"There's a greedy little place not far away where the water flows like honey.
On a happy trail that winds through the forest, you might just find a Little Munchkee (Munchkee).
And Mr. Oak is always ready with a story that's very, very long, long, long (Sigh...).
And everybody always gets along (Well, almost always),
And everybody always gets along!
In Waterville, In Waterville,
It's a land of joy and a land of peace and harmony.
In Waterville, Waterville,
Where everybody always gets along, long, long.
Where everybody always gets along."
The Tales of Waterville is an obscure and downright bizarre computer animated mini-series that got its start as a Direct-To-Video movie that was released on VHS in 1997/1998 by Epic Entertainment under the name of "The Little Munchkees In The Tales Of Waterville".
In the movie itself, The Little Munchkees Oliver and Bliss and their friends Tubs (The living inflatable rubber boat), Goggles, Firefly, and Waterbug are thrust into saving their homeland of Waterville from the evil plans of Bonesy The Bad Guy (A top hat wearing mosquito with a hilariously terrible italian accent) and whichever cohorts he can get his hands on.
Aside from them, there is Mr. Oak who serves as the wise mentor of The Little Munchkees And Friends and is literally a living tree.
When The Tales Of Waterville saw a revival in 2002 as a duology of Direct-To-Video DVDs wth two episodes each and a quartet of books that are adapted from them, it had been given an edutainment overhaul: Bonesy The Bad Guy (and other bad guys), Mrs. Oak, Missy, Jake, and Waterbug are nowhere to found, the violence has been removed, and a few new characters have been added in: Drowsy the Possum, Coach Armadillo, and The Behavior Bees.
As mentioned before, it is hard to describe just how downright bizarre The Tales Of Waterville is even by Quirky Work standards, with graphics, settings, characters, animations, & voice acting that wouldn't be out of place in a Nintendo 64 Video Game, a Captain Obvious narrator whose inexplicable method of narration is done by way of either reusing footage of the events that the viewers already saw or showing footage of the events that the viewers have yet to see, and laughably stupid villains that have no common sense in spite of their brilliant-on-paper plans (just to name three examples).
With special thanks to SazerLite of Twitter & SkinnyV The Basement Archivist, this seemingly long-lost and forgotten 1997 movie is available for viewing on Youtube
and Archive.org for those who are interested. As for the DVD Duology, however, while there is a short video clip that proves of their existence, as shown here, they have yet to be uploaded online in full as of this writing.
For more information, take a look at this website: http://talesofwaterville.com/index.htm
And for those who are curious about its rather brief history, there is a link: http://talesofwaterville.com/page02a.html
This obscure work provides examples of:
- Bad Boss: Bonesy has nothing but contempt towards his underlings, even to the point of insulting them and refusing to apologize to them, which backfires when his mosquito henchmen fail to stop Firefly from escaping and ultimately don't bother to set Bonesy free when he is locked up and instead focus on saving their own hides as they run for their lives. Then again, he can be mean to Snark at times as well.
- Blue Boy, Pink Girl: Jake is a blue male dolphin and Missy is a pink female dolphin.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Bonesy SERIOUSLY should not have told Bliss nor Firefly about his evil Plan A in conquering Waterville, which involves poisoning its waters with Algae Grow. Then again, The Mosquito Captain should have known better than to tell Bliss nor Firefly all about it earlier either.
- Brother–Sister Team: The Little Munchkees Oliver and Bliss are siblings and share a strong bong together, especially when it comes down to keeping Waterville safe.
- Busy Beaver: The head beaver and his beaver companions help The Little Munchkees and their friends in destroying the dam, that Bonesy is using to dry up the rivers and ruin the festival (as his modus operandi for Plan B), and saving Waterville.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Surely the name "Bonesy The Bad Guy" should clue you in on how really rotten, evil, and insidious this fat, purple, top hat-wearing mosquito is, right?!
- Cheerful Child: Oliver, Bliss, Goggles, Tubs, Firefly, & Drowsy are really cheery and upbeat children.
- The Don: Thanks to his top hat and exaggerated Italian accent and penchant for letting out Evil Laughs, Bonesy The Bad Guy is more-or-less intended to be portrayed as a Laughably Evil parody of an Italian Mob Boss in the style of Don Vito Corleone, AKA The Godfather.
- Evil Laugh: All of the bad guys are prone to doing this, but Bonesy's evil laugh is just downright impressive for a shoestring-budget CGI movie!
- Evil Sounds Deep: Most shockingly, Goggles makes a really evil and demonic sounding "OR ELSE" when he demands that the last remaining mosquito henchmen give him and his friends the antidote blocks (which apparently has the exact same appearance as the bags of Algae Grow), which is even worse since he does it without changing his sad-eyed, happy-smile expression at that:Goggles: (In a quiet British accent) Pardon me sir, but would you kindly move over and let us through to get the antidote (abruptly changes into a loud and nightmarishly evil tone) OR ELSE??!!!
