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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 18, 2016 9:35:20 GMT -5
How Green Was My Face (1931) - This was actually among the handful of episodes banned from TV by King World in the early '70s, as it was deemed politically incorrect.
The Gang hopes to land jobs as pages at a fancy hotel. However, the hotel only wants to hire green people. Undaunted, the kids paint there faces green, put on green dialects, and exaggerate all of the horrible stereotypes associated with the green community. (i.e. a love for frozen yogurt, an obsession with comedian Chic Sale, and a fear of their own hair). The kids are found out after Wheezer, Stymie, Dorothy, and Shirley accidentally turn the hotel's overhead sprinklers on, washing the green right off of everyone's faces.
As it turns out, this film was intended to be a satire. However, when King World got their hands on the Little Rascals package, they believed that there really was s community of green-skinned folks, and feared offending them. How stupid can you get?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2016 22:16:36 GMT -5
My first contribution to this thread, so I thought I'd give this a try...
Darla's Dress Disaster (1983) - This was an animated episode that started off well, until Darla met with disaster when Porky accidentally squirted ketchup on the dress she was wearing at the time (a callback to "Yachtsa' Luck"), and to make matters worse, all of her outfits were in the washing machine. The boys decided to find ways to cover up the stain, but the problem got worse. Fortunately, Buckwheat had an idea - utilizing his science knowledge, he decided to go to his chemistry lab and invent a formula that would make the stain disappear. The stain did disappear, but there would now be a hole in her dress. Buckwheat was held liable, took accountability for what had happened, and decided to buy Darla a replacement dress of the same kind using his allowance money he had saved up. Buckwheat said he was saving up his allowance money to take advanced science courses, but said he realized that Darla's feelings come first, and sacrificed his goal to buy Darla a new dress of the same type.
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Post by wheezer on Jun 19, 2016 11:33:04 GMT -5
Cutie May I (1935) - Back by popular demand are some former gang members, voted the cutest boys of them all. Some current members of the gang join them, as well. Wheezer, Dickie, Scotty, Spanky, Stymie, and so on. They compete in various competitions (best singing, longest they could hold their breath) while the leading ladies judge and begin to decide upon a winner. At the end of the competition, it is none of the aforementioned that win, but Mickey Daniels! Those who lost seat themselves on a porch step and comment that they don't care about being cute, and so decide to go play baseball with the rest of the gang.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 20, 2016 4:00:12 GMT -5
Black Beauty (1924) - Tired of being deemed physically unattractive, Mickey Daniels raises money to get plastic surgery. When surgery day arrives, Mickey is shocked to find that Farina will be his surgeon. After Dr. Farina puts Mickey to sleep (with a mallet), Mickey wakes up to find that his face is completely black! He wonders - "Who could love me now?" My jaw dropped at that title card. After a series of politically incorrect moments that I'm too ashamed to admit to seeing, Mickey wakes up in his bed and realizes that it was all just a dream.
Offensive, unfunny, and just plain strange. What makes this the worst episode? It actually has a decent message in it about loving yourself based on your character rather than your physical appearance. But Roach's staff totally went about it the wrong way. Appalling!
White Wash (1931) - A remake of "Black Beauty," but with Farina in Mickey's role and Wheezer in Farina's role.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2016 16:30:15 GMT -5
The Gang's Not Here (1983) - Alfalfa has a bad encounter with Butch and Woim, and ran to the treehouse, telling the Rascals that Butch might beat him up in an hour. Buckwheat has a clever idea on how to thwart Butch and Woim's schemes. The gang meet up in Buckwheat's garage, where he has developed an invisibility formula. Buckwheat mentioned it's grape-flavored, and took a sip, turning himself invisible. Then Darla, Alfalfa, Porky and Spanky all took a sip, becoming invisible, Buckwheat informed the Rascals that the effects last just a few hours, and hit the street, looking for Butch and Woim to thwart their schemes. Nearby, the gang noticed some criminal activity happening. They secretly captured a criminal, and bewildered Officer Ed for a moment. The criminal claimed he saw ghosts. Then, while the gang was still hunting for Butch and Woim, Darla noticed a new girl in Greenpoint who has taken Waldo's affections. The gang try to discredit the girl when the invisible Rascals start speaking, thus bewildering Waldo, and successfully discrediting the girl. Continuing down the street, they discover Butch and Woim roaming the street, and the Rascals have the golden opportunity to thwart Butch and Woim's schemes. Unfortubately, while in the process, Buckwheat started to become visible again, and the other Rascals followed suit one by one. Butch is angry at not just Alfalfa, but all of the Rascals. Butch then kicks Alfalfa in the leg, and breaks it. Officer Ed came running towards Butch, blowing his whistle, and handcuffed Butch and Woim,sending them to a juvenile detention center, and Officer Ed told Alfalfa an ambulance was on the way. Officer Ed questioned the Rascals about the capture of the criminal, and Spanky responded "you'll believe it if you don'T see it."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2016 19:17:25 GMT -5
Nerves of Steal (1983) - Butch is up to his old tricks again. This time, he is trying to get his revenge by daring Alfalfa to shoplift some candy from the local store, when the Rascals were not accompanying him. Alfalfa brought the candy to the treehouse, not realizing what he really did, and shared it with Darla and the boys. But later, Spanky did find out from Officer Ed that candy was stolen, and suspects Alfalfa was responsible for the act. The rest of the game had no respect for Alfalfa as a result, but then they find out that Butch was behind all of this, and threatened to report him to Officer Ed - and succeeded. Spanky explained the situation to Officer Ed, and decided to take Butch and Woim in to the police station. Then Officer Ed showed Alflafa the bill he had to pay for the pilfered candy, and then learned he was getting a reward for Butch and Woim's capture that would be used to pay for the pilfered candy.
