Episode 32: The Red Baron (1972)

We're welcome to Ranking on Bass and offhand joke that became a podcast. I'm your host, Mike White Jr. And me is a World War One flying ace. Mister Chris Stashoe wait for my brother Baron. Also with us as a big fan of Hassinfeffer, mister Richard Hadham, I got nothing.

On this podcast we discussed the works of Arthur Rinking Junior and Jewels Bass, specifically their stop motion and animated work, and we are fully in animated territory, going all the way back fifty one years to that sweet year nineteen seventy two when Rankin and Bass were on fire and they were doing a whole lot of specials for the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, and this was one of those episodes. Of course, we're talking about the lauded, celebrated film that everyone loves and still talks about to this day because we all grew up watching it. Nineteen seventy two's The Red Baron, written by Leonard Starr, directed by Arthur Ranking Junior and Jewels Bass, starring a cast of pretty regular characters here, Bob McFadden, Alan Swift, some pretty familiar of folks, more Laws doing the music which I'm thinking is kind of an homage to The Third Man.

Are you guys picking up on that at all? Yea, I would love it if that were true. I honestly think that he was channeling a little bit of that zithor music from the Third Man, because that's what we get when we start off with the Red Baron, who is not the Red Baron at the beginning. He's just a baron and his cat. What the hell's his cat's name?

Hootsi. Yeah, I was getting such strong vibes of Hong Kong Fooi and Cat while I was watching this, This whole thing of Hong Kong Fooi doesn't really know what the hell he's doing. Cat is the one, or Spot is the one that knows everything that's going on. Spot can't speak English, but Hong Kong Fooie can, which was always weird. So I guess cats live in subjugation by dogs in this world.

Oh, at least they're not being subjugated by mice, that's true. Yeah, Well, the mice are all rounded up and put in the camps. I've I've read okay, I've read that book. Okay. And this brings us to the major issue with who was about to say, the the overt Germanism in nineteen seventy two is off the charts.

Folks, Why how did how did ben richten bergdorf Golf whatever is name? How did he become like a hero for us? Van Fred von Dolphin? Yes, I mean there are so many levels that have to be navigated on pack to figure out why they even did this. The only thing I can think of, um was that there's all had to do like somehow the Snoopy thing tipped it off the Baron that's the like whatever cultural cache does the red Baron have in nineteen seventy two?

Outside this is the person that's Snoopy? It's now why why you would take the enemy of Snoopy and decided to make him the hero of a movie that relates to a cultural moment that resonates with no American at all? Wait, children in nineteen seventy two knew who the Red Bear it was. I love that. Like when Mike said at the end of the last episode that this is what we were watching, like this is blew my mind that this existed, because I couldn't fathom that this is what it was, and it is exactly what it sounds like like there's nothing about this that is at all surprising, and not like it's surprising that this exists.

But the story that they tell is like completely within the wheelhouse of Rankin and Bass, but a bizarre story to tell. Nonetheless, well, if you strip it down, if you strip it down and assume you're it's being watched by six year olds who have no idea what's happening, you you get a story of a guy, like a hero guy, and and a young princess has been kidnapped and he has self selected to go and rescue her. So you're at least like, okay, got it. I'm with you that far, But my god, it is confusing. I'm not sure, like maybe I'm bringing too much of it, but I'm like, wait, so who's are they the Germans?

Like who's not the Germans? Or is this just a fantasy landscape of kingdoms made up of dogs and cats servants and they're perpetually at war some I was I hate to say that something designed for six year olds in nineteen seventy two left me baffled, but this did well. I don't want to be that guy, but I'll tell you that there was a well. Fanny Hill met the Red Baron in nineteen sixty eight in a Barry Mahan film starring Susan Evans. And then also there was Von Richto and Brown, a Roger Corman joint from nineteen seventy one, so he was still in the popular consciousness.

