The Day the World Got Really Screwed Up

1001 Animations: The Day the World Got Really Screwed Up

Show: The Angry Beavers
Episode: S2 E14
Year: 1997

Writer(s): Mitch Schauer

On October 30 of last year, the day before Halloween, our reality as we know it was invaded by an object from another dimension. An object from another dimension that feeds like an intergalactic moth that feeds upon the very fabrics of time and space.

 

What can I really say about this special? Not only is it what I consider the best episode of The Angry Beavers ever made, it is a LOVE LETTER to the B-movie loving, cheesy effects appreciating populace of nerds from around the globe and beyond! The Angry Beaversare what got me into B-grade horror films in the first place and helped broaden my horizons of movie loving in general helping me learn of people such as Roger Corman, Ray Harryhausen and other great special effects masters!

 

They basically took the ultimate B-movie from the 1950s and threw the Beavers right in there as the unwitting catalysts, right in the home of their favorite actor OXNARD MONTALVO! And they really did their research well, from the low budget looking animation of the villains and Oxnard's group, like they were ripped straight out of a 50s sci-fi comic book, to the redundant dialogue at times, to the fact that their lips don't completely match what they're saying right down to the gloriously hammy acting from each and every one of them! We've got the damsel in distress break her ankles 3 TIMES for crying out loud! This is how you use low budget looking animation and effects the right way, to make something as cheesy looking, yet as epic as possible! You can even see the wires coming off the main aliens tentacles!

 

And alongside the alien draining all of the color from the world to better emulate a cheesy sci-fi flick, we got stock footage of missile fighter planes helping the effort to fight back the monsters brought to life by this catastrophe! Oh yeah, the alien feeds off reality and imagination to grow larger, to grow stronger! This in turn allows the statues of every single monster from all of Oxnard Montalvo's movies to come to life as its servants, along with Oxnard's manservant, Mann Servante. The characters constantly lampshade just how cheesy and stupid this whole situation is, and y'know what? It works! We even have the narrator talking about how stupid this whole thing was in the credits; plus, he mentions just glancing over that script on the bus ride over to the studio!

 

What helps The Angry Beavers episodes like this one work so well is that the actors were given a comfortable environment to allow Nick Bakay and Richard Horvitz to better ad-lib their dialogue. This eventually became the norm for the show and the rest of the cast got in on it, making there dialogue feel more natural and not as scripted. Not quite retro-scripting like Rick and Morty, but close enough.

The Angry Beavers is owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom.

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