The Coneheads

Remember the Coneheads; those point headed aliens on Saturday Night Live and had their own movie? Well we just happened to have an animated special that was originally an animated series.

At Ramulak, Beldar (voiced by Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (voiced by Jane Curtin) are on a mission to travel onto a new planet. They landed at assuming the Hudson River in New York City.

Primad gave birth to her daughter from her head on-screen. (You know, for kids! Wait, this was intended for adults on TV? How?)

After they made their contact their commander from the monitron crystal, they were commanded to move to New Jersey. (I could say this add the junk pile of bad films in NJ. Jokes on you, I recently moved to North Carolina, and I didn’t count on the state to be commented on)

They made awkward friends with their neighbors, and their daughter, Connie has a date with a human, Ronnie.

Will the Star Cruiser get the Coneheads off the ground, as much as this pilot? The answer is too obvious. This was a failed pilot, and judging with what I watched, I don’t blame them. If it was a kids show, this won’t fly by. If this was an adult show, that’ll be a rare time back then, but it could work now, but need to be vulgar to please Adult Swim, Comedy Central, or Fox.

I do like the designs to capture the Coneheads more than just the heads. This helps to make them unique to stand out, including giving Aykroyd a tiny mustache. Ramulak is an alien world I kinda wish we see more than Earth.

There are bad moments that would hinder this series, and that’s their comedy.

Much like Mad, Mad, Mad Comedian, the laugh track can ruin the film, and they play it on many moments, none of them are funny. What worked in Saturday Night Live won’t work in an animated show and currently in Saturday Night Live. I swear the live action movie or sketch explained more on the alien device they used in the special more than just the ring as their “protection”. This is the last film for Rankin Bass to be animated by Topcraft, before they become Studio Ghibli. If this was animated today, it’s best to be animated by Rough Draft or better trusted hand drawn animation studio, but never as Adobe Flash/ Adobe Animate, or else it’ll be real crap.

If you’re interested to see an animated version of an SNL sketch, this is an interesting failure to see to believe. Otherwise, you’re better off watching SNL TV Funhouse sketch by Robert Smigel.

Now let’s review the last non-holiday special, The Wind in the Willow.