He was played by John Philip Law and that one, of course, we all know him as Diabolique from the incredible Mario Bava film or Diabolic I suppose. So I don't want to be in the public consciousness, but like, I don't want to be that guy either. But this motherfucker aired at nine thirty in the morning, yes Saturday, Yes, for small children, So I think really only the snoopy connection fits as far as this. And yeah, I don't see little kids playing World War one flying ace in their backyards at the time. Maybe they did, maybe that was the thing.

Hey, let's all relive the glory days. Do you want us to dig foxholes? Damn straight? I want you to cross that MANSIONO line and take the ant hill. Yeah, sure, mustard gas and everything exactly.

You guys want to get trench foot wow? Wow, you guys have a lot of World War One hey, man, it's the war. Yeah. Yeah, did they all come back with shell shock? The ones that survived these what was that?

What's the documentary called? Like they never grew old? Yeah? They those? Yeah.

I do like that that Snoopy was so was so influential on ranking and Vass Like yeah, I mean, and that's it's like, that's why it's dogs too, right, Like that's gotta be why it's dogs. I'm very curious when that whole World War One flying ace thing happened with Snoopy and the Red Baron. Oh sorry, I forgot that there was Also This Is So Weird. In nineteen seventy there was a Blake Edwards film with of course Julie Andrews called Darling Lily, where it talks about the Mata har story. So also World War one film This Is So Bizarre, as opposed to Mata Harry, which I think would have been better had they called her Matta Harry.

Well, given what the reveal ends up being, Oh good lord, good good god. I and you know what I think for me, the big issue with something like this is, I mean, the story is kind of its own issue and everything else, and the fact that it's kind of again just it arbitrarily exists for whatever reason. Like I get why they were like, oh Christmas thing, kids are gonna love this. The thing that weirds me out about this is the story of the Red Baron, Like all of the weird shit of it aside, like it could have just been like anything. It could have been anything, and like the Red Baron thing just gives it this weird twinge of like halfway pseudo history, like in informing it in a way that would have nothing informing it if it were just I don't know, dogs and cats and planes, like that's not a great name.

But why it's called the Red Baron is beyond me. Well, it really reminded me a lot of wacky races, right, and I think there was a Red Baron character in there as well, which was strange. But the whole thing of when they are actually in the air and all of the of the comedy ensues that was finger quotes there for our listeners at home. When the comedy ensues, it's all like, oh, I'm accidentally chopping this guy's playing up or oh I don't know which way I'm headed. Oh hey, you know, it's like all of these stupid things that happened in the air, and I'm just like, this is totally wacky, racist.

Well, and I'll say that I thought some of the vocal performances were well done and got humor out of some some lines like there were there there were some times I snickered and chuckled based on performance. But let me read you something from the enchanted world of Ranking and BASSA. Okay, so we've Mike and Chris and I have this book that covers it is The Encyclopedia for Ranking Bass and I recommend you all buy it. It's a wonderful, beautiful book. Anything.

If you like just Rudolf, get the book. If you like anything more than Rudolf, you're gonna this book will be at your bedside at all times. But this special only gets one paragraph and it's wrong at an evil cat named Putsi bucks Putzelheim's Princess Sophie, and that means war. Despite the sneers of Captain von Zipper, the famed flying ace Red Baron decides to take to the skies again, but first he has to build a new airplane. Having accomplished this task, the daring dog leads his squadron to victory, defeating the cat people and they're cunning Tatahari.

Wow, that's so wow. There is a mention in on the Wikipedia page for this. However, among these home video releases, the synopsis for them falsely claims that there are cat villains in the film, with Putsy being the main villain that has kidnapped Princess Sophie, when it is actually Prince Heinrich that has a loop with her. Yeah, So, how in the goddamn world were there two versions of this? I don't think they watched it, That's what I think.

I think, watch it, bro. I think somebody made it up for the video release, and then the person that was putting together that rank and a Bass book didn't actually look at the material. Oh my god, Oh my god, because weird book. I mean, I just want to see if if this book came out at a time, well, twenty sixteen, there was you the internet existed in twenty sixteen, Am I correct? I can't really remember a lot happened in twenty sixteen.

