Release Date:

January 30, 1954

Main Character(s):

Goofy Gophers

Summary:

The Goofy Gophers have “their" vegetables taken away from them and find out that said vegetables have been taken to a food processing factory. Trying to get them back, the Gophers get into all sorts of trouble with the various machines.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1277 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the first of three Goofy Gophers cartoons where they try to take something back that they claim is theirs. The others include “Lumber Jerks” (1955) and “Gopher Broke” (1958).

Freleng would use a food factory setting again in “Chili Weather” (1963).

The title is a play on words for the phrase, “I go for you”.

This is the only cartoon where the Gophers lose in the end.

Very hard to believe we’re now here, but this is the 700th Warner cartoon overall, so we are officially 70% of the way there (time sure does fly, doesn’t it, folks?).

“Powerhouse” plays several times throughout the cartoon such as the Gophers first arriving at the factory, the tomato juice scene, the scene where the second Gopher gets bottle-capped, the “powdered eggs" scene, the mushrooms getting pushed off little steaks into cans, the first Gopher realizing he’s on the conveyor belt heading towards “Canning Unit 4” and failing to outrun it, and the drunk second Gopher narrowly avoiding a few near-death experiences.

When the second Gopher says, “And please do be a little more careful this time”, just before falling off the shelf and landing in the pickling vat that gets him drunk, his voice erroneously switches to that of the first Gopher.

Favorite Scene:

After tossing a few tomatoes off a conveyor belt for the second Gopher to catch, the first Gopher finds out that this conveyor belt heads toward “Canning Unit 4” and ends up getting trapped inside one of several cans. The second Gopher ends up opening every single can before he finds the first Gopher in the very last one (“You’re very welcome. But why did you have to be in the last can?” “But I wasn’t! I was in the first can. You started from the wrong end”).

What Happens in This One:

At the farm they reside at, the Gophers are seen underground with hoes as they are talking. Second Gopher: “Don’t you think our vegetables have done very well this year?” First Gopher: "Oh, my, very well indeed! Good care, you know. And no inclement weather!” Second Gopher: “Do you think we might harvest?" First Gopher: "Yes, I do. I really do. That is, if you think so too." Suddenly, all of the carrots are pulled out of the ground from above them which causes the second Gopher to believe, “You know, there’s every indication that we are being robbed”. The first Gopher agrees, "Quite so. I think we should investigate”. The second Gopher offers, "By all means. You may precede me” before the first Gopher suggests, “I think we should precede together”. The second Gopher agrees, "A very commendable suggestion”, which the first Gopher thanks him for before they head out (animated by Manuel Perez).

The Gophers pop up out of a hole in the ground and find that all of the vegetables have been picked. The second Gopher observes, “Vandals! They've confiscated all our vegetables!” After the first Gopher comments, “Very apparent!", the second Gopher notices trucks taking them away, “And there they are!” The trucks are labeled “Ajax Produce Co.” The Gophers follow them while demanding, "Come back here, vandals!”; “Stop!”; “Come back here!"; “Stop!” (animated by Perez)

Having followed the trucks all the way to “Food Processing Plant No. 5", the Gophers are surprised at what they see inside before going up a ladder to a platform in the factory (animated by Perez). They watch as tomatoes are carried on a belt, go down a slide, and end up in a machine where they are turned into juice that deposits into bottles on conveyor belts one by one. “My, a veritable paradise, don’t you think?”, the second Gopher asks. “Veritable. Yes, indeed, veritable”, the first Gopher agrees. The second Gopher requests, “Oh, will you pardon me for just a moment?", which the first Gopher approves, “Certainly. Pardon granted” (animated by Arthur Davis).

The second Gopher substitutes for one of the bottles on the conveyor belt, which shocks the first Gopher who believes that the second Gopher is about to get juice poured on him. When he gets under the dispenser, however, the second Gopher tilts his head back and opens his mouth so that he ends up drinking the juice instead. When the filled bottles move on to the “ACME Bottle-Capper”, the first Gopher warns from the platform, “Look out! Oh, look out!" Oblivious, the second Gopher waves to him, only to get bottle-capped on the head, which covers up his eyes. The first Gopher runs down to help the second Gopher, who’s having trouble removing the bottle cap on his head. The first Gopher attempts to help him pull it off to no avail. He eventually manages to get it off with a wrench. Second Gopher: "Oh, thank you so much”. First Gopher: “You're quite welcome. And now, don’t you think we should locate our vegetables?" Second Gopher: “Indeed. Yes, indeed” (animated by Davis).

