Twice Upon a Time
(1983, Rated PG)
8/5/16
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Many, MANY years passed between when I first heard of this film and when I actually got to see it. Those who grew up in the 90’s may remember Cartoon Network’s Cartoon Theater block, when every Saturday night and/or Sunday morning, it would air an animated feature film, like Balto, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, The Land Before Time, and the like. Classic. Then, in late 1998, a Cartoon Theater promo aired for this movie. I’m not going to lie: it was, at the time, the strangest-looking movie I had ever been exposed to in my young life! Unfortunately, I missed it . . . and—of course—I never saw it on that or any other station again. But thank heaven for both time and the internet! I was at last able to watch it in full (not to mention make sense of that long-ago promo), and later, to finally buy the official DVD. For a while, I was beginning to think that it would never reach that point due to its history and consequent obscurity—more on that later—but hey, better late than never, right?
In between two polar opposite dream worlds rests the earthly land known as Din, inhabited by people called Rushers, so named because they are always literally rushing at whatever they are doing. The only time they don’t rush is when they sleep. Which is where the dreams—and their respective dream-makers—come in. On one side is Frivoli, where sweet and happy dreams are made to be delivered to the Rushers of Din by the gruff and pirate-like Greensleeves and his helpers, the Figmen of Imagination—get it? At the other end of the spectrum is The Murkworks, home of the dark and dingy factory in which the sinister Synonamess Botch creates missile-like “nightmare bombs” to be dropped upon the Rushers by his giant vultures. It comes to pass that Botch, tired of competing against Frivoli, seeks the power of the Cosmic Clock—which controls the universal flow of time—as part of his dastardly plot to bring eternal nightmares to the Rushers of Din. The only ones standing in his way are two foolish but lovable misfits of Frivoli: Ralph, the All-Purpose Animal (so-called because of his [somewhat faulty] shape-shifting ability), and Mumford, his squeaky, honking, Chaplin-esque companion. The two must stop Botch and save the Rushers of Din while proving to the many skeptics they meet along the way that they are in fact capable of doing something right.
As I touched on before, this is a film with a very unusual history, and not just due to The Ladd Company, the studio that distributed it, going bankrupt after both this film and The Right Stuff failed at the box office. There were actually two versions of Twice Upon a Time made. Though identical to each other, with no added or omitted segments to visually set one apart from the other, each featured various scenes with lines that differed from those of the other. One of these was far more adult than the other, thanks in large part to voice actor Marshall Efron, who supplied his character, Botch, with some lines that were pretty raunchy. On both opening night and years later on HBO, the adult version, favored over the more family-friendly cut by both Efron and producer Bill Couturié, was shown. This, however, enraged director John Korty, who disapproved of the adult version and even threatened HBO with legal action if they ever aired it again. Just to give an example, compare the scene where Botch is trying to summon his henchman and Head “Scream Writer”—again, get it?—Scuzzbopper:
Director’s Original (Family) Version:
BOTCH: (Yelling over his intercom.) SCUZZ!!!
SCUZZBOPPER: (Shouting back, annoyed.) Just a minute, boss! I’m trying to finish a page!
BOTCH: Right, you finish the page . . . (takes a drag on his cigarette) . . . and I’ll have Rudy and his friends finish you.
Theatrical PG (Adult) Version:
BOTCH: (Yelling over his intercom.) SCUZZ!!!
SCUZZBOPPER: (Shouting back, annoyed.) Just a minute, boss! I’m trying to finish a page!
BOTCH: Right, you finish the page . . . (takes a drag on his cigarette) . . . and I’ll have your face ripped off and hurt you, too.
And that’s one of the few differing scenes without curse words.
Based on the research I had done on Twice Upon a Time, another reason behind its erratic release history, especially by the late 90’s and early 2000’s, is its datedness. Take the soundtrack for instance. The songs featured in the film are performed by artists whose names very few of the younger generation are likely to recognize, except for maybe, MAYBE, Bruce Hornsby; the ones whose names I hadn’t even heard of prior to seeing this film include Maureen McDonald, sister of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers member, Micheal McDonald, and early 20th century bandleader and T.V. host, Lawrence Welk.
A little piece of trivia: in spite of this datedness, the movie did help to launch the careers of many now-famous cinematic artists, such as sequence director Henry Selick (who went on to direct stop-motion films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline), visual effects producer, David Fincher (who went on to direct thrillers like Se7en, Fight Club, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, among others), and character designer Harley Jessup (who went on to be production designer for Pixar films like Ratatouille and Monsters Inc.)
