Some of the cartoons I loved as a kid shot the occasional joke that either I did not get or flew past me completely. Then there were entire episodes that drew the same effect.
Then I grew up, went through puberty, became a hermit and fell in love with film. That’s when I made the realisation: those aforementioned episodes were parodies of famous films I previously hadn’t seen.
In my socially awkward existence, I’ve been able to relive some of those cartoons in a fresh breath of condensed air, prepared with my titanic pop-cultural knowledge.
Time for me to share the love. I’ve compiled 8 bombastic episodes from 8 bombastic shows (some old, some new), summarised in exactly 100 bombastic words.
[Bombastic is unofficially the word of the day.]
Dexter’s Laboratory – Tron
“Game Over” – Season 1, Episode 7
Annoyed by how often Dee Dee hands his ass at videogames, Dexter challenges her to a round of Master Computer, a bargain bin Atari-esque game their Dad bought from a dodgy gypsy. Dexter loses (again) and shuns Dee Dee away. As he attempts to remove the cartridge, the master computer sucks him into the game, forcing him into a life-or-death bonus round. It’s a neat little episode that wastes no time with its exposition (unlike Tron: Legacy *zing*). There’s even some not-so-subtle references to Pac Man, Star Wars and Primal Rage (for you fighting game fans back in the day).
American Dad – James Bond
“Tearjerker” – Season 4, Episode 10 (American)
With decades of material to exploit, 007 is the prime rib roast of the parody mess hall. There isn’t a particular reason why this episode exists within the American Dad universe, and their needn‘t be one. Roger plays the thematic villain Tearjerker (playing that theme to death), planning to make everyone in the world cry to death through his movie Oscar Gold: a black-and-white film set in World War 2 about a mentally disabled boy and his puppy. The episode’s funny as hell, managing to include the jetpack from Thunderball and the busty female love interest bluntly named Sex Pun.
Johnny Bravo – The Twilight Zone
“The Zone Where Normal Things Don’t Happen Very Often” – Season 1, Episode 12
Fine, so this isn’t so much a parody of Twilight Zone: The Movie as it is the TV show, but whatcha gon’ do? Written by Seth MacFarlane (surprise surprise), the first segment parodies Nightmare At 20,000 Feet, throwing in douche bag clowns and an inconsistent cartoon understanding of aerodynamics. There’s even an hyperbolic nod to William Shatner, who starred in that particular episode. The next segment is a hilarious/still-creepy-as-shit mock of It’s A Good Life. The final 10 minutes takes from Living Doll. Unlike the other parodies, you don’t need to know what it mocks to get all the jokes.
South Park – Night of the Living Dead
“Night of the Living Homeless” – Season 11, Episode 7
Matt Stone and Trey Parker have run damn well nearly every recognizable pop-cultural film through their gauntlet of unapologetic humour. To simply pick one wasn’t easy, but I couldn’t go past The Night Of The Living Homeless. Applying Romero’s rules of the undead to the un-housed is a stroke of genius and it crushes the sides to see how much mileage they get out of it, from the need to take refuge on the roof of a community centre to the slow transference from not-homeless to homeless. All this episode was missing was Ving Rhames. And a Hobo With A Shotgun.
Looney Tunes – Casablanca
“Carrot Blanca”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgsS-PKENM8
I am so glad I watched Casablanca. It’s not because I think it’s the most amazing movie ever made (which I really truly don’t) but because it makes this brief one-off Looney Tunes mock infinitely more hilarious. It’s a brilliant eight minute segment, merging the characters from both universes organically whilst throwing around its signature witty comedy by the second. It even chooses to go for an alternate ending (not as drastically as The Simpsons did, mind you). If you haven’t seen Casablanca yet, do yourself a favour and don’t watch this short until you have. Then play it back.
Family Guy – The Shawshank Redemption
“Three Kings” – Season 7, Episode 15 (American)
This Family Guy tip-of-the-hat/wag-of -the-middle-finger to Steven King stabs off with a Stand By Me rip, followed by Misery and ended by The Shawshank Redemption. The first two are passable, but the latter truly shines (pun quota filled). Every joke hits in a way that’s both cleverly unapologetic and lovingly faithful to the classic film, right down to subtle nuances (“How can you be so obtuse?”). It also manages to poke fun at David Cassidy (literally), Friends and Gwen Stefani. Best of all, this excellent parody doesn’t really on cheap, irrelevant, unfunny cutaways. Now ladies and gentlemen, Mr Conway Twitty.
The Simpsons – The Shining
“Treehouse of Horror V” – Season 6, Episode 6
Back in the golden days where The Simpsons didn’t haemorrhage money, they provided this golden little re-imagining of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (adding an extra ‘n’) in their fifth Treehouse of Horror. The episode replaced the black guy with the Scottish guy, madness-inducing spirit of a house with the inability to watch TV or consume beer and the creepy bartender with the creepy Moe. You’ll get enough laughs if you haven’t seen The Shining, but you’ll never understand the brilliance of this episode until you do.
“Hmmm… that’s odd. Usually the blood gets off on the second floor.” Freakin’ golden.
Harvey Birdman – The Godfather
“The Dabba Don” – Season 1, Episode 6
OK, so this episode of Harvey Birdman is really a dig at any mob-related medium, but as you may suspect, The Godfather is the main point of reference. There’s a great rip of the horse head scene (three rips, actually) and Fred Flintstone’s impersonation of the Don is frighteningly fitting. Like many episodes pre and proceeding it, The Dabba Don effectively integrates clips from numerous seasons of The Flintstones contextually into its absurd plotline. It’s a sharp-witted stab at both The Godfather trilogy and The Flintstones that fans of either should witness. Keep your eyes out for the anthill mob
Liam’s shameless plug/cry for help
I love you. You know that, right?
If every single one of my readers had a Facebook page with a ‘love’ button, I’d click it.
Perhaps you love me too. Perhaps you don’t. That’s OK. I only hope you like me. Just a little.
If you do like me, let me say the following:
1) You are physically attractive.
2) Put that ‘like’ in a bottle.
3) Check out my team’s movie entry for Ant Timpson’s Make My Movie competition. Click here, it’s called Be-trade Me.
4) If that idea sounds cool to you, please release your flaming ball of ‘like’ onto our concept.
[As in, click the ‘like’ button on our movie’s page. Or tweet. Google +1 if you are so bold.]
5) If you have anymore ‘like’ left in your bottle, be sure to place it on Raj’s murderous McGuyver flick Number 8 Wire (he bet me to the “shameless self promotion” table, that crafty devil).
Doing this for me would mean so very much.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to wipe the brown off my nose before I sneeze shit over your beautiful faces.
