I’ve mentioned before I’m not a big Ruff and Reddy fan, but some of you reading this are, so here are some frames from Surprise in the Skies, the tenth cartoon from their first adventure.
Professor Gizmo tells Reddy their spaceship needs a push to get off the planet Muni Mula. Reddy dashes away to go outside. These are the basic drawings, although Gizmo’s left arm on the lever is on a separate cel than the rest of him. The arm moves. The rest doesn’t.
The Ruff and Reddy cartoons didn’t cut corners altogether. You’ll notice in the shots that show the three characters inside the space ship control room that the same background art isn’t used. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera could have saved some money by using the same background, but didn’t.
On the other hand, there are run cycles taking up footage. One doesn't even show Reddy's feet. Reddy simply bobs up and down in four drawings for eight seconds. When narrator Messick says Reddy thinks his pals "are a couple of skunks," skunk tails simple pop onto the back of the characters, who are immobile through the scene.
Whether they came from Dan Gordon's story sketches or from the layout artist (likely Bick Bickenbach), I don't know, but silhouette drawings make things visually interesting in the first Ruff and Reddy cartoons. The animation is limited in this scene; only Gizmo's moustache moves in four drawings. No need to animate a mouth!
Hanna and Barbera also use overlays in this cartoon. The Muni Mulas are behind whatever the ragged purple thing is.
Even though the cartoons originally aired in black and white, the background man goes for different shades of purple, as well as outlines in both white and black. You can see green vines that are sponged onto the painting and wispy white clouds. This is exactly the same as you’d find in an MGM theatrical, which would have had a larger budget.
In this scene, the clouds are on an overlaid cel.
The battered S.S. Gizmo II shooting through the stratosphere after bashing through the metal planet, Muni Mula. The rocket is on one cel, the smoke coming out of back is on a three-cel cycle, and some of the clouds are on an overlay.
The team at H-B Enterprises tries to make up for the lack of animation by making this science fiction adventure visually interesting. I like the interiors in this one. This one of inside the space ship can't look much more 1950s in design.
Here's an example of simulating animation. The Muni Mula army is on a cel, moved up from behind the front of the space ship, which is on an overlay. Director Bill Hanna doesn't maintain the same shot. He cuts in closer to the same cell-under-overlay movement.
The Muni Mulans have Don Messick's tongue waving voice that you heard on The Herculoids.
This cartoon aired with The Creepy Creature on January 5, 1958. I can’t find any TV listings mentioning the Columbia theatrical short also seen on the show.
Greg Watson or Warner Leighton or whoever the sound cutter was only uses two piece of Bill Loose/John Seely music from the Capitol Hi-Q "D" series on this cartoon.
0:00 – no music – spinning title card 0:06 – TC-217A CHASE MEDIUM (Loose-Seely) – Ruff, Reddy, Gizmo run into spaceship; need a push. 1:31 – no music – “A push?”; Reddy zips out. 1:33 – TC-219A CHASE MEDIUM (Loose-Seely) – Ruff pushes to end of cartoon.
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