Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy"

Let me take you back in time to 2012. Around the time that Hurricane Sandy barged into New Jersey uninvited, I became aware of an animated movie called Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure.

If you're a huge animation fan like me, there's a pretty good chance you already know about this 1977 Richard Williams-directed film. Its main claim to fame is being very, very trippy. Like, on par with the Pink Elephants scene from Dumbo levels of trippy. Trippy and also very, very FREAKY. It certainly scared the pants off of me when I watched a review of it. Just seeing screencaps of it creeps me out.

I know what you're thinking: a movie about Raggedy Ann? That cute little rag doll? How could THAT possibly be scary? Well, the film starts out innocently enough, but around the beginning of the second act takes a turn for the bizarre. Look it up for yourself if you don't believe me.

And so, thanks to that movie I found myself freaked out by Raggedy Ann for a while. And while my being unsettled by the film remains to this day, I think I've gotten to the point where I can at least LOOK at a picture of Raggedy Ann herself without being frightened.

Now, since the movie, there have been other animated things based on the Raggedy Ann stories, most of which having little connection (if any) to the movie. Chuck Jones produced a Christmas special and a Halloween special starring Raggedy Ann and Andy in 1978 and 1977 respectively. And in 1988, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the characters, CBS created a cartoon show called The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy.

This show, much like the Chuck Jones specials, has very little connections to the 1977 movie. Raggedy Ann, Andy, and their pal the Camel With the Wrinkled Knees (who is my personal favorite character from the movie) do have the same designs as they did in the film, albeit drawn "cutesier"... and that's about it. Each episode would have the dolls and their fellow toys venturing to somewhere like Ancient Egypt or a village populated by anteater-like creatures called the Perriwonks, usually having to foil the plans of an evil wizard called Cracklin. It wasn't nearly as surreal or as nightmarish as the movie, but I think that's honestly for the best.

The show received one season of thirteen episodes, with reruns continuing to air for a while before the show fell into obscurity. There have been a few DVD releases of it, if nothing else. I guess it's up to me to help spread some awareness of the show, so today we'll be watching the eleventh episode, "The Little Chicken Adventure" (every episode of the show is called "The [SOMETHING] Adventure"). This is The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy.

The episode begins with the toys' owner, Marcella, prancing around dressed as a unicorn. Otherwise known as what some Bronies do in their spare time. The reason why she's doing it is because she's been cast as a unicorn in a play. She puts her fake horn on a rocking horse and then leaves to rehearse some more.

When Marcella's out of the room, the toys come to life. Something interesting is that Raggedy Ann and Andy are voiced by actual kids in this show - Ann's voiced by Christina Lange (you might recall that she did Velma in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) and Andy's voiced by Josh Rodine. Honestly, when I first watched this show, it was pretty jarring to hear them with actual kid voices because I was so used to Didi Conn and Mark Baker's voices in the movie, but y'know what? It actually works just as well. I can't say the same for Kenneth Mars' take on the Camel With the Wrinkled Knees, however, which I find really off-putting.

Speaking of voices, the rocking horse is voiced by Rob Paulsen. His name is Tally-Ho, but we don't learn that until after he suddenly vanishes in a flash of light. Wait, what?!

I'm just now noticing that Marcella has a potted cactus in her room.

Ann, Andy, and the Camel run outside and find Tally-Ho standing by the fence... and then he vanishes again! Actually, he didn't vanish - he just teleported. But then he actually DOES vanish! "Unicorn horns are supposed to be magical," Ann points out. "That unicorn horn must be real!"

…where the heck did Marcella get a real unicorn horn? What, did she go to Diagon Alley or something?

"We've got to find Tally-Ho!"

"Okay, but if we run into any sentient taffy pits or demented purple-skinned knights obsessed
with practical jokes, I'm heading home..."

So the three of them head out to the Old West... yes, apparently Marcella's house is in walking distance from what looks like a desert in Arizona... where they find Tally-Ho. Suddenly, his unicorn horn is lassoed and yanked off - right before Tally-Ho gets lassoed himself. Figures they'd run into a rocking horse rustler. I hear those are a real problem in Arizona or wherever this desert is located...

Pull harder, guys! If the rustlers get their hands on Tally-Ho, they'll sell him to
Toys R Us with all the other rocking horses they've nabbed!

