sparse and the show has a very flat look to it. Baboon is designed with a lot of corners and straight lines and is meant to be rather ugly, though Weasel doesn’t exactly look pretty either. The snow looks nice though and I did get a sense of cold from the visuals. The depiction of Santa is kind of ugly though, not as ugly as George and Junior‘s Santa, but definitely not as nice as the Flintstones/Dexter’s Laboratory one. He comes flying in on a sleigh pulled by four reindeer, which earns instant demerits from this reviewer.

A nice, warm, ass-exposed, hug makes any Christmas worth having.

“Happy Baboon Holidays” is not really worth watching. I suppose if you liked Cow and Chicken it might be worth it to watch the entire half-hour block this segment first aired in. I did enjoy that show when it originally premiered, but I doubt I would now. It was a very 90’s show so it was rather loud and obnoxious. It struck me as the type of show that reveled in appealing to children at the expense of their parents. The show was actually pretty popular and one of Cartoon Network’s most successful. Despite that though, I Am Weasel has not received a proper physical media release. Seasons 1 and 2 were released in Thailand for some reason, while season one was also released in Region 4 (Australia/New Zealand). For US audiences, only sparse releases exist of a few episodes at a time on VHS and DVD. If you want to see this particular episode, you’re actually in luck as it was part of the 2005 release Cartoon Network Christmas 2: Christmas Rocks. That DVD will likely only set you back around 5 bucks making this special one of the cheapest, and easiest to obtain that we’ve covered. If you’re dead set on not acquiring more physical media though, Cartoon Network is pretty lax when it comes to these old cartoons so free versions are not hard to come by online.

1 Comment | tags: cartoon cartoon, cartoon network, charlie adler, christmas specials, cow and chicken, david feiss, i.m. weasel, i.r. baboob, michael dorn, what a cartoon | posted in christmas, Television

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The Nostalgia Spot

Author Archives: Joe

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