The Gophers walk along looking for them as the first Gopher says, “It’s hard to decide just where to begin”, which the second Gopher agrees with, “True". A machine is shown powdering some eggs with talcum powder, so they can be labeled as “Powdered Eggs”. In “Mushroom Canner No. 3", mushrooms are pushed off of steaks on a conveyor belt into cans of mushrooms on a conveyor belt below. The first Gopher goes onto another conveyor belt which is carrying tomatoes, while he throws one down to the second Gopher for him to catch. After throwing another one down, the first Gopher sees to his horror that this conveyor belt is heading into “Canning Unit 4” and attempts to outrun it but to no avail, as he ends up getting trapped in one of several hundred cans of tomato cans in the Shipping Department. From inside the one he’s in, the first Gopher calls out, “Help! Help! Get me out of here! Help! Help!” The second Gopher asks, “Where are you?”, to which the first Gopher answers, “I’m here inside one of these cans, that’s where I am” (animated by Davis).

The second Gopher uses a can opener to find the first Gopher, but can after can, he only ends up finding cans with tomato juice in them. About a thousand cans later, the second Gopher notices a single solitary can high on the shelf (animated by Davis). Sure enough, that’s the one the first Gopher is in. Relieved to be out, he says, “Oh, thank you so much. It was very confining in there”. The second Gopher replies, “You’re very welcome. But why did you have to be in the last can?", but the first Gopher reveals, “But I wasn't. I was in the first can. You started from the wrong end". Accepting this error, the second Gopher admits, “I guess you’re right. How stupid of me”. “Don’t you think we’d do better working independently?”, the first Gopher asks. The second Gopher likes this idea, “What an intelligent suggestion. Let’s do” before walking off and advising, “And please do be a little more careful this time”. He ends up not watching his step, falling off the shelf, and landing in the pickling vat (animated by Ken Champin).

The second Gopher manages to climb out, but is now drunk from the liquid. After chuckling from letting out a first hiccup, he begins staggering around and narrowly avoiding danger that he is completely oblivious to, such as nearly getting crushed by a mashing machine and going onto a conveyor belt where he manages to avoid getting chopped up by blades cutting up vegetables (animated by Champin). The first Gopher watches as the second Gopher ends up going down a slide into “Dehydrating Machine No. 4” where several packages exit out of the machine. He picks up one of them and finds that these are a “Complete Dinner Dehydrated. Just Add Water. Serves Six”. Getting a pail of water, which is how one opens the packages, the first Gopher spreads it across two of these packages before eventually finding the second Gopher in one of them posing as a roast with an apple in his mouth (animated by Virgil Ross).

“My goodness! I was almost a turkey dinner, wasn’t I?”, the second Gopher asks while standing atop the plate he was part of. “You certainly were”, the first Gopher agrees in a scolding manner. The second Gopher then realizes, “Why, our problem’s solved! We can take home our vegetables dehydrated!”, which the first Gopher agrees to, “Ooh, wonderful! So much easier to carry!” (animated by Ross)

Back home in their underground tunnel, the Gophers have stored it with countless dehydrated vegetable packages. Second Gopher: “All our tunnels are just loaded! Now if we had a little water, we can have dinner!” The first Gopher decides, “Allow me to get the water!" He goes out with a small pail to fill up from the water tower, but ends up pushing the handle down all the way, which lets out a huge rapid stream. The first Gopher becomes unable to turn the handle back to shut it off, and attempts to stand in front of the hole and wave his arms to get the water to stop. Due to water being inanimate, it doesn’t stop as he ends up getting pushed down into the hole. Soon, the whole field starts to enlarge and tremble before exploding and leaving thousands of vegetables scattered everywhere. The Gophers pop out from a large pile of them and realize what they’ve gotten themselves into. The second Gopher observes, “You know, we’re going to have a terrible time getting all this food back into the packages!” The first Gopher agrees sadly, “Terrible. Just terrible” (animated by Ross).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½