Animation-wise, this is by far one of the most innovative films I’ve ever seen, utilizing an old stop-motion technique called “Lumage”. It was first developed for some animated sketches of Sesame Street back in the 70’s and involves placing and moving bits of colored paper, plastic, and other materials over a light table. The film is presented in both Lumage and live action: the characters and the dream worlds are animated in the former—vibrant, colorful, and outlandish, much like dreams tend to be—while the Rushers and Din are live people in a black and white “real” world, sometimes moving, other times in photographic still shots. To give you a basic idea of the film’s overall aesthetic, the cut-out appearance and jerky movements of Lumage I believe are comparable to the signature design of the T.V series South Park, while some of more photorealistic scenery is reminiscent of the animated segments of the Monty Python franchise. Moreover, the juxtaposition of cartoon animation to the live-action scenes may bring to mind that of the 1968 Beatles’ film, Yellow Submarine—for the best example of this, check out the “Eleanor Rigby” segment; you’ll see what I mean.
The two main protagonists are the type that you just want to go up and give a great big hug to, especially whenever they are being verbally abused by others—which occurs quite often by villain and good guy alike. The flat, drawling voice provided by Lorenzo Music (yes, Lorenzo “Garfield” Music) gives Ralph the quality of a stereotypical middle-aged drip—constantly rambling, rarely eloquent, and ever clumsy—but still as pleasant and adorably innocent as his teddy-bear face. His mute and mime-ish best friend, Mumford, though “flaky”, easily distracted, and curious to a fault, is also wonderfully expressive, energetic, and always there for his pal:
BALIFF: Hear ye, hear ye! The high court of Frivoli, the Pantry of Pomp, is now in session! Ralph, the All-Purpose Animal and Mumford, the No-Purpose Nothing: how do you plead?
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: (Running around, shouting in hysterical excitement.) Guilty! I’ll tell you how they plead! Guilty! That’s how they plead! Guility, guilty, guilty, guilty!
JUDGES: (In unison.) Guilty!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They’re misfits and dumb, too!
JUDGES: Dummies!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They look reeeal funny!
JUDGES: Obviously!
RALPH: (Pleading unconvincingly.) No, we aren’t. We tried to--
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They can’t do anything right!
MUMFORD: (Swishes his moustache, staring blankly.)
JUDGES: They’re impossible!
RALPH: Well, nobody told us that--
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: I bet they can’t even take out the garbage!
RALPH: (Frowning, with determination in his voice.) I’ll bet we can!
JUDGES: They can’t!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: Can’t!
RALPH: Can too!
MUMFORD: (Also frowning in determination.) HONK!
JUDGES: They can?
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They can?
RALPH: Of course!
MUMFORD: (Nods vigorously.)
JUDGES: To the Garbagerie!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: (As RALPH and MUMFORD cross their arms in satisfaction) Well, that’s it! The Garbagerie!
RALPH: (With some confusion.) The Garbagerie?
Besides the appearance, it is the zany cast of characters that really make this film. Among others, there is the snarky, no-nonsense, Broolyn-accented Fairy Godmother:
RALPH: (Sees a lone pair of fluttering wings.) Who are you?
FGM: I’m your fairy godmother. What did you expect, the Avon Lady?
RALPH: (Confused.) Avon . . .
FGM: You guys have screwed up in a rather royal way!
RALPH: We made a mistake?
FGM: Trust me, I’m your fairy godmother.
RALPH: Ours?
FGM: Everybody’s. . . . Good grief, you’re small in the hat size. . . . Just call me FGM. I hate excess verbiage.
Flora Fauna, a compassionate, albeit showy, anthropomorphic flower who longs to be a famous actress:
FLORA FAUNA: (While plummeting toward the earth.) Help, help me, help, help, help! (Singing in an opera tone.) HEEELLLLL-LLLL-LLP! . . . (Theatrically, still falling.) How shall I hit the ground? Let me count the ways! (Clutches her stomach and covers her eyes in disgust.) Ugh, if I weren’t already, I’d feel green.
Rod Rescueman, a jock-like superhero-in-training whose stupidity is as boundless as his physical strength:
ROD RESCUEMAN: (Sees FLORA FAUNA falling.) Uh-oh, she’s falling! (Thinking stupidly.) I should do something . . . Ah-ha! I’ll rescue her again, that’s TWO kisses! I’ll drop her again, I’ll rescue her THREE times! (Sprays deodorant under his armpits.) THREE kisses! A whole weekend, that’s what it looks like to me! (Rummaging through his closet.) Now where’s my cape?
