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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
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