Estrellas de dibujos animados al rescate

Such a memorable part of my childhood. I recorded it off TV on VHS and watched it many times. Not because I was needing an intervention on drug use, just because I liked seeing all these cartoon characters together who normally never would be. Introduced by then-President George Bush and his wife Barbara, this is a made-for-TV drug PSA starring many of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon characters (and others that weren't my favorites). The characters include Garfield, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, the Smurfs, the Chipmunks, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Alf, Slimer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Michelangelo, Muppet Babies, and Huey, Duey, and Luey. They all come together to help a kid who's been seduced into using drugs by the villainous smoke monster "The Man in Charge." It's the kind of thing that ticks off certain crowds today and I'm sure it ticked them off then, as well. Watching it for the first time in at least twenty-five years, I see the preachiness of it more but it's well-meaning so I don't mind that much. The animation is decent for the time, with a couple of weird sequences that stand out. There's also a song, which is as corny as can be but adds to the camp appeal. Overall it's of interest as a nostalgia piece for people like me and as a curio for animation fans. Will it keep your kids off dope? No, of course not. Will it hurt? No, of course not. It's just fun. If baby Kermit & Miss Piggy taking a kid on a "trip" doesn't make you smile, you need to put out an APB on your sense of humor.

George C. Scott is one of my heroes. Let me get this out of the way.

I love Bugs and Daffy, as well as Muppet Babies, Garfield, Duck Tales, and ALF.

I respect George Bush, even if he wasn't my favorite president.

I don't actively dislike the Smurfs.

Let me get all of this all out of the way.

Now let me point out that this special is truly one of the most unintentionally hilarious slices of "Reefer Madness"-style anti-drug propaganda pieces ever put to film (or in this case, video). Nice touches include how marijuana turns you into one of the dancers from "Thriller" or how the nightmare sequence inexplicably features Huey, Dewey, and Louie as the primary tormentors of America's drug-addled youth. Also keep an eye out for the pointless voyage through the brain in which a puff on a blunt is interpreted visually as an outtake from Altered States.

It must have been a recurring joke in the animation studio about how the horrors of marijuana, even as depicted, could never compare to the exquisite terror of waking up to see three 4' ducks in beanies, sans pants, cursing your lifestyle choices.

Hilarious video depicting a young boy who's using drugs and turning for the worse. Quite cute in the parts where it shows him stealing his baby sisters piggy bank to get money for some pot. Other scenes that stick out in my mind include seeing his future looking like some guy from Night of the Living Dead. As you would expect, complete and utter propaganda, however, it's one of the funniest films I've ever seen.

I was 9 when this aired, and in the habit of watching TV on saturday mornings, so I sure did see it.

And it scared the living crap out of me.

Drugs make your skin turn green and your eyes sink in, and your brain goes all haywire and you'll DIE!! The Muppet Babies said so!

So, to experience the full effect of this movie, be 9 years old. Preferably 9 years old in 1990, or you won't know any of the characters. Alternately, you can appreciate it by just having a really keen sense of pop culture irony.

Fun fact! A whole day of Congress was devoted to talking about this thing. It got gummint funding, so they talked about it, in the context of the drug war. The best statement made in the proceedings (as far as I remember, paraphrasing): "Gentlemen, we have a new weapon in the war on drugs. It is not a some tool or a some other tool or a caterpillar bred to eat cocaine . . . it is a cartoon." I wonder how many congresmen's eyes were rolling.

Anyway, this thing is an amazing artifact. For the then-hip clothing of the kids, for the lingo, for the fact that it's a bunch of cartoon characters telling you that drugs are bad.

I remember seeing this when I was 9-years-old and it blowing my mind- the fact that Alf AND the Muppet Babies AND Slimer would all be hanging out together was a truly amazing event in my life- perhaps THE most important moment of my developmental years.

However, I just recently realized that the show had an anti-drug message! It's subtle, I know, but it's there. My theory now is that all the "Cartoon All Stars" involved were just fulfilling their community service. Remember that time Theodore from "Alvin & The Chipmunks" got loaded and drove that school bus into a sidewalk full of people? Or when Brainy Smurf was indicted for his part in the magic mushrooms ring? Or when Tigger was caught BUI (Bouncing Under the Influence)? This was the result of their collective animated illegalities.

Anyway, my main question is: "How come I liked this so much as a kid but became a marijuana addict in college?"