Breaks over already

One particular fond memory I have of Thanksgiving would occur “On the Day after Thanksgiving”, because Cartoon Network would show four Looney Tune Movies (though I don’t think we got past even one) that were made up of the older cartoons with a few new-scenes. I’m not a fan of those movies these days, but back then I was Looney Tune nut so it didn’t matter. The real fun came when my Grandpa would watch and start referring to the characters by names of family members (you had to be there), which sucked if you got Tweety’s Hyde transformation. It’s no longer done these days (same with June Bugs), but it honor of that, I’ve double my normal selection to eight. To do this however, the I also included a few cartoons that are in a tier below my usual selection. Still, you might find them interesting because there are quite a few from studios you might not have heard of.

Chew Chew Baby – 1958 Warning See below

After Max and Dave Fleischer were removed from their studio (for a lot reasons that I don’t have time to go into), Paramount pictures (which distributed their cartoons) took over, reorganized the heads, moved the studio back to New York from Miami and renamed the studio as Famous. While the Fleischer studio was hardly a producer of great cartoons, those that followed from Famous were often worse for their time. However, they did produce some interesting work and this is one of them.

This cartoon was created as the UPA influence was reaching the east coast and in the limits of animation created an interesting cartoon about a cannibal. Yeah, you can see where the problem comes. If you’re offended by either old stereotypes (the ending gag in particular can leave a bad taste in your mouth, it does in mine) or the thought that cannibalism can be a source of laughter, you shouldn’t watch this. Otherwise, you can enjoy this interesting and, at times, funny (see the chase sequence) piece as the cannibal Chew Chew has a feast in Cincinnati while following the fat American who shows him around.

Farmyard Symphony – 1938

The release of Snow White brought about quite a few changes to studio. One of them was an increased richness and realism to their cartoons and this cartoon is one of the results. It’s pretty much what the title says it is, about a bunch of family animals (in Southern Germany) going through what I would call typically farm animal stuff, to a point because there are a few parts where they act more like actors (the highlight being a cock’s attempts at wooing a pretty white hen in something you’d expect from an opera). In a sense it hearkens back to the old Silly Symphonies that also had music at their center, only without the rubberhose style. Personally, I prefer the early quirky ones but even this one is charming and it’s not as bad as it sounds.

By the way, I think this might be the earliest use of “The Barber of Seville” as its centerpiece music.

How Green is my Spinach – 1950

This cartoon was also created by the Famous studio and it features the sailor man in one of his more self-conscious cartoons. Tired of getting his ass whooped, Bluto decides that the only way to finish off Popeye is to strike at the source of his strength, by eliminating the world’s supply of spinach. Featuring some interesting animation by John Gentilella (he animates for the example, the final punch), this slight jab at the series’ plot device is certainly worth seeing once.

Little Hiawatha – 1937

Opening with lines from Longfellow’s poem, this cute short follows the comical adventures of an Amerindian child in his attempt to be a great hunter. In fact it might be a little too cute (plus long) and a reminder of the tastes of the time (we see the title character’s fanny quite a few times (cartoon makers had no problems showing rear ends of their characters no matter their age, gender, or species, you couldn’t do something like that without it being interpreted as sexually these days)). But the moral is nice and overall, I enjoy it.

By the way, if you were the ask a number of Looney Tune Director’s what they consider one of their prouder achievements, it would be the off-screen narrator because they did it before Disney (this cartoon was the first Disney cartoon to use one) and that gave them a bit of pride.

Baseball Bugs – 1946

What happens if you put the greatest cartoon character into America’s (former) pastime? You get this classic cartoon as the rabbit faces off (“all by myself”) against the big muscle, lantern jawed team of Gas-House Gorillas. Featuring a series of baseball and World War II home front gags (remember this was in production when the war was still going on) that will probably please. What’s not to like? Well, this cartoon has one gag I flat-out despise, the “that’s the old pepper” gag featuring a fast-talking catcher. I’ve hated this gag since being a kid (Avery’s Batty Baseball has a far worse version of this gag; I won’t be showing that cartoon because it stinks). So if you really want to get on my bad side, that’s a good place to start. Otherwise, this a great cartoon.

Sick Sick Sidney – 1958

This was made by another studio I haven’t talked about, the Terrytoon studio. There’s a good reason for this, the Terrytoon studio was run by Paul Terry (hardcore tightwad who probably spent the least amount of money on his cartoons compared to all the other notable cartoon studios and with a studio of people mostly out to get another paycheck) and it produced probably someone of the worst cartoons ever made back then (he referred to his studio as the Woolworth’s of the business). Later Terry would sell his studio, and Gene Deitch was assigned as creative head and this film (made at his time there before he was removed) is probably the best cartoon the studio ever made.

