Reviews

When this movie came out, I was 10. I loved the B&W Fleischer "Popeye" cartoons; I loved Robin Williams at "Mork", and I loved musicals and comedy, so I figured it would be great.

WRONG!

Ten minutes in, I experienced something new: the realization that I was watching a movie that just didn't work. I didn't know why it didn't work; I just knew that it didn't. I gave it a fair chance, but after about 45 minutes, I just wanted to leave. My dad & my little brother felt the same way.

I'd never walked out of a movie before, and I've only ever walked out of about 3 movies since then.

I've tried watching "Popeye", when it's been on TV, but it still just doesn't work for me. But now, I have the knowledge and experience to know why: It's a mess of styles & concepts; it tries way too hard, and the characters are all far too freakish to fit into a live-action world...but too human to fit into a cartoon world.

Characters in a cartoon are meant to be freakish, because the world of an animated cartoon is, by its very nature, completely different from the real world. That's why any attempt to adapt an animated cartoon into a live-action movie is doomed to failure---even now, with all the CGI capabilities that didn't exist for "Popeye".

I like Altman's films. His final one ("A Prairie Home Companion") is one of my favourite films. But "Popeye" was his most spectacular mistake.

That's a lot of amazing information, "rcj5365"!

I think your memory has lumped all three series together, though. Mine had too, so I had to do a bit of digging to sort them out.

I just got the DVD box set of all 16 episodes of "Razzle Dazzle" (which includes some bonus material from the Hudson Brothers' prime-time summer variety show, which led to the Saturday morning series, "Razzle Dazzle", and "Bonkers"). This is what I learned from it, and from a bit of digging on my own:

The prime-time summer replacement variety series included the Hudsons, Ronny Graham, Stephanie Edwards, announcer Gary Owens, and guest stars like McLean Stevenson and Danny Thomas. None of the bonus material on the DVDs includes any mention of Katie McClure, so I can't determine if she was on the series or not. One segment from this series was included in an episode of "Razzle Dazzle", in the form of a film "projected" by Rod Hull (with the usual "help" from Emu). In it, Rod & Emu appear as guests on a talk show hosted by McLean Stevenson & his announcer Gary Owens. This series introduced the caricature logo of the Hudson Brothers.

"Razzle Dazzle" was made in Toronto, Canada, and featured Hudsons, plus Billy Van, Peter Cullen, Murray Langston, Freeman King (all formerly of "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour"), Avril Chown (of the original Canadian production of "Godspell", which had included Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, and many other future stars), Rod Hull & Emu, Scott Fisher (as Fabulous Freddie), and an uncredited Jack Duffy in various supporting roles. I'm still trying to find out who physically played "The Bear", although I know that Peter Cullen did the voice. This series used the same caricature logo, as the summer series did---which could be why it's often confused with the other series.

"Bonkers" was made in the UK, and syndicated to North America. It included the Hudsons, along with Bob Monkhouse and several other regular cast members. I haven't been able to screen any episodes, so I can't determine any other cast members, or whether it also used the caricature logo.

One more little correction...

Although "Tony Orlando & Dawn" used animated opening titles by John Wilson (the same animator who did titles & bumpers for "Sonny & Cher" and "Razzle Dazzle"), this series was produced by Saul Ilson & Ernest Chambers. I think, at that time, CBS was trying for a uniform look with the opening titles & bumpers for its variety shows, which could be why so many of them used John Wilson's animation.

Wilson also did animated music videos (including "Dark Lady", "Bad Bad Leroy Brown", "Brand New Key", and "Black & White") for "Sonny & Cher". But his most famous work was the opening titles for the movie "Grease". If you look really hard, you can find a VHS tape of his animated music videos, but it's now quite rare and very expensive.

The Martin Short rabbit character was a one-off. Episodes would have a guest star, and on the "Ecology" episode, Martin played "Smokey the Hare".

