Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Almost Naked Animals"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

This is another one of those shows were just the name was enough to make me say "no thank you". Well, that and the character designs. Animals tend to be a lot less appealing-looking when they're hairless. Unless they're a species that's not known for having hair, like reptiles and amphibians, I mean.

Almost Naked Animals is the creation of Noah Z. Jones, and if that name sounds familiar, it's because he is also the creator of a cartoon that I've previously reviewed on my blog, Fish Hooks. THIS show, produced by 9 Story Media Group, premiered on YTV in January 2011, then started airing on Cartoon Network here in the U.S. a few months later.

The premise? A bunch of animals have their fur shaved off for whatever reason, and the only clothes they wear are their undergarments. I suppose we should give them credit for wearing something at all, seeing as most animals walk around au naturel. Led by a cheery, not particularly intelligent dog named Howie (voiced by Robert Tinkler), the animals run a hotel called the Banana Cabana. WHACKY SHENANIGANS ensue from there.

Almost Naked Animals is generally regarded as being one of the worst - if not THE worst - Canadian imports to air on Cartoon Network in the 2010s. However, the show did receive praise from People Magazine and Common Sense Media, as well as a Gemmy Award nomination and pretty high ratings. There was merchandise, up to and including toys in Taco Bell kids' meals. And do you know how many seasons were produced? THREE - that might not seem like much, but most of the cartoons that I've reviewed on this site are lucky enough to even get TWO (The Buzz on Maggie deserved better!).

So what was it about Almost Naked Animals that made it such a hit (sort of)? Why don't we watch the show and find out? We'll be watching the twelfth episode of the show, which consists of the segments "Cool Paw Howie" and "S.S. Banana Cabana". Against my better judgment, this is Almost Naked Animals.

Did You Know? - Fun Facts About "Hercules"

Welcome to another edition of a series that I like to call Did You Know?. Inspired a little by the Nostalgia Critic's "What You Never Knew" series, this series will allow me to share with you some interesting tidbits, behind-the-scenes information, and fun facts about an animated movie or TV series. Because I like sharing new information with people.

So, Hercules. I've talked about the film before on my blog - well, specifically, I've looked at the spin-off TV series that it spawned. At the beginning of that post, I talked a little about the film's being a black sheep of sorts for Disney. I think it mainly stems from the fact that saying it's accurate to the Greek myths is like saying that pigs have the ability of flight. Regardless, there are a lot of people - myself included - that actually like the movie.

I've already told you about the cancelled direct-to-video sequel, Hercules II: The Trojan War. You probably don't need to be reminded that Scar from The Lion King makes a cameo. And if you didn't pick up that "Air Herc" campaign is a reference to Nike's "Air Jordan" campaign, I'm guessing you were living under a rock for most of the 1990s (or maybe you just weren't born yet when the "Air Jordan" campaign was popular, like me). But did you know any of THIS?

Concept art for Hercules and the Hydra.

1) Animator Joe Haidar is the one who came up with doing Hercules as a Disney movie. After pitching the idea, he hoped that he would get a supervising position on the film. He did not - in fact, he didn't work on the film at all.

2) When Gerald Scarfe was brought on as the film's production designer, Disney was apparently frightened of him at first. "Partly because of my drawings, and partly because they thought I was going to be cross with them for not being able to draw like me," he said in an interview. "But I felt these people were the top of their world and they might just say 'Shove off. Who are you?' to me."

Gerald initially considered basing the main character on a young Paul Newman or Elvis Presley. Yep, Elvis Presley as Hercules. What a mental image THAT is...

Concept art for Hercules and Philoctetes.

3) Andreas Deja, Hercules' supervising animator, said in regards to Gerald Scarfe's work on the film, "When I first came on the movie, Gerald had done a few drawings and I thought, 'my God, this stuff is wonderful and wild but how am I going to animate it?' 'Where are the joints and how can you make this stuff move in a believable way?' But you just roll up your sleeves and try it. Then you find a middle ground where you have your Disney experience and you take on this new look and it becomes a fun mix. Gerald was a joy to work with because he loved what we did. He had also done some animation in the past so he knew the problems that we were up against."

4) The film's directors, John Musker and Ron Clements, make a cameo during the scene where Hercules is pulling the hay wagon into the marketplace.