- Fat Bastard: Bonesy The Bad Guy is a fat purple mosquito and an especially nasty one at that.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: In the 3rd Act, Oliver and Bliss are helped by a blue dolphin named Jake and a pink dolphin named Missy in thwarting Bonesy's evil Plan C in taking over Waterville.
- Green Around the Gills: Bliss turns green and ends up becoming fatigued and when she gets poisoned by one of the mosquito henchmen (but not in the way that you'd expect in most cartoons involving mosquitos (see Shown Their Work below)).
- Hat of Authority: Bonesy The Bad Guy wears a black top hat that magicians wear to show that he is the Big Bad, despite the fact that Bonesy is not a magician himself.
- Laughably Evil: Bonesy The Bad Guy may be a really nasty piece of work, but his hilarious Italian accent and other silly qualities make him such a laugh riot.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator that is present in the 1997 movie can be rather unconventional in his speech at times.
- Minion with an F in Evil: The Army Ants who have been used by Bonesy to build the dam for his Plan B aren't actually evil as they are Just Following Orders and even go as far to abandon his evil plan when Bliss and Firefly spill some flower sap for them to enjoy as a distraction. Indeed, even the head beaver sees the ants as innocent civilians and the ants themselves lack the evil Tsurime Eyes that Bonesy and the other bad guys have.
- Mosquito Miscreants: Bonesy The Bad Guy, his Mosquito henchmen, and Snark are evil mosquitos who have been attempting to rule over Waterville with an iron fist.
- Mouth Flaps: For whatever reason, the mouths of the characters appear to be hand-drawn animated, and their mouth movements are just off the charts because of it. Jake, Missy, & The Behavior Bees avert this on the other hand by having actual computer generated mouths that match their models.
- Prima Donna Director: Snark, Bonesy's assistant who appears after the latter's first plan is foiled and helps him throughout the rest of the 1997 movie, looks like a movie director, has a soft Spanish accent, and is evil.
- Remember the New Guy?: At the beginning of Act 2, a new character named Mrs. Oak comes out of nowhere and is established as being a part of Waterville and the wife of Mr. Oak despite not making any appearances nor having any proper introductions beforehand and, more egregiously, being reduced to a one second cameo during the climax of Act 3.
- And the same can also be said for the dolphin siblings Missy and Jake as well; Oliver and Bliss mention how much they would love to see them during the events of Act 3, but we never even know where Jake and Missy come from and how they became friends with The Little Munchkees in the first place.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Bonesy is locked up when Oliver and friends foil Plan A, Bonesy's mosquito henchmen fly like hell and don't even bother to set him free.
- Shown Their Work: Surprisingly, for such an incredibly low-budget and obscure CGI Movie, there is a good number of examples that are remarkably accurate to what is portrayed in real life:
- In an unusual aversion to Insect Gender-Bender, all of the mosquitos in the 1997 movie appear to be male (judging by their voices) and are never seen biting anyone with their probosci, which is true and accurate in regards to male mosquitos in real life since only female mosquitos bite living beings; Therefore, one of the mosquito henchmen injects Bliss with a syringe full of poison that he is spontaneously carrying in his hand as a workaround method which turns her green (and Firefly would have likely suffered the same fate if she hadn't gotten away safely).
- In what is a Truth in Television example of the Stock Animal Diet trope near the end of the second act, The Army Ants love to consume flower sap, which is accurate in real life because Ants are known to be attracted to sugary nectar that is produced in flowers. This comes in handy when Bliss and Firefly lure said ants away from the dam (that they are forced by Bonesy to build) with the flower sap so that they can enjoy it while the beavers destroy the dam and ruin Bonesy's Plan B.
- The Triple Z Factor, which is found within the mushrooms that grow under Mr. And Mrs. Oak, is what Bonesy needs to make his Algae Grow indestructible for his Plan C; In Real Life, Algae and Fungi (the latter of which the Mushrooms are a major part of) have a mutually beneficial relationship known as a "Symbiotic Relationship"; Fungi provides shelter to the Algae whereas Algae provides nutrition to Fungi.
- Stupid Evil: For all his evil wickedness, Bonesy is a complete idiot, hence why his attempts in ruining and ruling over Waterville always fail. Aside from his own stupidity, Bonesy's problems that prove to be the ultimate downfalls to his plans wouldn't have even happened if he was a lot smarter and adapted a Crazy-Prepared mindset instead:
- Plan A:
- If Bonesy had never created the antidote to his algae grow in the first place, his plan to poison the waters of Waterville would have stayed successful and he and his mosquito henchmen would have made Waterville their new home for generations to come.
- Plan B:
- If Bonesy hunted down every last beaver in Waterville to extinction beforehand or at least used iron beams instead of wooden logs, his plan to dry up the water supply of Waterville and ruin the festival with a dam would never be foiled and (realistically) the beavers wouldn't be able to chew through iron like they can with wire and wood.
