Friday, November 9, 2018

Buttermilk It Makes a Body Bitter/Broadcast Nuisance/Raging Bird (Animaniacs Vol 2 Part 16) - 'Toon Reviews 22



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Episode 41

Buttermilk It Makes a Body Bitter



Some of the best remembered commercials are those featuring a little kid ignored by an older hunkier person only to get bigger and stronger through drinking milk.  They’re marked by the tagline: “Milk It Does a Body Good.”  Despite being products of the 80s and 90s, I don’t remember actually seeing them, though I have heard about them in recent years.  It’s an intriguing setup for a milk ad, and I applaud it as a basis for this parody bumper. 
Slappy goes through the motions of the commercials starting off small and cute against a self-centered hunk who looks down on her, only this time through drinking buttermilk.  Drinking buttermilk means instead of getting hunkier as she ages with every sip, she comments on how indigestible the stuff is.  This is an effective way of having Slappy go from innocent and childlike, to the bitter old squirrel she is now.  It can be implied that it’s all in the taste of the buttermilk, with her crankiness making itself known as she throws a bomb at the hunk who stood her up as well as the announcer. 
All this makes for an ingenious commercial parody with an interesting play on the product and how it fits right at home with the featured character.
A+
Broadcast Nuisance



A key factor to the success of a Warners cartoon is that the people they annoy is deserving of what they get.  This is usually the case with their victims almost always deserving to be put at their antics’ receiving end.  For here, though their victim is a jerk, he’s honestly doesn’t seem that hostile. 
He’s newsman, Dan Anchorman and a few scenes establish him as a jerk, belittling his crew and being completely full of himself.  Moments like these open Dan up to be brought down a peg, though he is very charismatic and entertaining anyhow. 
The Warners enter as sandwich delivery people with lunch for the crew.  It’s here where there’s a huge detriment to their role.  Dan Achorman may be a jerk, but the Warners seem even more out of line.  Not only do they arrive late with the food, but they have the audacity to bite into Dan’s sandwich and show him a chewed up disgusting glob of it.  This service is unacceptable no matter how you look at it, yet the Warners genuinely think they deserve a tip. 
That alone is the only reason they have to retaliate against Dan.  He doesn’t belittle them or humiliate them on the air.  The Warners annoy Dan because he didn’t give them something they honestly don’t deserve.  This direction is not a very good one for the cartoon to take.  As bad as Dan Anchorman is, the Warners don’t seem much better.  Their reason for annoyance isn’t brushed off either as they frequently point out Dan not tipping them.  As a result, as they perform their antics, they don’t feel appropriate and Dan’s refusal to tip feels justified to the service he got. 
In spite of not being totally warranted, the antics themselves are still very hilarious.  There’s a fun bouncy sequence of the Warners protesting with picket signs over not getting a tip.  Yakko does a humorous intellectual talk show host impersonation as he insults Dan and has a funny back and forward with him after suddenly appearing on a monitor.  The antics build in hilarity when Dan locks the Warners in the control room.  What happens is brought on by himself as they report on his stress lines as a weather report, and place him in a wide variety of channels.  By the time the kids are through, Dan does look uncomfortably beaten up, though his pain seems disproportionate to what he got. 
This is because what we see on this DVD is an edited version of this cartoon.  Apparently, when it first aired on TV, even the crew felt the Warners’ treatment of Dan Anchorman was too harsh, so they cut things out and redubbed some lines.  However, the original version did air overseas revealing even more antics the Warners did to Dan, who was originally given a more creative name Slam Fondleson.  They included Dot giving him a makeover that electrocutes him in a clown mask, Yakko calling him a big fat stinky dope instead of cheap, and all three Warners getting him beaten in a few more channels.  Like the others, these acts are funny on their own and being cut from the original product makes them interesting to see. 
In fact, you can see a portion of what was cut from American airings of this cartoon right here:
However, given the Warners poor and unwarranted motivation, I think cutting them was for the best.  It’s really a shame that the Warners are portrayed as they are because this cartoon could be a solid funny work if that wasn’t the case.  What we have is still quite funny and entertaining, but if the kids had a better reason for messing with an anchorman, it would’ve been much better.
B
Raging Bird


