With the voices of Mel Blanc, Michael Bell, Arlene Golonka, and Phil Luther Jr., the show follows an orange anthropomorphic dune buggy who alongside teenagers Debbie, Mark, and Tinker, solves mysteries while participating in racing competitions around the world. The series was produced by Iwao Takamoto, executive produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and directed by Charles A. Nichols.
Created by Tara Billinger (Mickey Mouse shorts) & Zach Bellissimo (Victor & Valentino, Rick & Morty), this hand drawn, 2D animated, adventure, fantasy pilot is a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016. Five years in the making, the creators hired talented industry professionals and prolific freelancers to fulfill their vision. Along with well known voices you’ve probably heard before (E.G. Daily of Powerpuff Girls and Danny Cooksey of Xiaolin Showdown) and an insane surf rock soundtrack by Kreeps (Red Dead Redemption), the world of Long Gone Gulch is full of thrills, chills, laughs, and many surprises.
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American adult animated black comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi in his directorial debut. Based on the comic strip by Robert Crumb and starring Skip Hinnant, the film focuses on Fritz, a glib, womanizing, and fraudulent cat in an anthropomorphic animal version of New York City during the mid-to-late 1960s. Fritz decides on a whim to drop out of college, interacts with inner city African American crows, unintentionally starts a race riot, and becomes a leftist revolutionary. The film is a satire focusing on American college life of the era, race relations, the free love movement and serves as a criticism of the countercultural political revolution and dishonest political activists.
The film had a troubled production history, as Crumb, who is politically left-wing, had disagreements with the filmmakers over the film’s political content, which he saw as being critical of the political left. Produced on a budget of $700,000, the film was intended by Bakshi to broaden the animation market. At that time period, animation was seen predominantly as a children’s medium. Bakshi envisioned animation as being a medium that could tell more dramatic or satirical storylines with larger scopes, dealing with more mature and diverse themes that would resonate with adults. Bakshi also wanted to establish an independent alternative to the films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, which dominated the animation market due to a lack of independent competition.
The intention of featuring profanity, sex, and drug use provoked criticism from more conservative members of the animation industry, who accused Bakshi of attempting to produce a pornographic animated film, as the concept of adult animation was not widely understood at the time. The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an X rating, making it the first American animated film to receive the rating, which was then predominantly associated with more arthouse films. The film was highly successful and also earned significant critical acclaim for its satire, social commentary, and animation innovations. The film’s use of satire and mature themes is seen as paving the way for future animated works for adults, including The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy. A sequel, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974), was produced without Crumb’s or Bakshi’s involvement.
Betty visits Bimbo the fortune teller for some advice, but Bimbo is only interested in making time with Betty. Bimbo’s crystal ball predicts that Betty will be shipwrecked on a desert isle (during which time she sings part of the Irving Berlin song All by Myself), and attacked by evil spirits resembling poltergeists, but rescued by Bimbo. When Bimbo reveals himself by removing his fake beard, a happy Betty embraces him. Unfortunately, a group of the ghosts from the vision burst in on this scene, and chase the two to the desert isle. Betty and Bimbo eventually escape from the ghosts by tricking them into going off a cliff into the sea.
I really should have posted this yesterday and the Jim Henson documentary today. Nonetheless, in honor of David Bowie’s birthday yesterday and to follow up with the Jim Henson documentary here is a tasty tidbit from the legendary Labyrinth. Please enjoy.
Labyrinth is a 1986 musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, with George Lucas as executive producer, based upon conceptual designs by Brian Froud. It revolves around 16-year-old Sarah’s quest to reach the center of an enormous otherworldly maze to rescue her infant brother Toby, whom Sarah wished away to Jareth, the Goblin King. Most of the film’s significant characters, apart from Bowie and Connelly, are played by puppets produced by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
I’ve been away for quite some time due to an increase of production at work. I am pleased to say that now that Christmas is finally over things have gotten back to normal and I can return to life as usual (Well, my usual anyway). I hope this fun and interesting documentary makes up for my lost time. Thanks for watching.
This documentary includes interviews with Frank Oz, Jane Henson, Jerry Juhl, Brian Henson, Jon Stone, Harry Belafonte, Francis Ford Coppola, Ted Koppel, Maurice Sendak, and others.
Topics discussed in this documentary include Sam and Friends, some of Jim Henson’s other early works, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and Muppet movies, Fraggle Rock, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is a 1970 stop motion Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in New York, New York. The film stars the voices of Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, Keenan Wynn, Robie Lester, Joan Gardner and Paul Frees, as well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children’s Choir. The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, which was written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie for Leo Feist, Inc. and introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934, and the story of Saint Nicholas.
The special was created using Japanese stop motion animation called Animagic, in which all the characters are made out of wood and plastic and animated via stop-motion photography. The special was originally telecast December 14, 1970 by ABC, which continues to air the special every year along with its sister network Freeform as of 2020 (commemorating the special’s 50th anniversary), though both channels have at times edited the special to make room for commercials.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a 1964 Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It first aired Sunday, December 6, 1964. The special was based on the Johnny Marks song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer which was itself based on the poem of the same name written in 1939 by Marks’ brother-in-law, Robert L. May.
As with A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph no longer airs just once annually but several times during the Christmas and holiday season. It has been telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest continuously running Christmas TV special. The 50th anniversary of the television special was marked in 2014.
After and elderly toymaker closes his novelty shop at night and heads home, all the toys come to life — including jumping beans, piggy banks, and matchsticks — and have fun until he comes back in the morning. Caricatures of the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and the Dionne Quintuplets are portrayed throughout this animated masterpiece.
