Friday, April 17, 2020

A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show / Night of the Living Buttons / Soda Jerk - (Animaniacs Vol 4 Part 11) - 'Toon Reviews 39



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Episode 86

A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show
When it comes to making major societal statements about the environment, health, or good social values, it’s easy for shows to fall into a very preachy trap.  The resulting material can end up as very cheesy and saccharine, and fail at being entertaining by putting more emphasis on the messages than what they mean for the characters.  At the very least, this is my experience when it comes to topical shows and movies.  Works like this are easily at their most problematic when they try to have characters who are meant to be funny and antic-driven preach such values.  Sure, what’s being taught is important, but they shouldn’t have to compromise established entertaining roles that define characters.  This is one disadvantage on the part of Tiny Toon Adventures who have surprisingly had several topical episodes.  That’s not a good fit for a supposed new generation of comedic Warner Bros cartoons.  Enter that show’s sister series to give a very passionate satire on how cheesy such episodes can get.  

First of all, it’s clear right from the beginning that there’s a reason behind suddenly going all topical and preaching morals.  There’s just a major desperation to be eligible for a Humanitarian Animation Award.  I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the reason behind most topical works existing.  From there, the cartoon takes to the beach where the Warners take up many good-natured, environmentally-friendly, and politically correct practices.  There’s talks about saving animals, giving lectures about environmental issues, the dangers of secondhand smoke, walking instead of taking the bus, and eating healthy.  That’s not even mentioning them talking about how much love they feel just by being together to do all this stuff.  You can also tell something’s not right when Yakko and Wakko think nothing of Hello Nurse in a bikini saying that it’s wrong to treat women like objects even though they do it regularly.  

However, feeling off is the point of all this.  As the Warners talk about all these topics and good values, there’s an almost mocking tone to their voices suggesting they’re just going along with them to boost their appeal.  In other words, they don’t genuinely think much of what they’re saying and doing.  This is also apparent when they often stumble to figure out how to describe certain topics such as if smoking is a leading cause or the leading cause of cancer.  There are also things taken too far regarding endangered species like talks of an owl playing with a white Siberian tiger.  Yakko even not-so-subtly says that they’re only doing all this to win that Humanitarian Animation Award at one point.  Speaking of which, they end up not winning that award, and that gives them an excuse to do what they’re comfortable doing, going against much of their values.  It’s hard to take their environmental retcons well since at this point, they’re what the world has to take part in, but there’s really only two of those.  Most of the retcons involve going back to cartoon violence and eating junk food which is typical for the Warners.  

With clear awareness for how compromising of humor the process of teaching lessons is, this cartoon is one of the show’s best satires.
A+
Night of the Living Buttons
I’m not exaggerating when I say that Mindy and Buttons cartoons are pretty much the same thing every time.  They can be given a special touch when put in a different setting or follow a different style, but the things that happen in sequence are almost always the same.  When it comes to this series being formulaic, these cartoons are among the guiltiest of this.  For that, this cartoon really stands out for breaking from the norm the best out of everything these characters have starred in.  In the process, it comes with an effective atmosphere to everything that makes things legitimately frightening and has an air of this show’s trademark humor.  

Now, the beginning isn’t too far off from the usual stuff with Mindy and Buttons.  Mindy has a talk with her mom whom she calls Lady and has fun with a toy frog while strapped to her harness, but breaks free to chase a real frog.  The frightening atmosphere comes from exactly where Mindy, and by extension Buttons, end up in.  For this cartoon, there’s a cemetery right next door to their house, and it’s questioned why there’s a fog over it at this time of year.  The best reason for this phenomenon is that it’s being worked to raise zombies from the dead.  In fact, this is the force that mainly populates the entire cartoon.  There’s a lot of fun designs to the zombies, and effective gags come from interacting with them.  Mindy’s usual why conversation with one is at its funniest as he answers with roars as zombies are expected to do.  

There are also some good moments of suspense as Buttons keeps trying to avoid zombies, but things don’t go his way in a variety of ways.  Sometimes his head goes through the ground and he sees an interestingly designed zombie in the underworld.  He also ends up grabbing a dismembered limb without even realizing it.  All the while, he’s scared for his life while Mindy blissfully makes her way through the zombie-laden landscape in the name of that frog.  This clash of perspectives on the matter leads them both to a house in the cemetery.  There’s a well-timed scream as Buttons discovers a whole mob of zombies is just outside the door, and rushes to seal it while Mindy still puts her sight on the frog.  She even goes in a bizarre route by wanting Buttons to kiss it.  The zombies manage to get into the house, and Buttons is at his most pro-active.  Breaking glass, he turns the zombies into an all-out dance routine which he uses to lead them all into a single big grave.  Never have these characters reached such random humor, and it’s executed greatly.  