This is them.

5) Ron and John's pal Howard Ashman was an inspiration on the decision to have gospel music. John explained on a now-deleted Howard Ashman tribute website that when trying to figure what musical approach would work for the story, he thought back to how, whenever they visited New York, they would always ask Howard what show he recommended seeing. On a 1988 trip, Howard suggested they see Gospel of Colonus, saying that it was the best thing on Broadway at the time.

For those unaware, Gospel of Colonus was a show created by Lee Breuer and composer Bob Telson, a take on Sophocles' Greek tragedy Oedipus at Colonus (the very same Oedipus who gets a reference in Hercules - Hercules mentions that he and Meg went to see a play about him). The play had a black Pentecostal preacher and his choir tell the story of Oedipus. John never wound up seeing the play (although years later he did see a production in Los Angeles), but he did check out the cast album while Hercules was in development. According to John, "It seemed to suggest a way to approach the music in our movie. It seemed appropriate to have a Greek chorus tell us the story, this being, after all, the story of a Greek demigod. And who better than the Muses, the goddesses who inspired art, literature, and science to be this Greek chorus? And since our chorus was to sing about the exploits of ‘the gods’, having them sing gospel, a style of music that celebrates ‘God,’ seemed appropriate.  It was a short step from there to seeing them as an all girl group like the Supremes, and have them musically bridge scenes, do exposition, comment on action, and celebrate the exploits of our mythic hero."

When they pitched the idea to Alan Menken, he was concerned that the Muses might come off as a bit too similar to Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon from Little Shop of Horrors (which, of course, Howard also had a hand in). He suggested doing Hercules in a more "classical" style a la Candide, but Ron and John were worried that the material would become "stiff and inaccessible" as past handling of Greek mythology in film had been. They felt a gospel approach to the music would make the movie more fun. Alan eventually relented.

Concept art for Megara.

6) Donny Osmond was considered to do Hercules' singing voice, but after his audition they decided that he wasn't quite right for the character.

7) In fact, a LOT of different people auditioned or were considered to voice characters. Brendan Fraser auditioned to voice Hercules. Anne Heche auditioned for Meg. Rod Steiger auditioned for Zeus. Richard Lewis was Ron and John's first choice for Panic.

Danny DeVito was the filmmakers' first choice for Philoctetes, but he wouldn't read for the part. Ed Asner, Ernest Borgnine, Dick Latessa, and Red Buttons all auditioned (as he was leaving, Red guessed that Ron and John would eventually give the part to Danny DeVito). Ultimately, Danny agreed to do Phil - he didn't read for it but was interested.

More concept art for Hercules and Phil.

As for Hades, they initially wanted Jack Nicholson to do his voice (he also offered to voice Phil), but he turned it down because he wanted Disney to give him participation in the merchandising, which they were unwilling to do. Michael Ironside, Terrence Mann, Ron Silver, James Coburn, Ron Steiger, Kevin Spacey, Martin Landau, William Shatner and Phil Hartman all tried out for the role. Nik Ranieri, the character's supervising animator, suggested Frank Sinatra. Even Jerry Lewis was considered. At some point John saw Robert Evans, the producer of Love Story and Chinatown, being interviewed by Charlie Rose and started thinking about casting him as Hades. When he suggested the idea to Michael Eisner, he replied, "Evans?! He would be great! He IS the devil! Well, actually, David Geffen is the devil, but Robert Evans is right behind him!" So Ron and John met with Robert, who was interested in the part and wanted to base his performance off of mobster Lucky Luciano, with whom he'd had experiences that were "laden with threat and fear". He came into the studio to record dialogue, but it soon became apparent that Robert wasn't much of an actor. As John put it, "He gave it a Herculean effort, but in truth, Robert Evans plays pretty much one character and it’s one that he invented and for which he writes all the lines: Robert Evans."

More auditions were held, and James Woods was among those who auditioned, playing Hades as... well, the character we got in the finished movie. John Lithgow was cast, but they didn't feel he was bringing enough energy to the character. Eventually, they decided on James Woods.

Concept art for Hades (and Pain).