There were a few things to happen. Then, Well, we do have to say that this is the most difficult one that we've had to find. Like, surprisingly, after how many years we've been doing the show three years, four years, five, ten, twenty. Yeah, it is. I've always been here, mister White, it's been eighty six years.

It's This was the toughest one. And there was there was a twitch streamer who was streaming it and you could see that video back, but I didn't really want to watch it with the guy hanging out and I think he was making comments about it. And then there's some psychopath broke it up into three pieces and put it out on YouTube. But they're all in like this weird repeating order, Like the whole thing altogether was what an hour and twenty minutes when the whole movie itself is an hour or less than a Yeah, that was weird trying to watch that. Okay, so here's what we know.

Rankin and Bass made a deal to make four specials that we're going to be Saturday morning specials that were called the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. Okay, Red Baron I think was the first one. The second one is bizarrely fascinating. It was called That Girl in Wonderland. That's what we're watching next month, are we really?

Okay? I'm not, just because I know you're a big fan. Of her. So I am. I know you into Marlow Thomas and I don't know if it's because I'm Lebanese and she's Lebanese, but I thought she liked men.

Okay, now I know we're in July and it's no longer Pride Month, but Jesus sorry, you said she was Lebanese. I really thought that she was hetero. I thought you were American. She's a thespian. Oh okay.

My point is this, does I mean she lists when she talks. That's right. I'm excited about that girl. I think I've made that clear. But um, I don't know what we've got coming up, but I'm looking through this book.

Could we please do the Jackson five and or the Osman's Come on, you're gonna tell me we do this podcast and we're not gonna do Jackson five and or the Osman's. Well, I think not next month, when we will talk about that girl in Wonderland, which does sound absolutely Czar and that one easily available findable on YouTube, the whole darned thing. At least right now it's out there, very simple to find. But I think it's the following month where I have it earmarked as um cone Heads and other animated films. Yeah, cone Heads, baby, So we can talk about our other animated TV shows.

So we can talk about Jackson five, we can talk about what was the other one you mentioned? The Osman's look Jackson five up here, Osman's a little lower cone Heads. I am morbidly interested in. Well, I feel like because I remember the Jackson five show. Oh, the Osman show.

Well, because didn't the Jackson five show. I know for sure Archie had a dog that would like lead the band and stuff. Didn't they have like a cute animal as well? Tito? No, he's a person.

Please, The Jackson five was Tito and animal. Really, that's where we're gonna get crucified. That's where we're gonna get canceled. Yeah yeah. Uh.

Tito used to be on all of mel Far Superstars commercials, well most of a lot of them. Here in Detroit, mel Far of the Lions opened up a dealership and he was he took on this persona of mel Far Superstar where he wore cape and it was amazing special effects for local origin commercials. And at one point Tito came on and he was kind of his sidekick, which was amazing. Wow, Yeah, you had a lot of good stuff here in Detroit. Guys, Can I just point out that that, like, how do I say this without being impolite?

But this special does not deserve to be watched? You're correct, right, Like I don't. I don't want to be mean, but by the end of it, I was just like, what was the actual fucking point of this? Right? And it's that's an unpleasant place to be in folks like we do.

We talk about stuff all the time. I don't want to be put in a position where I'm like, I thoroughly did not enjoy myself watching this, and I'm not sure if watching just forty five minutes would have fixed it. But it is incomprehensibly fucking jumbled at times. To put it right nicely and look in twenty twenty three, it is baffling why it was ever made. But watching it and putting yourself in a nineteen seventy two mindset, it is equally baffling why it was made.

I can't imagine. Look, children like funny stuff in action, but they're not that. I don't think they're that whipped up about Oh is the princess gonna marry? The right guy. Yeah, and that's what this is about.

