Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels - The Kooky Case of the Cryptic Keys - Season 1, Episode 1

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels - The Kooky Case of the Cryptic Keys

Season 1, Episode 1

Premiered September 10, 1977

Underrated

I never really sat down to watch Captain Caveman in the past. No reason. I had seen a few episodes but never really gave it any attention. I was looking up Vernee Watson-Johnson's filmography and discovered she was the voice of Dee Dee Sykes in "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels".

Then I watched the series starting with "The Kooky Case of the Cryptic Keys". This is one of those shows that just hit all of the right notes for me. I love the 70s girl private detective crew trope and I love the Scooby-Doo format. The "Scooby Clones" range in quality from not worth the watch to highly underated. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels is highly underated. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!"

The show did not have a big budget or really any budget. This is evident in the limited animation and the errors. But it's fun and that's what I ask for.

Decent Mystery

The team is waved down by a woman, Nancy, fleeing something. She gives them a key then disappears. While the Teen Angels are searching for clues (in a random stretch of road), the key is stolen from their van. 

They go to a house where three heirs are gathered to learn about their own keys. Nancy is revealed through dialog to be the fourth heir. Taffy disguises herself as Nancy.

While convening with the Great Mysto, the keys all of the keys except Taffy's are stolen. Taffy is abducted along with the key through a secret passage in a wall. They find a tunnel to where Taffy, Nancy and the Great Mysto are being held. The thief is revealed to be one of the heirs.

Captain Cavema-a-an rescues everyone and brings the felonious heir to justice.

A Wooden Captain Caveman

Here's something I realized about carving. After paying for the tools, it's an affordable hobby. I got hours of fun from a block of wood I bought for 60 cents at an unfinished furniture shop. It's also an art with irreversible moments. I know the slip of the hand can gouge my project or my hand.

I began with roughing out the general shape of him with a larger knife. Then I used another carving tool to gouge out his legs. Then I worked on his feet. I smoothed him off then I gouged in fur. I used a wood burning tool to highlight his fur and features.

After that, I drilled a hole through his torso. I put a thick piece of armature wire through for the arms. I used polymer clay to sculpt his arms. I 

Sun Valley Freeze - New Looney Tunes

Season 1, Episode 2B

Premiered September 21, 2015

The Short

Bugs is traveling in his traditional underground way. He finds that Bigfoot is following him. Bigfoot and Bugs are then attacked by a bunch of agents in white hazmat suits with laser sighted laser weapons. Bugs has to save the naive Bigfoot. Bigfoot constantly misunderstands the situation and injures Bugs but nothing deters Bugs from his efforts to save him. 

This short is the debut of Bigfoot and the Hazmats though from the dialog it is not the first meeting between Bugs Bunny and the characters. I could have done without the "as you know" dialog explaining Bigfoot's relationship with the Hazmats. The episode illustrated the dynamic between the characters fine. But I am an adult and I guess they explained it for the benefit of child viewers (although I think the children didn't need the overly explained explanation).

Overall, this is a great short. I liked Bigfoot, I loved the Hazmats. The Hazmats are as good as Elmer and Yosemite as gun wielding, dimwitted antagonists in my opinion.

The Project

I wrestled with what I wanted to make and how I wanted to make it. I found a piece of wood in the wood box (a less than clever but apt name) that was the perfect shape for Bigfoot. 

As I begun carving into the wood, I found it to be the hardest wood I had worked with. Considering I can count the number of carving projects I've done on one hand, that's not saying much. I also found that I could only carve in one direction on each side, otherwise big splinters would come off. I came upon the solutions of sand paper and soaking the wood in water. Both methods helped and I made my Bigfoot.

The Inside Bugs - New Looney Tunes - Toonstalgia

The Inside Bugs - New Looney Tunes

Wabbit/Bugs!

Season 1, Episode 2a

The Short

Bugs picks up Yosemite just after he robbed a bank. He drives Yosemite to his destination, to the brink of madness and into the arms of the law.

This short continues with the same dynamic as the first episode short, "Buddha Bugs" where Bugs meets Yosemite just after he robbed a Buddhist temple or monastery.

This short reminds me of "Bugs and Thugs" from 1954. Bugs Bunny gets into Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car right after they robbed a bank. I like to see Rocky but I'm glad he's not in this short because if Rocky and Muggsy were in it in place of Yosemite it would feel less like an homage and more like a remake.

My Project

I created a polymer magnet that now resides on my fridge.

I folded a piece of foil into a rectangle in roughly the shape and sign I wanted. I put a magnet in the center of the aluminum foil. I mashed the white clay around it until I got it covered.