Featuring worrywart and easily flustered Sidney the elephant as he tries to avoid capture by a safari that’s looking for zoo animals. Although incredibly simple in it’s design, there’s still some great animation by animator Jim Tyer (he did the part where the blue ball explodes in fear). And with a few funny bits and a score that will never leave your head, it’s hard not to enjoy.

I will admit that it’s not for everyone; Sidney (who is based off Ed Wynn (you probably might know him as the voice of the Mad Hatter in the Disney version of Alice)) can get one’s nerves given his slightly effeminate and attention-seeking (he has some disorder but I can’t tell what it is off head) personality and constant chatter. Still, I think it’s worth a watch.

Little Rural Riding Hood – 1949

I hated this cartoon as a kid. There’s ugly and there’s ugly that it hurts to look at and that was the case with country Red’s design. I just couldn’t get over that until I got older and finally say the greatness that is this Tex Avery cartoon. It features a hick wolf enticed by his cool-headed city cousin to see “the real Red Riding Hood” (I should point out that all animation of Red is reused from the earlier “Red Hot Riding Hood” because her prime animator, Preston Blair, had left the studio by the time the cartoon was being made). Within is typical Avery, high speed animation, wild reactions, and gags that break all logic and show. In short there’s plenty to enjoy, . But god, hillbilly Red is ugly.

It’s the Natural Thing to Do – 1939

I earlier brought up “How Green is my Spinach” as a self-conscious Popeye cartoon. This right here (the title comes from a popular song of the time) is the most self-conscious Popeye cartoon of all. When the trio receives a telegram from the fan club demanding that they cut out the rough play, the three try to act like gentleman and ladies. What results is probably the funny use of the characters and some of the funniest dialogue ever in a Popeye cartoon. And by the end we learn what really is “the natural thing to do.”

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I wasn't able to finish any of the sixstars I missed while on my break, mainly because of work, which had me busy almost everyday and any homework I had, I might have to go on a brief hiatus until the semester is finished, and partly because the one I'm currently reading, isn't very interesting.

But I did finish two other stories that have been on my to read list and I'm posting my thoughts on them below.

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Applebloom vs. the Eighteenth Amendment

Insert Pen Name’s fict inspired by The Simpsons’ episode “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment” certainly has quite a bit going for it. I haven’t seen the episode myself, but the idea was definitely felt like something that came out of the Simpsons. And thankfully, it was well done. I don’t think there were any real belly laughs, but there was certainly a chuckle in just about every scene. In particular, Officer Bannister hit the right line between a serious threat and oblivious comic relief (“The only reason we don’t know who he [sic] is [sic] is because we haven’t found her yet!”).

However, I did have a few issues. For one, I flat out questioned where the heck Spike would have gotten all that money for the speakeasy’s furniture and why no one really put two and two together (besides Applebloom), and quite a few moments I suspect were better in the Simpsons episode such as when characters were acting less than intelligent, thanks to things like the voice acting. Plus, at the end the real reason for the “noble experiment” bothered me (not the idea supported, politically, I’m a bigger supporter of it, but that level of political manipulation always leaves a bad taste of my mouth considering how it followed a “kill one to save a hundred” type thought process).

Overall, it was just a decent fict, but it was a decent fict I enjoyed and certainly don’t have any regrets reading it.

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The Humans Guide to Life in Equestria

I remember reading this while it updated a long while back but only recently did I find out it was finished. It’s supposed to be the Hitcherhiker’s guide to the Galaxy (the book by Ford Perfect inside the book by Douglas Adams) about adapting to the world of Equestria after being transported there from the human world (and being changed to a different species). In short, it has plenty of potential.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me this time than when it was updating, for the most part. Part of the problem comes from the type of humor being used, which I would describe as adolescent humor. Internet-based jokes, such as memes (“arrow to the knee” and nyan cat) or copying of lines from a pop culture source (including the constant plays on “thanks for all the fish” from you know where) are used as if just referencing them would be funny. I don’t find them to be so and instead see them as a crutch that amateurs use when they can’t think of an actual joke. Most of the gags are pure random, which should be expected from the tag, but I actually found such jokes to be rather dull like the rules mentioned at various parts that are often sheer nonsense. Random humor is hard to do and having a pizza with wings appear without set-up or relevance isn’t funny. Thankfully some jokes did work. A running gag about not selling watches and what would happen if you do (as well as how to deal with ponies that do sell watches) made me snort, as did an explanation of what to do in case of monster attacks. The latter is part of what I wish the fict was more likely, a jab at the show itself and at various parts I felt Noakwolf was also trying to make fun of fanficts in general, in particular those that involve the writer’s OC (from a list of types of adventures, “8. Adventure with the Elements of Harmony. ( This is by far the most common, and popular ways humans love to get recognized. Though due to the large amount of recent popularity the elements only draw numbers to see who will go with them on their adventures),” is an example because really, it isn’t uncommon for fanfict writers (particularly bad ones) to do that). Of course, I admit that I might be seeing things that aren’t there, but I wish they were.