Color Rhapsody was a series of usually one-shot animated cartoon shorts produced by Charles Mintz for Columbia Pictures. They were launched in 1934, following the phenomenal success of Walt Disney’s Technicolor Silly Symphonies. Because of Disney’s exclusive rights to the full three strip Technicolor process, Color Rhapsody cartoons were produced in the older two-tone Technicolor process until 1935, when Disney’s exclusive contract expired.
The Color Rhapsody series is most notable for introducing the characters of The Fox and the Crow in the 1941 short The Fox and the Grapes. Two Color Rhapsody shorts, Holiday Land (1934) and The Little Match Girl (1937), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
More alcohol, caviar, carry on with our fluid conversation
On matadors, sycamore, furthermore
I establish ground for what is zero, patio, chemical basis
One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap
Bleeding from the nostril
More dynamite, satellites to add to my frequency of communication
It’s televised, paralysed, subscribing to everybody’s station
Zero, patio, chemical basis
One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap
Desolation, home at last
Home at last
Desolation riser
Desolation riser
More alcohol, caviar, carry on with our fluid conversation
On matadors, sycamore, furthermore
I establish ground for what is zero, patio, chemical basis
One more line of avalanche-winterland-handicap
Bleeding from the nostril
Desolation riser
Desolation riser
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Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland is a 1989 Japanese-American animated musical-comedy adventure fantasy film directed by Masami Hata and William Hurtz. Based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, the film went through a lengthy development process with a number of screenwriters. Ultimately, the screenplay was credited to Chris Columbus and Richard Outten.. The original soundtrack was penned by the Academy Award-winning Sherman Brothers. The film features the English dub voices of Gabriel Damon, Mickey Rooney, René Auberjonois, Danny Mann, and Bernard Erhard.
The Adventures of Mark Twain is a 1985 American stop motion claymation fantasy film directed by Will Vinton and starring James Whitmore. It received a limited theatrical release in May 1985.
The film features a series of vignettes extracted from several of Mark Twain’s works, built around a plot that features Twain’s attempts to keep his “appointment” with Halley’s Comet. Twain and three children — Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher — travel on an airship between various adventures.
The concept was inspired by a famous quote by the author:
“I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.'”
Twain died on April 21, 1910, one day after Halley’s Comet reached perihelion in 1910.
Included are sketches taken from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Mysterious Stranger, The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Letters from the Earth), Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven, and, a rendering of Twain’s first story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. References are made to his other works, including The Damned Human Race.
This animated film was shot in Portland, Oregon.
Directed by James Carbutt
Animation from Pip Williamson
Piano Intro by Jamie Cullum
“Ar! Ar! Ar! Ar! Ar!”, said the puppy to the snake
I’ve got a real big mirror of a smile and I hold it to the fakes
Hard boot slammed to the ground so I see what shakes
And I kill ’em with kindness
I kill ’em with kindness
Ain’t no doormats here
It doesn’t mean you have to bow, or say “Your Highness”
Just kill ’em with kindness
If you wanna beat the machine, keep your teeth clean
And kill ’em with kindness
Kill ’em with kindness
Kill ’em with kindness
Kill ’em with kindness
Kill ’em with kindness
Kindness
I guess you cannot tell from my tone,
I mean ba-ba-business and I ain’t on my own
I’m guessing it is hard for you to see
that-that-that-that empathy will cut down your throne
Don’t you mind people grinning in your face
“Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding,” said the champ to the chase
Whoo!
‘Cause we’re killing ’em with kindness
(kill ’em with kindness)
Your hum-drum, sarky slow lines don’t bother me none
“Wa-wa-wa, woo-woo-woo” said the flower to the sun
Our love-locked congregation gift will get you slapped
“Gna na na na na gnaw”, said the beaver to the dam
‘Cause we’re killing with kindness
Kill ’em with kindness
We’ll kill ’em with kindness
Whoo!
Ay ya ya ya ya ya ya ya there ain’t no doormats here
Shake!
Producer: Thomas Vernay
Production manager: Mathias Lemaitre Sgard
A&R: Thomas Vernay and Mathias Lemaitre Sgard
Mathias Lemaitre Sgard: Character design, animation
Marie Houssin: Character design, animation
Nayla Vanderweyen: Design, layout
Victor Tissot: Design, layout
Kora Von Prittwitz: Design, layout, animation
Maî-Suan Lepage: Design, layout
Gabriel Murgue: Design, layout
Marie Clerc: Design, layout
Martin Clerget: Design, layout, character design
Raoul Mallat: Design, layout, animation
Augustin Discart: Layout
Florent Ribeyron: FX animation
Arnaud Lefebvre: Animation
Victoria Pellet: Animation
Paul Raillard: Animation
Mylène Cagnoli: Animation
Yann Wallaert: Font design
Fraidy Cat was supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby, with music by Scott Bradley. Animated by Jack Zander, George Gordon, Irven Spence, Bill Littlejohn and Cecil Surry. This is the first Tom and Jerry cartoon to have Tom yelp in pain. He also screeches like a cat in this cartoon. It was the first Tom and Jerry wartime cartoon. The original print of this cartoon did not give Fred Quimby credit, crediting only Hanna and Barbera as the “supervisors” of the film. The title card of the original issue remains intact in the reissue.
Fantastic Planet is a 1973 experimental adult animated science fiction film, directed by René Laloux and written by Laloux and Roland Topor, the latter of whom also completed the film’s production design. The film was animated at Jiří Trnka Studio in Prague. The film was an international co-production between companies from France and Czechoslovakia. The allegorical story, about humans living on a strange planet dominated by giant humanoid aliens who consider them animals, is based on the 1957 novel Oms en série by French writer Stefan Wul.
