Line #11 WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue


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5	[[caption-width-right:350:''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''? No. ''This'' is the most ambitious crossover in history!]]
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10	->''"All our favorite cartoon characters that we grew up with are coming together to talk to us about... drugs."''
11	-->-- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'''
12
13	''Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue'' is a truly epic DrugsAreBad [[VerySpecialEpisode TV special]] produced by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS/Television Academy) (and animated by Creator/WangFilmProductions and Southern Star Studios in Australia) through a grant from UsefulNotes/McDonalds[=/=]Ronald [=McDonald=] Children's Charities (RHCC) that was originally simulcast commercial-free on Saturday morning, April 21, 1990, on all four major networks (Creator/{{ABC}}, Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{Fox}} and Creator/{{NBC}}) along with most independent local stations and several cable networks., the special features cartoon characters ranging from WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' fame to the 1987 incarnation of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\|1987}}'' try to teach an at-risk teen named Michael about the dangers of marijuana.
14
15	The special was relentlessly promoted in the days leading up to the simulcast. Interestingly, the anti-drug angle was [[TrailersAlwaysLie underplayed in these commercials]]. Instead, the ads pushed the {{crossover}} among the various cartoon characters as the selling point.
16
17	There's been a long-standing rumor that the reason this special has never re-aired is that ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' was used without Creator/JimDavis' permission, and Davis threatened to sue if the special re-aired. However, Creator/MarkEvanier, head writer of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', [[https://www.facebook.com/groups/161346744015168/permalink/243420959141079/?comment_id=243472012469307&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R3%22%7D debunked the rumor on the Cartoon Research Facebook page]]. Evanier wrote, "Jim knew all about the special, he okayed Garfield's participation and approved whatever had to be approved. I believe the original plan, which got all the various copyright holders to agree to let their characters participate, called for limited airing." [[Creator/DisneyChannel The Disney Channel]] managed to sneak in a couple of repeat airings of it, however.
18
19	Extensive reviews of the special can be found [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140305082423/http://tooncrap.blogspot.com/2010/05/cartoon-all-stars-to-rescue.html here]] and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130218032329/https://madnessmonster.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/cartoon-all-stars-review/ here]]. You can find the special in its entire 32-minute glory on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukz9QsVf8k0 YouTube]], and WebVideo/TheAnnotatedSeries version starting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj3-0Yjtafo here]].
20	----
21	!!''Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue'' provides examples of:
22	* AbortedArc: Thanks to Michelangelo's interference, Michael gives up trying to get his wallet back.
23	* AdultsAreUseless: Michael and Corey's parents, especially their father, who's more concerned about his missing cases of beer. When he voices this concern, his wife laughs it off and suggests ''he forgot about drinking them while watching football.'' Their mother, however, is suspicious, and Mom asks Corey if anything is wrong. She denies it. Partially justified, in that Corey is afraid to tell them about Michael's addiction, and initially only says that he's "acting weird", which the father takes as normal teenage behaviour.
24	* TheAggressiveDrugDealer: Not only are suburban teenagers lurking about giving away [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner cheap-as-free]] drugs, Mikey also has to worry about Smoke; a [[GoodAngelBadAngel shoulder-demon]] who looks like a businessman (tie and all). He's voiced by Creator/GeorgeCScott, and ceaselessly persuades you to experiment with said drugs.
25	* AllThereInTheScript: Smoke's name is mentioned on the VHS description, but not in the special.
26	* AlternateContinuity: Several cartoon characters are LivingToys brought to life by magic. [[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Kermit]] is an alarm clock, [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981 the Smurfs]] are from a comic book, Series/{{Alf}} is a framed picture, [[WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends Garfield]] is a lamp, and WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks are implied to be from one of their records. Other characters appear without an origin for their appearance. Franchise/WinnieThePooh comes to life from being a stuffed animal, but of course that's normal for him.
27	* AloofBigBrother: Michael has apparently turned into this thanks to his drug use, much to Corey's distress. Her comment that "You always tell me everything!" suggests that they were very close before he started using drugs. {{Deconstructed}}, as Smoke ''[[ExploitedTrope exploits]]'' this. Smoke tries to convince Corey to try out some of Michael's stash under the pretense that she'd understand her brother better and have common ground again. Michael thankfully stops her in time and realizes his decisions don't just effect ''him''.
28	* AnimatedWorldHypotheses: Michael and Corey repeatedly acknowledge that characters like WesternAnimation/{{The Smurfs\|1981}} and [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Huey, Dewey, and Louie]] are fictional cartoon characters. However, when WesternAnimation/BugsBunny talks to [[BigBad Smoke]], Smoke calls Bugs a "cartoon", to which Bugs retorts that Smoke (who, in-universe, is a being produced by Michael's weed smoke) is ''also'' a cartoon, making it ambiguous as to just what is and isn't a cartoon in-universe, and how the human characters actually see them.