And it's just it's long, it's just it's just one of those weird, wrongheaded things that it feels like they did. I don't know. Again, it's like, we got we got four specials for ABC. They're paying us X amount of a lot of money. Fine that red Barn that girl.

Yeah, we know Danny Thomas, we did that cricket on the hearth thing with him to call up Marlowe, get her in on this. We'll we'll and it'll all be uh public domain and god forbid, I start, you know, podcasting about next month this month, but for Fox's sake anyway, I'm looking forward to the Jackson five concurrent with this. It was this. It was a series nineteen seventy one. Osman's were nineteen seventy two.

I do believe a pet, a dog or something was probably involved in both of them, because again, they thought, well, kids are like the music, but let's also put an animal in to kind of you know, if you don't know the stars, you can at least watch a funny like Scooby Doo. I mean clearly that that's the idea. They got a bunch of grown ups, but there's a talking dog. Kids will love it go. I'm also equally kind of disappointed because, you know, looking at this ABC Saturday Superstar movie, like all of the things on there all feel of a piece because like they do have you know, Oliver and the Artful Dodger, which is a repro of Oliver twist, but then they have you know, stuff like Willie May Hayes or Willie Mays and to say, hey, kid and Gig, you know, Gidget makes the wrong connection.

That's not ranking and bass, but like it's it's weird to me that because like again, like this is weird if you just go and look at what they were also putting together at the time, this is like the real standout, even within all the other things that they were doing, and all the other things sound a lot more interesting than this too. This is like the least interesting sounding thing on that list, because the banana splits in Hocus Pocus Park sounds pretty interesting comparative. Well, I tried to find the Willie the Willie on Jesus Willie Hayes and to say, hey, kid, yes, I tried my best to find that and have been completely unable to which is a shame because it has like that. I take that back. I think I found it on eBay, but it was totally overpriced, so it was like I can't bring myself to pay this, which we each have to get it somehow.

And it's a shade because that has Paul Freeze in it. That is like a sports thing which we kind of haven't seen yet. I don't know, like ultimately, you know, when you have a story with talking dogs and cats, I kind of don't even I don't even understand why they had to anthropomorphize animals for this. Why not just do people? Why not just do ana magic?

Like I it's a lot of the week because like I'm not saying it would have been better if it had been just a telling of the Red Baron story, but hear me out here, it might actually have been better if it had just been like leaning on that more and as opposed to like kittying it up, because it's also like very kittied up too, So it's yeah, it makes it. It makes it seem very just like, I don't know, more childish than it needs to be given again, the things that it was airing with, Yeah, guy, so I'm not going to pay seventy four ninety nine for a VHS copy of Willie Mays and the Say Hey Kid, seventy four dollars. Yes, good nine, No actual, no fucking way. I think what's more surprising is like something like that not having any sort of physical copy or anything like even on YouTube, that's surprising.

Like Willy Mays is like a known athlete, like very well known, Like I don't, I don't know, it's weird that this is on YouTube, and that's not. Oh well, it's kind of on YouTube, Okay. So Chris, in answer to your question, it says here in the enchanted world of Rank and and Bass, the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie became more or less another Rank and Bass series for the network. Most everything Rank and Bass did in the early seventies busy period was done in cell animation. Anna magic was two time consuming and expensive to use in anything other than an occasional special.

So that explains that at least what's interesting This is an hour though this isn't even half an hour, you know, like it's that's that's surprising. I mean, I don't think it would have saved it ultimately, It's just like a very juvenile Romeo and Juliet adjacent story the meat. There is no music really, there's like one song and then there's the annoying music stinger that they just keep using. It reminded me a lot of that. Remember the Witch Noise from What Special that was where it was just like that noise that which would make over and over again return to Oz.

Yeah, yeah, it was like that. I was like, by the end of this, I was like, I'm so glad that this is over because i don't want to hear that like rude loop dude, Like, Oh, it's not as whimsical as you're making it sound. This was, you know, their busy period, you know, read cash Grab. This is an example of that. They were clearly on the hook for a monthly installment of their Saturday Superstar movie.

