The New 3 Stooges

I saw this show as a compilation called Funniest Moments 1 & 2, along with several other DVDs, mostly interesting documentaries. The box showed Moe, Larry, and Curly together so naturally I assumed it was some of their Columbia shorts work. I am a big fan of the Stooges from this era, and was more than a little disappointed when it turned out to be a collection of introductory "shorts" for their 1965 cartoon series.

These starred Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe DeRita, who was in my opinion a little bit better than the often despised Joe Besser. Although the shorts came about at the peak of their popularity, the Stooges by this time were really beginning to show their age. They were, however, still reasonably capable of performing slapstick comedy.

The main problem was in the quality of the show. The writing and overall production quality was not nearly as good as that from Columbia. The violence so typical of the trio was also severely and purposefully toned due to the fact that the market for the show was intended to be children. Perhaps most importantly, though, the trademark sound effects were absent, replaced by some that were apparently borrowed from another popular show of the time - The Flintstones.

The cartoons themselves were just not to my liking. I grew up with the Stooges in black and white, but with live action, and having them as cartoons just did not fit.

As for the live shorts, any Stooge fan should appreciate them. It gives us a rare glimpse of the boys in color. Many of the shorts include Emil Sitka, a supporting actor who has worked with the Stooges since his debut in the Columbia short "Half Wits Holiday," which was ironically Jerome "Curly" Howard's final short.

I'm an unabashed admirer of "The New Three Stooges" animated kids show even though I'll be the first to admit that not only does it not make a whole lot of sense, but it's profoundly disturbing on a subconscious level that's very hard to describe. The show format is somewhat inspired, with the boys hosting live action "wraparound" segments where they engage in their usual antics albeit slowed somewhat by advancing age ... and perhaps the knowledge that the routine was growing a bit tired.

Still it's miraculous television, the animation bizarre and with an twinge of middle 60s pre-psychedelia influenced pop art. Which isn't to suggest that the Stooges themselves were perhaps sharing hookahs between takes so much as the younger artists and animators working on the show probably were. The production also has a kind of post-Freudian neurosis to it that one might actually refer to as polymorphously perverse. Where the classic era Stooges represented a kind of anarchic form of surrealism (think Curly furiously building the framework of plumbing pipes around himself only to find that he's trapped when it's finished), the animated shorts have a more minimalist approach where the surreal juxtapositionings are suggested rather than spelled out by squeezing someone's head in a tailor's press.

The cartoons also don't tell "stories" so much as they explore archetypal settings: A western town, a trip to the dentist, babysitting duty or a camping expedition. The animators show only as much as might be needed to suggest such a setting and then allow all hell to break loose with a sort of free-form visual exploration where beginning & end meet, or effect proceeds cause. First we see the eggs oozing down Moe's cartoon face, then we realize that Curly Joe was trying to make pancake batter.

Back to the disturbing nature though ... there is something "wrong" about the mixture of the live action segments with these (by then) puffy looking aged performers closing folding camping furniture on each other's heads, pretending to be zoo attendees cleaning up after the elephants, and especially actually interacting with young kids as in one really freakazoid trip to the beach that sees Curly Joe dressed up like John Wayne Gayce & doling out bottles of unidentified lotions to little girls. Like, ew. Granted I'm viewing the material with the jaded sensibility of someone living in a time forty years after the material was filmed, but by golly this show was really, really weird, and even with the live-action segments unlike anything you may be expecting when you hear the name Three Stooges.

But, it's amazing television, and if you look around at your favorite discount retailer's bargain bin DVD selections you can usually find collections of them for a dollar or so. Usually they are packaged to make them look like "family" fare, which usually implies kids being able to watch them on their own, which might not be a wise idea. They are harmless, mind you, but the kids might start to think about what it all might mean, especially after the shows start giving them nightmares. And the conclusion they will inevitably come to is that you are one weird, sick person for thinking they might actually like it.

5/10: Neutral rating since it's so weird as to defy traditional critical review. And that's why I love it.

I am the biggest Three Stooges fan as my friends know, and I have seen some of these cartoons and they just don't seem to match up to what we have seen before. I don't want to be bias by comparing these to the old shorts, but the shorts are far superior to these. Don't get me wrong, the cartoons are entertaining, but they seem to be a shadow of what the Stooges were. As I have said before in another comment, I don't think Curly Joe has much chemistry with Larry and Moe. By the time they did the little skits and voices for these cartoons, the boys were well into the late 60's, early 70's. But the Stooges will always be the kings of comedy in my opinion.

Hi Im 13 years old and I'm a big Three Stooges fan! The New Three Stooges is A Short Film Of Them! Then a Cartoon Version. The cartoon is good. I like them and the short live action from Moe,Larry,Curly Joe, they are good but I like the movies alot better plus the old shorts with Moe, Larry, Curly alot better! But The new Three Stooges is still good and funny though!

Not from my childhood but i love it anyway. I like the live actions and then the cartoons. I have the whole set but wish they had done more. At Halloween is watch some like Transylvania Railroad. They're just cute and i love how at the end of the cartoons they all run away. I love gagster dragster when they make their own rail. Other good ones for Halloween are mummies boys, unhaunted house, and campsite fright.