Cock-rockers and kookaburras: an animation EXPLOSION!

I've wanted to write a post about some favorite films from my wasted youth and now seems as good a time as any. Taking a wee break from the London trip, but will get back to it over the weekend.

My parents were (and are) quite intelligent and maybe a little too open about things. They were interested in my brothers and I having our own experiences, and were fine with parties and staying out, as long as I was safe and called them to let them know where I was. They didn't fret about boys I brought home (not openly anyway). And at one point I seem to remember my mother encouraging me to try LSD "at least once, it's like a conversation with God". I mention all this because they were also pretty laid back about what we watched. It was pretty varied, but there was a love of goofy cult film in our household, including things like Crimewave (the first Coen Bros. sally) and The Forbidden Zone, written and directed by Richard Elfman and starring his younger brother as Satan. I recently tried to get some friends to watch Crimewave, thinking it would be great fun...but, well...I may be its only fan ;) Much like some of the movies I'm about to bring up below!

Favorite films of youth include but are certainly not limited to, the following...and I think I can come up with reasons to watch all of them. My reasons, anyway.

Dot and the Kangaroo: this film came out in 1977, and I was watching it soon after...probably up through my teen years, as it became a rather staple-ish thing on HBO. I can still sing the utterly frantic "Clickety-click" song...and I'm sure if you caught my brother after a few glasses of wine, he could (and would) as well. It's based on a book from 1899, which is news to me (read the wiki last night). The book looks charming. The movie is probably less so...but I've pulled two clips from YouTube: the Bunyip and Clickety-Click songs. The creator of the latter clip points out that the manically cheery song is placed right after the parents have finally allowed that Dot might be dead. Must say I didn't notice that as a kid. Nor as a teen. But then, as a teen things like this start to morph into something else, something with which to annoy others. Which will lead me to the next film in just a moment.

Here is the Bunyip song (written by John Palmer and performed by Maurie Wilmore):



Clickety-clickety-clickety click!!!!! (with spoiler alert, and this song also written by John Palmer and performed by Maurie Wilmore)





Unico has to be the most obnoxious thing I have EVER seen. I love it. I forced many friends in college to watch it, which resulted in people imitating the high-pitched whiny American voices for days (I gather only the dubbed versions are quite this terrifying). Both "The Fantastic Adventures of Unico", 1981, and "Unico in the Island of Magic", 1983, are to be re-released on dvd. Beware! Early Sanrio at its most terrifying. These films include very odd and disturbing elements, which may be why they continue to float around in my head rather than being swept away with the other dustbunnies. Cribbed from wikipedia: "In this film, Unico meets a kind-hearted young girl named Cheri (also spelled "Cherry", voiced by Sumi Shimamoto). Cheri's older brother, Toby (in Japanese, "Torubi", voiced by Shuichi Ikeda), is working for the evil Lord Kuruku (in Japanese, "Kukuruku"), who plans to turn all living creatures, animals and people alike, into zombie-like beings called "Living Puppets" to be his slaves; Toby's job is to change people into Living Puppets and then lure the Living Puppets to Kuruku's island castle. Toby also takes on Melvin the Magnificat ("Yamaneko" in Japanese) - who hates Unico because Unico "intruded" in "his" forest (the forest in which the West Wind left Unico) - as his assistant. After Cheri's parents and neighbors all get turned into Living Puppets, she and Unico team up to stop Kuruku." See? Scary!!

Below is a (link to) clip from Fantastic Adventures (I love this song):
its Chao's cat song, which is why I sing this song of mow-meow-meow. For some reason the YouTube member has disabled embedding (frown).

And here is a clip from The Island of Magic. Unico meets Toby the devil. You don't need to watch more than maybe, oh, up through the demon statue being destroyed to get a very clear idea of the rest of the film.





Animalympics: this film really caught the spirit of things, Lake Placid Olympics and all that. It is spot-on. Was created in 1978-79, and features several full-length musical segments by 10cc's Graham Gouldman (I've included several below). The film stars many great voice talents, including Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal and Harry Shearer. And may I add that Lisberger Studios had the coolest logo ever. It does not surprise me one tiny bit that he and his crew went on to create Tron. Nor that this film is played at sci fi cons.

I never stopped enjoying this, and don't know if it has to do with memories of the time (we were lurking about Lake Placid constantly at that point and I had a crush on a blond boy named Tad) or maybe my friend's memories, as he's from Placid. We once in a while sit down and watch it...has become a bit comfort food-ish.

The Noah's Ark "Go For It" scene (which is mildly brilliant for showing all the bored patrons):



"WE Made It To the Top" (I always over-empathize with that tiger):



And, finally, "Love's Not For Me" - which, oddly, is actually a very pretty song.





And now, Rock & Rule,. I heart this film. A campy friend of mine has the sound mind to love it as well, and we were both a little overly excited about the release on dvd. I don't know how many times I saw this as a kid, but of the four films presented here, might be the one deemed least "appropriate" for a kid. I adored it, but then again, I was 13. And since I started reading my parents' collection of Heavy Metals by age 9 and had already been introduced to drug culture, this suited me fine. It had great music (Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Deborah Harry and Cheap Trick) and the animation, in my opinion, is outstanding. And some of the best secondary characters in film. Cindy Zip is my hero.

Here's Cindy at the club, getting down to "Hot Dogs and Sushi" by Melleny Brown, preceded by Earth, Wind and Fire's "Dance Dance Dance":



Here's Omar's rendition of "Born to Raise Hell" (Cheap Trick):



And, on an end note, the gloriously self-involved dragged out cock-rocker Mok (musically played by Lou Reed and Iggy, natch):



Enjoy!