29	* AnthropomorphicVice: The character Smoke is the obvious embodiment of drugs.
30	* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hz1UaEVyoo#t=27m51s The ending credits version of "Wonderful Ways To Say No"]], which alters most of the lyrics to be about growing up and outgrowing cartoons.
31	* BigBad: [[TheAggressiveDrugDealer Smoke]] is the [[AnthropomorphicVice embodiment of drug addiction]] who gets Michael hooked on drugs and tries to stop the titular All-Stars from getting Michael to break his addiction. Then when Michael looks like he's gonna break his addiction, Smokes moves on to [[WouldHurtAChild Michael's little sister]].
32	%%* BigBrotherBully: Michael is implied to be one to Corey.
33	* BigBrotherInstinct: Michael finally wakes up to his problem when he sees Smoke trying to give pot to Corey and sends him packing.
34	* BlatantLies: In the beginning, Michael steals and breaks open Corey's piggybank to take the money for getting more drugs. When Corey catches him in the act, he said the piggybank fell and he was trying to fix it. She doesn't buy it for a second.
35	** When Michael gets cornered by who he thought were the police, he begs for mercy, saying that doing a joint "was just his first time and he'll never do it again".
36	** Bugs Bunny calls out Michael on why he started doing drugs, who replies because he wanted to and it was his choice. Bugs doesn't buy it and tests to see if that's true by using a time machine to go back into Michael's past when he started doing drugs. From what was seen, young Michael was goaded into it by his so-called "friends". Afterwards, Bugs calls Michael out again, asking if he can still say it was by his own choice, which he weakly defends that he didn't want them thinking he was a wimp.
37	* BodyHorror: Michael's breaking point comes somewhere between the journey through his own badly damaged brain and the point when it's revealed that he will eventually be so strung out on hard drugs, he will turn into a Freddy Krueger-esque zombie.
38	* BreakingTheFourthWall:
39	** The cartoon characters who did it in their own shows are just as unkind to the one between Michael and Corey's reality and ours.
40	** The Muppet Babies take Mikey on a trip inside of his own mind. There's a lightning storm going on, they're riding a roller coaster, and they tell him this is his brain on drugs. Gonzo looks at the camera and says it's just an artist's representation of it.
41	* CameraAbuse: Baby Piggy does a karate kick to the camera, which "breaks" it only temporarily, near the end of "Wonderful Ways To Say No".
42	* ChairReveal: ALF shows Michael "the man in charge" of his addiction by presenting him with a desk and chair, which turns around to reveal none other than Smoke. Michael says right before this that he's 'the man in charge' of his own life, with the implication he's let his addiction rule him.
43	* CoversAlwaysLie: [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981 Smurfette]] appears on the [[Platform/{{VCR}} VHS]] cover, but not in the special itself. Conversely, [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Michelangelo]] ''is'' in the special, but not on the cover.
44	* DisneyAcidSequence: Most of the special, ironically enough, is pretty surreal and the songs are no exception.
45	* DrugsAreBad: The entire special has an anti-drug message, and the cartoons tell Michael that drugs cause lightning storms in your brain and will leave you looking like a meth head by the time you are twenty.
46	* FutureMeScaresMe: Michael is scared of the vision by Daffy’s crystal ball showing him becoming a zombie-like heroin addict in a twisted futuristic hospital.
47	--> '''Michael:''' That’s… That’s me! This is my future?\
48	'''Daffy Duck:''' It is if you don’t get off those drugs!
49	* GoodAngelBadAngel: The "Cartoon All-Stars", who try to show Michael the negative effects of drug abuse, and Smoke, who tries to keep Michael addicted. And when the All-Stars start to get through to Michael, Smoke [[WouldHurtAChild goes after Corey...]]
50	* GrowingUpSucks: The ending song, where the characters sing about growing up and leaving cartoons behind.
51	* HeelFaceTurn: Michael, after being aloof to both Corey and the Cartoon All-Stars, finally realizes his mistake and vows to stop his addiction when he sees Smoke trying to convince Corey to use the drugs from his box.
52	--> '''Michael:''' Corey! Don’t you ever, '''EVER, ever''' do that stuff!\
53	'''Corey:''' But you did it!\
54	'''Michael:''' [[HeelRealization I was a dope… I was wrong…]]
55	* HumanFocusedAdaptation: Cartoons from several franchises band together but Michael is the protagonist/target of their care, with his sister Corey as the deuteragonist.
56	* {{Irony}}:
57	** Series/{{ALF}} serving as one of the key characters. It's very possible that there never would've been an ''ALF'' cartoon if the live-action TV series hadn't run as long as it did, which was mostly due to outrageous scripts written by a guy on drugs (the {{biopic}} ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_Midnight Permanent Midnight]]'' is more or less based on his relationship with drugs).