As it turns out, the one with the lasso ISN'T a rocking horse rustler. It's a Native American boy with pointy elf ears. He says that he thought Tally-Ho was a unicorn, and he needs to catch one. "You mean unicorns really exist?" Ann asks. Well, DUH, Ann. It's already been established that magic unicorn HORNS exist. If unicorns aren't real, where do you think the horn came from?

Okay, so the Native American boy needs to rope and ride a unicorn because if he doesn't, he won't pass his tribe's "Test of Bravery" and he'll never get a new name. What's his name now? Little Chicken (not to be confused with Chicken Little). Tally-Ho laughs at this, because Tally-Ho is apparently a jerk.

So... apparently in this world, there are Native American elves. Do you think this is common knowledge? In school, were Marcella and her classmates taught about them?

Do you think the Native American elves got together with the Pilgrim elves to have a feast
to celebrate their harvest? Do you think there was an elf Pocahontas? Am I looking too far into this?

Little Chicken explains that he has a magic golden lasso, the only thing in the world that can stop a unicorn from teleporting. He's made it his goal to lasso the greatest unicorn of all, Great White, who nobody has ever ridden before. And what luck, Great White just happens to be nearby.

"Please don't teleport away like I just said unicorns have the ability to do! Please, PLEASE
don't teleport away!"

Little Chicken manages to lasso him, but suddenly everyone is distracted by some sort of commotion a-goin' on down below. A bunch of unicorns are being rounded up by unicorn rustlers - pointy-eared creeps who pluck the horns from right off of unicorns' heads so they can sell them and become rich. So THAT'S where Marcella got the horn from!

Great White slips out of Little Chicken's lasso and teleports away. The Camel's reaction is to briefly make a Derpy Hooves face.

The My Little Pony references are basically writing themselves...

Then the unicorn rustlers trap the now-hornless unicorns by causing a rockslide. Why, I don't know. I mean, they've already got the horns. But anyway, they're cackling about how the horns will make them a fortune, but then Great White appears and is all "I DON'T THINK SO!". When the rustlers see HIS horn, they figure that it must be worth a fortune and lasso him. But y'know how only a magic golden lasso can stop a unicorn from teleporting? Yeah, Great White just teleports out of their binds. Epic fail, rustlers.

Here's a joke for you: what game should you never play with a unicorn? Leap frog.
Get it?

Little Chicken blames himself for what happened to the unicorns, but Ann says that there must be SOMETHING they can do. Honestly, though, I don't think Great White actually NEEDS any help at the moment, seeing as every time the rustlers lasso him he just teleports away.

After the rustlers continue to fail at unicorn-lassoing, Ann comes up with an idea - they can keep the rustlers busy so that Great White can free his herd. But how are they going to do that? "With a little unicorn magic!" she exclaims. And by that, she means they'll grab some unicorn horns from out of the rustlers' bags and put them on. If their intent is to trick the rustlers into thinking that THEY'RE unicorns, I see a few flaws in that plan...

I mean, Tally-Ho could easily make for a convincing unicorn, but the others? Nah.

Not that it matters, because when the rustlers see them they simply assume that they stole their unicorn horns and give chase. Thus begins a chase sequence as Great White tries to free his herd by... slowly trying to chip away at the rockslide. Yeah, that should free your herd all right. In about SEVEN MONTHS.

Blah-blah-blah, more teleporting, more chasing... where's a giant monster made of taffy who sings about how he can't stop eating himself when you need him?

Maybe I should've reviewed the episode where they save Christmas instead. It might've
given me more to work with...

The Camel is having difficulty controlling his horn's teleportation powers, so Little Chicken uses his golden lasso on him. Problem is, now the rustlers know that the golden lasso is what prevents unicorns from teleporting. But apparently that "golden lasso is the only thing that prevents unicorns from teleporting" thing is bullcrap, because the Camel promptly teleports onto Tally-Ho's back. Rustler 1 and Little Chicken get into a tug-of-war over the lasso while Rustler 2 nabs the horns and then slices the lasso in half. The rustlers then proceed to use the magic golden lasso on Great White, which shouldn't be a problem since we just saw the lasso does NOT, in fact, prevent unicorns from teleporting... unless maybe the rules of the lasso just don't apply to camels who are wearing unicorns' horns or something? 

