This episode of the Muni-Mula story simply moves the plot a little bit. Narrator Don Messick tells us the Big Thinker is using Ruff and Reddy to make an army of robots to invade Earth. (Well, actually, he says “robutts.” Janet Waldo recalled that she tried to get Penny Singleton to stop pronouncing the word that way on The Jetsons).
Have we talked about Messick’s narration in the early days of this series? It’s not bombastic. It’s very matter-of-fact and calm, much like Roy Whaley in the original Crusader Rabbit show, or even the anonymous voice-over man in Bucky and Pepito (also debuting in 1957), though Messick is more polished.
The footage shows a metallic Muni-Mulan stamping out a mould of Ruff and Reddy, then disposing of them down a chute as they aren’t needed any more.
The H-B sound effects library hasn’t been built up yet, so there is no clanging sound as the two sides of the mould press slam together. Mind you, no sound effect means saving time and, therefore, money. There are portions of the episode where Reddy pops from pose to pose without any in between.
The moulds are pressed.
“The real Ruff and Reddy stand by and watch helplessly as the mechanical Ruffs and Reddys are turned out like hotcakes.” I think Charlie Shows mixed some metaphors in the dialogue here. Note the silhouette drawings.
The camera pans over the painting machine. This could have come from Dan Gordon’s storyboard or Dick Bickenbach’s layouts (he said he worked on the first Ruff and Reddys).
Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera save money by having the fake Ruffs and Reddys on a cel while the background moves.
Finally, a “robot brain” is added which gives them power to obey orders of the Big Thinker.
All this does is get Reddy’s “dandruff” up. (I guess kids watching this on Saturday mornings never heard that old one before. Cecil of “Beany and” fame used the same line). Notice how the background isn’t a solid colour. The stripes (which you can’t see very well on this murky dub from cable TV) add something, though the show was broadcast in black and white. What’s with Ruff’s weird knuckles?
Headstrong Reddy zips to the conveyer belt, somehow thinking holding up his hand at a robot will stop it. Instead, he gets zapped by the robot brain helmet and turns into a robot, and begins to walk in a stiff, 12 drawing cycle by Ken Muse.
This is a pretty decent cliff-hanger, as the kid viewers are probably wondering what will happen next.
This segment originally aired on December 28, 1957.
Greg Watson, or whoever cut the sound in this, relies on only two Capitol Hi-Q cues, one by Spencer Moore and the other supposedly by Bill Loose and John Seely. It’s a sped-up version (with the same arrangement) as “Night Battle” by Joseph Cacciola on the Sam Fox/Synchro library.
0:00 – Opening title (silent)
0:05 – L-653 EERIE DRAMATIC (Moore) – Start of cartoon
2:51 – No music
3:00 – TC-217A CHASE-MEDIUM (Loose-Seely) “Hold it!” to end of cartoon
3:28 – Closing title.