- Plan C:
- If Bonesy kept the bag of algae grow in his possession in the first place instead of burying it someplace else where Waterbug was able to find it and dig it up, the third time would have been the charm and he would have made an indestructible Algae Grow with the addition of the Triple Z Factor (from the mushrooms that Mr. And Mrs. Oaks unknowingly possess) and irreversibly poison the waters of Waterville.
- Speaking of which, considering that lots of mushrooms (especially giant ones) are clearly abundant in Waterville, had Bonesy just used any kind of shrooms that he could find and get his hands on instead of going through the trouble of getting the specific shrooms possessed by Mr. And Mrs. Oak, his plan to make the Triple Z Factor would have been less difficult for him and Snark.
- If Bonesy had the foresight to chop down Mr. And Mrs. Oak into firewood before any of this, and to make the concoction in a safe place where nobody will ever find him nor Snark, neither of the trees would disintegrate Bonesy's Triple Z Factor concoction with a breath of wind.
- Had Bonesy done the smart thing and popped Tubs to death with a needle even after Waterbug gives him the algae glow, there would have been one less enemy for him and Snark to worry about.
- Plan A:
- Sugar Apocalypse: What Bonesy's plans essentially amount to, given his plots to rule over and ruin Waterville.
- Sugar Bowl: As the narrator himself proclaims about Waterville in the cold opening that establishes the 1997 movie: It was a land where love, peace, happiness, fun, and (of course) water flowed abundantly.
- Tareme Eyes: The good guys usually sport sad-looking eyes despite having really happy smiles on their faces for the most part.
- Tsurime Eyes: The bad guys typically sport angry-looking eyes as a means of them being physically portrayed as bad guys.
- Uncanny Valley: While most of the characters sport cartoony looks that make them look rather pleasing to the eyes in spite of the dated CGI, the same cannot be said for the Behavior Bees, who sport creepier looking designs thanks to their more realistic eyes and mouths that make them stick out like sore thumbs and look like they belong in a CGI mockbuster made by Spark Plug Entertainment or Vídeo Brinquedo.
- Undying Loyalty: Snark is far more patient and faithful with Bonesy than the latter's henchmen ever were, being that he helps him escape after Plan A fails and plays a part in attempting to make Plans B & C successful (they end up failing of course, but points for trying) and escapes with Bonesy in tow and stays by his side at the end of the movie without even a slight hint of betrayal.
- Unexplained Recovery: Just before Oliver, Tubs, Goggles, & Firefly throw the antidote into the water to undo the algae poisoning done by Bonesy and his minions, Bliss is briefly shown to be blue again and the effects of the poison that have turned her green have apparently worn off. Bliss doesn't get back on her feet until after the antidote is put into Waterville's waters, however.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After Bonesy's Plan A fails and Bonesy is locked up in a cage, Snark comes out of nowhere to set him free and they escape on a Hot-Air Balloon. After Bonesy's Plan B fails and Bonesy and Snark attempt to escape again, however, Firefly pops their Hot-Air Balloon mid-flight and leaves them stranded in The Dark Forest.
- Water Source Tampering: Bonesy The Bad Guy's plans towards ruining and ruling Waterville are boiled down to this. Namely, Bonesy's 1st and 3rd attempts ultimately involve poisoning the water of Waterville with Algae Grow as an ulterior motive whereas the 2nd attempt involves him drying up all of Waterville with a dam as his modus operandi.
- We Will Meet Again: After Bonesy and Snark escape from Mr. Oak's grasp, the evil mosquito boss himself vows to get revenge on the Little Munchkees one day (which ultimately never came to pass thanks to the 2002 Retool):Bonesy The Bad Guy: There has to be a way to conquer Waterville...I will not accept defeat.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The 1997 VHS movie and the 2002 DVD duology are especially guilty of this:
- After the Mosquito henchmen turn tail and head for the highway after Bonesy's Plan A is foiled, and he himself is defeated and locked up, we never see them again for the rest of the movie.
- After the Evil Trees in the forbidden forest are defeated with an impossible riddle that Oliver uses against them, they suddenly chase after Oliver and Bliss...only to randomly vanish and disappear in thin air for the rest of the movie.
- Most egregiously, despite Bonesy The Bad Guy vowing to get even after he and Snark escape from Mr. Oak's grasp at the end of the 1997 movie, he and Snark are never to be seen anywhere in the 2002 DVD duology.
- When Trees Attack: In The Dark Forest lurks two evil hollowed trees, one male and one female, who have been hired as watchdogs for Bonesy's Plan B.
- White Sheep: The only inhabit of The Dark Forest who is outright friendly is Shortshack, who is ironically a hollowed tree just like the two evil trees that live there as well.
- Wise Tree: Mr. Oak serves as a wise oracle who oversees all of Waterville and is really smart and knowledgable.
- You Talk Too Much!: Mr. Oak is especially guilty of going into all sorts of long-winded speeches about this past, which are known to put The Little Munchkees and their friends to sleep.
