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Episode 87
From Burbank
with Love
Despite
this cartoon being a take on a film franchise I know by name but have never
actually watched, it’s one I find to be perfectly fun and entertaining. A major cause of that is the
spoofed material being a mere backdrop for the Warners to do what they do best
when it comes to insanity.
Here,
they’re called in for a parody of James Bond films, and the cartoon’s aesthetic
makes the mission very authentic. The
feel gets off to a strong start with an elaborate sequence modeled after the
opening credits of films in the actual franchise. I’m going to guess the particular film the
sequence is modeled after is Goldfinger given
the emphasis on big fat bars of gold, but I could be wrong. For the actual plot, I imagine the featured
characters the Warners get teamed up with are solid representations of actual
James Bond characters. There’s the
featured agent in question 0007 (with a zero added to the well-known code name
007) and his boss P. The Warners come in
as American agents to support 0007 as the featured scheme is in the American
location of Fort Knox. It’s in danger of
being blasted by a space cannon set up by the agency’s biggest villain,
Blowfinger.
All throughout is the great
appeal of Warners cartoons that’s defined their brand of entertainment since
the beginning. They’re placed in a
situation where a lot of seriousness is brought to the task at hand. While the likes of 0007 and P face the
mission with the utmost focus, the Warners rapidly fire out one hilarious joke
and one-liner after another. Standout
ones include making fun of how P only has one letter to his name, thinking
Blowfinger’s a cat based on what he’s holding in a video phone, and messing
with the gadgets. It’s all funny stuff
that average people would think means they have absolutely no idea what they’re
doing, but that notion makes what unfolds surprising.
The actual mission the Warners set off on
with 0007 is also majorly fueled by clever comedy. Their plane keeps going from flying fast to
flying slow because Wakko filled the tank with kangaroo gas. Blowfinger’s layer is held in a simple
outhouse which the Warners take amazement in how much he fit into a little
potty. After they’re caught and 0007
calls themselves the cable guys, they immediately cut to everyone being lowered
into a pool of acid. Yakko suggests
they’re here because Blowfinger saw the Cable Guy movie with Jim Carrey.
During this moment of
peril, the Warners think nothing of the dangers and effortlessly break out of
the ropes. Through their antics, Dot acts
overdramatic as she plays to her mace class on the enemies in accordance with
weakness. Then Wakko suddenly ends up in
space to redirect the space cannon at Blowfinger (who amusingly has a really
small head). This is an effective trick
to blow up his lair and ruin his plan.
It’s here where the Warners show off their greatness as cartoon
characters where for all their antics, they really know what they’re
doing. All the same, the antics are
enough for 0007 to send them on another mission in a parody of McCloud.
I could predict that they pull off the mission in a similar manner, but
I’m not familiar with that show either.
This is easily one of the cartoons of this era that plays to the
Warners’ strengths making everything fun and hilarious, even if you’re not a
fan of the parodied material.
A+
Anchors
A-Warners
Very
rarely does this show fail to get how the Warners operate. Their style may be doing their antics with
the intent of annoying others, but care is taken to make sure their targets
deserve what they get. For that, it
saddens me to say that this is not the case with this cartoon. The Warners go
after someone who’s done nothing to warrant their leisure getting sabotaged. Yes, it’s nothing new that they end up
annoying to their psychiatrist, Dr. Scratchansniff, but their antics with him have
always been their comedic ways of simply interacting.
You really can’t call their past interactions maliciously intended. Here, in several spots, this does seem to be
the case. You get the impression that they and, the world around Dr.
Scratchansniff, seem determined to make things difficult when all he wants to
do is enjoy a cruise.
The opening
sequence of him getting on the ship in disguise and searching every little spot
for the Warners to show up doesn’t seem too bad at first. In fact, it works in a humorous way to build
up to their potential reveal. Speaking
of which, just when Dr. Scratchansniff is convinced that they aren’t on the
ship at all, them showing up works as an effective surprise. Once their presence is revealed though, the
cartoon takes a turn for the worse.
Throughout the cruise, there’s a feeling that the Warners are making
things difficult for Dr. Scratchansniff deliberately and for no understandable reason. The worst offense is when he tries to flirt
with a woman on the ship, and Yakko and Dot appear asking about their ‘mommy’
and then cry about how they want her. No
matter how much he tells them to stop, the woman sees him as an uncaring father
and beats him. What is even up with
that? What was even Yakko and Dot’s
motivation to cry over a nonexistent mother for Dr. Scratchansniff to get
beaten?