The aforementioned Scuzzbopper, a Grover-ish-voiced, jester-like character who’d rather be a respectable author than a “scream writer” the rest of his life:
SCUZZBOPPER: (Mumbling to himself as he writes on his giant typewriter using mallets.) I'm through with nightmare scripts! Ha! I'm starting work on The Great Amurkian Novel! Pulitzer Prize, here I come! Steinback, Hemingway, Scuzzbopper!
And easily one of the most creative characters in any film: Ibor, a gorilla-haired, T.V.-like robot that communicates through actual classic T.V./film clips, from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Muppet Show (fitting, by the way, considering that George Lucas executive-produced this movie) to Happy Days, Looney Tunes, and Abbott and Costello:
(IBOR shows BOTCH an image of [an unconscious] FLORA FAUNA being “rescued” by ROD RESCUEMAN and taken from the Murkworks)
BOTCH: (Growling with rage) How did this happen?! Where were you, watching reruns again?
IBOR: (Showing a scene from Abbott and Costello in which Costello says to Abbot . . .): “I was workin’! I was readin’ a comic book!”
Needless to say, the disputes surrounding this film, as well as certain presentation choices, all but guaranteed that it would seldom see the light of day for the next 30 years, even in the era of internet-streaming. That said, though, this is the kind of movie I could certainly see being shown in a college film course. With its unique animation style, unusual conception, and woefully underrated status, Twice Upon a Time is one of those experiences I think that anyone, but especially those with a passion for film, would be much the poorer for missing out on: a delightfully offbeat comedy with underdogs to root for and a story that could only a dream could yield.
CREDITS:
All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
MAIN THEME:
“The Call” – Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
In between two polar opposite dream worlds rests the earthly land known as Din, inhabited by people called Rushers, so named because they are always literally rushing at whatever they are doing. The only time they don’t rush is when they sleep. Which is where the dreams—and their respective dream-makers—come in. On one side is Frivoli, where sweet and happy dreams are made to be delivered to the Rushers of Din by the gruff and pirate-like Greensleeves and his helpers, the Figmen of Imagination—get it? At the other end of the spectrum is The Murkworks, home of the dark and dingy factory in which the sinister Synonamess Botch creates missile-like “nightmare bombs” to be dropped upon the Rushers by his giant vultures. It comes to pass that Botch, tired of competing against Frivoli, seeks the power of the Cosmic Clock—which controls the universal flow of time—as part of his dastardly plot to bring eternal nightmares to the Rushers of Din. The only ones standing in his way are two foolish but lovable misfits of Frivoli: Ralph, the All-Purpose Animal (so-called because of his [somewhat faulty] shape-shifting ability), and Mumford, his squeaky, honking, Chaplin-esque companion. The two must stop Botch and save the Rushers of Din while proving to the many skeptics they meet along the way that they are in fact capable of doing something right.
As I touched on before, this is a film with a very unusual history, and not just due to The Ladd Company, the studio that distributed it, going bankrupt after both this film and The Right Stuff failed at the box office. There were actually two versions of Twice Upon a Time made. Though identical to each other, with no added or omitted segments to visually set one apart from the other, each featured various scenes with lines that differed from those of the other. One of these was far more adult than the other, thanks in large part to voice actor Marshall Efron, who supplied his character, Botch, with some lines that were pretty raunchy. On both opening night and years later on HBO, the adult version, favored over the more family-friendly cut by both Efron and producer Bill Couturié, was shown. This, however, enraged director John Korty, who disapproved of the adult version and even threatened HBO with legal action if they ever aired it again. Just to give an example, compare the scene where Botch is trying to summon his henchman and Head “Scream Writer”—again, get it?—Scuzzbopper:
Director’s Original (Family) Version:
BOTCH: (Yelling over his intercom.) SCUZZ!!!
SCUZZBOPPER: (Shouting back, annoyed.) Just a minute, boss! I’m trying to finish a page!
BOTCH: Right, you finish the page . . . (takes a drag on his cigarette) . . . and I’ll have Rudy and his friends finish you.
Theatrical PG (Adult) Version:
BOTCH: (Yelling over his intercom.) SCUZZ!!!
SCUZZBOPPER: (Shouting back, annoyed.) Just a minute, boss! I’m trying to finish a page!
BOTCH: Right, you finish the page . . . (takes a drag on his cigarette) . . . and I’ll have your face ripped off and hurt you, too.
