Episode 97
The Carpool
It’s hard to believe that the previous two-part event was not as strong as it could have been. Even more so is that more enjoyment comes from the Warners taking part in a simple activity of carpooling. I suppose it’s just in their nature that they work better in shorter material as opposed to longer stories that stretch out their qualities that are best suited for jokes and gags.
Now, the people they carpool with, Phil, Jan, and Ed, are basically your average businesspeople along for the ride simply going to work. They’re much more subdued, albeit Ed being visibly disgruntled from the start, and serve as foils to the Warners’ high energy and carefree spirits. They’re basically highly excitable kids in a grown-up setting taken to a cartoonish degree, with the most easily agitated carpooler of all, Ed, getting the most of their antics. The Warners’ routines consist of casually climbing over him to their seats, tying him in seatbelts, and taking portions of his newspaper until there’s nothing left. Making their actions work is that it never feels like the Warners are doing what they’re doing to be mean or because they feel like Ed wronged them in some way. The things they do always bring an impression that it’s all part of them being energetic kids making the most of a boring car ride which is a relatable thing to deal with. In fact, Ed is probably as in the wrong for constantly losing his patience and getting mad and upset over these kids much too easily. That said, it does feel like Ed is in the right to have the car stop so he can switch places with another carpooler.
Even so, if you know the Warners well, they’re still bound to find some ways to joke around no matter where they are. In the front seat, Yakko and Dot mess around with buttons that slam their seat into Ed. Everyone, including Yakko and Dot, run out in alarm when Wakko gets carsick and throws up on the seats (even if we don’t see it) totally casual about it. The most elaborate gag of all is when the Warners decide to play a game in the car. Just as the other carpoolers are about to go along with it, they choose tag, and it quickly escalates to the point where they obstruct the view of Phil, who’s driving. For the cartoon’s majority, Phil has appeared to be the most level-headed, but even his patience with the Warners is tried after a stunt like this. It’s especially shown when someone honks at him, he yells at them, but doesn’t realize that he’s doing so at a cop. The Warners’ actions may be believable for the kids they are and don’t feel malicious. However, the fact that the mostly innocent carpoolers get beaten up and deprived of money leave them too sympathetic to get humorously invested in what has unfolded.
Nevertheless, it’s still a funny outcome that the Warners came along not to go to work, but for ice cream cones given out at the Warner Bros Studio commissary. It really explains a lot about their behavior and really should have been obvious as they’re clearly much younger than Phil, Ed, and Jan. Plus, they’re still pretty likable as they offer to drive them home at the end of the day despite their scared reactions and crashing into things in the parking lot.
While their targets are often too sympathetic for the comedy fully work,
one of the Warners’ last cartoons showcases their ability to bring great humor
in a simple scenario.
A-
The Sunshine
Squirrels
This show is almost at the end, and yet we’re still learning more about the background of well-established characters. For this Slappy Squirrel cartoon, her comedic roots are touched upon more than ever lately and bring a reveal that she used to have a co-star.
She’s initially excited to learn that she got a major acting deal, but her excitement is compromised significantly upon learning that she’s starring alongside such a co-star, Suzy Squirrel. Although posters show them as a compatible acting duo, Slappy insists that she and Suzy never got along well. To her, Suzy was always trying to upstage her and they felt that they’d be better off as solo actors overall. In an instance believable to real-world actors, all it takes is the promise of being paid triple for Slappy to go along with a routine she doesn’t approve of. I suppose that’s Hollywood business for you.
Rehearsal begins just as Suzy walks into Slappy’s home, does a comedic routine of taking several dollars from Slappy’s purse for taxi fare, and gives it away before returning. The banter between Slappy and Suzy is nothing noteworthy or much different from standard aggression, but it luckily doesn’t last long. Truthfully, the cartoon really picks up in entertainment as filming begins on their acting deal; a live skit simply known as ‘The Restaurant Scene.’ I only wish I knew exactly where the scene even comes from. During filming is a believable cause for the rivalry between squirrels. Before going live, Slappy insists that Suzy do no such ab-libs and just stick to the script.
The problem is that Suzy simply doesn’t listen to her. After a few restaurant one-liners that are properly scripted, Suzy goes completely off script calling for things Slappy hasn’t read up on. She calls for the maître d’ when there isn’t supposed to be one, wants a table with a view, and insists that there’s a hair in her soup instead of a fly. It’s remarkable that Slappy is able to adjust to these changes to great effect. When Suzy calls for a view, Slappy chainsaws a hole in the table to give her co-star a view of her feet. As for the hair, Slappy smacks Suzy with the soup so that there are several hairs in it. There’s also a major dynamite finish where Slappy may be wise to Suzy’s explosives, but Suzy is unable to see Slappy’s onslaught of fireworks coming. The studio may be destroyed and the audience may be singed, but the squirrels’ off-scripted antics grant them great success. It practically sounds meaningful when they’re offered a deal to go into acting together again in a spinoff show, for quadruple pay of course. In spite of the two breaking into arguing again, the fact that their material can turn out legitimately funny makes it all worth it.
Still, it is a problem
that a new change for acting has come up, and there’s not enough time left in
the series to do anything with it despite its potential. At least as a cartoon by itself, it’s an
interesting one to build character, and one of Slappy’s better performances in
the show’s last stretch.
A
Cartoon Ranking
1. This Pun for Hire
2. The Brain’s Apprentice
3. Magic Time
4. Bully for Skippy
5. Wakko’s 2-Note Song
6. Go Fish
7. From Burbank with Love
8. A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show
9. Valuable Lesson
10. The Sound of Warners
11. Night of the Living Buttons
12. Dot’s Entertainment
13. Pitter Patter of Little Feet
14. Boo Happens
15. Buttons in Ows
16. Cutie and the Beast
17. Boo Wonder
18. Star Truck
19. The Sunshine Squirrels
20. Boids on the Hood
21. Back in Style
22. Our Final Space Cartoon We Promise
23. Yabba Dabba Boo
24. The Boo Network
25. The Carpool
26. The Party
27. The Girl with the Googily Goop
28. Mindy in Wonderland
29. Jokahontas
30. Gimme the Works
31. Ten Short Films About Wakko
32. Hooray for North Hollywood Part 1
33. Papers for Papa
34. My Mother the Squirrel
35. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock
36. Hooray for North Hollywood Part 2
37. Amazing Gladiators
38. Cute First (Ask Questions Later)
39. Soda Jerk
40. Hercules Unwound
41. Belly Button Blues
42. No Time For Love
43. Acquaintances
44. Oh Say Can You See
45. Soccer Coach Slappy
46. Anchors A-Warners
Song Ranking
1. Dot – The Macadamia Nut
2. The Ballad of Magellan
3. Hello Nurse
4. Bones in the Body
5. Noel
6. The Big Wrap Party Tonight
7. When You’re Traveling from Nantucket
8. Panama Canal
9. Multiplication
10. Here Comes Attila
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. It
2. Gunga Dot
3. Mighty Wakko at the Bat
4. Ralph’s Wedding
5. End Credits
6. Moosege in a Bottle
7. Rugrats Parody
8. The 12 Days of Christmas
9. Flavio Commercials
10. The Return of the Great Wakkorotti
11. Pinky and the Ralph
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