58	** A much lesser example is the appearance of the [[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Muppet Babies]]. There's a story that Creator/JimHenson once took LSD, not for kicks but out of hope that it might enhance his creative abilities. Less ironic when one considers that nothing happened and he never touched the stuff again.
59	* JumpOffABridgeRebuttal: Bugs Bunny asks this question to Michael in regards to all of his friends trying weed. When Michael doesn't answer, Bugs just says, "I guess you would. Not very bright... not very bright."
60	* {{Leitmotif}}: Pooh is accompanied by the theme song to ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' when talking to Corey.
61	* LittleBrotherIsWatching: Well, technically Little ''Sister'' Is Watching: What finally persuades Mikey to clean up is Corey reaching for his box of drugs.
62	* MarijuanaIsLSD: Even though the special sort of acknowledges that crack is a more "serious" drug than marijuana, it still sort of treats all drugs as the same and suggests that if Michael kept smoking weed, he'd have a zombie-like appearance and would have psychedelic effects in his brain. While being stoned ''can'' make you space out or look a bit out-of-it, it doesn't generally have effects that extreme.
63	* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: A complete list of which cartoon characters appeared in this special can be found on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon_All-Stars_to_the_Rescue Wikipedia]].
64	* MediumAwareness: Alvin and Bugs are fully aware that this is a cartoon.
65	* MonochromePast: Used when Michael goes back in time because, as WesternAnimation/BugsBunny tells him, "[[LampshadeHanging This is the past, and the past is in black and white]]. [[DontExplainTheJoke Get it]]?"
66	* OneSteveLimit: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. We have Michael and Michelangelo.
67	* OriginalGeneration: Michael and his family, Smoke, and Michael's "friends" aren't from an existing cartoon.
68	* ParentalObliviousness: Michael's mother talks to Corey about how worried they are about his behavior -- ''while'' their father is trying to find two cans of beer that have gone missing... ''and'' while ignoring their daughter who tells them that he's been acting strange. She, in turn, neglects to mention the theft of her piggy bank. Corey justifies this by telling Pooh that Michael will blame her if her parents find out.
69	* PoliticianGuestStar: UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, then President of the United States, provided a live-action introduction along with first lady Barbara. Other countries that aired this special had their own political leaders provide an intro.
70	* SatanicArchetype: Smoke is a being who embodies vice and temptation and drives Michael to self-destruction.
71	* ScareEmStraight: The special is practically a textbook example of attempting this trope. Lightning storms in your brain, zombie future, [[ArsonMurderAndJayWalking Bugs Bunny threatening you]]...
72	* SequelHook: The special ends with Michael throwing out Smoke, who says he'll be back. Michael and Corey respond by saying that if he does come back, then they'll be ready for him.
73	* SidelinedProtagonistCrossover: ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' are represented in this special by the nephews and Slimer respectively, with nary a sight of Scrooge and the then-four Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}.
74	* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: For whatever reason, [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Michelangelo]] does not appear on the VHS cover even though literally every other featured character is present.
75	* SlipperySlopeFallacy: The special gives the fallacious argument that if you do any drugs at all, you'll definitely become addicted, then you will ''almost'' definitely end up wanting harder drugs. This is partly based on the [[ScienceMarchesOn now-discredited]] "gateway drug" theory.
76	* SpaceWhaleAesop: The moral is "don't do drugs" and the execution adds "...because if you do, you'll have lightning in your brain, turn into a rule-breaking grump, cartoon characters will teach you, and if you keep doing them, you'll want to do harder drugs and/or end up looking like a zombie (or Freddy Kruger as ALF calls it), even if it all started with a mild drug like pot."
77	* ToxicFriendInfluence: Smoke and Michael's other friends were responsible for his drug addiction.
78	* TroubledAbuser: Near the film's climax, Michael threatens to hurt Corey and he grabs her arm very tightly while doing so. His actions may not be excusable, but at the same time he's struggling with drugs and feels out of resources. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone A tear comes out of his eye once Corey leaves]].
79	* VerySpecialEpisode: The U.S. government crafted this thing to be a very special episode for every cartoon they could come up with.
80	* VillainOfAnotherStory: Michael's so-called friends are also in need of help from the Cartoon All Stars.
81	* WeirdCrossover: The Smurfs + Ghostbusters + Garfield + ALF + Huey, Dewey, and Louie + Bugs Bunny + who knows what else?! Yeah, it's pretty peculiar.
82	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Who needs Smoke, or any of Michael's friends who got him into drugs? Smoke even bails on Michael before Bugs shows up and one of them, a blond girl in a black floppy hat even steals his wallet.

Context WesternAnimation / CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue