Release Date:

September 3, 1949

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig

Summary:

A color remake of Bob Clampett’s masterpiece, “Porky in Wackyland” where Porky Pig attempts to catch the rare and valuable Do-Do Bird.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1121 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

The cartoon was produced in Cinecolor, resulting in it being finished early. This is also the final cartoon to use the Cinecolor process.

As Clampett had already been gone from Warner Bros for almost three years at this point, Freleng directed this remake instead. While most of the gags, animation, and dialogue are reused from the original (link to the post for the original cartoon that I wrote all the way back in April 2024 is included in the summary section, so you can see how much my writing has developed as the journey to write posts for all 1000 classic Warner cartoons from 1930 to 1969 continues), all of the voices and music have been redubbed and rescored respectively, in order to stay consistent with the contemporary releases. There are also a few new gags as well, with the most notable being how the candle guide leads Porky to the Do-Do, the Do-Do dropping one more brick on Porky from a cloud after the latter runs into a brick wall the Do-Do Bird pulls out, and how Porky eventually catches the Do-Do in the end. Since most of the animation is reused from the original, we will only be pointing out who animated what in the new gags. '

The “rubber band” gag is also reused from “Tin Pan Alley Cats”.

This is the only post-April 1945 cartoon to not include full credits, likely due to this being a remake, so nothing much changed from the original. The only credits that appear are the usual “Voice Characterizations- Mel Blanc” and “Musical Direction- Carl Stalling”.

What I Like About This One:

The Do-Do’s price is so valuable that it can’t even fit on the newspaper headline.

Flying into “Darkest Africa”, Porky’s plane skids to a stop in front of Wackyland’s welcome sign, “Population: 100 Nuts and A Squirrel”. A mysterious voice is heard saying something else on the sign, “It Can Happen Here”. Porky and his plane tiptoe past the sign and soon see a roaring behemoth approach towards them, but it then dances off gaily into the distance after giving them a feminine “Boo”.

The sun rising up is just three people holding it up while standing on a barbershop-like pole. Porky also encounters an Al Jolson duck with enormous lips walking across the screen bending his knees and repeating, “Mammy!” He is then scared off by another noise that turns out to be a creature that has a horn for his head, which he presses to honk.

The citizens of Wackyland are all shown via a camera pan, which include a peacock with playing cards for plumage, a rabbit on a swing suspended by his ears, a tiny green man wearing fake woman legs and saying, “Cuckoo” several times, a deranged blue-skinned prisoner holding a jail cell in front of him and demanding to be let out, as well as a literal “rubber band”, which are rubber bands acting like a marching band playing Mel Blanc vocal effects in tune to “Frat”.

A three-headed creature whose three heads resemble the Three Stooges poke and slap each other, and speak in gibberish about something. Another creature comes up and translates their gibberish talk for us, “He says his mother was scared by a pawnbroker sign”.

Porky finds a crazy guide who is a literal candle with his eyes always rolling around, holding up a sign, “Information About the Do-Do”. Porky begins to ask where he went but the candle guide points in literally every direction all around him, “That-a-way!” The candle guide disappears in his sign and has Porky follow him into a dark entrance that leads to the Do-Do. Porky falls into it and in an all-new gag, is seen falling through what appears to be the sky, but the camera pans back to reveal it’s actually a sky backdrop that’s being turned around and around on a conveyor by the candle guide. Once Porky lands on the ground, the candle guide whistles and runs quickly off into the distance (the new gag is animated by Manuel Perez).

The Do-Do makes his entrance out of a castle reading the words “The Do-Do” in a neon sign, and the castle’s drawbridge then turns into a motorboat he uses to get to the other side. Porky asks, “Are you r-r-really eh-eh-the l-last of the D-D-Do-Do’s?” The Do-Do replies while getting into his face, “Yes, I’m really the last of the Do-Do’s!” before doing some sort of chant that apparently Do-Dos use while stepping all over Porky.

When Porky tries to get up, the Do-Do appears behind him and loudly shouts, “WOOOOOOOOO!” behind his back. After a brief chase, he then produces a pencil and draws a door in front of him. The Do-Do is able to lift up the door but Porky only runs right into it. The Do-Do gets his attention in a window-frame by whistling at Porky and waving at him in a flirtatious manner. When Porky tries to climb through the window-frame, the Do-Do kicks him through it.

The Do-Do imitates an elevator operator and Porky tries to enter said elevator but only smacks into it as the Do-Do ascends inside. The Warner Bros. shield then zooms in and the Do-Do pops out of it to hit Porky into the ground with a slingshot. Porky gets out and chases the Do-Do again, only for the Do-Do to lift up a curtain backdrop of the landscape and replace it with a brick wall that Porky crashes into, with a brick dropping on his head after the wreckage clears. In another all-new gag, the Do-Do is seen leaning against a cloud and he drops another brick above Porky. Porky braces for the impact, but a parachute suddenly pops out of the brick, slowing its falling speed down. Thinking he’s safe, Porky laughs at this, but ANOTHER brick comes out of the brick and directly hits Porky on the head (animated by Perez).

The final gag is also an all-new one: Porky disguises as a Do-Do and does a Do-Do chant and dance of his own, also loudly shouting, “WOOOOOOOO!” at the real Do-Do. The Do-Do asks him who he’s supposed to be, and Porky replies that he’s the last Do-Do, worth 6 trillion dollars. Excited, the Do-Do handcuffs himself to Porky and runs off happily, “I’m rich! I’m rich! I got the last Do-Do! I got the last Do-Do!”, but Porky stops him and removes his disguise: “Oh, n-n-no you haven’t! I-I’M rich! I’VE got the last D-D-Do-Do!” As Porky runs into the distance with the Do-Do, several more Do-Dos gather, revealing that they’re not so rare after all. They all remark in unison, “Yessir! He’s got the last Do-Do!” and all do the Do-Do chant and dance (animated by Perez).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½