Even Thalia, the muse of comedy, was originally going to be voiced by Nell Carter. John explained, "We generally are reluctant to cast people who don’t come in to read. We like to hear what people will do with the material, something not always possible to anticipate based on past performances.  We loved Nell’s singing in Ain’t Misbehavin' and her TV work was very funny. And she wouldn’t audition." Regardless, they cast her, and when she came in for the first recording session, trouble began immediately. "She did not take well to direction. If we suggested ‘faster’ she went slower. If we said ‘bigger’ she got smaller.  She seemed very defensive, out of sorts, and ironically (there’s that word again) for a woman playing the bubbly muse of comedy, unfunny.  She was concerned that we were saying unkind things about her in the booth. In truth we were thinking them, although we really were scrambling, trying to find some way to unlock her 'funny'." After recasting the character, they found out that Nell had reportedly declared bankruptcy that week, and also struggled with substance issues. Make of that what you will...

8) The Fates tell Hades that "in eighteen years precisely, the planets will align ever-so-nicely" and we see the planets aligning... but there are only six of them. This is because the Greeks were only aware of five planets plus Earth which they could see with the naked eye.

Concept art of the Muses.

9) According to Nik Ranieri, Eric Goldberg was originally supposed to animate Hades and Chris Buck was supposed to animate Phil. Then Eric decided he didn't want to animate Hades, and Chris Buck left Disney. So Eric jumped at the chance to be Phil's supervising animator, and Nik was asked to do Hades.

10) When Hermes presents Zeus and Hera with a bouquet of flowers, it's a reference to the logo of FTD Florists, which features Hermes - or, as he's called in Greek, Mercury.

11) Charlton Heston provided the film's opening narration. When the filmmakers asked if he was okay with the lines as written, he said that he had an issue with one - specifically, "You go, girls." He thought they had the grammar wrong for that line and suggested that it instead be "Go ahead, young lady." The filmmakers just thought there was comedy to be had from hearing somebody who played Moses say "You go, girls."

12) Pegasus uses his feathers to emulate a peacock when Zeus says that he has the brain of a bird. In Greek mythology, the peacock was a sacred animal to Hera.

13) When Pain and Panic are feeding baby Herc the potion that'll turn him mortal, Pain says, "Here you go, kid. A little Grecian formula." For those unaware, Grecian formula is a real life hair product that's used to color grey hair.

Concept art of Pain and Panic.

14) In the original myths, Pain and Panic actually worked for Ares, the God of War, not Hades. He had four servants - Pain, Panic, Famine and Oblivion (which John Musker once quipped "sounds like a terrible law firm"). The filmmakers decided to use Pain and Panic in the movie because they thought they sounded like the perfect names for Hades' sidekicks.

15) When Hades says "Guys, relax. It's only half-time.", he's not just referring to how Hercules hasn't taken out the Hydra yet - he says it exactly at the 46-minute mark, the halfway point of the 92-minute long movie. And by the way, since this article has thirty-one facts about the movie in it, by being in the fifteenth spot this fact is at (more or less) the halfway point in the article. Aren't I clever?

16) Y'know that gag in "Zero to Hero" where Hercules and Pegasus fly by a constellation of Marilyn Monroe? Well, originally, the scene had constellations of Ariel and Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, but it was removed because it distracted test audiences (they were too busy going "Hey, that's Ariel and Sebastian!" to pay attention to the rest of the song).

More concept art.

17) When the two boys (who, spoiler alert, are actually Pain and Panic in disguise) are trapped under the rock, one of them yells, "Somebody call IXII!". "IX-I-I" is "911" in Roman numerals.

18) At one point during the song "I Won't Say I'm in Love", there's a reference to the iconic Disney Parks attraction the Haunted Mansion. Specifically, at one point the Muses turn into the singing busts from the ride:

Which one's Thurl Ravenscroft?

19) Two prior Disney characters inspired Eric Goldberg's design for Phil. Those two characters were Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bacchus from Fantasia. Danny DeVito himself also inspired the character's look (a lot of people have joked that he looks like Eric Goldberg, too).

20) Hercules and Pegasus leaving their handprints (well, HOOFprints in Pegasus' case) in concrete is an obvious reference to Grauman's Chinese Theater, but notice that Hercules adds the words "To Sid" to his handprints. This is a reference to Sid Grauman, the founder of the Chinese Theater.