I worked on a notebook to stop the magnet from getting ripped out by my desk. I should have made sure it was a fresh sheet of paper because I had written a note in pencil and pencil marks wound up all over the white clay. 

I baked this on a nonmetallic dish. When it came out, I gave it a fresh coat of white. Once the paint dried, I started drawing in the details. This was the point that I made my second avoidable mistake. I used red marker to draw in the letters. 

I painted in colors then I painted the black outlines in over that. The red marker didn't make the letters dark enough so I went over them with red paint. I went in with some white paint to highlight areas. 

Then I glazed it and realized my mistake with the marker as the red spread. After the glaze dried, I went in with red and white to clean it up. Then I finished it with a second coat of glaze. Fortunately, it didn't bleed again.

New Looney Tunes - Now and Zen - Toonstalgia

Now and Zen - New Looney Tunes/Wabbit/Bugs!

Season 1, Episode 1b

The Short

This short premiered on September 21, 2015 on Cartoon Network. It was the second short of the first episode, paired with Buddha Bugs. 

Bugs' squirrel buddy, Squeaks, runs into trouble when he disturbs a group of meditating ninja marshmallows. Then Bugs runs afoul of the ninjas when he tries to practice his French horn. The pair face off against the clan.

Bugs is playing a French horn or at least trying to because he doesn't get very far. Musicianship is a classic trait of Bugs. It may also be a brief homage to the Looney Tunes Short "Long-haired Hare".

My Project

I was immediately drawn to the ninja marshmallows. They're cute and silly.

The core of each ninja is cylinder of aluminum foil with magnets on the top and bottom. I kept the magnets in place with clay. For the larger ninjas, I covered the magnets with another piece of foil and a second magnet on each end. Then I coated the ninjas with a layer of peach. I baked them off on a nonmagnetic tray to solidify everything. Before baking, if you put them on anything metal, the magnets will get ripped right out of them. I write from experience because I have a metal desk.

After the peach marshmallows cooled, I added a layer of black with space left open for their face. The trouble I find with working with most black polymer clays is they stain my fingers. Normally, it doesn't bother me to have stained fingers but I didn't want it spread to the peach. I baked the black clad marshmallows off again.

I added the color accents to all of the marshmallows. Then I added white eyeballs and black eyebrows to the larger ninjas. I baked all of the marshmallows one more time.

I painted the pupils on the larger ninjas. I painted the eyeballs, pupils and eyebrows on the mini marshmallow ninjas.

Wabbit/New Looney Tunes - Buddha Bugs - Toonstalgia

Buddha Bugs - New Looney Tunes

Season 1, Episode 1a

The series now known as New Looney Tunes started life as Wabbit or Bugs depending on the region. Rebranding as New Looney Tunes was a good decision because it's simpler and it's really accurate. The series is new shorts continuing the legacy of earlier Looney Tunes shorts.

I was aware of Wabbit from the premiere and have watched it but my interest grew when I learned Kevin Fleming worked on the show. Kevin Fleming is the man behind Toony the Tuna and a number of other characters on Tune in with Me and the spin off Sventoonie.

The Short

Each episode features a couple shorts. This short sees Bugs getting revenge on Yosemite for his felonious ways and his robbery of a Buddhist temple. It's a really fun short. Bugs barely lifts a finger while taking Yosemite down.

Yosemite the Sculpture

I chose to sculpt Yosemite because I didn't choose Yosemite. My nephew suggested it. 

I created the rough body shape with foil then I smushed some clay on him until the foil was covered and the shape looked like his torso, butt, head and the start of his hat. I used a mix of brown and another color I had sitting on my desk (I have a lot sitting on my desk). I didn't use any wire. For his beard, hat and arms, I used smaller bits of aluminum foil because without an internal structure polymer clay can break. I opted against wire for this because I wanted some rounder features and a big hat.

Initially,  my plan was to aim for the look of the show. That instantly went out the window. 

I wanted to make sure he could stand on his own because I don't like it when I make a sculpture that falls over all the time. I baked in between adding clay details to avoid mashing the bits I already sculpting.

The concept that you can bake polymer multiple times is the most revolutionary thing I ever learned about it. It made working in the medium so much more fun.

I planned to paint him so I didn't worry about matching the clay color. The painting only mostly worked. I put some extra clay on him in appropriate colors to accentuate certain details. I added orange clay to his beard, a little peach to his nose and hands and white clay to his eyes.

