Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Cartoons in Space: Intergalactic Animation, a program of international Space Age animated shorts about rockets, planets, aliens and more outer space fun. As the 1950s ushered in the Space Age, the international imagination was seized by space-fever as man made his first attempts to blast out of this atmosphere and into the vast universe beyond. The animation world was no exception and began producing some of the most imaginative interpretations of the present and future of interplanetary travel. Daffy Duck and Marvin the Martian square off over Planet X in the hilarious classic Chuck Jones cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1952). From the acclaimed Zagreb Films and Oscar-winner Dusan Vukotic comes the utterly charming tale of a little nerdy girl, her homemade rocket and a terrifying alien beast in The Cow on the Moon (1958). With two from Czech animation giant Kratky Film Praha; Frantisek Vystreil's Kosmodrome 1999 (1967) imagines a 1999 of zippy interstellar travel and Zdenek Miler's Mole and the Rocket (1965), features the little mole in a journey from the bottom of the ocean to the stars above. Everyone's favorite clay toy-boy Gumby runs away from home and blasts off to The Small Planets (1957) only to discover a bunch of bratty kids. Even the insurance industry goes spacy with a little green alien in the super-rare promotional film Man from A.U.N.T.I.E. (1967). Scientists study the foliage of a mystery planet to try and solve Earth's hunger problem in the Eastern European stop-motion puppet animation Journey to a Star: A Science Fantasy (1969). Science mixes with imagination in Beyond the Stars: a Space Story (1981). With the opening credits for Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space (1972, courtesy of the Jenni Olson Queer Archive), and a visit from Space Angel (1963) the outer space answer to Speed Racer, using human mouths for dialogue, and more spacy surprises, get ready to blast off into the outer reaches of space and the imagination!
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Highlights Include:
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (Color, 1952, Chuck Jones)
An all-star classic from the legendary Chuck Jones in stunning Technicolor. Daffy Duck stars as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant, and Marvin the Martian as his opponent. Duck Dodgers must search for a rare element, called Illudium Pohsdex (aka The Shaving Cream Atom), which can be obtained in the mysterious “Planet X.” Duck Dodgers is about to claim Planet X in the name of Earth, when it turns out that Marvin the Martian has also landed on the same planet. Duck Dodgers and the Martian battle it out, using various instruments of mass destruction-- after all of the explosion, there is no planet to claim. Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig and Marvin the Martian are left dangling from what is left of Planet X.
The Cow on the Moon (Color, 1958, Dusan Vukotic)
The year is 1999. Interstellar travel is so commonplace; hordes of commuters shuttle about on rockets as casually as they commute from SF to LA today. Our hero misses his flight, however and his zany adventures with the Rube Goldberg-like rocket he tries to enlist results in bizarre and weirdly animated adventures. Brilliant animation and zany, electronic sounds! Produced by the famed Kratky Film Company in Prague.
Everyone's favorite shapeshifting clay buddy, Gumby and his pony pal Pokey run away and blast off in a rocket to find a planet to call their own. After landing on a series of planets they find a parade of cranky kids that have also runaway, claiming the planets for themselves. Maybe Gumby and Pokey will learn there's no place like Earth.
