BOOTLEG FILES 875: “A Doonesbury Special” (1977 animated film that received an Oscar nomination).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On VHS and laserdisc plus a blink-and-you-missed-it DVD release in an anthology collection.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: There might be a rights issue that is unresolved.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: A re-release on DVD and Blu-ray is not likely at this time.
As a prefix to this column, I need to confess that I’ve never been infatuated with Garry Trudeau’s comic strip “Doonesbury.” Yes, I am highly aware of its awards and cultural resonance, but I never found Trudeau’s brand of satire to amusing or provocative. That being said, I was curious to explore “A Doonesbury Special,” the 1977 production that marked the only time that Trudeau’s comic strip was adapted into an animated film. Trudeau collaborated with Oscar-winning animators John and Season Hubley on this work – John Hubley died while the production was in the storyboard phase, but he still received co-director and co-producer credit with his wife and Trudeau.
In viewing “A Doonesbury Special,” it helps to be familiar with the core characters from the early years of the “Doonesbury” comic strip. Without this knowledge, the behavior of the characters might seem too obscure or confusing to embrace. But even with this knowledge, turning these one-dimensional comic strip figures into walking and talking characters doesn’t quite work.
“A Doonesbury Special” opens with the stoner-hippie character Zonker Harris spearfishing falling leaves while submerged in a small pond – don’t ask why. He is summoned for dinner by Mike Doonesbury, the nominal head of a commune that also includes Mark Slackmeyer, Joanie Caucus, B.D. and his girlfriend Boopsie. Mike is cooking dinner – it is supposed to be lasagna, but the consensus around the dinner table regarding Mike’s cooking skills is negative.
During the meal, Zonker dons a tuxedo jacket and tie (while still wearing his swimming trunks and flippers from his pond dive), stands behind a lectern with a microphone at the table, and declares that the group dissolve the commune and take up residence in condos. The reason for his proposal is that every moved away from the hippie-style activities that defined their initial interest in the condo – this includes macramé, organic gardening, group sex. Mike, who is depressed over the negative reaction to his cooking, starts to wonder how things changed in their lives.
After setting up this scenario, “A Doonesbury Special” becomes a skein of sequences that are never click. There is a flashback to a 1960s political rally on the Walden College campus where Dylan clone Jimmy Thudpacker sings a protest song while the accidental release of a tear gas canister starts a riot. (The Thudpacker character is also in a television concert as an arena performer, which gives the impression that he was a sell-out for fame and fortune.)
There is also a heavily verbose segment where B.D. is trying to lead his football team, only to be constantly thwarted by Zonker’s marijuana use and excessive focus on existential philosophy – the endless interruptions by Zonker’s constant jawboning results in penalties against the team. This is followed by an interminable segment at Joanie’s daycare center where the too-precocious tykes mix racial and gender politics while rehearsing for a Nativity play.
“A Doonesbury Special” falls flat at multiple levels. The film packs too many characters into the story and only hippie-dippie Zonker and endlessly agitated right-winger B.D. have any dimension. The rest are either stereotypes, such as liberal Joanie and her progressive daycare kids, or they barely register with the very little they are given to do. It also doesn’t help that Trudeau’s métier was the four-box comic strip format – at 25 minutes, “A Doonesbury Special” very quickly wears out its welcome, especially with references to George McGovern and “Hearts and Minds” that were already antiquated at the time of its 1977 premiere.
And, truth be told, even with the Hubley connection “A Doonesbury Special” cannot save it. The film has flat and dull animation – excluding the Jimmy Thudpacker concert sequence that includes three-dimensional effects that look as if it came from another production. The only genuine surprise is seeing the name of Rev. William Coffin Sloane Jr. among the voice actors – the prominent theologian and peace activist is the voice of the reverend directing the Nativity play.
“A Doonesbury Special” was first seen on NBC on November 27, 1977, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time. That was the Sunday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend – with that date and time slot, one has to assume NBC was eager to dump it in order to fulfill a contractual obligation.
Oddly, the film turned up at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978, where it won a Special Jury Award. Even more amazing, “A Doonesbury Special” received an Oscar nomination as Best Animated Short Subject – the Academy had a rule prohibiting made-for-television animation from being considered for its award, so I am not certain how the film gained its nomination.
“A Doonesbury Special” turned up on VHS and laserdisc as a standalone title and was a second feature in a 1999 Image Entertainment DVD focused on the Hubleys’ “Everyone Rides the Carousel.” Since then, the film has been out of commercial release – I assume there is some rights issue preventing its reissue. A decent copy has been uploaded without official permission to YouTube, which should satisfy “Doonesbury” fans and Oscar film completists.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.
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