So Buttons solves his own problem, but opens the grave when Mindy wants to see the frog who ended up in there.  The catch is that said frog turns into the famous Michigan J Frog, the classic one-off Warner Bros cartoon complete with a song and dance routine.  To keep things hilarious, this is enough to get Mindy and Buttons to run back home scared.  What’s more, for the only time in the series, this cartoon doesn’t end with Buttons getting scolded.  If that’s not an indication that this is Mindy and Buttons at their best, I don’t know what is.  

That along with an interesting setting taken advantage of and funny moments from the characters make for the best example of a break from the series formula.
A+
Soda Jerk
It looks like even cartoon characters as crazy and versatile as the Warners can’t escape plots as mundane as getting rid of the hiccups.  Now, looking into how they approach such a thing, there are several creatively staged moments throughout the process, but the tiresome feel of it persists.  

In one of their more clever instances of fourth-wall breaking, the Warners call from a timeout in their usual chase to get ice cream sodas.  Wakko, being the heavy eater he’s known as, drinks his in one big gulp despite his siblings convincing him not to do that, as if this isn’t what he does on a regular basis.  Yes, although cartoon logic is usually on Wakko’s side when it comes to eating a lot, here drinking his soda so fast is enough to give him hiccups, a very much real world repercussion.  To me, stories about curing hiccups are not very exciting or interesting.  In my mind, they’re just random stunts destined to fail that keep prolonging a long-awaited resolution for the sake of an incessant sound that can really get old fast.  It doesn’t help that this show already had a cartoon about getting rid of hiccups starring the Goodfeathers.  

There is at least one notable thing this one has over the former hiccups cartoon.  While what the Warners do isn’t too exciting, there are at least some more out-of-the-ordinary attempts fitting with their cartoonish nature.  Well, at first they do the more basic attempts like having Wakko drink water upside-down or giving him sugar or honey.  Then things at least become more grand-scale and well past the capabilities of most people when it comes to getting rid of hiccups.  Wakko’s hooked up to a chair and electrocuted.  He takes on the role of a Frankenstein monster in a treatment backed by Yakko acting as a maniacal scientist experimenting on him.  He’s taken to the Arctic Ocean where he dives in and freezes up as well as a Polynesian island where a native uses tribal chants to remove the hiccups.  In an homage to A Clockwork Orange, he’s forced to watch the painful comedy routines of Dick Clark while strapped into a straightjacket and his eyes forced open.  

Individually, all these attempts are elaborately staged and show a good sense of imagination going into where the Warners go to help Wakko.  However, in context, the experience is pretty devoid of much of the fun needed to elevate such a simple plot.  A big scene happens, and then Wakko just hiccups again simply saying the cure attempt didn’t work.  For that, it doesn’t matter what goes into the attempt.  It’s the same basic routine all the way, and besides that, such a simple reaction to an overly dramatic cure feels more awkward than funny.  That’s a quality that really shouldn’t be associated with the Warners.  

I will, however, say that when Wakko’s apparently incurable hiccups get the attention of a lot of scientists, it is funny that they cause him stage fright which finally cures him.  While that is amusing in a way, I’m not sure how to feel about literally the entire world getting hiccups as a conclusion.  I get the joke via Wakko’s line about loving to spread the joy, but is it really fair that no one can escape something as incessant as hiccups?  

Maybe this cartoon isn’t my thing because I find hiccup stories so dull, but being so basic and repetitive also doesn’t allow me to rank it highly.  It’s got solid entertainment in parts and I’m sure other people might like it, but it’s not one to significantly hold much of my attention.
B
Cartoon Ranking
1.      This Pun for Hire
2.      Wakko’s 2-Note Song
3.      Go Fish
4.      A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show
5.      Valuable Lesson
6.      The Sound of Warners
7.      Night of the Living Buttons
8.      Dot’s Entertainment
9.      Boo Happens
10.  Buttons in Ows
11.  Cutie and the Beast
12.  Star Truck
13.  Boids on the Hood
14.  Our Final Space Cartoon We Promise
15.  Yabba Dabba Boo
16.  The Party
17.  The Girl with the Googily Goop
18.  Jokahontas
19.  Gimme the Works
20.  My Mother the Squirrel
21.  One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock
22.  Soda Jerk
23.  Hercules Unwound
24.  Belly Button Blues
25.  Oh Say Can You See
26.  Soccer Coach Slappy
Song Ranking
1.      The Ballad of Magellan
2.      Hello Nurse
3.      Noel
4.      The Big Wrap Party Tonight
5.      Panama Canal
6.      Multiplication
Miscellaneous Ranking
1.      Gunga Dot
2.      Mighty Wakko at the Bat
3.      End Credits
4.      Rugrats Parody
5.      The 12 Days of Christmas
6.      The Return of the Great Wakkorotti

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Warners score high appeal in a James Bond parody, lose it when ruining Dr. Scratchansniff's cruise for no good reason, but get it again in a fun song about time zones.

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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