And that’s one of the few differing scenes without curse words.
Based on the research I had done on Twice Upon a Time, another reason behind its erratic release history, especially by the late 90’s and early 2000’s, is its datedness. Take the soundtrack for instance. The songs featured in the film are performed by artists whose names very few of the younger generation are likely to recognize, except for maybe, MAYBE, Bruce Hornsby; the ones whose names I hadn’t even heard of prior to seeing this film include Maureen McDonald, sister of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers member, Micheal McDonald, and early 20th century bandleader and T.V. host, Lawrence Welk.
A little piece of trivia: in spite of this datedness, the movie did help to launch the careers of many now-famous cinematic artists, such as sequence director Henry Selick (who went on to direct stop-motion films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Coraline), visual effects producer, David Fincher (who went on to direct thrillers like Se7en, Fight Club, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, among others), and character designer Harley Jessup (who went on to be production designer for Pixar films like Ratatouille and Monsters Inc.)
Animation-wise, this is by far one of the most innovative films I’ve ever seen, utilizing an old stop-motion technique called “Lumage”. It was first developed for some animated sketches of Sesame Street back in the 70’s and involves placing and moving bits of colored paper, plastic, and other materials over a light table. The film is presented in both Lumage and live action: the characters and the dream worlds are animated in the former—vibrant, colorful, and outlandish, much like dreams tend to be—while the Rushers and Din are live people in a black and white “real” world, sometimes moving, other times in photographic still shots. To give you a basic idea of the film’s overall aesthetic, the cut-out appearance and jerky movements of Lumage I believe are comparable to the signature design of the T.V series South Park, while some of more photorealistic scenery is reminiscent of the animated segments of the Monty Python franchise. Moreover, the juxtaposition of cartoon animation to the live-action scenes may bring to mind that of the 1968 Beatles’ film, Yellow Submarine—for the best example of this, check out the “Eleanor Rigby” segment; you’ll see what I mean.
The two main protagonists are the type that you just want to go up and give a great big hug to, especially whenever they are being verbally abused by others—which occurs quite often by villain and good guy alike. The flat, drawling voice provided by Lorenzo Music (yes, Lorenzo “Garfield” Music) gives Ralph the quality of a stereotypical middle-aged drip—constantly rambling, rarely eloquent, and ever clumsy—but still as pleasant and adorably innocent as his teddy-bear face. His mute and mime-ish best friend, Mumford, though “flaky”, easily distracted, and curious to a fault, is also wonderfully expressive, energetic, and always there for his pal:
BALIFF: Hear ye, hear ye! The high court of Frivoli, the Pantry of Pomp, is now in session! Ralph, the All-Purpose Animal and Mumford, the No-Purpose Nothing: how do you plead?
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: (Running around, shouting in hysterical excitement.) Guilty! I’ll tell you how they plead! Guilty! That’s how they plead! Guility, guilty, guilty, guilty!
JUDGES: (In unison.) Guilty!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They’re misfits and dumb, too!
JUDGES: Dummies!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They look reeeal funny!
JUDGES: Obviously!
RALPH: (Pleading unconvincingly.) No, we aren’t. We tried to--
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They can’t do anything right!
MUMFORD: (Swishes his moustache, staring blankly.)
JUDGES: They’re impossible!
RALPH: Well, nobody told us that--
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: I bet they can’t even take out the garbage!
RALPH: (Frowning, with determination in his voice.) I’ll bet we can!
JUDGES: They can’t!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: Can’t!
RALPH: Can too!
MUMFORD: (Also frowning in determination.) HONK!
JUDGES: They can?
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: They can?
RALPH: Of course!
MUMFORD: (Nods vigorously.)
JUDGES: To the Garbagerie!
FRIVOLI FOREMAN: (As RALPH and MUMFORD cross their arms in satisfaction) Well, that’s it! The Garbagerie!
RALPH: (With some confusion.) The Garbagerie?
Besides the appearance, it is the zany cast of characters that really make this film. Among others, there is the snarky, no-nonsense, Broolyn-accented Fairy Godmother:
RALPH: (Sees a lone pair of fluttering wings.) Who are you?
FGM: I’m your fairy godmother. What did you expect, the Avon Lady?
RALPH: (Confused.) Avon . . .
FGM: You guys have screwed up in a rather royal way!
RALPH: We made a mistake?
FGM: Trust me, I’m your fairy godmother.
RALPH: Ours?