This one was in. This one was December nine, nineteen seventy two. Jesus the next one didn't air for thirteen months. That Girl in Wonderland wasn't aired until January thirteenth, nineteen seventy four, a full calendar year later. I wonder what these couldn't have been annual things.

I don't know. Again, it's baffling. It's hard to kind of unravel what they were doing and why. But it was a period of time in our nation's history in Hollywood when there was a lot of pot and cocaine. Oh, by the way, I found out that Miser Brothers are selling a DVDR of Willie Mayson to say Hey Kid for twenty five dollars.

A DVDR for twenty five bucks out on Etsy. They have a ton of illegal bootlegs that they're selling out there, though it must be that hard to find, huh. I guess So, guys, aren't we making enough on this podcast to afford to spend some of our income. Oh boy, seventy five dollars A seventy five dollars VHS does not sound any better than a twenty five dollars dvd R at all. I would actually pay the twenty five dollars.

I would not pay the seventy whatever. Yeah, but there's also somebody on YouTube who says that they have it, and I've just requested access to the Google drive that it's allegedly got, and it's voiced by Willie May like that's the crazy thing. He voices himself, like, I don't it's weird, It's weird. That that's the hardest thing that we've had a time finding. Yeah, like most of these, like we're pretty proficient at binding things between the two of us, and yeah, this is like the one thing that we haven't found.

I guess. Yeah. Well, look, we had the misfortune of finding the Red Baron. It just wasn't There wasn't anything really special about the special. It was a fairly standard story.

It was a two D cell and nation, which was fairly undistinguished. You know, it wasn't their best, wasn't their worst. But your animation is bad. I've never been a fan of their animation, to be honest, But again, this kind of thing, I mean, Mike and I grew up on this shit. They would I mean the ship, they would serve kids.

You know, everyone makes fun of our generation. It's like, oh my god, you guys loved Gilligan's Island in the Brady Bunch. That stuff was fucking Avatar compared to their ship. We got on a Saturday morning. And this is good, which I remember.

Clutch cargo, Yeah, clutch cargo, Chris. You see a second of it or two in pulp fiction, but it's basically pictures with somebody's mouth removed. It's like the the Conan O'Brien bit. I think it is, where the mouth just is like, oh, we must go and rescue them, and you just see the mouth moving with us still frame around it. It's a you know, okay, look at the logic of the early seventies.

It was they were just beginning to think, well, maybe there is a population out there that we're underserving. Now, when I say underserving, what I mean is advertisers have a lot of sugar covered shit they want to sell to kids. Now, if we put on a block of programming, like a block of it, not just a show, but if every Saturday morning we can reliably put on cartoons of whatever sort to deliver kid viewers which have nothing else to do. But they're up early on a Saturday morning. Mom and dad are drunk.

They want to sleep in, they're trying to get over their hangover. Now the kids can go into the den and from literally six am to eleven thirty watched the worst animated shows in history that could only consisted for selling things. Yeah, I mean, you know, a play school, the Big Wheel by Marx, every item that could be sold to a kid, and kids watched it. And went fucking nuts for it and bought that shit. When mom and Dad finally got out of bed and had a cup of coffee and an aspirin, they were up in their business going I want this, I want laid, I want I want honeycombs, I want to live in the Honeycomb hideout.

I want hot wheels, I want all this stuff. And the parents like, fine, to shut the fuck up, I'll buy you whatever you want. And so there we have the miracle of television. This is before they legislated that they have to send a message as well. So then you get those little five minute tacons at the end of every probably not even five minutes, probably more like three minutes, at the end of every single Gi Joe.

