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"'Grandpa!' I shouted. 'Be careful! Oh, gee!
Who's going to drop it?
Will you...? Or will he...?'
'Be patient,' said Grandpa. 'We'll see.
We will see...'"
Who's going to drop it?
Will you...? Or will he...?'
'Be patient,' said Grandpa. 'We'll see.
We will see...'"
— Grandson Yook
The Butter Battle Book isn't considered one of Dr. Seuss's darkest works for nothing.
- The "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo": a bean that can fit in the palm of one's hand capable of causing an Earth-Shattering Kaboom, both sides in an utterly pointless war have one, and it all comes down to who drops theirs first. When it comes time to drop it, the story just stops. The book ends with Grandpa and Van Itch in a standoff, each with their own, and the grandson watching in fear that one of them will drop it, which is exactly the point. To make it even more horrifying, it's a metaphor for the Cold War.
- The entire sequence that we see in the animated adaption has a Mad Scientist feel to it, and the singer explicitly states that the material it's made out of is found deep below the land, and they barely comprehend it... yet they feel perfectly comfortable, even cocky, making a weapon out of it.
- The animated version shows its creation as a creepy musical number, complete with blacklight-esque colors. It starts with red goo that comes to life and moves some controls around, and even features split-second glimpses of ghosts and snakes. The gravelly, Tom Waits-esque voice singing the accompanying song is also unsettling when combined with these eerie visuals.
