History WesternAnimation / DorbeesMakingDecisions

[[caption-width-right:350:"Dorbees, everywhere I look I see Dorbees..."]]

''Dorbees: Making Decisions'' is an obscure 1998 Christian DirectToVideo short film, created by the Gaither Vocal Band. The short film features two loosely-connected stories revolving around the titular "Dorbees": One about two children named Jack and Mary-Jane who ditch school to explore an old abandoned house, and the other about a foreigner named [[TheAhnold Otto]] trying to fit in with "the common folk" by going to a clothing store run by a 70's-obsessed Dorbee named "Dig". A third short revolving around a superhero duo named "Mr. Poe and Yogul" appears in-between the two.

''Dorbees'' was intended to become an ongoing series of tongue-in-cheek Christian cartoons in a similar vein to ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', but no other episodes were ever produced. However, the marginally more popular (but not by much) ''WesternAnimation/GaithersPond'' series, created by the same studio (and interestingly made a year before this film) could be seen as something of a SpiritualSuccessor to it.

!Tropes featured in ''Dorbees: Making Decisions'':

* ArtShift: ''Mr. Poe and Yogul'' uses CelShading to try and look like a comic book. [[SpecialEffectsFailure The keyword being "try".]]

** Delta doesn't really tell the stories of Jack and Mary Jane or Otto and Dig, and instead talks about {{Noodle Incident}}s that each story reminds him of (an encounter at the music store where the school now sits and a one-armed drummer, respectively) as the real stories fade in.
* BrokenAesop: All three plots we see have the "Making the right decisions" moral is broken in some way.
** Jack and Mary Jane: The right decision was meant to be for them to stay in school, but considering the teacher was giving them bad information (he says the sum of the sides of a triangle is 90 degrees; in reality, the sum of the ''angles'' is ''180'' degrees) and the school's security system flat out tries to kill them as soon as they step out of the classroom (nothing is done to establish that this system could tell the difference between kids intending to leave school and kids leaving the class for a legitimate reason, like to go to the nurse, the bathroom or being checked out), staying in that school probably wouldn't be the best decision either.
** Otto and Dig: The right decision was meant for Dig, to be honest, which he ultimately does...by telling Otto that he can't possibly make someone as ugly as he looks good, despite being the best clothing shop in town, and that Otto would be better off sticking to Scandinavian clothes rather than trying to integrate into the local fashion. Jeez. There's being honest, and then there's being unnecessarily blunt.

* {{Cephalothorax}}: All the Dorbees are this.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Flec, a hillbilly Dorbee is referred to as "crazy" by Delta for a good reason, his apparent MotorMouth and is incredibly random.
** Delta may seem as normal a Dorbee is, but the supposed joke is that he [[TalkativeLoon rambles about stories that have little to no point he was trying to make]] counts him as one of these. Delta calls Flec "crazy" because of his hyperactive behavior, when his ramblings make him seem like a {{hypocrite}}.

* DerangedAnimation: Even for its time, the animation of this thing is straight-up ''terrible''.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The newscaster believes Jack deserves to get stuck in a hole in a haunted house because he skipped school.
* EEqualsMCHammer: Mr. Oliver's lesson on triangles makes very little sense, even more so when he brings up "Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'s theory of gumstick tubing".
* FramingDevice: Delta introduces both of the stories to the viewer, before getting side-tracked and rambling about some unrelated story. Each segment also ends with a Dorbee watching them on TV before changing the channel
* FunnyForeigner: Otto, Mr. Poe, Yogul, and Dr. Dairy.
* HammerSpace: All Dorbees seem to be capable of pulling random objects out of their bodies, usually accompanied by an odd squelching sound.

** At the end of the segment, fake artist, album, and label information can be seen at the bottom, as if it were a music video for an actual song.

** Delta reminisces over an encounter at the music store that used to be where the school now is, as well as a one-armed drummer, both cut off by the actual stories.
* NoSympathy: The newscaster, after learning that Jack and Mary-Jane were injured in the haunted house, says they deserved it for skipping school.

* ReligiousEdutainment: At least, that's what they were going for...
* RougeAnglesOfSatin: During the ''Mr. Poe und Yogul'' theme song, when the lyrics are shown on screen "strongest" is spelled "srongest."
* RunningGag: Flec shows up at complete random (three out of four times breaking the laws of physics), and goes on a long rant about something he found at the general store for 59 cents, but somehow got for free.
* SelfDeprecation: Even the Dorbees seem to hate their very own existence during the theme song.

** The opening monologue is set to Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra.

** A brief image in Mr. Poe shows Poe facing off against several monsters. Two of these are clearly stock 3D models of Dracula and Frankenstein styled after the Universal Monsters versions.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: If you skip school, you'll get caught by a security system that sends traps after you, ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' style, the second you step out of the classroom.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Jack and Mary Jane are more impressed by a floating "astro-ball" than finding [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]] or [[StockUnsolvedMysteries Jimmy Hoffa]].

->''Dorbees... why don't they go awaaaaay!''

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Flec's two appearances last about 30 seconds each, and yet he somehow manages to change his train of thought about '''10 different times!'''

'''''Dorbees: Making Decisions''''' is an obscure 1998 Christian DirectToVideo short film, created by the Gaither Vocal Band. The short film features two loosely-connected stories revolving around the titular "Dorbees": One about two children named Jack and Mary-Jane who ditch school to explore an old abandoned house, and the other about a foreigner named [[TheAhnold Otto]] trying to fit in with "the common folk" by going to a clothing store run by a 70's-obsessed Dorbee named "Dig". A third short revolving around a superhero duo named "Mr. Poe and Yogul" appears in-between the two.

