Porky in Wackyland is a 1938 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short film , directed by Bob Clampett . The short was released on September 24, 1938, and stars Porky Pig venturing out to find the last do-do bird , which he finds in Wackyland, a land that makes no sense located in Darkest Africa .
25-697: In 1994, Porky in Wackyland was voted No. 8 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 2000, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress , which selected the short for preservation in the National Film Registry . A newspaper shows Porky Pig traveling to Africa to hunt for the last do-do bird. Upon landing his airplane in Darkest Africa, Porky sees
50-461: A busy sidewalk, with people stepping on him. One person kicks him down the street as he declares that he wants to go to the Moon, before he notices that he is at the front of the "Moonbeam Rocket Company". He notices rockets to Mars , Venus , a miniature rocket to Palm Springs , and a "Moon Special," which he enters. Blackie pushes the ignition, and takes off immediately. Buildings and stars duck out of
75-518: A duck caricature of Al Jolson , and a beast with the heads of the Three Stooges . One creature wears a sandwich board advertising information about the do-do. The creature beckons Porky into a dark passage, where he falls down a chute and watches the do-do's big entrance. The do-do introduces itself and then tramples Porky while scat singing . Porky gives chase, but the do-do repeatedly uses surreal tricks to escape and humiliate him. Some time later,
100-524: A fake LaserDisc release. The Do-Do Bird has made occasional guest spots in the DC Comics Looney Tunes comic book, being colored in grayscale as opposed to the rest of the art being in color. The character makes an appearance in the Wii game Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal as an unplayable character. He is given a first name, Yoyo Dodo. Yoyo can also be seen at Maroon Cartoon Studios as a brief cameo in
125-888: A foreword written by Chuck Jones . The book features the fifty greatest cartoons of all time, selected by a group of 1000 cartoon historians, animation professionals and film critics. The votes were culled from ballots sent to members of the Society for Animation Studies , the International Animated Film Association , one hundred animation studios, and film critics from more than one hundred periodicals. The cartoons selected include work from Disney Cartoons , Warner Bros. Cartoons , Fleischer Studios , MGM Cartoons , United Productions of America , Walter Lantz , National Film Board of Canada , Winsor McCay , Otto Messmer , Sally Cruikshank , Marv Newland , Frederic Back and various independent animators . Each selection has
150-487: A plot summary, production history, and a critical analysis that examines why they were selected. The book also features commentary from Leonard Maltin , John Canemaker , Joe Adamson , Steve Schneider, Charles Solomon , and Leslie Cabarga . It consists of articles about 50 highly regarded animated short films made in North America and other notable cartoons, which are ranked according to a poll of 1,000 people working in
175-419: A sign telling him that he is in Wackyland, where anything can happen. He tiptoes along the ground in his airplane and is greeted by a roaring beast, who suddenly becomes effeminate and dances away into the forest. A musical interlude introduces several more bizarre creatures that inhabit Wackyland's impossible landscape. These include a one-man band that plays its nose like a flute, a rabbit swinging in midair,
200-441: Is irrelevant." In the 2001 Masters of Animation , John Grant writes that "this short, in its cumulative effect, is more wildly inventive than anything even [Tex] Avery had produced for Warners." Animation historian Steve Schneider writes, "No mere Looney Tune, Porky in Wackyland was Warner Bros. Emancipation Proclamation . Building on the creaky liberties inaugurated by director Tex Avery , here Bob Clampett scoffs and shreds
225-567: Is uniquely gifted to do." Much of the Wackyland sequence was adapted and reused by Clampett for inclusion in his 1943 short Tin Pan Alley Cats . A color remake of Porky in Wackyland was supervised by Friz Freleng in 1948. Re-titled as Dough for the Do-Do , the remake was released in 1949. The films were nearly identical, in many cases appearing to match frame-by-frame in certain details, albeit with Porky's appearance updated (by redoing most of
250-399: The "animation cels whose colors practically leap off the page". She lauded "Ted Turner and his minions" for their appreciation and preservation of the films. In his autobiography Chuck Amuck , Jones singled out What's Opera, Doc? "for sheer production quality, magnificent music and wonderful animation, this is probably our (unit's) most elaborate and satisfying production." A mixture of
275-506: The 1940s or 1950s. Dingbat Land (1949) starred Gandy Goose and Sourpuss. The role of the Do-Do was taken by a minor Terrytoons character, Dingbat. Tex Avery , for whom Clampett worked as an animator in the mid-1930s, borrowed strongly from this cartoon for his 1948 MGM cartoons Half-Pint Pygmy (in which the characters, George and Junior, travel to Africa in search of the world's smallest pygmy, only to discover that he has an uncle who's even smaller) and The Cat That Hated People (where
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#1732844576989300-473: The Cat complains about his hatred towards people and how they make his life difficult in the city. Because of interference, he is unable to find easy food or deliver a proper serenade. He also doesn't get along with children, babies, housewives, or, with dogs, their owners. He complains about not being let out of the house, or allowed to elope with female cats. Blackie continues to complain about people as he walks along