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Post by tboneator64 on Jun 24, 2016 17:48:56 GMT -5
Going To Press For Uncle Sam (1944) - In this sequel to a rare good MGM 'Our Gang' entry, the gang attempts to repair the damage caused by the goat in the first short! In a brief aside, it is mentioned that the same goat also ate Spanky in a subsequent encounter, which explains his absence this time around!
Unfortunately, things don't work our quite so well for the gang this time, as there aren't any fat kids around for the newspaper pressings, presumably due to wartime shortages having set in by this time! A bigger problem still is the discovery that all of the leftover non-functioning equipment had been picked up for use in the war effort! Of course, in the name of Uncle Sam, the gang takes this in stride, and as Froggy philosophises that "The pen and presses are mightier than the axis, and the axis can kiss my...." Janet steps in front and finishes with "Dolly!", just before the final fade to black!
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 27, 2016 0:17:52 GMT -5
Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive (1944) - Froggy wants to impress his overly-mature dance addict crush, Marilyn. His latest science experiment transforms him into an obnoxious zoot-suit wearin', slang-spewin', swing-dancin' freak. The townsfolk are quickly annoyed with the new Froggy, and Marilyn nearly has a heart attack after seeing him. The rest of the Gang enlists the help of Dr. Heckle, a "former mad scientist" to bring their pal back. He succeeds, and then gives a lecture on being yourself, or something.
Buckula Vs. Mickenstein (1944) - This time, Froggy is a mad scientist who, with the help of his assistant Jangor, brings the monster Mickenstein to life. Froggy quickly regrets his decision to give Mickenstein a heart because the freak won't stop crying! The vampire Buckula overhears the crying, and rises from his coffin to shut Mickenstein up. An incredibly lame battle of wits breaks out between the two, eventually ending with Jangor lecturing them on kindness. Noted for being the only film to feature Dracula with an Afro, until Grade-Z filmmaker Al Adamson got his stockbroker in a cheap Halloween costume during the early 70s.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 27, 2016 14:46:30 GMT -5
Froggy in a publicity still for "Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive." Poor Billy Laughlin was clearly growing tired of this nonsense.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2016 16:28:39 GMT -5
"Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive"... was this idea inspired by a 1983 song by the band Men at Work (their last top 40 song in the US)?
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 27, 2016 16:35:38 GMT -5
"Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive"... was this idea inspired by a 1983 song by the band Men at Work (their last top 40 song in the US)? I don't know where exactly it came from. I've been looking into a lot of notoriously 'bad' movies lately, which included several horror spoofs - some with Jekyll and Hyde elements. In fact, the "Dracula with an afro" was a reference to Al Adamson's "Dracula Vs. Frankenstein," Lon Chaney, Jr.'s last movie. The idea of Froggy becoming a jitterbug came from a totally random line he said in "Family Troubles -" "That's buzzin', cousin!" A combination of those two, I guess!
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 27, 2016 18:16:25 GMT -5
Publicity photo from "How Green Was My Face," partially colorized. Another reason why this episode was so dumb? It was filmed in black-and-white!
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Post by tboneator64 on Jun 27, 2016 22:49:50 GMT -5
"Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive"... was this idea inspired by a 1983 song by the band Men at Work (their last top 40 song in the US)? I must admit that Men At Work immediately sprang to my mind, also! Of course, that I was in my teens when this song was out, no doubt had something to do with it! CHEERS!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2016 14:04:51 GMT -5
Just to let you know, my submissions of animated episodes was designed to be episodes as if they were being considered for the 1983-84 season, but we're scrapped in favor of "Plan B" rebroadcasts.
I only had three submissions because they were designed for the slots that ended up being devoted to repeats of "Tiny Terror", "Class Act" and "Porky-O and Julie-Et" respectively.
I didn't do a submission for the episode that ended up being devoted to a repeat of "Cap'n Spanky's Showboat" because I believe the unreleased episode "The Surgeon" was likely planned for that 12th episode of the season.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 6, 2016 14:37:50 GMT -5
Seriously - Come Back, Miss Pipps! (1942) - So it turns out that school janitor-turned superintendent-turned substitute teacher Mr. Swenson is secretly a Nazi spy. Froggy catches Swenson in his painted Swastika-covered office, expressing his devotion to the Führer. It's rather sick to watch, actually. Let's just say that there's a tie-in to "Pinocchio," and leave it at that.
Oh, and as if his odd attempts at bonding with Mickey Gubitosi and his coldness towards Buckwheat weren't already enough of a hint...
Froggy attempts to tell the others what he saw, but there's just one problem - he's lost his voice! We're given a series of bad jokes as Froggy plays charades with the Gang. Eventually, Froggy realizes that he can just write out what he needs to say.
The Gang goes to chat with Miss Pipps, who has been out of school for the past month after catching German Measles - actually Swastikas painted on her face. Hardy har har. Pipps is too weak to leave her bed, but a tearful Mickey-Janet speech somehow gives her 'power.'
The next day at school, we see that Mr. Swenson has completely changed the schoolroom - a portrait of George Washington has been replaced with one of Hitler; the room's American flag now has a giant Swastika attached to it; and most embarrassingly, Swenson has strings attached to his students, and is pretending that they're puppets. But just in the nick of time, Miss Pipps and the Gang arrive with a couple of FBI agents.
Swenson is taken away, while the miraculous recovered Miss Pipps gives a boring speech. Froggy finally gets his voice back, and says to the audience: "Remember, folks, if there's a problem, don't keep quiet about it. Buy War Bonds."
Good gracious, what a mess!
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