Red Baron

Now we get to Rankin Bass and Filmation’s Red Baron. 

Sorry it took a long time since April to do these reviews. I was busy with other better work, and my feeling about this film, as you can tell with the criticism.

A radio announced that troubles happening, as the Red Baron prepares for action.

The fighter jets get defeated by the villains in a literal dogfight. The good king of Pretzel is simply furious. So the Red Baron slowly gets his plane ready to fight with the enemies to smoke them out. This makes the lead of the villain simply furious.

One of the general of the villain has a girlfriend, who is a princess, of course. The evil made a princess double to dispose of the Red Baron. The Princess Double trap Red Baron in a Shark Blimp, but she last as long as Vanessa (Austin Powers 2) and broke down. Now he deals with this bulldog lady, who’s in charge of the blimp. Red Baron gets free with the Bulldog lady, and get to the princess with a chase and stuff.

The meh news is I’ve found the video on youtube, the bad news is in Swedish, but that won’t stop me in reviewing it since I’ve reviewed Chinese films earlier, and youtube does have a subtitle setting (at least part 1 does.), but the translation isn’t accurate. So I’ll write it with what I’m visually watching, then I’ll pinpoint the story with an edit.

The good news is this is the only time Rankin Bass team up with Filmation. Filmation is one of the worst animated companies I’ve seen. Filmation’s pro is unique designs, basic coloring, and sometimes the villain with Skeletor, Malice, and the princess in this film is cute dog princess I got to admit. Filmation’s con is their characters themselves, recycle animations, focus away from the titled character(s) to the cartoony useless sidekick (as Red Baron’s cat and the princess sort of prove that point.), and spend too much on dialogue that it’s impossible to be invested to the characters as much as politics, reality TV, and soap operas.

The conversations and music drag on too long, very similar to how Filmation does the direction in the Star Trek Animated Series. I can see how Haim Saban and Shuki Levy would make better music for He-man. For odd reason when we get to the climax, they reuse the music that was playing in Cricket and the Hearth, and most in Festival of Family Classic. Yet that’s the better music than their slow Victorian music. Everything can be said and done simply under few seconds. Not Filmation, most of their films moments take more than minutes to say or do a thing. What Rankin Bass and Filmation do in common with their cons is they don’t animate planes well in animation or stop-motion. This is kind of proven in Mad Monster Party and He-man. We had better plane animation in the past, and yet one better stop-motion plane in Puppetoons. The difference is Rankin Bass can pull Flying Reindeers, Hot Air Balloon, and Reinsnake (?). Now some of you suddenly wonder, “Why review this, but not animated King and I?” King and I has design of a Richard Rich film, as Red Baron has a Rankin Bass design than Filmation's design, as proven that general designer Paul Coker Jr. did this film.

I definitely choose Mushi Company over Filmation, namely their animation is more active, alive, and has better coloring. The only reason in theory why Rankin Bass team up with Filmation is Mushi Company has their limit of films, and they prices with out of country payment. Filmation’s production is mainly American, and is against outsourcing, at least that’s what Cartoon Hero said when he reviewed Robin & The Dreamweavers to quote.

“…Filmation is one of the very last companies to animate Animerican content in America. Nowadays, like everything else in America, animation has been outsourced. I’m not complaining, it looks good, but it’s not hard to think bull****. Especially because there are animators here, who would gladly take the job, but for the most part, they can’t.”

-Eli Stone/ Cartoon Hero, review of Robin & The Dreamweavers. 10/3/2016.

This is probably the dullest of the Rankin Bass so far. It’s pretty bad when Snoopy vs the Red Baron, who speaks less, fly more, and has more of a personality than this film, and that made 7 years earlier with 5 years earlier for the music by The Royal Guardsmen. So it’s best to pass this film.

Now what’s next on my agenda for Rankin Bass Review should I do that isn’t a series.

*Going through the list of Rankin Bass films, and That Girl In Wonderland.*

That’s lazy, they want to avoid copyright of the public domain story, or they don’t like the name Alice.

*Look through the clip and IMDB information*

Oh, it’s That Girl the series. OK, I guess they want to have a replacement for…

*Look up Alice In Wonderland in Rankin Bass’ Festival of Family Classic.*

OK, there are two versions. What are my other options after that?

*Rankin Bass’ Hobbit appeared with the music of Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, and the calendar appeared as August with October, a little November, and a big December.*

Yeeesh! I might as well go through episodes of Festival of Family Classics, as I promise I would in order. So let’s start with Hiawatha or Yankee Doodle…

*No English video existed. Up to episode 3:Cinderella*

OK, join me next time for my review of Festival of Family Classics’ episode of Cinderella. Ooh, cruel fate!