A Doonesbury Special

This short was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award and is an excellent effort. The Hubleys teamed up well with Gary Trudeau. They were able to take the comic strip characters and animate them while still making a cartoon that was recognizably a Hubley cartoon. This was the last thing John Hubley finished before his death. Trudeau and the Hubleys meshed together quite well and it is unfortunate that they didn't get an opportunity to do more as a team. Worth the effort to locate. Most Highly Recommended.

I'm quite a fan of John and Faith Hubley, whose animated films have an air of free-wheeling improvisation. 'The Hole (1962)' and 'Windy Day (1968)' are essentially casual conversations, captured on tape and brought to life through the artists' simple and dreamy visuals. 'A Doonesbury Special (1977)' has a more solid narrative grounding, having been adapted from what I gather to be a popular American political comic strip, "Doonesbury." The creator of the comic strip, Garry Trudeau, is also credited as director (and John Hubley passed away while the film was still in its storyboarding stage).

The film opens in the 1970s, as the hippie-era was dying a slow death. The residents of a commune, having become accustomed to a lazy, hollow lifestyle, are surprised when scruffy free-thinker Zonker suddenly declares their way of life "passé" and recommends that they disband. This proclamation leads the group to reminisce about old times – including a concert featuring musical hero Jimmy Thudpucker (clearly modelled on Bob Dylan) which accidentally deteriorates into violence, and a college football game repeatedly interrupted by the team members' penchant for marijuana and existentialist philosophy. The characters in the film must learn to accept that their era has come to a close, and that they must make way for future generations.

On November 27, 1977, as the Thanksgiving weekend was winding down, "A Doonesbury Special" premiered on the NBC TV network. The special was based on the Garry Trudeau comic strip "Doonesbury". Trudeau wrote and directed the special, alongside John and Faith Hubley. This was also the last thing John Hubley worked on as he died during the storyboard stages.

The special, and the comic strip that it is based on, is about a group of people living together under the same roof from various backgrounds and ideals. The characters live in a commune together. They are led by a man named Mike, whose surname is the title of the strip. The people living under the roof with Mike were a part of the counter-culture that took place during the late 1960's to the early 1970's. Like the strip, the special pointed out that the times were changing and that some of the roomates' beliefs and ideals were slowly becoming passe, including commune living, as Zonker, one of the most popular characters in the strip, pointed out in his speech at the dinner table. After that, the people reflect on the times of their youth and all of the activity that they participated in and the pride they showed while doing so, alongside the music that they enjoyed. This showed the importance that these events had on the impact of US history and the impact that they had on the changing times.

Each and every aspect of this special was totally with the times when it was initially shown, and also, still remains as relevant today as it was back then as the times continue to change. The special, like the strip it's based on, is very realistic while also entertaining and never getting stale nor dull. It also shows that when personalities clash, anything can happen. The special happens to be well written and both the animation and the voice acting is top notch. Trudeau works wonders as both writer and director of the special and it really shows it very positively. The special is a winner hands down. It never gets stale nor dull and also, as stated, remains as relevant today as it was back in 1977 when it was initially shown on the NBC TV network. The film picked up an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Acedemy Award.

This special, as far as I know, was only shown once on TV, and never was repeated. I watched this when it premiered on NBC. I was seven years old at the time when I watched this. At the time, at that age, I really couldn't understand much of the subject matter of this special, although I later understood it when I got older and revisited it. I managed to buy a used VHS of this at a video store for only 99 cents when I first got a VCR and it was wonderful to revisit this special after a little over a decade. I even had a friend burn it to DVD so I can enjoy this again and again. I still enjoy watching this and again, it still entertains without it ever getting stale or boring. Again, it also still remains relevant.

I highly recommend this special as essential viewing regardless of the time and year that is lived in. Give it a look of you can find it anywhere as it is a wonderful, entertaining and well made special.

I saw this true work of art the first and only time it aired on broadcast TV, Thanksgiving weekend 1977. It left a deep and lasting impression (I was already a big DB fan), and I've spent the intervening 4 decades trying to see it again. Finally did, and found it just as good.

The storyline of this short little piece is dense with satirical references to its time (rock concert coverage conventions, Barry Manilow, Baby Boomers losing the mission, first-wave feminism, the Vietnam vacuum, hip youth pastors, and on and on); makes me homesick. And of course the thunderously talented Hubleys, possibly the Michaelangelos of animation. (Their magnum opus, a run-down of Ericsonian psychology theory [!] called Everyone Rides the Carousel, is another hard-to-see must-see.)

A Doonesbury Special is one of the few cartoons you'll ever see with ordinary voices and realistic drawing; no funny clownish performances, just actors talking like themselves. And as others here have said, the adaptation of the comic strip to animation is seamless; it feels neither contrived nor unfaithful, and manages to be both a delight for DB fans and entertaining for newcomers.

Hard to believe it was all once cutting-edge; the idea of a cartoon for adults, on adult themes, presented without burlesque.

If you have any interest in Doonesbury; the 60s; the 70s; animation; humour; history; or art, see this short.

If you can.

For a short time,Image Entertainment bundled this cartoon onto a single DVD with two other pieces directed by Faith Hubley:"The Hubley Collection:"Everybody Rides The Carousel'". Unfortunately,this is a collectible item-at the time of this post,one seller at Amazon listed a copy for a low,low 250 dollars. My savvy son picked up a used copy a couple of years ago for under five bucks.Till then,the only copy I had found was a Beta version of the Doonesbury Special and I was unable to get anyone to dub a copy to VHS. Like a starving man with a can of beans and no can opener...

Thirty years since its original broadcast and,like Mike in the film, many of us are still wondering what happened to all of us and that spirit to change the world for the better. Trudeau still fights the good fight,one daily comic strip at a time.