We're you know, knowing is half the battle. Have you guys ever seen the fake g I Joe PSAs that they that somebody did in like the days of Ebomb's World and like early YouTube, Oh yeah, oh my god, pork chops sandwiches that like that whole thing of like hey, I'm Rapael and Donna Cello don't do lead, Like, oh you guys, I do miss that, Like this is crack rock Colecane, like peewee herman, like I do miss it, but okay, that's your childhood again, just to put on the rewind to Mike and I. You know you had hey, hey, hell oh man. Remember they would cycle that animation so poorly. You know, you know, we're gonna sing a song for you, and Bill's gonna teach you a thing or two.

Get Bill Cosby doing the Fat Albert Show and those always had a lesson and and thank god we had Bill Cosby to teach America's children how to behave Oh man, I grew up on Bill Cosby records. Man, my aunt gave me so many Bill Cosby comedy records. I know, why is there heir to my brother Russell who I slept with that night or whatever it was. I mean, just great stuff, A lot of good stuff, a lot of good stuff. Then we found out he fucked around, and we found out yes, very much.

So it's we lived too long, is what it is. That's what I always say. Will you lived too long? You found out the truth, and now you can't enjoy it anymore. It's like he just lived too long.

So imagine if you had died like in the nineties, you'd still think Bill Cosby was great. He lived No, No, he lived too long. Yeah. If you had died in nineteen eighty five, when he should have, then all this ship would come out and we'd be like, really okay, and it'd be horrible, but but we wouldn't be like Unfortunately, all of his victims would not have I mean, I don't know. Maybe they could go to his estate and say there's a problem, you know, but we wouldn't be sitting here going, oh, Rice, this motherfucker.

Anyway. I don't know how we got on this. Oh right, I brought it up. Okay, let's move on. You notice how Richard said that's when he should have died.

I'm just saying, Richard keeps dropping hints, Mike, we're not we're not picking up I know, I know any but he didn't. Richard's part of this. He's part of this. Yeah, he knew too much. He tried to replace the people who should have died before.

Now you want my list, Richard. I don't think Richard. I wouldn't do that if I were you. They're listening the Manifesto. Yeah, Michigan's favorite son, Ted Kazynski just passed away.

Well, Michigan University of Michigan alumni Ted Kazynski just passed away. Where are we naming the building? Right, teddy K School of Engineering? God USC has to tear down. It's part of you Weinstein, of casting Jesus.

Who here? Who here likes Hassan Feffer though, that's my question? Okay, I know German. Hassan is rabbit. Feffer is pepper.

This is a rabbit made with pepper. Where are the rabbits in all of this underrepresented? Yeah? Yeah, they're just risked for the mill water, I guess, so yeah, because like he's like, oh, it's an old family recipe. It's like Hassin Pepper is straight up an animal.

So yeah, let's see. It's just like how we decide that cows deserve to be murdered and eaten. I guess the dogs are just like, yeah, rabbits eat the rabbits. Well, it was the scene that we didn't see where they were flying over all the camps that had the rabbits. Oh right, yeah.

But but here's the thing. I know that it became a large industry in Milwaukee because one, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight, Let me incorporated. And Chris is staring at I know about I know about Laverne and Shirley. I know about Squiggy, I know about Michael McKean. Lenny is the only one who's still alive, by the way, Michael McKeene is the only one still alive.

Everyone else, that's Cindy Williams, Eddie Marshall, Eddie Mecca. They're all dead, David e. Lander dead, Garry Marshall dead. They're all dead except from Michael the keen. Yeah, I'm just pointing that out again, Richard.

He's lived long enough for what Richards said. No, he's nothing, No, he's no, No, nothing will ever come out about Michael McKean. I stake my reputation on this boy. What if something came out tomorrow, Well, Richard, that would lead to a very special episode of Rankings. Right.

He seems like a very decent guy. It's true. Like Ed Begley Junior, I didn't realize that Harry Shearer was an announcer on six episodes of The Vernon Shirley, But the connection with Michael McKean goes deeper. An announ What does that mean an announcer? Well, he was on screen character or he I think he might have been on screen or at least actually looks like he's played several roles here.

