Saturday, July 13, 2019

Ragamuffins / Woodstock Slappy (Animaniacs Vol 3 Part 9) - 'Toon Reviews 32

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Episode 59

Ragamuffins

To give background to the Warners’ Golden Age of Hollywood upbringing, the series has a few cartoons from that era.  Some of them fit the old school cartoon formula better than others, although I’d say that this is the one that nails it the best.  It hardly even matters that it retcons the statement that the Warners were created in 1930 with this one said to come out one year earlier. 
The classic cartoon aesthetic is just that authentic, making a very simple story so energetic and exciting through bouncy animation and a jazzy old-time soundtrack.  We have the Warners as hungry street kids with little to no money, and are excluded from a local bakery.  With so much against them, they’re witty and confident enough to find a way to get into the bakery to get a snack by simply painting bakery uniforms on themselves.  For good measure, Wakko even eats a thought bubble the bull baker in charge gets when feeling suspicious.  These are the kind of out-of-the-box gags that emphasize how creative cartoons can be when it comes to facing life’s challenges. This is said to be part of a time when cartoons were starting to become popular after all. 
Adding to the great utilization of the medium is how dialog is kept at a strong minimum.  Music is highly reliant in setting the tone and accompanying certain story beats.  It’s not always a perfect match, like when the music is happy and upbeat at points when the Warners are left hungry and are belittled by the bull, but it’s plenty effective.  I also like the visual touch of everything except for the Warners noses being black and white, showing a way for the cartoon to stand as its own despite being a period piece. 
Above all, the aesthetic really leaves a positive impact thanks to how the story makes the Warners worth rooting for.  All they want is something to eat, being hungry street kids and all, but they’re unjustly denied access, even if they are overly zany.  In fact, it’s crazy to see that they’re as looked down upon in their in-universe cartoons as they are in the real world.  Even when on the job at the bakery and they sneak just a little amount of pecans or frosting, the bull stops them as if they’re committing a heinous crime.  Then again, it isn’t right to eat the produce, but that virtue hardly means anything coming from the bull later on. 
Even when the Warners rightfully earn themselves a treat from the vending machine at break time, the bull just takes it from them and eats it himself.  That’s just plain wrong and completely uncalled for, so the Warners have the right to go all out with beating the bull.  This leads to a fun sequence of gags as the bull is put through the bakery assembly line and is made into all kinds of desserts while the Warners conduct the process like an orchestra.  Justice wins out for them when the bull has enough and feeds the Warners all the desserts he has.  It all turns out to be one of the Warners’ best use of their antics against a jerk who deserves it, helping that it’s set against a backdrop of their year of origin. 
If you’re into classic animation reliant on creative gags and musical staging and accompaniment, this is by far the show’s best tribute to that.

A+

 

Woodstock Slappy

Historical settings are a common backdrop for cartoons of this show.  For this one, the setting is in America of the late 1960s which isn’t all that distant, particularly by this show’s usual standards.  Nevertheless, the greatness of this cartoon is how it embraces itself in the nature of where it chooses to unfold. 
It’s the time of the Vietnam War where several young American artists and musicians got together in musical protest to promote peace throughout the country.  The main focus, however is on Slappy wanting to get away from all that stuff due to how annoying it is to her.  Really, the only peace she wants is absolute silence, not getting involved with anything major or trendy.  By contrast, Skippy, as the youth tends to be when it comes to trends, is easily won over by the push for peace and love. However, it mostly feels like he’s into the cool talk and fashion styles given how he looks and talks in this cartoon.  He holds onto this persona as Slappy gets him out of the city to a quiet vacant tree in the country hoping this will keep him away from the “bad influences.” 
By sheerest coincidence, the tree they’re at is the site of the Woodstock music festival, and you don’t need to have an expansive knowledge of it to know it disturbs Slappy’s silence.  All you need to know is that it was a big music event to promote peace in while the Vietnam War was going on featuring incessant live performances.  While the cartoon then becomes Slappy trying to make her way to the stage to stop the music while complaining about the noise, the setting is fully realized.  The entire crowd is comprised of appropriately designed and voiced teens, bringing to mind hippies and psychedelic artists common to the 1960s.  Some may call these portrayals stereotypical, but given where we’re set in for this cartoon, it’s appropriate to see these trends at play.  The songs are also parodies of actual songs from the Woodstock festival such as “Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die,” “Brand New Key,” and “With a Little Help From My Friends.”  They’re modified to fit Slappy’s frustration with the noise disregarding their meaningful cause, but the tunes still sell the tone the cartoon’s setting out to convey.  Plus, the modifications serve the main plot well and also fit Slappy’s frustrations as she responds with a hilarious rant over how annoying she finds the incessant music. 
The most memorable bit is easily when the music group, The Who, performs, she asks Skippy what the group’s name is, he keeps saying Who, and she doesn’t get that’s the answer.  It’s a clever mix of 60s rock music with classic Abbot and Castello comedy, two completely different forms of entertainment put together in genius comedy.  This goes to show how this series works wonders with its pop culture references. 
As for how Slappy finally gets her peace, the process is quite interesting, unfolding once she finally reaches the stage.  She destroys the equipment and instruments, but the crowds don’t leave and feel these actions are in line with their cause.  The actual solution is quite outrageous and brings out a sillier side to Slappy.  She breaks from the rock setup and performs an accordion polka.  Given that it’s out of line with their cause, the crowds freak out to the sound, maybe also to Slappy’s singing and run away.  I could say that the crowds leaving because of a polka takes us out of the experience after being so authentic to the real event, but that would be nitpicking. 
This whole cartoon is still one of the cleverest works at the show with a well-crafted period atmosphere and genius jokes and references.
A+

Cartoon Ranking

1.      Ragamuffins

2.      Frontier Slappy

3.      Woodstock Slappy

4.      Wakko’s Gizmo

5.      The Warners and the Beanstalk

6.      Brain Meets Brawn

7.      Meet John Brain

8.      Yes, Always

9.      Drive Insane

10.  Of Course, You Know This Means Warners

11.  Meet Minerva

12.  Smell Ya Later

13.  A Gift of Gold

14.  Ups and Downs

15.  The Helpinki Formula

16.  Les Boutons et le Ballon

17.  Gold Rush

18.  Up a Tree

19.  Kung Boo

20.  The Brave Little Trailer

21.  Girlfeathers

Song Ranking

1.      Schnitzelbank

2.      I’m Cute

3.      Dot’s Quiet Time

Miscellaneous Ranking

1.      Branimaniacs

2.      Oh, Oh, Ethel

3.      Spike
 

 
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Warners deal with William Shatner doing karaoke, the Brain becomes a superhero, and Chicken Boo acts as a James Bond parody.
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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