I had fun because the joy I find in art is the thing coming to life in my hands. He's an expression of my work. Yosemite is the result of everything up until that point and a bridge to the next idea. Lofty idea for a silly little scuplture? No. No, no, no. Not really. What I'm trying to say is I like him but I'm not going to repeat him. Even if I make Yosemite again, it will be different and new.

Dough for Do-Do/Porky in Wackyland - Looney Tunes - Toonstalgia

Porky meets the Dodo Bird

Porky in Wackyland

The first appearance of the Dodo came in the 1938 cartoon Porky in Wackyland where Porky travels to Wackyland to find the last Dodo and earn a three trillion dollar bounty.

I do not support colorizing black and white cartoons. I don't think they need it. By using a computer (or the older style of hand work) to colorize a cartoon, erases the cartoon. I think it's important to appreciate art as it is and not "make it better". Whether a color cartoon is better than a black and white cartoon is firmly personal opinion. I have spotted more than a few errors in cartoons from animation errors and bits of dust to shortcuts. I like the errors. It's part of the art to me. But that's just my opinion. Colorizing this cartoon is particularly absurd because it was remade into Dough for Do-Do. They took the opportunity to elevate backgrounds of the cartoon.

Tin Pan Alley Cats

This is the second appearance of Wackyland. A jazz artist finds himself transported to Wackyland. The strange experience scares himself out of jazz. Really a tragic story.

Tin Pan Alley Cats was released in 1943. This needs a content warning. This cartoon is a part of history and only for completionists who want to see all of history even the things that are just bad.  This is a member of the censored eleven and censored with good reason. 

I don't recommend seeking it out. It's not worth the watch. The music is kind of good but just listen to Fats Waller and don't bother with the cartoon. It has offensive caricature and reused animation. The only reason it gets a mention here is the animation from Porky in Wackyland was reused and reanimated with additional actions. The main character from the cartoon is transported to Wackyland. This is the strangest and most distressing version of Wackyland. The animators did try to add their own wacky with caricatures of Stalin, Hitler and Hideki Tojo.

Dough for the Do-Do

This is my all-time favorite cartoon short. I love a lot of cartoons but I adore this one. 

Dough for Do-Do is a color remake of Porky in Wackyland released in 1949. This is a case of the remake improving on the original. They don't just make it color. They changed the backgrounds to resemble Dali paintings. They reanimated porky to his newer modern design. The remake did not supplant Bob Clampett's original. It added to the legacy of Porky in Wackyland.

Tiny Toons Adventures

Tiny Toons Adventures featured newer younger versions of the Looney Tunes casts including Gogo Do-Do (or Go-Go Do-Do or Gogo Dodo, I don't know. The original short established the dash convention and later toons rejected it), the son of Yoyo Do-Do (I don't know about the Dashes). He only appeared in a couple cartoons during the original run. Gogo was one of the core secondary characters of the show.

For a character as a wacky as the land he called home, his storylines and the storylines that included Gogo featured meaning and pathos.

Her Wacky Highness

Season 1, Episode 6

After Babs gets sent home from school for inappropriate imitations, she feels unappreciated. She runs away to Wacky Land where she will never have to restrain herself or exercise any self control. Wackyland proves to be too much for Babs Bunny. She quickly realizes there's no place like home. 

Sawdust and Toonsil

Season 1, Episode 31

A circus kidnapped and enslaved a dragon, a Pegasus, a sphinx and later Gogo, from Wackyland for his Wonderful World of Wonderment. It turns even more grim when we learn the natives of Wackyland will die unless they regularly return to Wackyland. It's toon trafficking and slavery and it scared me as a kid. After the original and the remake of Porky in Wackyland, this is the best Looney Tunes cartoon featuring a dodo.

Waste Deep in Wackyland

Season 1, Episode 57

This episode is a series of environmental vignettes with Elmyra and Montana Max dumping garbage and deforesting. Montana Max dumps his waste in Wackyland. Gogo and his nephews (or clones of himself or something else, it is Wackyland, no point holding it to too much continuity) join together to force Montana to change his waste distributing ways.

The moral of the episode: Your trash will catch up with you.

Night of the Living Dull

Tiny Toon's Night Ghoulery Special

The short featuring Gogo is extremely short. It's a brief joke about detail obsessed fans.

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob in Randomland

Season 12, Episode 15

Squidward and SpongeBob go to Randomland to deliver an order. It reminds me of "Pizza Delivery" from the first season. They have to deliver an order. Squidward wants to give up and SpongeBob wants to do his duty. This is a fun episode of Spongebob SquarePants. It's very weird and they take the concept in some interesting visual directions. But I wish they had done more with it.