Lucky Rabbit's Feet

Lucky Rabbit's Feet (1-15)

Written by: Amy Wolfram

Storyboard by: Rossen Varbanov

Directed by: Timothy Björklund

Date of airdate: September 18th 2004

Synopsis: While Mr. Whiskers is too busy to care about his "lucky" feets or that Brandy teaching him about superstitions never be real, Gaspard just expect to got the rabbit's feets in his collection of lucks items.

P.S.: In the moment you tent to read this article, let me remind you a thing-- I haven't known anything about the "Brandy & Mr. Whiskers" 11-minutes segments before I tent to reviewing these. I haven't fully watched the show in years, but instead of the original english voice-cast, all I do remembered from the series was from the 2008s YouTube featuring the Spanish-dubbing cast version of the show. And albeit the series was finally remastered in HD and that did looked out better than before, the presentation was another victim of the rampant "Photoshopped" titles, those that are typical from most foreign newer prints of past shows like the way in 2020, a Post-production house has remastered the remaining of the Warner Bros. cartoons library with such dreaded results like this. For the need of this blog, we're fully compelling the show with the older, Standard version of the series, like the way it was originally created and made by what we have to do. Thank you!

Despite the superstitions theme been generally overused in countless cartoons since humanity is made, this is generally a tour-de-force for the animated TV series. Criminally underrated with many slapstick gags that for once, works and get many laughs.

The cartoon start when Brandy decorated her treehouse's window by some drapes with flowers between-in. Lola Boa helped her to it, but the canine's artistic taste left a lot to desired. Meanwhile, Mr. Whiskers can't stop to hop and hop in all the house by interrupted Brandy's chores to give the treehouse a certain fresh style.

The visual of Mr. Whiskers hopping and hopping is one of these parts that make the earliest of the series so magical to watch, at a time it was entirely new. Less than one year prior, the Season 3 Premiere of Braceface having the same "Superstitious" premise when Nina Harper, in her quest to gets the lead-role of a female version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Or it's a Mrs.?) makes all her superstitious temper keeped the best of her. But for a Dramedy series, this started to be a very long season, when it was muchly a generic cartoon series than what had embodied in the first place.

But in this, that does work because, not for the things we have seen before, but to its execution and the absurdity of this plot. Whiskers is convincing that his feets giving him chance and Brandy tried to teach him of all its supersitions fakery. That leads to very fun gags that anyhow, don't overstay its welcome. (In the other side, the obligatory toilet in Gaspard's cave is one that may ask why such things could ever existed.)

By trying to make the review and critique short, I tried to be the more clear at possible. In another scene, the pair seen a black jaguar for some reason. The canine's girl expect to prove to the rabbit that there is no such things of bad luck than... a black feline on the radar! The jaguar's movings made echoes to the bad luck cat's gag from the Tex Avery's upper classic Bad Luck Blackie or when Garfield become one in order to stop the TV host' cat hatred rantings in the very average Season 2's segment The Big Talker.

And then, Whiskers' brain, named Murray (Last seen in Funky Bunny) makes an appearence in this one, by proving all his importance in the Season 1's finale The Brain of My Existence. But why it does exists?

The central conflict between Whiskers' charm for a superstitious fluff and Brandy who trying to keep him track of all the dangers around him also does with quick memorable outings. The quicksand for example, is a little too similar to Mr. Whiskers' First Friend, but with directions that does best than from its predecessor. Then, the pair is snarked by piranhas where Whiskers swimming to the lake and the fishs started to swimming around and with him. But for Brandy, it's another thing.

Nobody could be sorry for the canine's aftermath, by be a refreshing change to seen a girl character gets some pains to what would be for a character's guy. But such mishaps would be more painful if the canine was on a series of lewds jokes, incests or abuses.

But a THIRD opponent by Gaspard start to shown his sneaky face all again. Often seen like the stock villain of the TV show, the gecko is also an avid collector of lucky items in this adventure. That would be the norm for future episodes when Gaspard will appear only for disturb our heroes in this corny cartoon. Like judging an impressive visual of his lucky collections seen below.

