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A Halloween Nod to “Witch Hazel…”

October 30, 2025

With Halloween nigh, I thought it might be appropriate to pay a Foxsylvania tribute to Witch Hazel, one of Warner Bros. mildly darker characters lightened by her humor and self-parody of witches in general. Witch Hazel is almost reminiscent of the Warner Bros. character of Granny, but turned slightly to the dark side…

Created by Chuck Jones in 1956, Witch Hazel was reportedly inspired by the witches of Shakespeare in Macbeth, but considerably more comic. Viewers knew that Witch Hazel would never actually eat children, nor defeat Bugs Bunny. Hansel and Gretel did actually appear in Bewitched Bunny featuring Witch Hazel, but Bugs handily thwarted her, masquerading as a truant officer to gain access to the witch’s abode. Hazel then tried to feed Bugs a poisoned carrot, but that didn’t go as planned for her, either…he’s apparently unintentionally rescued by Prince Charming in another crossover from fairy tales!

At the end of that episode, Bugs employs an accessed magic powder to turn the witch into a rather winsome female rabbit, walking off arm in arm with her. Breaking the fourth wall to address the viewing audience, Bugs informs us that he knows that this is a witch, but asks us if they (females) aren’t all witches inside! (*breath-taking gasp!*) Dialogue like this would probably not pass muster in today’s politically correct age…

( I don’t care, the female rabbit is still hawt! )

Categories: anthropomorphic, cartoons, classics, furry, furry classics, furry horror, spooky, television, Vintage
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Rehabilitate Pepe Le Pew!

October 11, 2025

I, for one, think that it’s time that Warner Bros. rehabilitates and brings back Pepe Le Pew, the hopeless romantic French skunk. Created by Chuck Jones and first appearing in 1945, the character was caught in a firestorm a few years back for his signature behavior of foisting his unwanted amorous intents upon females, specifically one Penelope Pussycat…

I get it! What was perfectly laughable and largely acceptable behavior in 1945 isn’t now, and Pepe needs to be and could be re-imagined and re-introduced, perhaps as a defender of women or as a bonded mate to a now equally-loving Penelope; portray him as a chastened now successful relationships counselor, even! We just lost a lot when we Pepe was banished to cartoon purgatory…

Pepe was lovable, and had a certain charm. He satirized French culture and the stereotype of the great French lover, blinded by his own misperceptions of his desirability; the joke was always on Pepe, who because of his skunk-odor wasn’t desirable, and was hitting on a member of another species entirely, failing to discriminate such. Pepe had a cluelessness that was relatable and even endearing. He never successfully scored, unless you count unreciprocated kissing as that…and face it, there are very few cartoon skunks in the field! Heck, with his repellent scent, re-brand him as a kind of superhero or police officer. Imagine, for a moment, the Pepe and Penelope crime fighting team!

So how about it, Warner Bros? Why does Pepe Le Pew suffer harsh sanctions when the Mango Mussolini does not? Free Pepe Le Pew from his cartoon prison, and re-introduce the boy as someone who’s learned his lesson, and changed! – – It can be done!

Categories: anthropomorphic, cartoons, classics, controversial, furry, humor
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reboot…

June 28, 2025

I’ve got good news, and bad news for y’all. First, the good news…the Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series is having a reboot! Now the bad news…it will be behind the paywall of Hulu…

Technically more of a sequel than a reboot, the new Buffy series will introduce a new Slayer (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) who is mentored by Sarah Michelle Geller as Buffy. This is probably a good thing as the original series aired largely in the 1990’s, and that cast can no longer really hope to pass as people in their late teens to early 20’s. Reboots and sequels are seldom as satisfying as their originals, and some are outright travesties that should never have been made. Given how influential, compelling, and loved the original series was, however, a reboot or sequel is worthy of consideration. It’s just that there’s a lot at stake…hehehe!

Some of the original cast members will be returning, but unfortunately Oz the Werewolf as played by Sean Green won’t be among them…

The reboot will supposedly balance new and legacy story lines, but is unlikely to premier until 2026 as it’s still in the early stages of development, and little information is available…

Categories: classics, horror, humor, paranormal, television
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Comments: 9 Comments

“The Day the Earth Blew Up” is Coming!

October 22, 2024

I’ve got bad news, and I’ve got good news. First, the bad news: the movie Coyote VS. Acme has been shelved, perhaps forever, even though the film is complete. While I would have been thrilled to see Wile E. Coyote headlining in his own feature, perhaps Warner Brothers decided that this was too much of a niche audience for a full-length film, and decided to take a tax write-off...

Now, the good news; The Day The Earth Blew Up has officially received a theatrical release in Europe, and will be all over the U.S. in late February!

Featuring Daffy Duck and Porky and Petunia Pig, The Day The Earth Blew Up is the first theatrically released Looney Tunes movie since 2021’s critically-panned Space Jam: A New Legacy. The trio of unlikely heroes team up to prevent an alien invasion that threatens life on Earth…

The film is released by Ketchup Entertainment, which bought the rights from Warner Bros back in August. Cartoon Network writer Pete Browngardt directs, using Looney Tunes voice talent. Playing in Europe, the film has been well-received, is true to its heritage, and appears to be set up to become one of the most beloved feature-length Looney Tunes outings of all time, playing off vibes of 1950’s-1960’s science fiction films. I do think, however, that Marvin the Martian could have bested this film’s villainous alien without breaking a sweat…I’m a Marvin loyalist!