Does this mean that Sid Grauman was around in Ancient Greece?

21) Hercules' "Grecian Express" credit card featured during the "Zero to Hero" segment is an obvious parody of American Express. Don't leave Thebes without it!

No wonder Doug Walker doesn't like the movie - this gag probably gave him
flashbacks to the "Bat Credit Card".

22) When Hades and Hercules make their deal (that Herc has to give up his strength for twenty-four hours so Hades can unleash the Titans and take over Mount Olympus, but if Meg gets hurt Herc gets his strength back), Hades shakes Hercules' hand with his left. Left handedness is associated with being evil - apologies to all you lefties out there - and shaking with your left hand is seen as rude.

23) It took a while for the filmmakers to figure out what Hades' punishment should be. Barry Johnson posted some gag drawings depicting ideas that were considered on Instagram - Hades being reduced to a used chariot salesman or the Underworld ferryman, becoming the janitor at the museum we see at the start of the movie, and getting locked in the Titans' pit with Pain and Panic. Eventually, they settled on having Hercules punch Hades into the River Styx, where he is attacked by the vengeful souls.

24) Some of the twelve labors from the original myth are included in the film - specifically, during the song "Zero to Hero", Hercules has to fight an Erymanthian boar, a Stymphalian bird, and a Nemean lion (who may or may not be Scar from The Lion King), which he also did as part of the twelve labors.

25) Speaking of the myth, at one point Hera (who in the original myth was the villain) sent down two snakes to kill Hercules, only for him to beat them up. Pain and Panic's shapeshifting into snakes is a reference to that.

A t-shirt presumably once worn by someone who attended the world premiere
of the film in New York.

26) The shooting star that Hercules sees at one point during "Go the Distance"? Some have theorized that it's Aladdin and Jasmine flying over Greece on their magic carpet ride. But according to Ron Clements and John Musker, the star is actually Pegasus watching over Herc (Hercules did meet Aladdin in an episode of his TV series, for what it's worth).

27) One of the most frequent criticisms Hercules receives is that it's really, really inaccurate to the myths. Ron Clements defended this in the film's press kit - "We discovered that there wasn't just one definitive version of the Hercules legend, but many, many different stories. He became such an incredibly popular hero that, in fact, a lot of other stories about other heroes got turned into Hercules stories. He was so popular that they took the earlier myths and reinvented them."

Do you remember the tie-in plates from McDonald's? Question - could you eat
off these? Were they microwave-safe?

28) I had to share this tidbit from Nik Ranieri... Hades was inspired, at least in his mannerisms and dialogue, by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who left Disney before the film's release (reasons include his completely ignoring Robin Williams' wishes while promoting Aladdin and his meddling with the production of Toy Story [he's the guy responsible for the infamous "Black Friday" reel]). As you probably know, Jeffrey helped found DreamWorks.

At a recording session for the scene near the end of the film where Hades is begging Hercules to put in a good word for him to Zeus (just before Hercules punches him into the River Styx, as mentioned above), Nik suggested that James Woods ad-lib the line, "This was my destiny, I had a DREAM in the WORKS." Get it?

James recorded it (then added "I'm sorry Jeffrey, they made me say it..."), and Nik begged Ron and John to include the line in the movie just for the upcoming screening of it that Michael Eisner was going to watch, but alas, they were too afraid to do it.

29) Here's another interesting story from Nik - during early publicity for another Disney film, 2008's Bolt, Nik noticed that the teaser poster - this one here...

...looked a lot like the teaser poster for Hercules.

When no one was looking, Nik put up the Hercules poster right next to the Bolt poster that was hanging up in the studio foyer. Within a couple of hours, it was taken down.

30) In the 2000s, you could find a stage adaptation of the movie on two of the Disney Cruise ships (the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder, specifically). It was called Hercules: The Muse-ical. You can find videos of the show on YouTube, it really must be seen to be believed.

31) Finally, we have to talk about just how much promotion there was for the film. First of all, they had something called a "Hercules Mega Mall Tour", which was described online as a "20-city traveling show" featuring a stage show, a miniature carousel, a carnival, an animation workshop where visitors could learn how to draw Hercules, and even a sneak peek at the film. I don't think even Frozen was promoted with a gigantic touring mini-amusement park.