The writing also showed signs of problems, there was a higher than average (higher than I usually notice) of spelling errors and grammar problems such as missing commas. Also troublesome was how the prose was written at times. I’m not sure how much of this was a stylistic choice (Noakwolf has the in-universe writer of the guide sometimes has break and scream for help, something that I don’t think was fully explored) but a sentence such as “As stated above we will cover your normal day to day life which isn't really normal in the sense that it isn't normal but it's normal because it is,” had me begging for a rewrite and I felt over wordiness was also a minor issue.

In short, I kind wish this worked better for me. Some of it I marked down as not being type of comedy, but not all of it falls under that.

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On One Bad Apple

I’m not really a fan of the cutie mark crusaders. One, I don’t really like children in my entertainment (they can get annoying really fast, especially if Steven Spielberg has anything to do with), two, I’m not a fan of their overall characters (more so with Applebloom because she can be a big whiner (see Cutie Pox)), and third, I really don’t like Diamond Tiara, she simplifies conflict way to easily (for MLP, I prefer episodes where the characters are their own worst enemies or it’s a conflict between two characters we are suppose to like). If there’s any advantage to crusader episodes, it’s that the writers seem to remember that they’re writing for young girls and not a bunch of adolescents.

This episode definitely was rather generic in some respects and I never cared for Bad Seed (or is it Bab Seed, bad voice work was the problem here) because she never really emerged as a character (blank slate as well as blank flank) and her back-story was predictable, plus the voice acting for her (it’s a her right, because who ever was voicing the character sounded like a boy) wasn’t the best. And I wasn’t thrilled to see a song; yes, it allows them to get a montage and show a lot of scenes in faster succession, but I’ve never been one to care (this style also seemed different than normal, a little more modern but I’m not even proficient in anything beyond the 60’s when it comes to music). There were some plot issues. I think you had to accept the fact that Applejack was a little too dumb to not see her sister being kicked out of her own bed (what they don’t have a guest room), not too mention a giant pumpkin is crushed in, I think the turnabout came too quick, and I started to loss interest at the end when the moral came (but that’s pretty much always the case for me). And Pinkie provided no role but to annoy me with bad puns.

Having said all that, I actually enjoyed the episode overall, mainly because there were enough moments that made me laugh, I think the episode did a nice job at portraying how bullies come to be and the difficultly of telling others (I do wish they also showed how sources of authority may not always believe you and you need proof, but I’ll cut some slack). I think it helped when I saw the title of the episode and saw Cindy Morrow as the writer (she wrote both “Winter Wrap-up” and “Sisterhooves Social”, the first and last episodes that I include amongst my favs and I find her as the writer I like the best). I’m not in a rush to watch it again anytime soon, but for now I feel happy. Until I realize what’s coming next week….

Next week, I’m not going to enjoy (still going to watch) but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something like this (I’m tempted to turn this into a drinking game, but I can’t stand the taste of alcohol)

-Trixie appears. She is down on her luck and shouts at Twilight for ruining her life.
-Seth faints
-A creepy shadow offers her a deal to get her life back
-Title song
-Twilight is minding her own business when “the bitch” shows up.
-Twilight’s friends are not welcoming to her
-Trixie makes a mess of the place (acting like she owns it) and then challenges Twilight to a duel
-Trixie slaps Twilight on the rear
-Those that support Twixie: It’s CANON!
-Me (not noticing): Hey, it’s raining
-Trixie wins and banishes Twilight
-Commercial
-Trixie sings a song while making Ponyville into her own image
-A resitance is trying to form
-The shadow that made a deal with Trixie has taken over her body
-Commercial
-Twilight returns (by herself because the writers didn’t think of the princesses)
-Crisis solved, Trixie’s attitude still not solved, she leaves again (hopefully for good)
Moral of the story: Don’t trust strangers and don’t pander to bronies