Let's see if I can find out what it was. But yeah, that was interesting that he was on the show. I didn't know that at all. Well, those guys were all part of the improv world, either through groundlings or you know, yeah, the credibility gap. There were all these Like in the seventies, there were a lot of sort of improv stage groups Second City.

Yeah. Um, anyway, I'm not surprised they knew each other at all. I'm sure if you look hard enough. Christopher Guest popped up in something early on that had somebody. Do you remember Lenny in the squig Tones.

Absolutely, I loved that album. There were some really good songs. Well did you. I mean, that's early spinal tap, That's all those guys were in in that band, that fake band were in Lenny the squig Tones. It was.

It was a pastiche of fifties do wop. The songs were parodies of that style. They were great. They were great songs. Like I listened to that album, I could still sing you those songs.

I will not um, but it. Yeah, it's like, well as improv you know aficionados and professionals. We have learned how to do musical improv and that's part of what we do. And we're also performers and we're musicians, and so they gravitated toward each other. I mean, if you read, if you read those books, and there's books out there, you see how all these early early people got together.

It's fascinating. I know we're going far away from Red Baron, but believe me, listeners, that's where you want to be. Yeah, we really have not dealt at all with the Red Baron. That's the thing. There's nothing to deal with.

So so you met you guys have mentioned this. How old would y'all have been? In seventy one? Negative one? Okay, So Richard, you would have been the only one who would have theoretically seen this on TV.

Right, theoretically if you had seen this, because you know yourself, maybe you don't know your six year old, seven year old self as well. I know my six year old self. Oh my god, right, what would you have liked this? Like? What would you killed myself?

News Today Breaking Ranking and Buzz has claimed another there was a lot of things that maybe want to kill myself when I was six. This is one of them. I know, I'm not making fun of suicide. I apologize, but I was a depressed kid, so it was not that far away from the truth. Oh you're being serious.

I would have watched something like this. I probably would have hated it, right, Yeah, but I would have sat there and just taken it, because that's you know what you're doing at that age. You're just like anything animated. Sure, I'll watch anything animated. Yeah, And that is the issue here, right, Like it's it's I'm trying to like I asked that question only because I would.

I'm trying to put myself in the position of someone that this was made for, and I just I have a hard time believing that if this were on I would have I would not be tempted to look away and do something else. It just it wasn't even compelling, like even something even something like The Wind and the Willows, which had its problems, or the Saga of Smoky the Bear. It had its issues, but it was still like mildly engaging on top of everything else. I mean, I mentioned the animation, but I really do not like Rankin and Bass is animated stuff. It just all feels really generic and maybe maybe and I don't want to put this out into the world, but I will.

Maybe Rudolph and all that stuff is really generic. But the AnimagiC elevates it into a position where it's memorable. Because a lot of that stuff that we watched that's animated, like Frosty and shit, that was not good. It was mediocre at bes And I wonder if we're just oh, you know, YadA yadding a little bit of the quality because the AnimagiC is so engaging and entertaining because it is, I mean, there's no two ways around it, like AnimagiC is better. Period.

We've done a lot of these, We've been doing this for a while. I'm gonna say two words that I think I can associate with the best of Rank and Bass and then the rest is the rest. And those two words are Romeo Muller. Okay, I think he is when he's writing, there's a greater chance of success quality. I think we've seen that, and the ones that he doesn't write fall below.

And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's kind of the rule. I think, if if we have learned anything from this podcast, and if we can give anything to the world when you're when you're consuming Rank and Bass products, look for the name. Romeo said, I should know his name, Romeo Mueller, Romeo Muller. I'm look, I'm not going to get on my big WGA Writers Guild strike soapbox. But it all starts with the writer, and that dude came up with some cool, fun, funny ass shit.

He came up with the Elf. That's a dentist, Okay. He is the spirit animal of the movie Elf. If you'll like that movie, you like it because they captured the spirit of Romeo Muller and all those Christmas specials. I think that's the ticket, and I welcome all dissenting opinions.