This ALSO got a t-shirt.

In addition, to celebrate the film's premiere Disney sent their beloved Main Street Electrical Parade to New York City - with several new Hercules-themed floats among the usual ones - for a special one-night-only performance.

And then there was the weekend upon which the actual premiere, also held in New York City, took place. Aside from the parade there were also dancers, jugglers, and something called the "Hercules Forum of Fun" at Chelsea Piers. Then the next morning there was a stage show called "The Hercules Summer Spectacular" at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

Not bad for a movie that Disney rarely acknowledges nowadays, huh?

Sources:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20131219065443/http://howardashman.com/blog/john-musker-question-countdown-3/
- Nik Ranieri's FaceBook page

Let's Watch This - An Episode of "Super Duper Sumos"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

I've never really understood why sumo wrestling is so popular. I don't know, watching fat nearly naked people beat each other up doesn't sound like my idea of a fun spectator sport. But in Japan, it's a national pastime, and to cartoons, it's comedy gold. After all, it involves two things - fat people and naked people - that everyone thinks are much funnier than they actually are. So if it's animated and it takes place in Japan, expect a sumo wrestler to pop up at some point. Even an advertisement for Ritz crackers got in on the act:

At some point, the folks at DiC Entertainment (same guys responsible for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show) got an idea: what if they did a cartoon starring sumo wrestlers? So they teamed up with South Korea firm Ameko Entertainment to produce three animated shows, the first one being Super Duper Sumos.

And thus, September 22nd, 2001 saw the premiere of Super Duper Sumos on Nickelodeon in the United States and on a channel called Tooniverse in South Korea. One season, consisting of twenty-six episodes, was produced, chronicling the adventures of sumo wrestling brothers Booma (the blonde-haired one, voiced by Matt Hill), Kimo (the Caucasian black-haired one, voiced by Ben Hur), and Mamoo (the black one, voiced by Cusse Mankuma). They live in a place called Generic City with their cousin Prima (voiced by Chantal Strand) and fight a corporation called Bad Inc., following the way of the "P.H.A.T.": Peace, Honor, And Truth.

Most people only know that Super Duper Sumos existed because cartoon reviewer RebelTaxi dubbed it the worst cartoon ever. And while I wouldn't go THAT far - shows like Planet Sheen exist, after all - after watching an episode I can confirm that it is indeed pretty bad. Why do I say that? Well, why don't we watch the eleventh episode, "Sumos on Ice", and I'll tell you just why Super Duper Sumos is anything BUT super. Let's get started...

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

Hey, paisanos! We're reviewing The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

You're probably familiar with this show already if you spend a lot of time on the internet. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show premiered in syndication on September 4th, 1989, created by Andy Heyward for Nintendo, Saban Entertainment, and DIC Enterprises. In fact, this was the first of THREE cartoons starring the iconic plumber to be created by DIC. Maybe we'll review the other two cartoons another time, maybe we won't. We'll see.

Each episode started and ended with a live action segment starring Mario and Luigi, portrayed in both animation and live action by Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively. This would show their lives in Brooklyn before they arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom, doing odd jobs for folks like Dr. Frankenstein, Inspector Gadget, and Cyndi Lauper. Sandwiched in between these live action bits were an animated segment where Mario and Luigi would help Princess Peach... I mean, Toadstool (voiced by Jeannie Elias) and her servant Toad (John Stocker) protect the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Bowser... I mean, King Koopa (Harvey Atkin). The writers mostly used this as an excuse to do spoofs of various books, films, what have you.

Apparently, Nintendo was reluctant to do the show from the start and decided to end the show after production of the first season (consisting of sixty-three episodes) - which is why DIC made two more shows based on Super Mario Bros 3. and Super Mario World instead of just making more seasons of THIS show. Today, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show is mostly well-known for how corny it supposedly is. Ah yes, and every episode released on Friday had an animated segment based on The Legend of Zelda instead. I'm going to review an episode that doesn't have a Legend of Zelda segment because I've never played any of those games, ergo I don't think I'm a good choice to review an episode of a show adapting them.

