The Flip the Frog cartoons have more versions of them than *any* other series I’ve ever seen. MGM made cuts, Pat Powers made different cuts, Exclusive, Commonwealth, Tele-prompter and Blackhawk all seem to have made some cuts as well, and we’re not even talking about what was cut from versions going out of the US. MGM’s master positives are the best source for the most complete versions of the films- if only they existed on everything.

Voice actors are fun to work with because nobody has to worry about make-up or memorizing lines. I think it’s the best kind of acting there is.

Tigger’s Shoes (Disney, New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, 2/4/89) – Tigger’s in another of his bouncing moods, pouncing on rabbit and scattering his cabbage harvest to the winds. Rabbit’s request that Tigger stop at least until the harvest is over falls on the usual deaf ears, as Rabbit repeats aloud in unison with Tigger the excuse he’s heard umpteen times before, “That’s what Tiggers do best.” Then Rabbit hits on an idea to keep Tigger busy. He shows Tigger a tall cliffside, known as Castle Ridge, and suggest Tigger practice his bouncing on that. Tigger scoffs that he can easily take that ridge in two bounces. Rabbit concocts a lie, that one of his famous relatives, the world’s champion Bunny of Upsadaisia, can take it in one bounce. Tigger thinks himself up to the challenge, and launches himself skyward – but comes to a stop at the halfway point of the slope, and falls back upon Rabbit. “This is going to take some serious practicin’‘, says Tigger. Rabbit receives a few minutes peace as Tigger tries to knock himself out with his effort, but Tigger returns on another collision with Rabbit, to claim that the slope is “impossibibble”, and begging Rabbit to help him. Rabbit doubles up on the lie, claiming he has possession of the champion Bunny’s secret, and will give Tigger the loan of them in return for Tigger rounding up the cabbage harvest – a secret pair of jumping shoes. Rabbit disappears into his hutch to fetch them. He grabs an old pair of oversized sneakers, but modified them by turning them into the equivalent of “loaded gloves” – making a hidden compartment in the toes of the shoes, into which he sews an assortment of the heaviest metal junk he can find. Rabbit tues the laces onto Tigger’s feet, and Tigger prepares for a stratospheric leap – but finds his feet virtually bolted to the ground by excess weight. Rabbit tells him the shoes were designed for a big bunny, and will take some getting used to. He insists, however, that, once the shoes are mastered, the Great Bunny could bounce the ridge even in his sleep. Tigger gasps, “He must work nights.” Despite his ability only to rise a few inches off the ground, then come crashing back down with an Earth-shaking thud, Tigger determines that he will learn the secret of the shoes, and best the Great Bunny at his own game.

The show has the actors to pull it off, too. We’ve known the cast list for a while: John Cho is playing Spike Spiegel, Daniella Pineda is playing Faye Valentine and Mustafa Shakir is playing Jet Black. Today we got to see them in costume….or at least we assume they are, as they (be)bop to the main title theme in Netflix’s first teaser for Cowboy Bebop: Live-Action Edition.Placemats

At the gym, Deltoid questions if Garfield is a cat or a mattress with whiskers. Garfield states he hates anyone whose I.Q. is smaller than his waistline. Deltoid helps the boys to a blender smoothie including such goodies as organically grown mud and refried soybeans. Garfield is force-fed a glass, exits stage left to yell offscreen “Yuck”s and “Gaaak”s, then reenters calmly, and admits, “Not bad. Could use a little lemon…” The exercise regimen begins. Jon works on a rowing machine, while Garfield putts by in a real rowboat powered by outboard motor. The steam room finds Garfield roasting wieners, but complaining that the steam is just ruining his hair. The old stationary bike gag is used again, but this time Garfield rides with Jon and the freed vehicle out the gym door, down the block, and into the door of an ice cream parlor, where he orders all 32 flavors piled up on a sugar cone in alphabetical order. Garfield piles walnuts under the weights of Deltoid’s barbells, using the health guru as a human nutcracker. Finally, Deltoid leaves for the TV studio to do his program, closing up shop and instructing Jon to go home to watch the show. Jon promises to do so, and to follow Deltoid’s every instruction – which Garfield interprets as indication that he’ll never get a square meal again unless this fitness freak is gotten rid of. Jon jogs home, but is not accompanied by Garfield, who stows away in Deltoid’s car, sticking himself to the back windshield like so many of the suction-cupped toy Garfield dolls that were major sellers at the time, in clever self-promotion.

WALT DISNEY’S DOG SONGS Disneyland Records DQ-1220 (Compact Disc / Mono) Reissue: Disneyland Double Feature DDF-2 (with Incredible Journey)

orbluestoer.com
Cartoon Placemat Activity

Titan’s talks, however, were entirely lacking in subtlety, and instead of making the results seem personally desirable in their own right, pounded a never-ending message as if fitness was your civic and patriotic duty for the good of the country. In other words, everything felt more like an Army training film than anything resembling entertainment – Welcome to boot camp! Just for good measure, Titan has assists from an outline “chart buddy” named Tipso, who performs some of the exercises as well – and looks for all the world like a dead ringer for Colonel Bleep, who was supposed to be long gone by now. How (and if) any child could sit through these films, let alone participate in them, defies imagination. Yet the few stations which actually dropped these short films into their morning schedules for telecast must have been brainwashed into also believing that it was their civic duty to show them. Fortunately for the nation, the series’ longevity appears to have expired in one short season, ad the likes of this sorry experiment have never been repeated. (A fan video has re-animated the ending of one episode to have Titan devoured by a humongous anime monster, accompanied by the kids’ chant of “NO MORE”, in well-deserved send-up of this animated travesty.)