(By even removing horseshoes to a horse!)

Gaspard asked to his servants to grab the Mr. Whiskers' feets in order to keep his collection complete, but the monkeys knowns already that the rabbit feets smells like bad. After a long chit-chat with the three bad guys, Gaspard goes alone in the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest to deal with the rabbit to getting his lucky needs. It also goes with clever ideas like... a rabbits' feet massage? Amy Wolfram seems to having a fetish for feets by this one.

Gaspard deny to own it, by even disguise many times to carry the feets, but soon, he noticing that Whiskers' feets are awfully gross and stinky. (The visual of his ugly feets is very effective at this point.)

One of, if not, the possible greatest gag ever came out on this TV show would be the Luck-O-Meter bar (Like the 5 Minutes clock warning tag from a Season 3's Garfield and Friends TV segment) featuring in the below of the screen. It's only a shame that it didn't was exploited much further for the rest of the episode. Whiskers even ripped it like a boomerang before to comes to him after a series of suffering pains.

Back to the treehouse, Whiskers been exhausted of this long journey. Then, Brandy and Whiskers started to talk the same line in same time. The reverse of the tedency rear its ugly head again. She is impressed that Whiskers is getting luckier while the latter told her that it's just a piece of crap. And do you seen Brandy wear a watch? Why it didn't also be exploited more in this TV cartoon?

Gaspard and his servants are still in the chase for Whiskers' luckiest feets that aren't much anymore. Then, back to Gaspard's cave, it's paddled by an angry Brandy to Whiskers and Gaspard's addictions to luck items and while the canine tried to trick the gecko that supersitions are only fictional things. It's unpretentious, fun and also carrying it with lots of truth and by lots of absurdities that make work, even in the cartoondom world.

See the toilet written much earlier?

The episode ended usually with the pair returning back to their treehouse on a very beautiful rising sun on the jungle learning another lesson. For once, it's not that cloying or stupid. And you seen the twos falling directly to the quicksand. That just enough to came over with this thing.

Critique:

Underrated entry that proven that the magical touch of what makes the earliest of the TV series so fun to watch first was beyond the expectations of what could been known in most formulaic mid-00s TV Animation. The central focus of a general, classic old theme, superstition, is bringing back like anew, by never betray to what could be otherwise a very tiring cartoon plot. Whiskers is more and more amused to hop in the treehouse (Helped by a very effective camera moving to his hops) while Brandy do anything to calm him down with the "lucky rabbit's feets" crap is nowhere at revolutionnary, but still ingenious to keep them tracks that they are actually survivalists on the Amazon Rainforest and not TV actors. The Luck-O-Meter bar gag is finely one of the most staged parts when Whiskers runned away to Gaspard and the servant monkeys, when his lucks energy are getting lower and lower after each mishap. (By even pull the bar away like a boomerang before that return to him back) The quicksand gag however, found too much echoes from Mr. Whiskers' First Friend, but does in bolder directions than what is done from this predecessor. And of course, some little touches started to pull on Brandy like a more three-dimensional Furry character than she looked to be about (Her getting bite its finger by a full of piranhas by then, own an bandage. Her getting a watch, etc.) that it's impressive than it weren't explored more in the show, before and after. The resolution in the gecko's cave is also reminiscence of the first TV episode, by demonstrate that the Gaspard's addictions to his lucky items collections (When a visual of this is all the most fun and preposterous to look at!) is just baloney, like Brandy thrown salt away or breaking a glass mirror, but there's some streaks that pull nerves to the many Björklund-directed segments like Whiskers' brain Murray appeared in a quick shot or the infamous, obligatory potty humor joke involving a toilet in Gaspard's cave. Otherwise fun episode for the pair when the twos been pull by the quicksand callback on a beautiful rising sun visual in the Jungle makes the perfect caper for such of an ending.