Actually, we'll be reviewing the sixth episode, which consists of the segments "The Mario Monster Mash" and "Rolling Down the River". Does The Super Mario Bros. Super Show live up to the "hype"? Let's find out!

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Buzz on Maggie"

I have a confession to make. I'm afraid of flies. All bugs, really, but especially flies. I don't know why, I think it's a combination of the buzzing sound they make and those big compound eyes. Those compound, pupilless eyes. I know they're harmless, but they just scare the bejabbers out of me. So it's fortunate for me that this show starring flies makes them cartoony enough to NOT give me the willies.

The Buzz on Maggie premiered on Disney Channel in June 2005, the creation of South Park writer Dave Polsky. Taking place in the tiny inset-populated town of Stickyfeet, the show focused on an energetic teenage girl fly named Maggie Pesky, voiced by Jessica DiCicco (one of her first voice acting roles), who aspires to be a rock star. She attends junior high school and has to deal with typical teenage girl problems like babysitting her younger siblings, having a crush on her math tutor, dealing with the popular girl in school who hates her guts because she's not rich like her... y'know, basically the same stuff Penny Proud was already dealing with, except Penny was human whereas Maggie was a bug.

Maggie was designed by Dave Wasson of Time Squad fame (note to self: do a review of Time Squad at some point), who also served as a director on the show. In an interview with Animation Magazine, Dave said that he was influenced by Disney, Tex Avery, and Warner Brothers cartoons from the 1930s, which is why the characters wear white gloves. Maggie's home town of Stickyfeet is also located in a dump because, as he put it - "As an animator, that concept gives you a lot of visual opportunities. Who can resist building a whole city out of garbage?!"

Only one season of The Buzz on Maggie was produced, consisting of twenty-one episodes (each one consisting of two segments). The show received mostly positive reviews from critics, the show got the flyswatter when it had only been on the air for two months because it was doing lousily overseas. Then it was only aired at night, when most kids would likely be asleep, until 2008 when it was pulled from the schedule, pretty much torpedoing any chance of the show finding a new audience and maybe getting at least one more season. Oh, and only three episodes were released on DVD as part of an extremely rare promotional kit and it's not on Disney Plus. Fortunately, you can find episodes of the show on YouTube.

Today, The Buzz on Maggie is at best a cult classic. As for me, I remember watching the show when it was on, though I haven't watched it since it aired on TV so I don't know how well it holds up. We'll be watching the show's ninth episode, which consists of the segments "Slumber Party" and "Spelling Bees", to see if this is another cartoon that deserved better or if Disney made the right call taking a can of Raid to it. Let's get started!

Let's Watch This: "Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown" (1980)

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the special I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this special, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

Who wants to talk about another Peanuts TV special? I do!

By the 1980s, the folks making these Charlie Brown specials probably realized that they'd run out of holidays. There was a Christmas special, a Halloween special, a Thanksgiving special, an Easter special, even an Arbor Day special. And presumably, they realized that folks would think A Charlie Brown Cinco De Mayo was a dumb idea... actually, what WOULD that special be like? Would Snoopy have some sort of stereotypical Mexican alter ego? In what way would Charlie Brown get put the wringer?

Well, anyhow, before they started recycling holidays (I personally like It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown and I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown, but I know I'm probably in the minority), the folks making these specials started whipping up specials with plotlines that probably would've worked better for episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show than full-length specials. Though, to be fair, they were doing this as far back as 1974 - It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown isn't anything to write home about.

Long story short, at one point somebody asked, "What if Snoopy decided to join the circus?" and that's how we got Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown. This is one of those specials that you rarely see people talk about. Airing on CBS on October 24th, 1980, the only truly noteworthy things about it are that A) it won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program and B) it introduced a character named Fifi, who would appear again years later in The Peanuts Movie. Oh, and it was one of the first Peanuts specials to be released on VHS.

I have never seen this special before. As a rule of thumb, if it never aired on TV at any point in the 2000s, chances are it's a Peanuts special that I've never seen (unless it was included as a bonus feature on the DVD of one of the holiday specials, like It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was). But what luck, it's on Apple TV, so I can watch it now and do a review of it. Is Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown good? Let's find out, shall we?