Moose was played by Alex Laurier (who'd won Best Actor at the Sears Drama Festival while he was a student at Pickering District High School, during the 1950s. There's a photo of him and his cast-mates in one of my dad's PDHS yearbooks). Beaver was played by Nikki Tilroe, who also played The Mime, on the later TVO series "Today's Special".

The TVO show with the "talking shoes" was "Readalong". Several puppets from it (Boot, Pretty & Granny) now reside in the Museum of Civilization, in Ottawa, Canada.

TVO could really make a killing by releasing DVDs of some of their classic in-house shows from the 1970s & early 1980s---sort of like our own version of the "Sesame Street Old School" sets. They could include "Cucumber", "Readalong", "Calling All Safety Scouts", "Today's Special", "Write On", "Guess What", "Math Patrol", "Parlez-Moi", "Report Canada", "What If", "Eureka", "Bits & Bytes"...

It's really sad that the CRTC caved in to pressure from broadcasters to include news in their mandated quota of locally produced programming. As soon as the CRTC did that, broadcasters quickly began phasing out production of all local programming other than news. Today, even the big networks buy most of their shows from independent producers, because it's cheaper.

This video contains some of the 5-minute "filler" episodes that were made, using excerpts from the full half-hour episodes. A series was done about 10 years ago, and then a new series of 14 episodes was done in 2004. I know this, because I was one of the voice artists on this new series.

There's a set of 10 volumes now available on VHS and DVD, and each volume contains 3 complete half-hours, from both the old and the new series. With half an hour to fill, each episode can treat each subject with more depth. So each volume will keep your kids enthralled for about 90 minutes.

First it was the recurring debate over Bert & Ernie. Now it's a debate over DM & Penfold.

Why do people persist in seeing things that aren't there, and which a show's creators and cast never intended to be there? Unless there is a scene of the two characters actually engaging in a sexual act, there is no justification whatsoever for a claim that their relationship is gay, straight or anything at all.

In this case, the two main characters are co-workers. DM is the dashing hero, and Penfold is his cowardly & inept assistant (as we are repeatedly told), because that's a lot funnier than two dashing heroes.

They're both male, because if one was male and the other was female, it would raise more questions about whether it was more than just a working relationship.

They share a flat for the same reason that firefighters share a firehouse: so they're exactly where they need to be in order to spring into action the instant they're needed.

That's it. That's all. We're talking about a silly little cartoon here. There's no subtext, so don't go looking for any.

I hate mimes...the standard white-faced, pretensions-to-high-art mimes that we all imagine when we think of mimes. But what Shields & Yarnell were doing was more like old-style physical comedy...and I love old-style physical comedy.

They were offered their own weekly variety show after attracting attention with some very successful guest-spots on shows like "The Sonny & Cher Show" and "The Muppet Show". Although their variety series only lasted a year, it was nominated for an Emmy.

Their "Clinkers" robot characters inspired the Moonwalk and the Robot dance moves. These sketches are still fascinating to watch, because the duo really does move exactly as though they were machines, with servos instead of joints. The illusion is made even more complete by the glassy stares and a total lack of blinking---a feat which requires tremendous muscular control and reflex suppression.

Robert Shields is now a very successful artist, who sells his artwork and a DVD compilation of Shields & Yarnell material and TV news items about the team. Although divorced, he and Lorene still perform together. In fact, they will be starting a nationwide tour in December of 2006.

Made by fans, for fans, this is a documentary summary of what went on at this wonderful convention in the city where "You Can't Do That On Television" was created. If you were there, you can watch this DVD and relive all the silliness. If you weren't there, you can see what you missed, and kick yourself for missing it.

There are Q&A sessions, interviews, a very silly attempt at playing "Match Game" (in which I myself participated), and lots of memories.

This DVD has real historical importance too, because it records the last official sliming in that studio, before it was permanently sealed off for tax purposes.

I only wish it had been longer...and that it contained the secret "Project 131".