Little Chicken throws in the towel and heads off, the others running after him. He leads them to a bunch of multicolored paint pots. Fortunately, Little Chicken knows the secret of getting through the paint pots without getting splattered (which prevents Marcella from wondering why her dolls now have gigantic red stains on them when they get back) - you just walk right by them. No, really.

Or maybe it's not that simple after all.

Little Chicken explains that they simply have to go in the opposite direction of the echo that they hear when they yell in the right direction. So they all shout "HELLOOOOOOO!", but they don't hear any echo. "If the right direction is the wrong direction, and we go in the other way, then we have to yell 'Good-bye'," Ann suggests. So they try THAT, and it works.

So they make it through unscathed... until Camel trips on a rock and some orange mud splatters on the piece of the golden lasso that Little Chicken has in his pocket. The orange mud dissolves the rope, because orange mud can do that, apparently. Andy says that they can use the orange mud to dissolve the golden lasso that the rustlers are using on Great White. "But if we destroy the golden lasso, Little Chicken will never get to ride a unicorn!" Ann points out. But Little Chicken says that if it's the only way they can save the unicorns, he'll do it.

"Do you have any idea how tired I am of people assuming that I'm Ann's boyfriend?! I'm
her BROTHER! HER BROTHER!"

Then Little Chicken suggests that they hollow out one of the nearby gourds and carry the mud in it. Now the only problem is figuring out how they're going to distract the rustlers while they spread the mud on the lasso. The solution? White chalk! They cover Camel and Tally-Ho with it and put sticks on their foreheads so that, when the rustlers see them, they'll think that THEY'RE white unicorns as well. It works, the rustlers tie the lasso around a large rock so they can go grab the other two "Great Whites". Side note, at one point during this scene Tally-Ho talks without moving his mouth.

Here's another joke: what did the magical creature serve at his barbeque? Unicorn on the cob.
I'll be here all week.

Ann, Andy, and Little Chicken use the mud to dissolve the golden lasso, freeing Great White. Alas, Camel and Tally-Ho wind up running right into a strong wind that blows the white chalk off. "We've been tricked!" one of the rustlers complains, and then they spot Great White running free. Fortunately, the good guys have another plan to save the unicorns...

They hide from the rustlers behind some cacti, but y'know that cliché where a fly lands on the hiding character's nose and causes them to sneeze, giving them away? That happens to Camel. More running, more chasing, and eventually they trick the rustlers into flying off a canyon wall and into a river. The day is saved!

So they head back to the unicorn herd (by the way, it's nighttime by this point. Do you think Marcella has noticed four of her toys have gone missing by now?) and put their horns back on. Little Chicken will never get to ride one now, but he did the right thing, and that's what matters. This doesn't matter to the rest of his tribe, however, who mock him for being a little chicken.

So the moral of today's story is NOT to do the right thing, or else you'll be made fun of?

But then Great White teleports in and lets Little Chicken ride him. For this, the rest of his tribe dubs him "Great Rider". Tally-Ho speaks with Camel's voice, and then he, Camel, Ann, and Andy head home. When they get home, Marcella's dog finds the horn and puts it on, causing HIM to teleport - right into a tree. Nyuck nyuck nyuck.

What's the Verdict?

There isn't anything spectacular about The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy, but it's a pleasant little show. I appreciate that it's not as freaky as the movie, the characters are kind of one-dimensional but likeable enough, and the voice actors all do a good job (my distaste for the voice Kenneth Mars gave the Camel notwithstanding). The animation is alright, there are some errors but the character designs and backgrounds are nice to look at. I doubt anyone over the age of eight would be all that invested in the show, but as far as cartoons based on toys go, it's not bad. If you like Raggedy Ann, check it out. If not, you can skip it.

It's kind of strange that we haven't gotten a new animated Raggedy Ann production in three decades (the character's most recent animated appearance was something called Snowden: Raggedy Ann and Andy's Adventure in 1998). With how obsessed we are with reboots and how adverse we are to original ideas nowadays, you'd think somebody would try their hand at a new Raggedy Ann and Andy cartoon. Ah well. Maybe someday...