Hit, Miss, or Inbetween: Martian Through Georgia

[Speedy Boris]

A Chuck Jones/Abe Levitow/Maurice Noble short from the end of 1962. Basically this alien is on a perfect planet and is bored due to all the perfectness, I guess. So he goes to Earth to impart his wisdom but predictably everyone is frightened of him and he's dejected. Just as he's about to commit suicide, he remembers that he's loved on his home planet and goes back. Hit or miss?

For me, it's a miss.

[tristar]

Wow. I haven't seen this short in years, I used to watch it on "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show". That aside, it's a hit. I liked the animation (but then again, I was a little kid who didn't know anything), I liked the plot, and overall, I liked the toon.

[Matt the Y]

I vote it a huge hit. I know it isn't that funny (and it isn't really intended to be) but makes an "impact" in a different way aside from that and the animation, I find, is actually quite good for a 1960's entry with some good dramatic "acting" on behalf of the Martian. The backgrounds are a bit over-stylized but when they're "toned-down" in portions, they're very pleasing and the overall content of the cartoon, in the end, is quite satisfying to me. I think it's definitely one of the best of Chuck Jones' 1960's cartoons.

[Alf]

Sorry to disagree, Speedy Boris, but to me, MARTIAN THRU GEORGIA is a hit, and the same could be said of Chuck Jones´other one-shot cartoons made during his last years at Warners (HIGH NOTE, NELLY´S FOLLY, I WAS A TEENAGE THUMB, NOW HEAR THIS, etc.). While no masterpieces like DUCK AMUCK or ONE FROGGY EVENING, I think that MARTIAN THRU GEORGIA and the other aforementioned cartoon are small gems, made at a period in which Jones was trying to do something different than his shorts starring Bugs, Daffy, the Road Runner or any other established Looney Tunes characters (As a matter of fact, HIGH NOTE, NOW HEAR THIS and NELLY´S FOLLY were nominated each for an Academy Award).
Despite the limited animation -something totally understandable if you bear in mind the period in which this cartoon was being made- the stylized production design by Maurice Noble is 'eye candy' and the story, while not going for belly laughs, is interesting and has a morale.
Later at MGM, and aside from his routine work there like continuning the TOM & JERRY series, Jones showed again that he had still more to say with his one-shot cartoons THE DOT AND THE LINE and THE BEAR THAT WASN´T. And what he had to say was really heard: the former made him finally win an Oscar.

[Speedy Boris]

^ I actually love "High Note". Easily one of my favorite 60s shorts to come out of WB. Memorable music, lots of mileage from just simple anthropomorphic musical notes, and plenty of personality. Most importantly, it was funny.

And as my previous avatar that I had for a while will indicate, I like "Now Hear This" as well. It was a strange cartoon but creative and, once again, funny.

So I have nothing against one-shot shorts, or trying something different. I just didn't feel Jones succeeded here.

[dandu]

I like the new age ideas and art but the cartoon just wasn't funny...So it's inbetween for me...

[Mr. Semaj]

The cartoon may not have been intended to be funny, but it has a theme that it easy to relate to, where one feels that the life they have now is worthless, but later realize that home is where the heart is.

So it's a hit.

[Marty26]

I voted in-between.

Last time I saw this cartoon was almost twelve years ago. And I remember almost nothing about it.

[Speedy Boris]

Am I the only one who had a problem with the perfect alien world? Wouldn't other aliens besides the title character wake up and realize that a perfect world is boring? There are no challenges to overcome, no drive to make things better- just sitting (and in their case, flying) around with no real goals. In theory, an imperfect world is a perfect world (much like Earth, really), because as humans we're always trying to improve the quality of life. The variety of life, the good and the bad, makes life interesting. I'm surprised the title character is the only one to realize this; it's like everyone else either knows this and doesn't care or is braindead.

I also have a problem with the ending- the alien is misunderstood by Earth and so he decides to give up his goal of imparting wisdom and improving the humans' way of life. The guy has no endurance or patience; he gets screamed at, captured once, and called a monster by a little boy. And he calls it quits, goes back to the safety of his home and accepts a bland life of perfection with his own kind? What kind of moral is that: We should all just quit whenever life gets remotely challenging? And on the other end of things, we should all just accept our life as it is and not try something new?

Also, the ending is way too simplistic. The alien goes home, apparently happy that he has people who appreciate him. But who's to say that once he gets back, he won't become apathetic again? The ending just leaves us with, "Oh yeah, he returned and lived happily ever after." Uh, no, it's never that simple.

I know, I'm probably thinking too much about it and should just take it at face value. But I can't help it; whenever I see something like this I start thinking in analogies.

[larriva9/11]

The problem with the later one-shots is not that they were "arty"; it's that they weren't terribly well suited for a WB kid's television context--thus, it's kind of inevitable that they'd muster up such divided opinion...

[Mr. Semaj]

Am I the only one who had a problem with the perfect alien world? Wouldn't other aliens besides the title character wake up and realize that a perfect world is boring? There are no challenges to overcome, no drive to make things better- just sitting (and in their case, flying) around with no real goals. In theory, an imperfect world is a perfect world (much like Earth, really), because as humans we're always trying to improve the quality of life. The variety of life, the good and the bad, makes life interesting. I'm surprised the title character is the only one to realize this; it's like everyone else either knows this and doesn't care or is braindead.

The character could've been an example of a misunderstood individualist, placed in a conformist utopia. Kinda like Brave New World, only no one is forced to believe anything.

I also have a problem with the ending- the alien is misunderstood by Earth and so he decides to give up his goal of imparting wisdom and improving the humans' way of life. The guy has no endurance or patience; he gets screamed at, captured once, and called a monster by a little boy. And he calls it quits, goes back to the safety of his home and accepts a bland life of perfection with his own kind? What kind of moral is that: We should all just quit whenever life gets remotely challenging? And on the other end of things, we should all just accept our life as it is and not try something new?

His only other option was suicide. That would've been the ultimate way out.

The reason he goes back to his planet is because he remembered the lady that was flirting with him (the same one from earlier he rejected rather harshly). His goal was to give her a second chance, with a slim possibility that he would have someone with common ground or someone to commiserate with after all (again, she was dumped hard).

Also, the ending is way too simplistic. The alien goes home, apparently happy that he has people who appreciate him. But who's to say that once he gets back, he won't become apathetic again? The ending just leaves us with, "Oh yeah, he returned and lived happily ever after." Uh, no, it's never that simple.

There are a lot of other cartoons with a more apparent example of the cheesy "accept the crap you get" resolution. In one way, they might be implying that no matter what life-changing event one goes thru, things eventually return to what caused the problem before.

Realistically, people have to overcome the same obstacles more than once in their life. Each time, whether one fails or succeeds, something new is learned for when the obstacle is revisited yet again.

I know, I'm probably thinking too much about it and should just take it at face value. But I can't help it; whenever I see something like this I start thinking in analogies.

Maybe, but hey, why do you think The Simpsons is being used in psychology departments at some universities? ;)

[BloodyChamp]

Miss - I appreciate the fact that they tried to be a little more serious in serious Chuck Jones fashion but it just didn't click. "Nobody will ever be bored there.." That was real deep :rolleyes: