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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.
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