La Linea ("The Line") is a series of Italian shorts created by Osvaldo Cavandoli that aired from 1969 to 1986. American viewers may recognize it from The Great Space Coaster. It focuses on a stick figure man known as Mr. Linea, who is subjected to antics either by his animator or by his own doings.
La Linea provides examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: Apart from the various cartoon-violence mishaps that befall Mr. Linea, there is an episode that ends with Mr. Linea being taken out in an explosion, and when the cartoonist's hand comes on screen to write "FINE" it's burned and swathed in bandages.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In a couple of episodes, Mr. Linea is confronted by one, but only its foot is seen.
- Author's Retaliation: Happens on occasion in when the cartoonist becomes fed up with Mr. Linea's Hair-Trigger Temper. He will draw what appears to be the solution to Linea's current problem, only for it to turn out to be a Booby Trap.
- Bilingual Bonus: Although Mr. Linea constantly speaks gibberish, occasionally an Italian or English word will slip in.
- Black Comedy Rape: Eros Linea has an elephant suck on Mr. Linea's nose with its trunk, and later he is raped by the devil and inflated into a balloon.
- Butt-Monkey: The entire premise of nearly every short is Mr. Linea being tormented by his surroundings and even directly by Cavandoli himself sometimes.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Most of the shorts end with these.
- Hotter and Sexier: The special episodes La Sexilina and Eros Linea.
- Jerkass: Mr. Linea often gets into trouble due to bullying other people and animals. In some cases where he's romantically involved, he ditches his love interest if he's found someone more attractive or if she had children with him.
- Metaphoric Metamorphosis: In one episode, the cartoonist draws a lion in Mr. Linea's path, which roars at him. After he recovers from the initial shock, Mr. Linea responds by roaring back, which causes the lion to transform into a mouse and run away in fear.
- Product Placement: The series originally began as commercials for Lagostina cookware, with the products advertised at the end of each episode. Mr. Linea has also been in ads for the now-defunct Kaupthing Bank and Ford C-MAX hybrid cars.
- Signature Laugh: Mr. Linea's "Pffffffft HA HA HA HA HA HA".
- Speaking Simlish: This was done so the shorts could be broadcast throughout Europe and the world without dubbing.
- The End: Early episodes write in the word "FINE", variations included "ENDE" or "FIN". Sometimes there was post-text action, such as a character being upset about an unresolved situation. The later episodes instead have the hand drag away the scene.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Episode 224 has Mr. Linea using a flute to befriend animals and fight off a hunter. It ends with him happily walking away with the animals while playing the flute once more.