So while Americans must wait until February 28th to begin seeing it, The Day The Earth Blew Up should be worth the wait…

Categories: aliens, alternative realities, cartoons, classics, furry, movies, sci fi, space
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Disney’s Shelved Movies and Characters…

September 23, 2024

It’s well-known that Disney studios have shelved Song of the South, a 1946 production that depicted such racially-insensitive stereotypes as happy, servile black slaves. Song of the South has never been seen on home video, DVR, or released to streaming, and has remained in the Disney vaults since 1986 where it will likely remain forever. I guess that means we won’t be seeing Br’er Fox anytime soon, although frankly he hardly represented the best of my kind…

Disney has also eliminated the “crow chorus” from the 2019 live-action remake of “Dumbo,” as the crows have been called racist caricatures for their minstrel show-like behavior. The leader of the crow clique was even originally named Jim Crow, a reference to a blackface character who supplied the name for the Jim Crow laws…

Fantasia was edited in the 1960’s to remove Sunflower, a dark-skinned centaur who acted as a ladies’ maid to several other white centaurs! Her stereotypic look was enough to raise concern, and the character was fully removed in 1969 from the film’s re-release…

The Siamese Cat Song was completely revised from the new version of Lady and the Tramp, as the original Siamese cats were considered Asian stereotypes, despite being cool cats and smooth operators…

“Liver Lips McGrowl” from Disneyland was removed from the Country Bear Jamboree at Disney World due to fears that the inebriated character was offensive to alcoholics, and transformed into the character of Romeo McGrowl…

Even the iconic character of Tinker Bell from Peter Pan has been considered as a negative role model for her vanity and jealous possessiveness of Peter Pan when Wendy rolls around. While Tink is under some scrutiny, she appears safe in Pixie Hollow, at least for now…

Cultural standards change public perceptions over time, and those characters cited represent only a few examples. When it comes to extreme political correctness, however. I often find that I just don’t give a “Zip-a-Dee-Doo–Dah”…

Categories: alternative realities, animal presence, classics, furry, furry movies, furry perspectives, movies, trends
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Comments: 10 Comments

A gritty, believable “Penguin…”

September 20, 2024

I didn’t like the version of Riddler or Batman that we saw in the movie The Batman, but I did like the version of Catwoman and The Penguin that we saw. We saw a bit of “Oz Cobb”(Oswald Cobblepot) in The Batman, enough to make me want to see more. Fortunately, Colin Farrell is back as The Penguin, and he makes the role both gritty and believable…

(Don’t hate him because he’s beautiful!)

Sure, Danny DeVito and Burgess Meredith gave us memorable versions of The Penguin that were fun, but so cartoonish that they couldn’t possibly exist in reality. Colin Farrell’s Penguin is no outrageous freak show with a pointed beak-like nose and flipper fingers, but rather a master gangster-like figure, perhaps what Tony Soprano could have been if he were far nastier and battle-scarred. Colin Farrell is a good-lookin’ actor who plays Penguin under heavy latex modifications that gives him a larger (but not beak-like) nose, extra pounds, and facial scarring. His hairline is receding and slicked back, and he walks with a pronounced side-to-side limp, perhaps a nod to the character’s waddle in previous incarnations. We see his bare foot in one scene, and it’s hideously deformed. This Penguin (who doesn’t like to be called that) knows his way around a knife and a machine gun, and wouldn’t be caught dead tooling around in a giant rubber ducky like Danny DeVito in the role…

Robin Lord Taylor got the role of the young Penguin much better and more realistic in the series Gotham, in my opinion. This guy was intelligent, adaptable, and ruthless…

So I’m glad to see this re-imagining of Penguin, and see the character given proper respect. No, he’s not my favorite Bat-villain, coming in my hierarchy after The Riddler and Joker. The limited HBO/HBO Max series takes up right after Riddler has flooded parts of Gotham in The Batman flick, and Oz Cobb is looking to fill in the gap in the power vacuum following the death of his boss with a mixture of shrewdness and brutality. No, you won’t see Batman in this, but he is out there, and no one knows just where. This is a crime drama told from the point of view of The Penguin himself…

Only the first episode of the series has aired as of this posting, and there are nods to the character’s comic roots in his gait and his use of an umbrella in the episode. Involved in the drug trade, this is Penguin as a tough, ruthless crime boss looking to climb the ladder, and this bird just might fly… 🐧

Categories: alternative realities, classics, television, twisted reality
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Look, Godzilla!