325-459: The Do-Do Bird is the father of Gogo Dodo , a character on the 1990s animated TV series Tiny Toon Adventures , and a second Wackyland is drawn into Acme acres by Babs and Buster Bunny. A small clip from the film was used in a Slappy Squirrel segment on another Warners animated TV series of the 1990s, Animaniacs . The segment, titled "Critical Condition", featured Porky in Wackyland as part of
350-526: The Quackadero (1975; No. 46). The book's front and rear cover art shows a variety of famous cartoon stars seated in a nightclub. In the appendix, a list of other cartoons with substantial votes are featured. Maryanne Dell wrote in The Orange County Register that the book "is a breeze, a visual delight that brings back childhood afternoons in front of the tube." She also mentioned how
375-479: The animation industry and film critics. Each cartoon is under 30 minutes long and cel animated (with the exception of Gertie the Dinosaur ). Seventeen of the selected films were produced for Warner Bros. 's Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, ten of which were directed by Chuck Jones , including the #1 cartoon on the list, What's Opera, Doc? and the overall #2 pick Duck Amuck . Beck said Jones
400-590: The animation of the character), the voices having evolved (with less use of speeding-up) and the backgrounds being changed to a surreal, Daliesque landscape. Dough for the Do-Do was produced in Technicolor , but was originally released in Cinecolor due to a dispute with the Technicolor corporation. Later reissues were printed by Technicolor. There were at least two Terrytoons plagiarizations of Porky in Wackyland in
425-402: The beginning of the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Yoyo also made a cameo in the 2020 Looney Tunes Cartoons short "Happy Birthday, Bugs Bunny!" and plays a large role in the stop motion episode "Daffy in Wackyland". The 50 Greatest Cartoons The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck , with
450-410: The book chronicled the "history of the genre with enough details about how these things work to satisfy anyone with a modicum of interest in the subject." Overall, she stated that the book is "worth the price of admission for the visuals, and a gem of a show." Sandra Crockett of The Baltimore Sun called the book an "animated feast". She was impressed with the illustrations in the book, complimenting
475-603: The book's selections and its runner-ups were featured on Cartoon Network on March 14, 1998, as part of "The 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time" marathon. The reason for this is because the network only aired cartoons owned by Warner Bros. , public domain cartoons like Gertie the Dinosaur , and those licensed to the network at the time (such as The Big Snit and Bambi Meets Godzilla ). The marathon also included interviews with animators such as Chuck Jones and Joe Barbera , as well as historian Leonard Maltin and voice actors Charlie Adler and June Foray . A similar marathon aired
500-608: The cat travels to the moon and encounters an array of characters similar to those in Clampett's Wackyland, e.g., a pair of gloves and lips that keep saying "Mammy, mammy", just like the Al Jolson duck in Porky in Wackyland ). Clampett would again use the Three Stooges parody when a later creation of his, Beany and Cecil , faced the "Dreaded Three-Headed Threep". According to writer Paul Dini ,
525-406: The conventions — realism, literalism, infantilism, cutesiness, and worse — that, with the ascendancy of Disney , had come to caramelize cartooning. By reminding us of animations' horizons — namely, none at all — this anything-goes film illustrates Sigmund Freud's notion that humor arises from breaking taboos. And breaking taboos is something that animation, with its limitless freedom,
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#1732844576989550-605: The do-do encounters a newspaper hawker selling newspapers announcing that Porky's hunt has been a success. Confused by the news, the do-do drops its guard long enough for the hawker (Porky in disguise) to grab it. Porky briefly celebrates catching the last do-do, but is bested again when the bird calls for its other do-do friends. Information is taken from the website Likely Looney, Mostly Merrie Steve Schneider's 1998 That's All Folks! The Art of Warner Bros. Animation writes that with this short, "the lord of cartoon misrule, Clampett established conclusively that in animation, realism
575-580: The following year. The Cat that Hated People The Cat That Hated People is a 1948 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby , featuring Blackie the Cat. Blackie's voice was supplied by Patrick McGeehan in the style of Jimmy Durante ; incidental music was directed by Scott Bradley . The film borrows elements from the Warner Bros. -produced Looney Tunes cartoons Porky in Wackyland and Tin Pan Alley Cats , both directed by Bob Clampett . Blackie
600-529: The way and signs reading "NO VACANCY" appear on planets as he passes them. The rocket skywrites "Eat at Joe's" and punches a hole in the Big Dipper before the Little Dipper moves to catch the leakage. The rocket then bounces pinball -style from star to star (with points being displayed for each "bounce") until it registers " TILT " upon lunar impact. After the crash, Blackie revels in his newfound solitude, but
625-594: Was one of "the most intellectual of the Warner crowd", and that he was one of the "first cartoon directors to experiment with stylized backgrounds and animation techniques, and his cartoons are noted for their highly artistic look and comic timing." Forty-five of the selected cartoons were created and released before 1960; the exceptions are The Big Snit (1985; No. 25), The Cat Came Back (1988; No. 32), Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969; No. 38), The Man Who Planted Trees (1987; No. 44) and Quasi at
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