Western Animation / The Moo Family Holiday Hoedown

The Moo Family Holiday Hoedown is a 1992 animated Christmas special that was animated by Calico Entertainment.

The special followed the eponymous Moo Family, a musical family comprised of anthropomorphic cows, who find themselves having to save Christmas when Santa Cow's top pilot, Chuck Steaker, crashes his turbo sleigh right on the stadium that they were performing on. The Moo Family consisted of patriarch Daddy Moo, matriarch Momma Moo, Grandpa and Grandma Moo, and the children, teenagers T-bone and Patty Moo and infant Baby Moo. Recurring gags of the special included Daddy Moo's disapproval of T-bone's use of amplifiers, Baby Moo constantly trying to retrieve her baby bottle, and Chick Bantam, a chicken, serving as MC for the show.

Calico Entertainment, the company responsible for this special, also created Widget the World Watcher, Mr. Bogus, and Twinkle The Dream Being, as well as the animated Bubsy pilot.

This special provides examples of:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The turbo sleigh is blatantly animated with computer graphics when it is seen rotating at its unveiling.
• The Ace: Chuck Steaker, Santa Cow's top sleigh pilot.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: The entire main cast, with the exception of Chuck Steaker, who is a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal.
• Big "WHAT?!": Santa Cow's reaction to Chuck Steaker's comment that it's their first time testing the sleigh;
  Santa Cow: Yes, ha ha ha ha, and as Chuck said, this will actually- WHAT?!? Reverse time out! What are you?!? Nuts?!?
• Butt-Monkey: Daddy Moo keeps getting hurt for comedic effect.
• Christmas Special: This was a one-shot animated Christmas special.
• Cranial Eruption: Daddy Moo ends up getting two lumps on his head after getting hit by a bunch of bells after the prop Christmas tree falls on him.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Daddy Moo's reaction upon learning that Grandpa Moo was bringing the auto-moo-bile to the stadium is to become shocked after realizing what's happening.
  • Also earlier, when Santa Cow realizes that the turbo-sleigh wasn't tested like he thought it was, and it was about to go up on live TV.
• Drives Like Crazy: Grandpa Moo, to the point that Daddy Moo is horrified to learn that he's driving the auto-moo-bile to the stadium.
• Funny Animal: The entire cast consists of anthropomorphic cartoon animals.
• Glad I Thought of It: Daddy Moo reacts this way upon hearing Chuck Steaker agreeing with T-bone's idea of using the amplifiers to help repair the sleigh, suddenly claiming to always find amplifiers useful when he earlier dismissed them as useless.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Seeing that the cast of the special is comprised mostly of anthropomorphic cows, most of the idioms are as follows;
  • ^Cow  Hawaii
  • "^Bull  Bodacious!"
  • "^Steer  Terr riffic!"
  • "My favorite ^moo  mussical family!"
  • ^Mule  Yuletide
  • "I'm putting my ^hoof  foot down!"
  • "Keep your ^horns shirt on, don't have a ^human  cow, man!"
  • Trans^moo  mogrified
  • "^Hay  Mayday!"
• Horsing Around: Melvin the mustang, despite being a puppet controlled by Chick.
• Hurricane of Puns: You better have an exceptionally high tolerance of cow puns.
• Improbable Infant Survival: Baby Moo, despite putting herself in danger to try and retrieve her baby bottle, survives with no injuries.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Daddy Moo reacts with shock before a prop Christmas tree falls on top of him while trying to save Baby Moo.
  • Chuck Steaker reacts this way when the sleigh breaks down while he is test driving.
  • Daddy Moo gets another one before the amplifier that Baby Moo was sitting on falls on top of him.
• The One Who Wears Shoes: Momma Moo is the only one of the Moo Family to wear shoes.
• Pretentious Pronunciation: Dr. Albert Holstein insists that his name is pronounced "Hol-stine" and not "Holsteen".
• Punny Name: A cow version of Albert Einstein (here named Albert Holstein), makes an appearance.
• Santa Claus: He appears here as Santa Cow.
• Saving Christmas: The special revolves around the Moo Family helping Santa Cow and Chuck Steaker after their sleigh crashes.
• Techno Babble: Albert Holstein indulges in overcomplicated terminology.
• Title Drop: Chick says the special's name at the beginning and end of the special.
• X-Ray Sparks: Daddy Moo gets electrocuted and has his skeleton made visible after tripping on some wires after an amplifier falls on his head.

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