Shorts! Merrie Melodies: Fresh Fish & Dangerous Dan McFoo

(Spoiler Section Length - 4min 6sec)Way back in the first season of our podcast, we covered one Muppet movie, and the time has finally come to cover more! Now we're looking at the very first of the many Muppet films, made while the classic Muppet Show seasons were still being made. And appropriately, this one focuses on how the gang got together, using a road trip format to do it. And, of course, there's the Rainbow Connection of it all. But being first doesn't always mean being the best, so let's dig into this and determine just how good (or bad?) this very first Muppet movie is!

We start 1939 off with a look at Tex Avery, whose output is starting to creep closer to the type of cartoons he's most known for making, but that he won't make until he leaves for another studio. And at the same time, we have a new voice actor joining the folds in one of these cartoons, whose legacy in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series would end up being far-reaching. But all that said, are these two cartoons worth watching nowadays? Listen to find out!

(Spoiler Section Length - 10min 1sec)Many films have combined live-action and 2D animation before, some of which we've even covered here, such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks. But most of those films have a scene or two where the combination happens, or maybe it happens throughout but with only one character, such as Pete's Dragon. Those that make an effort to combine the mediums all throughout their runtime are few, and those who manage to do it successfully are even fewer. Since its release Roger Rabbit has been considered the king among these films, and today we determine once and for all whether or not it deserves that crown.

Our final short of 1938 is a cartoon that looks to the future, in that in many ways it feels more modern than most of the cartoons surrounding it that year, or even for several years after. Clearly the directors at Warner Bros thought so too, since they remade it beat-for-beat around a decade later. But feeling modern doesn't mean it's good, so... is this one good, or just a historical curiosity? Listen to find out!

(Spoiler Section Length - 14min 50sec)What starts as a simple story about a group of schoolchildren learning to live together and communicate ends up being a galaxy-spanning adventure where those same kids go to the dark side of the moon, ride a lizard catbus, and stop a megalomaniacal villain from remaking the universe to suit his desires. But while that last thing is important, it's the visit to the moon and riding the catbus and visiting a planet of dog people that is the real heart of the movie. In short: it's about the journey, not the destination. Does that focus still make it worth watching, or does it make it a slog that's not worth sitting through? Listen to find out!

When it comes to star characters for media creators, fame can be a tricky thing. It can often result in the dulling down of a once vibrant character, a sanding of the edges so the character can conform to the role of company mascot. Perhaps no character is more indicative of this than Mickey Mouse, once an adventurous little rascal, now often considered synonymous with a lumbering behemoth of a company rather than a character in his own right. But when did that change happen? Well, it was gradual, but by the late 30s, it was definitely already happening, resulting in the famous Mouse appearing in fewer and fewer cartoons while his costars Donald, Goofy, and even his own dog Pluto took center stage. But before his own cartoon short series became, essentially, a second place to put Pluto cartoons, there was one last hurrah, one last big cartoon to put Mickey in the spotlight. But was it actually good? Let's find out!

(Spoiler Section Length - 4min 24sec)We've watched several Russian films on this podcast before, but most of them were fantasy in nature, rather than sci-fi. This is an off-beat sort of sci-fi, but nonetheless is full of aliens, spaceships, laser guns and robots! Debuting a few years after Star Wars, this film still seems more rooted in older depictions of spaceships and more groovy sensibilities, despite releasing in the 80s. At just under 50 minutes, is this odd little movie worth the time investment? Listen to find out!

Termite Terrace had a lot of directors come and go over the years, but perhaps its most well known has finally gotten to sit in the director's chair: Chuck Jones. While Jones' early work is often criticized for its Disney-esque sensibilities, do those criticisms apply to this first directorial effort? And regardless, is the short worth watching nowadays? Listen to find out!

Many decades after the original, Disney finally decided to make a sequel to the original Fantasia, and in so doing they found themselves repeating mistakes while also chasing new sensibilities, resulting in a film that is less lauded than its predecessor... but does that mean it's actually less good? Listen to find out!

When you see the title 'Porky in Egypt' and you hear it's a cartoon from the 1930s, your hopes for that short being good might immediately dwindle, as you imagine just how racist it probably is. And certainly this cartoon is not exempt from such issues, but they take up a surprisingly small portion of the runtime. So what is the rest of the cartoon about? Trust me when I say that it's better for you to find out yourself!