->''In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.\\

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Flec, a hillbilly Dorbee is referred to as "crazy" for a good reason, his apparent MotorMouth and is incredibly random.

* BrokenAesop: All three plots we see have the "Making the right decisions" moral broken in some way.

** Otto and Dig: The right decision was meant for Dig to be honest, which he ultimately does...by telling Otto that he can't possibly make someone as ugly as him look good, despite being the best clothing shop in town, and that Otto would be better off sticking to Scandinavian clothes rather than trying to integrate into the local fashion. Jeez. There's being honest, and then there's being unnecessarily blunt.

* DerangedAnimation: Even for its time, the animation of this thing is straight up ''terrible''.

* EEqualsMCHammer: Mr. Oliver's lesson on triangles makes very little sense, even moreso when he brings up "Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'s theory of gumstick tubing".

** A brief image in the Mr. Poe shows Poe facing off against several monsters. Two of these are clearly stock 3D models of Dracula and Frankenstein styled after the Universal Monsters versions.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Dorbees, everywhere I look I Dorbees..."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Dorbees, everywhere I look I see 'em, Dorbees..."]]

*** Maybe the other two were fakes...
*** And what reason did he have to believe the "Push to Free Yogul" button wasn't?

'''''Dorbees: Making Decisions''''' is a obscure 1998 Christian DirectToVideo short film created by the Gaither vocal band. The short film features two loosely-connected stories revolving around the titular "Dorbees": One about two children named Jack and Mary-Jane who ditch school to explore an old abandoned house, and the other about a foreigner named [[TheAhnold Otto]] trying to fit in with "the common folk" by going to a clothing store run by a 70's-obsessed Dorbee named "Dig". A third short revolving around a superhero duo named "Mr. Poe and Yogul" appears in-between the two.

''Dorbees'' was intended to become an ongoing series of tongue-in-cheek Christian cartoons in a similar vein to ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', but no other episodes were ever produced. However, the marginally more popular (but not by much) ''WesternAnimation/GaithersPond'' series, created by the same studio, could be seen as something of a SpiritualSuccessor to it.

** One of the outfits that Otto tries on is a (poorly-rendered) [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman]] costume.

-->--'''The introduction'''

* EEqualsMCHammer: Mr. Oliver's lesson on triangles makes very little sense, even moreso when he brings up "Series/MacGyver's theory of gumstick tubing".

** Jack and Mary Jane: The right decision was meant to be for them to stay in school, but considering the teacher was giving them bad information (he says the sum of the sides of a triangle is 90 degrees; in reality, the sum of the ''angles'' is ''180'' degrees) and the school flat out tries to ''kill them'' as soon as they step out of the classroom (nothing is done to establish that this system could tell the difference between kids intending to leave school and kids leaving the class for a legitimate reason, like to go to the nurse or the bathroom), staying in that school probably wouldn't be the best decision either.
** Otto and Dig: The right decision was meant for Dig to be honest, which he ultimately does...by telling Otto that he can't possibly make someone as ugly as him look good, despite being the best clothing shop in town, and that Otto would be better off sticking to Scandinavian clothes rather than trying to integrate into the local fashion. There's being honest, and then there's being unnecessarily blunt.

->''Dorbees... why don't they go awaaaaay!''

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Jack and Mary Jane are more impressed by a floating "astro-ball" than finding [[Franchise/ElvisPresley Elvis]] or [[StockUnsolvedMysteries Jimmy Hoffa]].

* TakeThatUs: Even the Dorbees seem to hate their very own existence during the theme song.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Jack and Mary Jane are more impressed by a floating "astro-ball" than finding Elvis or [[StockUnsolvedMysteries Jimmy Hoffa]].

* SelfDepreciation: Even the Dorbees seem to hate their very own existence during the theme song.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Jack and Mary Jane are more impressed by a floating "astro-ball" than finding Elvis or [[StockUnsolvedMysteries Jimmy Hoffa]].

** Jack and Mary Jane: The right decision was meant to be for them to stay in school, but considering the teacher was giving them bad information(he says the sum of the sides of a triangle is 90 degrees; in reality, the sum of the ''angles'' is ''180'' degrees) and the school flat out tries to ''kill them'' as soon as they step out of the classroom (nothing is done to establish that this system could tell the difference between kids intending to leave school and kids leaving the class for a legitimate reason, like to go to the nurse or the bathroom), staying in that school probably wouldn't be the best decision either.

''Dorbees'' was intended to become an ongoing series of tongue-in-cheek Christian cartoons in a similar vein to ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', but no other episodes were ever produced. However, the marginally more popular (but not by much) ''Gaither's Pond'' series, created by the same studio, could be seen as something of a SpiritualSuccessor to it.

Live...the Dorbees!''\\

* Cephalothorax: All the Dorbees are this.

-->'''The introduction'''

Live...the Dorbees!\\''
-->--'''The introduction'''

** Jack and Mary Jane: The right decision was meant to be for them to stay in school, but considering the teacher was giving them bad information(he says the sum of the sides of a triangle is 90 degrees; in reality, the sum of the ''angles'' is ''180'' degrees) and the school flat out tries to ''kill them'' as soon as they step out of the classroom(nothing is done to establish that this system could tell the difference between kids intending to leave school and kids leaving the class for a legitimate reason, like to go to the nurse or the bathroom), staying in that school probably wouldn't be the best decision either.