FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Re-run thru the jungle
A stranger is just an idea you haven't ripped off yetGeorge! George! George of the Jungle! Look out 'cuz yer gonna smash into that tree again like you always do, you silly savage you!! For the bee-busy studio exec, nothing gets the creative juices (from concentrate! no pulp!) runnin' like some quantity time in front of the Saturday a.m. tube. Some of our finest movies started out as cartoon teevee, but the only one I can think of right now is that Boris & Natasha flick with Hotlips from the M*A*S*H movie. Oh yeah, there wuz The Flintstones with Rosie O'D. And, errrr, uhmmm, I think Contact was loosely based on Space Ghost.
There's lots of good cartoons on right now (this very minute - drop what yer doing and find a TV but pronto), which means we can look forward to lots 'n' lots of good movies, mayhaps in time for Christmas. Here's whut's happening in Hollywood, adaptation-wise.
· Rugrats: fine cartoon show about the under-5 set (unfairly saddled with media-driven labels like "kindersomethings," "generation bedwet" and "nappers") and their playtime adventures. Upcoming movie version will be a reworking of the show's Treasure Of Sierra Madre parody episode, in which a nickel is unearthed in the sandbox and all the ratz get $$$ in their eyes. In the orig, the nickel is hidden under an overturned bucket for safekeeping, then an inquisitive toddler toddles along and asks, "Whud up?", then he's told by a bossy, conniving toddler there's "baby poo" under the bucket. Thoroughly gross'd, the inquisitive toddler scoots, then a baby (who knows damn well there's a nickel under the bucket) excitedly sez, "Baby poo?!? Can I see?" (That's not the whole story, natch, just a crucial moment in terms of character arcs, dénouements and potty talk.) The Q. Tarantino big screen adaptation fleshes out the scene with some true-2-life el snappo dialogue ("Y'know, in France they call baby poo shît d'enfant royale") & someone gets shot.
· Nightmare Ned: really, really boss cartoon about a kid (Ned) who's always falling asleep and having bad dreams (Nightmares). The show's writers never fail to come up with fresh new situations in which Ned is all too happy to doze off: in the playground, sitting in a barber's chair, on a plane, lying on an ER gurney. In cartoon form, Ned's nightmares earn top marks for surrealism and goofy comedy. The movie adaptation (directed by Gus Van Sant) is somewhat grittier, accounting for Ned's constant need for ZZZs by making him narcoleptic. As well, Ned will no longer be a cute school kid with a loving family, but an unloved preteen street hustler with beyond-his-years savvy and a dog.
· Dexter's Laboratory: similar in look and yuks to Nightmare Ned, Dexter's Lab concerns a 6-year-old mad scientist and his kooky experiments. Slated to begin shooting next January, the Dexter movie will star the Jerry Maguire kid, who will have plenty of time to "get into" his role once his new sitcom (co-starring Bronson Pinchot) is canceled after 2 episodes. (Jerry, did you know the human head weighs 8 pounds? And I've got my neighbor's to prove it!)
· Schoolhouse Rock!: retro is big, so it's no wonder there's not one (1), not two (2), but three (3) adaptations of this '70s fave. Test screenings of the all-star adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stunning musical Lolly! Lolly! have left audiences cheering their favorite adverbs all the way into the parking lot. Way-way-way over budget, James Cameron's Conjunction Junction is currently shooting in Mexico, where the oversize railroad set has become quite the tourist attraction. Finally, Martin Scorsese presents a complex, multi-generational look at the American legal system in Only A Bill, a gory tale that's currently hung up at the censor board thanks to the scene in which Joe Pesci beats a man to death with a tube of rolled-up paper, shrieking, "And now I'm a law!"
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