Other moments aren’t nearly as
cruel, but they still leave a poor impression.
There’s a callback to the cartoon where Wakko played bingo without
understanding, but here it’s worse. I’m
fine with Wakko calling bingo when he doesn’t have it, but why would Yakko and
Dot, who are more in tune with things, do the same? Yet, everyone’s mad at Dr. Scratchansniff
even though he’s not the one making the scene.
At least when he calls bingo himself, it is a good cause for a woman to
clog dance on him which is fun to watch. Humor also picks up in a scene where Dr.
Scratchansniff goes to a fancy dinner, finds the dining room empty, and returns
to his quarters to find a party with the entire ship. I also find it nice that the Warners
genuinely want him to join in. Then
anything nice is dashed when Dr. Scratchansniff is charged a huge room service
bill for the party, he swims away, and the Warners plan on following him to
mess with him some more.
I’m sorry to say this,
but for the most part, this is the Warners at their most unpleasant. There’s no fun in their interactions with Dr.
Scratchansniff like there usually is.
They show up to make life difficult for him when all he’s trying to do
is go on a cruise, and no good comes from their antics like what's usually the case. It also doesn’t help that nothing is shaken
off with Dr. Scratchansniff ending up in more casts as the cartoon goes on,
making his injuries feel too real. If he
actually wronged the Warners if they acted like they wanted to go on the cruise
too or if he was replaced with a target who was actually a jerk, this cartoon
would be a lot better. As it stands, in
spite of a few solid laughs preventing it from being a total flop, making the
Warners ruin someone’s life for the sake of it really brings it down.
D
When You’re
Traveling from Nantucket
There’s
nothing to make up for a majorly disappointing Warners cartoon like a song
taking an educational topic and making it fun.
This one isn’t as well-known as other songs in the show, but I still
find a lot to admire about it.
It takes
the complexities of time zones and turns them into a short musical interlude
built on wholesomely fun ways of getting all information across. While the whole song isn’t as fast as other
songs when putting the information together, it’s clear that there’d be a lot
of confusion if you were to speak everything.
The tune lays all the time zone information out concisely to let
everything easily sink in.
It starts
with Yakko nicely offering something to ponder in regard to different clocks
for cities all over the world. Then
rhymes are worked in to give examples of how the reason for this is because
different countries have different times.
Humor is worked in to add in funny scenarios to what would happen if
time went faster than it does, like a day being an hour long and school lasting
a minute. Following a verse about what
can be done with time, including wasting it, comes one of the more substantial
verses. A talk about the international
dateline is a necessary thing to bring up when it comes to the idea of time.
This especially applies to the idea of how crossing it means you arrive the day
before you left. Whether this also means
someone on one side is older or not is followed with endearment. No matter how different people’s births may be,
it’s just how time works and it’s a part of the very nature of our world. Our backgrounds and times are different, but
we’re all part of the same plan.
Again,
all this can get confusing, as the song even ends with a line about that, and
arguably there’s little transition from topic to topic. When all is said and done though, it’s
surprising that the song is as substantial as it is. When teaching a complex subject, beneficial
facts, funny concepts, and endearing reassurance to the differences of people
in the world are hard not to notice.
That’s just one of many things to love about this show’s use of music
and songs.
A
Cartoon Ranking
1. This Pun for Hire
2. Wakko’s 2-Note Song
3. Go Fish
4. From Burbank with Love
5. A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show
6. Valuable Lesson
7. The Sound of Warners
8. Night of the Living Buttons
9. Dot’s Entertainment
10. Boo Happens
11. Buttons in Ows
12. Cutie and the Beast
13. Star Truck
14. Boids on the Hood
15. Our Final Space Cartoon We Promise
16. Yabba Dabba Boo
17. The Party
18. The Girl with the Googily Goop
19. Jokahontas
20. Gimme the Works
21. My Mother the Squirrel
22. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock
23. Soda Jerk
24. Hercules Unwound
25. Belly Button Blues
26. Oh Say Can You See
27. Soccer Coach Slappy
28. Anchors A-Warners
Song Ranking
1. The Ballad of Magellan
2. Hello Nurse
3. Noel
4. The Big Wrap Party Tonight
5. When You’re Traveling from Nantucket
6. Panama Canal
7. 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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