FGM: Everybody’s. . . . Good grief, you’re small in the hat size. . . . Just call me FGM. I hate excess verbiage.
Flora Fauna, a compassionate, albeit showy, anthropomorphic flower who longs to be a famous actress:
FLORA FAUNA: (While plummeting toward the earth.) Help, help me, help, help, help! (Singing in an opera tone.) HEEELLLLL-LLLL-LLP! . . . (Theatrically, still falling.) How shall I hit the ground? Let me count the ways! (Clutches her stomach and covers her eyes in disgust.) Ugh, if I weren’t already, I’d feel green.
Rod Rescueman, a jock-like superhero-in-training whose stupidity is as boundless as his physical strength:
ROD RESCUEMAN: (Sees FLORA FAUNA falling.) Uh-oh, she’s falling! (Thinking stupidly.) I should do something . . . Ah-ha! I’ll rescue her again, that’s TWO kisses! I’ll drop her again, I’ll rescue her THREE times! (Sprays deodorant under his armpits.) THREE kisses! A whole weekend, that’s what it looks like to me! (Rummaging through his closet.) Now where’s my cape?
The aforementioned Scuzzbopper, a Grover-ish-voiced, jester-like character who’d rather be a respectable author than a “scream writer” the rest of his life:
SCUZZBOPPER: (Mumbling to himself as he writes on his giant typewriter using mallets.) I'm through with nightmare scripts! Ha! I'm starting work on The Great Amurkian Novel! Pulitzer Prize, here I come! Steinback, Hemingway, Scuzzbopper!
And easily one of the most creative characters in any film: Ibor, a gorilla-haired, T.V.-like robot that communicates through actual classic T.V./film clips, from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Muppet Show (fitting, by the way, considering that George Lucas executive-produced this movie) to Happy Days, Looney Tunes, and Abbott and Costello:
(IBOR shows BOTCH an image of [an unconscious] FLORA FAUNA being “rescued” by ROD RESCUEMAN and taken from the Murkworks)
BOTCH: (Growling with rage) How did this happen?! Where were you, watching reruns again?
IBOR: (Showing a scene from Abbott and Costello in which Costello says to Abbot . . .): “I was workin’! I was readin’ a comic book!”
Needless to say, the disputes surrounding this film, as well as certain presentation choices, all but guaranteed that it would seldom see the light of day for the next 30 years, even in the era of internet-streaming. That said, though, this is the kind of movie I could certainly see being shown in a college film course. With its unique animation style, unusual conception, and woefully underrated status, Twice Upon a Time is one of those experiences I think that anyone, but especially those with a passion for film, would be much the poorer for missing out on: a delightfully offbeat comedy with underdogs to root for and a story that could only a dream could yield.
CREDITS:
All images, audio, and links belong to their respective owners; no copyright infringement is intended.
MAIN THEME:
“The Call” – Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
EPISODE SONG:
“Scuzz Bop” - Sean Zarn
“Scuzz Bop” - Sean Zarn
All other music and sound clips are from Twice Upon a Time (directed by John Korty and Charles Swenson; production by Korty Films, Lucasfilm, and The Ladd Company; distributed by Warner Bros.)
OST SONGS:
“Heartbreak Town” - Bruce Hornsby
“I’m On My Own” - Maureen McDonald (Film Version)
“Champagne Time” - Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra (Film Version)
Download the full 15-minute episode here!
Twice Upon a Time on Wikipedia
Twice Upon a Time on IMDb
Twice Upon a Time on Rotten Tomatoes
Twice Upon a Time on Lucasfilm
IndieWire's review of Twice Upon a Time
Twice Upon a Time on Cartoon Brew
Twice Upon a Time on Tv Tropes
Buy Twice Upon a Time on Amazon
Buy Twice Upon a Time on EBay
^^ Back to Movies, Short Films, and Other Works of Cinema
OST SONGS:
“Heartbreak Town” - Bruce Hornsby
“I’m On My Own” - Maureen McDonald (Film Version)
“Champagne Time” - Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra (Film Version)
Download the full 15-minute episode here!
Twice Upon a Time on Wikipedia
Twice Upon a Time on IMDb
Twice Upon a Time on Rotten Tomatoes
Twice Upon a Time on Lucasfilm
IndieWire's review of Twice Upon a Time
Twice Upon a Time on Cartoon Brew
Twice Upon a Time on Tv Tropes
Buy Twice Upon a Time on Amazon
Buy Twice Upon a Time on EBay
^^ Back to Movies, Short Films, and Other Works of Cinema