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Goof Troop"

I was introduced to Goof Troop through reruns - specifically, the reruns that aired on Toon Disney. Same goes for most other Disney Afternoon shows like Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and Gargoyles. Y'know what episode I distinctively remember watching? The episode where Max films a video of Goofy to submit to a parody of America's Funniest Home Videos and then Pete disguises himself as Goofy to claim the prize for himself. I remember loving the joke where Pete's wife claims that her secret weapon against Pete is her mouth.

If you watched the Disney Afternoon when it was on, or watched reruns of the shows on Toon Disney like I did, chances are you don't need to be told what the premise of the show was. But for those of you that didn't, I'll fill you in - there were a couple of shorts where Goofy was shown as the father of a redheaded boy named Junior. This show brought back the "Goofy as a father" concept, turning Junior into the much "hipper" eleven-year-old Max, who has since become a recurring character in "Mickey Mouse and Friends" productions. Goofy, voiced by Bill Farmer, and Max, voiced by Dana Hill, lived in the suburban town of Spoonerville. Goofy being... well, Goofy, hijinks ensued, especially when the neighbors got involved. Those neighbors? Mickey's foe Pete, voiced by Jim Cummings, his wife Peg, voiced by April Winchell, and their two children: Max's best buddy PJ, voiced by Rob Paulsen, and rambunctious daughter Pistol, voiced by Nancy Cartwright.

Goof Troop was created by Michael Peraza Jr., the latter of whom talked about the show's development on his blog. Apparently, when he was brought in, they still had no idea what they wanted the show to be other than "Goofy is the main character". Tons of ideas for a hypothetical premise, all of them whipped up by the same creative executive who'd just been hired, were thrown out: one minute Goofy was the head scoutmaster of a group of scouts (which is why the show we got is called "Goof TROOP"), then he was a firefighter, then he was a detective, then he was a "swash-buckling hero fighting the Flying Dutchman". That same creative executive also came up with bizarre supporting casts for these premises that included alien dragon babies and giant gorillas (somebody in Disney's television department apparently thought giant gorillas were hilarious, which explains why there were episodes of both Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers AND Darkwing Duck with giant gorillas in them [and why there was a giant gorilla in Marsupilami]).

Concept art by Michael for the "Goofy as a detective" pitch.

Eventually, the idea became to do a show starring Goofy in Toontown from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which had recently been screened at the studio). He would be the driver of Benny the Cab, who was promptly replaced by a talking SUV named Woody. Michael Peraza Jr. explained to the executive why this wasn't such a good idea - what made Toontown work in the movie was the crossover of the live action world with the zany animated world where everything from the trees to the buildings was alive. And if Goofy is shown in a GOOFY world, is he still really Goofy? Not to mention they likely wouldn't get the rights to use all the same cartoon characters from non-Disney studios the movie did. The executive didn't listen and just told him to whip up some concept art.

Then Michael got a call from Gary Krisel, the president of Walt Disney Television Animation, who wanted to check on the progress of the Goofy show. Upon arriving at Gary's office, Michael explained that he didn't think they had a show to present yet and talked to him about all the different scenarios that had been started. When he got to the "Goofy in Toontown" pitch, he explained why he didn't think it would work and Gary agreed completely before asking Michael what HE would do. Michael had this to say: "Goofy is a recognized star of Disney animation, so why re-invent the wheel? His son is an average kid dealing with many of the usual issues they face: peer pressure, young love, grades, school bullies, and so on. On top of all that, he has the zaniest, wackiest GOOFIEST dad to live down. No matter how insane the situations get though, they will always love each other. They're a family." Gary loved the idea and told him to get started. Robert Taylor was brought in to produce the project, and before long the show was premiering in syndication on September 5th, 1992. Two seasons were produced, making for a total of seventy-eight episodes, plus a Christmas special.

Today, you can find episodes of Goof Troop on Disney Plus (a handful of episodes were also released on DVD). We're going to watch the thirty-third episode of the show, "A Goof of the People". Why this episode in particular? Because I'm writing this review on Earth Day and according to TV Tropes, this one has an environmental message. This is Goof Troop!

NOTE: For some reason, despite Wikipedia claiming that this is the thirty-third episode, Disney Plus lists it as the thirty-NINTH episode. Very strange...