Well, we were talking about the animation, and I think that Rankin and Bass suffer because they would use so many different animators, so there was no consistency. Of course, we have the value of hindsight right now here in twenty twenty three, as we record this and look back at their entire body of work, there are probably circumstances we want to work with this company because it can do X, Y and Z. But when I look at things like The Hobbit, Return of the King, The Last Unicorn. I mean those to me are Yeah, I think they're really well animated films. I like the character design all the way that the orcs, the way that Gandolf looks, the way that everybody looks in those Hobbit and Return of the King movies.

And then I really like the character design of the folks in Last Unicorn as well. I think I'm definitely hotter on Last Unicorn than y'all were, But you know, it still stands the test of time for me. I had a delightful time watching that and now watching The Red Aaron, don't you feel better about the last, of course, I feel better about literally everything else that we have watched for this show. Okay, so you guys see that I'm showing you pictures of Rudolf. Right, yes, I'm gonna show you a picture of a person.

Tell me who it is. Who is that Muller I'm assuming lives. It looks like Bura lives. It is Romeo Muller, and he looks exactly like Bura lives. Right, It's amazing.

It's good stuff for radio. It's the leader of the mind. Just anything, picture Bura lives, and picture a dude who wrote a bunch of these things, and it looks just like it. There's got to be a connection. It's gonna start singing silver and Gold at any minute.

I'm telling you it is never more than on July sixth, as we are recording this that I just ache for Christmas so badly. Oh don't you know? I don't. I don't in the context of ranking, and I don't ache for Halloween either, because the Halloween specials were up there for being pretty pretty pretty disappointing. I want again like bad, I mean again, like this is bad.

I think I was more disappointed because those were Halloween things, like I don't know, like I ultimately like with this, it's like yeah, right, like I'd had no expectations with this, like mad mad monsters and stuff like that. I was super excited because it was a Halloween Rank and a basting. This is like okay, like it's a Red Baron thing. Like ultimately, who gives a shit? Like I don't know who's a fan of the Red Baron?

I guess is more of what I'm getting at. Here's here's a thing for Halloween fans. And yes, the Halloween specials of Rank and Bass are not as good as the Christmas ones. But the way kids watch TV now, the young people, they'll just put something on and they'll turn down the sound and it'll just be visual. I think that's the perfect way to watch Mad Mad, Monster Party and stuff like that, just because the visuals are so bizarre.

But I think I said that all those years ago. I think I said if I went to a club and this was up on the wall, I'd be happy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Just seriously, guys, as Halloween starts, a Halloween season starts for many of us that starts on Labor Day, just put this one on. Turn down the sound, turn out the lights, put on some weird lights in your house, do you kids?

You do your molly, whatever it is you do, and enjoy yourself. Just let a play and kids to do drugs. Oh my god, I'm scandalized. You got to know what you do. I don't know what they do now.

I'm smoking there did CBD oil? Whatever you do, just do it, enjoy yourself. The Halloween spe When it comes to the Christmas specials, god damn it, you turn the sound up and learn about theme. That's what Romeo Muller teaches us. I'm out, Wow, he mic dropped.

Richard, come back, all right, I'm still here. All right, Sure you can't get rid of me that easy. So what are we doing next time? I guess we're done, Richard, Richard, Richard. Didn't you remember what happened last time when I did that?

No? I actually don't. I haven't listened to the World of Danny Kay yet. Well you wouldn't hear it in there either. Thanks everybody for tuning in.

I want to thank I would be stabbing for our artwork as well as the great actor post for art theme music. Be sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. Don't make it Stitcher. They're going away pretty soon. We'll be back next month.

What They look At Ranking Ambassas nineteen seventy three animated special Just for you, Richard, That Girl in Wonderland. Until then, be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you get it, Tell your friends, tell your family, and please stay weird sh