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Episode 91
Moosage in a
Bottle
This
little segment is an interesting way to open the episode to say the least. It’s a straight-up replication of a bridging
segment from the classic animated series from Jay Ward, Rocky and Bullwinkle.
The Warners are out at sea when they spot a
message in a bottle. When suggesting
that the message is fan mail from a flounder, they wonder if the message is a
note from a lawyer. After all, that joke
comes directly from Rocky and Bullwinkle
almost word for word. Yakko however
suggests that they won’t be getting any notes from lawyers as they transition
to the first cartoon of the episode.
That’s all there is to this segment, but its homage to an older animated
series, direct for better or worse, is fun enough to see.
A
Back in
Style
In
addition to poking fun at how limited and low-budget early 60s and 70s animated
shows were, this cartoon is also an inventive way of building the Warners’
background. It’s all an interesting way
of incorporating real life animation history, but part of it also takes out a
lot of the animated fun that defines this series.
It’s built around the fact that the Warner
Bros Animation Department did close in the 60s.
It’s portrayed with caricatures of famous animators and directors as
well as the cartoon stars themselves leaving to find work. Some animators easily repurpose their character drawings into new ones, while the stars set out to star in their only available gig, a powdered drink commercial.
Then there’s the driving subject of loan-outs. After the animation department is closes, Plotz
invests in action movies starring Chicken Boo, all of which are total
bombs, not unlike 3D films Warner Bros was actually making at this time. Taking the easy route for money,
Plotz loans his only remaining cartoons, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, out to other
cartoon makers venturing in the then-new realm of TV animation.
Regarding the Warners’ role, I feel mixed. First, there are a few contradictions of
established facts about them. It's been constantly said
that their cartoon careers ended long before this period with them sealed in the water
tower in the 1930s. Also,
despite taking being locked in the tower well and enjoying the few times they
were let out for fumigation, here they act tortured through the loaning process. In addition, it was shown not long ago that
they were loaned out before to star with a parody of Fleischer cartoons and they took that reasonably well too.
At the same time, they do succeed in pulling
off hilarious riffs on how cheap cartoon production values were in this period,
showing they still got comedic strengths.
They first go after easy 60s animation targets in spoofs on
Hanna-Barbara shows. In a Yogi Bear
parody, Calhoun Capybara, they mock the simplistic dialog and flat background
overlays as they go after Calhoun for trying to poach picnic baskets
lunchboxes. In a Scooby-Doo parody,
Uruhu, they ignore the boring talk of a mystery at hand to ride the dog. Going beyond Hanna-Barbara, the Warners are
loaned out to other cheap cartoons. An Underdog parody is stripped of his McGuffin which gets him crushed and his
bland girlfriend eaten. A Fat Albert parody is mocked for characters saying they're going to have fun, but they just sit around and talk about boring stuff.
These are all clever honest jabs at corny and cheap styles, but there
are a few things holding it back. In
addition to the Warners looking truly pained by the loan-outs, there are
realistic repercussions to their antics.
There’s a mention of Uruhu being sent to the vet because of them, and
the Underdog parody getting seriously injured after they let him get crushed.
If they’re cartoon stars, shouldn’t they easily be able to shake off any
pain and not be dismembered for life like this? Things like this make the
cheapness gags harder to enjoy than they need to be. For that it’s practically refreshing when the
Warners hear about Warner Bros profits being through the roof and stop the
process completely. All they have to do
is tear up the contract and kick Chicken Boo out of their tower, and soon
they’ll have their own network, the WB channel as we know it.
If you can’t get into cheap 60s shows for
their half-hearted scripts and lame production values, this is a solid
watch. However, for how real it
frequently makes the physical and emotional pain of others, it’s way of doing
so is fine, but not the best way it could be pulled off.
A-
Bones in the
Body
While
this song isn’t as well-known as other educational musical numbers from this
show, I find it to be a very catchy and beneficial work of putting complex
factoids to music.
It’s also got a clever
setup to the main subject of bones. It
features the Warners in the middle of the desert with a random desert
dweller and a cast member who hasn’t been seen let alone cameoed in ages, Mr.
Scullhead. There’s a lot of emphasis on
bones as they eat a dinner around the campfire, and that gets Yakko thinking of
a song he knows about bones. All it
takes the promise of not getting any more beans to play it.
From there the song itself plays, doing what
awesome educational songs from Animaniacs
tend to do. They take all the
necessary information about bones, the more scientific names for them, and the
mentions of the importance of them and sets them all to a catchy tune. Really, this is the perfect way for all
complex information to be arranged and explained. Starting at the toe working its way up to the
cranium, there are practically layers of focused information on bones. It also works in comedic statements of how
one’s body can become a scrambled egg without bones, and how brains and guts can
fall out if they’re not in the body.
Plus, the visual gags with Mr. Scullhead showing how the skeleton was
structured over years of evolution, using him as a xylophone, and putting him
together are pretty amusing. By the time
the song is complete, facts about bones and their other names are easily
learned and maybe even better appreciated.
At the very least you’re sure to have a fun time with it. As is typically the case, this show proves
that a little emphasis on music in life can go a long way when it comes to making
yourself happy, as well as smarter and more productive.
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. Pitter Patter of Little Feet
11. Boo Happens
12. Buttons in Ows
13. Cutie and the Beast
14. Star Truck
15. Boids on the Hood
16. Back in Style
17. Our Final Space Cartoon We Promise
18. Yabba Dabba Boo
19. The Boo Network
20. The Party
21. The Girl with the Googily Goop
22. Mindy in Wonderland
23. Jokahontas
24. Gimme the Works
25. Ten Short Films About Wakko
26. Papers for Papa
27. My Mother the Squirrel
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock
29. Amazing Gladiators
30. Soda Jerk
31. Hercules Unwound
32. Belly Button Blues
33. No Time For Love
34. Oh Say Can You See
35. Soccer Coach Slappy
36. Anchors A-Warners
Song Ranking
1. The Ballad of Magellan
2. Hello Nurse
3. Bones in the Body
4. Noel
5. The Big Wrap Party Tonight
6. When You’re Traveling from Nantucket
7. Panama Canal
8. Multiplication
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. Gunga Dot
2. Mighty Wakko at the Bat
3. Ralph’s Wedding
4. End Credits
5. Moosege in a Bottle
6. Rugrats Parody
7. The 12 Days of Christmas
8. Flavio Commercials
9. The Return of the Great Wakkorotti
10. Pinky and the Ralph
Next time will be the last disc of the Vol 4 DVD which consists of the final episodes
ever in the run of this show. It shall begin with a horror movie parody, an awesome take on one of the most popular dance crazes of the 90s, and Slappy and Skippy giving a solid spin on what it really takes to solve violent problems.
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