In the final cartoon in the Muni Mula adventure, from the time the S.S. Gizmo II is hit by a meteor (which we never actually see) to the end of the cartoon 2½ minutes later, there are at least 20 pieces of background art. Only a few of them are reused from earlier cartoons.
My guess is Fernando Montealegre is responsible, at least judging by the flat living room scene toward the end of this cartoon.
The story-line is simple. After the meteor hits the spacecraft, and Reddy breaks its brake, the automatic pilot sends it toward Earth, and it smashes into Mount Cucamonga after warnings are sent around the world about a UFO.
Space orb overlay in the first background, just like a theatrical.
Director Bill Hanna simulates animation by turning this background counter-clockwise while the camera pulls in. I keep waiting for the Randy Horne Singers to chirp "Meet George Jetson."
Inside gag on the microphone.
“And our boys made the headlines,” says narrator Don Messick, who reads what we can see on the screen.
Cut to the newscaster explaining these were not Martians, “but nothing but an ordinary dog and cat...and a wacky little professor,” as the camera pans over to the three battered protagonists.
“So, you see,” intones the announcer, “there is no such thing as flying saucers.” How that is determined from one UFO that is identified is unclear. An animated slap at government denials, perhaps?
“Poor Ruff, Reddy and Gizmo,” says narrator Messick, as they trudge away from Hard Sell O’Dell’s car lot. “No one believes they’ve ever been to Muni Mula.”
Director Hanna engages in a diagonal wipe.
There’s a shot of the battered rocket on the lot and a cut to a close-up of the sign in front of it, which Messick reads.
This cuts to the background drawing of Mt. Cucamonga with its launch pad on a wooden platform on top. The camera trucks in to provide movement in the scene. There’s another cut the camera moving in quickly on silhouetted animation of Gizmo building a third rocket.
The camera pans upward as the narrator explains the professor is being helped by Ruff, who stops to look at the audience watching home, then cuts to snoring Reddy, before panning up to the stratosphere. Messick happily adds “Who knows? In the not-to-distant future, the space spaceketeers may again be exploring the mysteries of space. I hope we can all go along with Gizmo. And Ruff. And Reddy.”
End theme out.
I didn’t intend on reviewing any Ruff and Reddy cartoons, but after I posted on the first two episodes, decided to see if I could finish it. Will there be others? Not that I’ve planned. But as a narrator might say, “Who knows?”
Readers have asked me about the state of these cartoons and if the series will, or can, be restored. I am not plugged in to people who know about these things; I’m just an aging person who happens to like old cartoons. Of course, tweaking this series into pristine home-video format would delight those who like it. And, Crusader Rabbit notwithstanding, Ruff and Reddy does have some historical value in my estimation, and is worth restoration for this reason. We’ll have to wait and see.
The music used in this final, first-adventure cartoon, is credited to Bill Loose and John Seely.
0:00 – no music – title card
0:06 – TC-219A CHASE MEDIUM (Loose-Seely) – recap, meteor hit spaceship, Reddy snaps break.
1:27 – TC-221A HEAVY AGITATO (Loose-Seely) – “Broke the brake,” warnings flashed, crashes into Mt. Cucamonga, headlines.
2:26 – no music – TV newscaster.
2:36 – TC 304A FOX TROT (Loose-Seely) – “Ordinary?” car lot, new rocket built, cartoon ends.
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