June 4, 2024

I freakin’ love Godzilla, probably because there is still a ten-year-old boy living inside me, and Godzilla Minus One, now on Netflix, plays to that boy. This film is a retro delight, trying to take Godzilla back to his roots, and pity the poor Japanese…they’ve just survived WWII, cities are in ruins from Allied bombings, and now Godzilla is targeting them! The Allies won’t help, either, having too many problems with the Soviets…

So the Japanese are having a really bad decade, but defeating Godzilla is all up to them.  A central character is a surviving kamikaze pilot who had second thoughts, and brought his plane down on an island,  claiming mechanical problems.  Godzilla then attacks the island, but the pilot again escapes death, haunted by guilt afterwards.

While computer-generated. Godzilla is finely-detailed, and looking much more convincing than some dude in a rubber suit, as was the case in early Godzilla movies. The acting is good, and adds emotional content, but I would have preferred more of Godzilla and less humanity. The film is overly-long, and drags a bit in places. Godzilla’s core nature is restored as a force of nature or the consequences of the nuclear age. There are nice touches to his ferocity, too…when he unleashes his lethal breath blast, the spiny plates on his back individually pop up, and glow a lovely shade of blue. Godzilla chomps down on train cars, and even sends a sizeable boat hurling through the air…

I really like this Godzilla, Toho got him right…and while he’s sent to his death in the depths of the ocean at the end, the bubbling of his flesh reminds us that The King of Monsters has great regenerative capacities, and is likely to be ready for a rematch.- – I’ll be rooting for him!

Categories: animals, anomalies, classics, furry, reptiles
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Comments: 13 Comments

Star Trek’s “Strange New Worlds” Is Worthy!

July 21, 2023

Like Discovery, Star Trek’s Strange New Worlds is set slightly prior to the time of The Original Series, but for my money is a more emotionally cogent and relatable series than Discovery. Money is what I’m paying to see it, too, since it airs only on Paramount+.

Now Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is helming the Enterprise in this series, and we do get to know Captain Pike quiet well, and he’s partway between Kirk and Picard, an older captain with his own charms. Number One (Rebecca Romijn) is also there as Pike’s first officer, and a younger Spock (Ethan Peck) is engaging and well-played as a science officer still learning the ropes of Starfleet.

Despair not…you’ll get to meet a younger James T. Kirk, also working his way up the ranks, quite engaging with an edge of being brash and cocky. You can believe this guy evolving to be William Shatner’s Kirk, so adept is Paul Wesley at conveying Kirk’s mannerisms and style…

Strange New Worlds also gives some previously minor characters an upgrade, and a chance to shine. Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) is young, blonde, and hot, a versatile and dynamic character who would like to do more than just mind meld with Spock…

Uhura too (Celia Rose Gooding) is finally given given the more major role that her earlier character begged for but never fully achieved in the original series and films…

So catch Strange New Worlds if you possibly can. It has all of the right stuff to be a worthy addition to the Star Trek franchise, with better linkage to the characters, spirit, and content of the original series…

S Worlds if you can, a promising and solid-looking show with a better linkage to the characters and spirit of the original series than we’ve seen before..

Categories: classics, fantasy, sci fi, technology, television
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A Darker Pinocchio…

January 29, 2022

We’re all familiar with Disney’s 1940 adaptation of Pinocchio, and Pinocchio’s conscience Jiminy Cricket, complete with formal clothing and umbrella. In a new retelling of the Pinocchio tale by Guillermo del Toro, the cricket is just as verbal but far more insectile, telling his audience that he “lived in the heart of the wooden boy.” Vaguely chilling, right? He’s even got a revised name…Sebastian J. Cricket! Plus this bug looks almost alien.- – I Iike him already!

Set in Italy in the 1930’s with Mussolini’s fascist power rising, this Pinocchio is depicted as a lost soul in a world he cannot understand. Disney sanitized the original Carlo Collodi tale, which included the cricket being killed early on and his ghost serving as Pinocchio’s conscience! Guillermo del Toro promises to return some of the original Frankenstein or nightmarish elements to the story, which included boys being turned into donkeys on Pleasure Island.

So for a darker, scarier version of Pinocchio that’s “about as far removed from Disney as you can get,” you may want to check out this Pinocchio coming to Netflix in December 2022…and tell them that Sebastian J. Cricket sent you,buwahahaha!

Categories: classics, furry, insects, movies, twisted reality
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Comments: 9 Comments

Tex Avery’s “Reginald Fox”

October 5, 2021

He’s an obscure character but a memorable one, appearing just once in Tex Avery’s 1949 cartoon, “Out-Foxed.” Reginald Fox is stereotypically a sophisticated Brit, speaking with an accent, wearing a monocle, and drinking tea throughout the production.

You just gotta love a fox who reads Fox News, and reassures his audience that they needn’t fear for his safety, because he is, after all, a fox. Very nonchalant even when pursued by hounds promised steaks for his capture, Reginald turns their ploys against them in a mocking manner reminiscent of Bugs Bunny.

Although a Droopy Dog cartoon, it’s Reginald who dominates the film, entering into an alliance with Droopy that becomes mutually advantageous with all enjoying steaks as the “captured” fox clan sings Droopy a rousing chorus of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

The moral of our story is that few things age as well as a Tex Avery cartoon… 🦊

Categories: anthropomorphic, cartoons, classics, furry
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