It’s impressive how good cartoons starring the Goodfeathers can be when they break from their usual pain-based nature.  It begs the question why the show barely got creative with them and mostly used them to see how much they could hurt them.  As was the case with the previously discussed Goodfeathers cartoon, this one makes any pain they get appropriate to where the action takes place. 
There’s a creative look at what the city birds do in their down time as they watch a rooftop wrestling match.  The Goodfeathers see no reason to take part in the sport, but Bobby is led to do such a thing when he feels the champ, Pretty Boy Robin, is winning over his girlfriend, Lana.  Right there are two noteworthy points of interest for this Goodfeathers cartoon.  There’s a look at a pastime they and many other city birds take part in, and character reveals with Bobby’s love life.  Both these elements are the heart of the cartoon as opposed to the usual case of all the Goodfeathers put in a situation that gets them mauled repeatedly. 
Out of it is an engaging story of Bobby worrying if he can beat Pretty Boy in the ring.  Not even beating the naïve Squit with Pesto is enough to prove his worth.  Suddenly, he gets a trainer, a little owl named Max, who’s desperate to find a bird to beat Pretty Boy who’s apparently the reason Max is so short.  Max’s role gives the cartoon the feel of standard wrestling movies like Rocky right down to constantly calling Bobby a bum.  It should be noted that I’ve never seen Rocky, but I am familiar with its tropes.  Relentless as Max’s training exercises and attitude are, they have noticeable enjoyable elements to them.  Some of them are comedic reactions and outcomes like Bobby running away from a huge pelican opponent and freezing up in a meat locker while using a sausage as a punching bag.  Although another exercise has an all too believable reaction to getting stepped on, it’s interesting that the man who stepped on Bobby is a caricature of Rocky star, Sylvester Stallone. 
Considering the story direction, it makes sense that Max’s trainings ultimately do no help for Bobby and that he’d rather call Bobby a bum than even try to help him.  This is because when the night of the match comes, Pretty Boy repeatedly beats the feathers out of Bobby.  The cartoon is about to come off as a disappointing work that goes nowhere when Bobby catches Pretty Boy laying the moves on Lana or as he says, cooing with his bird.  After all his lack of progress, the power of love allows Bobby to beat Pretty Boy to pieces with just one punch.  This is easily one of the most rewarding moments in a Goodfeathers cartoon, the best things have worked out for the main players at the end. 
It’s not as satisfying as it could be when the Godpigeon appears and eats all the seed Bobby won except for one kernel and leaves with Lana.  The latter is especially a sting since Bobby can’t exactly retaliate against his boss over this.  It also feels wrong since the Godpigeon is clearly too old for Lana.  The good news is that she’s back to being Bobby’s girlfriend in a later cartoon featuring girlfriends for all the Goodfeathers.  Also, Bobby is still perfectly content, especially since he finds more enjoyment from Pesto beating Squit than being in the ring. 
If you’re looking for a Goodfeathers cartoon that succeeds as a story and makes its reliance on pain gags work, this is a champ for you.
A


Cartoon Ranking
  1. Chairman of the Bored
  2. Hot Bothered and Bedeviled
  3. Bubba Bo Bob Brain
  4. Baghdad Café
  5. In the Garden of Mindy
  6. Critical Condition
  7. O Silly Mio
  8. Phranken-Runt
  9. Puppet Rulers
  10. The Three Muska-Warners
  11. Clown and Out
  12. Jockey For Position
  13. Sir Yaksalot
  14. Potty Emergency
  15. General Boo-Regard
  16. Puttin’ on the Blitz
  17. Raging Bird
  18. Dough Dough Boys
  19. The Big Kiss
  20. Draculee Draculaa
  21. Babblin’ Bijou
  22. Fair Game
  23. No Place Like Homeless
  24. I Got Yer Can
  25. Spell-bound
  26. Smitten With Kittens
  27. Astro-Buttons
  28. Boot Camping
  29. Moby or Not Moby
  30. Noah’s Lark
  31. Skullhead Boneyhands
  32. The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly
  33. Hiccup
  34. Moon Over Minerva
  35. Broadcast Nuisance
  36. White Gloves
  37. Katie Ka-Boo
  38. Mesozoic Mindy


Miscellaneous Ranking
  1. Animaniacs Stew
  2. Testimonials
  3. Buttermilk It Makes a Body Bitter
  4. Alas Poor Skullhead
  5. Cartoons in Wakko’s Body
  6. You Risk Your Life
  7. Casablanca Opening
  8. The Slapper
  9. The Great Wakkorotti: The Summer Concert


Song Ranking
  1. The Planets
The next Animaniacs review sees the Warners in a boring interview with a senior Warner Bros animator, and zoning out for a Hip Hippos cartoon and a sadistic one featuring Charlton Woodchuck.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the ever amazing Steven Universe episode, "Mr. Greg."
If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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