Reading the Highways in Movies thread got me to thinking about cartoon episodes that featured a highway-related theme.
While there have been some cartoon series (pre 1960s Road Runner shorts, 1960s Wacky Races, and 1970s Speed Racer among them) that used roads and highways as their setting in every episode, I'm thinking more of specific episodes of cartoons.
Some examples that immediately come to mind:
No Parking Hare (Bugs Bunny)
Snuffy Hits the Road (Snuffy Smith)
These cartoons deal with the issue of highway construction disrupting Bugs' and Snuffy's property.
Baffled Bear (Yogi Bear)
This cartoon has Yogi stranded in the middle of a highway interchange that was constructed while he was in hibernation.
Freeway Patrol (Huckleberry Hound)
This cartoon features Huck as a bumbling highway patrol officer.
Disney's Motor Mania with Goofy predicted the "road rage"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAZ_xu0DCg
and who didn't saw "Freewayphobia" during driving lessons?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZR7sWMSAo
And speaking of driving lessons, there was jokes about women driving a car and today no studio wouldn't produce a cartoon of that kind like Popeye did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udu_EdD5apE that cartoon got a color remake titled "Car-Azy Drivers" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IobnxIhunf0
The anime "You're Under Arrest" was a sort of Japanese counterpart to CHiP's.
Commencing on-topic Simpsons references...
Who could forget Springfield's "Matlock Expressway"?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20101016125260%2Fsimpsons%2Fimages%2F0%2F00%2FMatlock_expressway.png&hash=10803aaf06f2b8ed28c39d4a9825cb5207599af6)
Or Ye Olde Offramp Inn?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20100421162116%2Fsimpsons%2Fimages%2F8%2F8b%2FYeoldeofframpinn.JPG&hash=04690ad104196b696049ed6ac7b23dcb77c2ee5e)
Some sign humor from a John Swartzwelder episode:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20120108220821%2Fsimpsons%2Fimages%2F7%2F7d%2FHighwayp.jpg&hash=81ab87af0302915cd513b71fb01cd1ec55460b47)
I don't remember the Popeye cartoons mentioned here, but I do recall "Bridge Ahoy", where Popeye, Olive, and Wimpy decided to build a bridge to compete with Bluto's ferry.
Never really got into Disney cartoons growing up, as I found Warner Brothers' and Jay Ward's characters to be much funnier. And the driving school I attended (summer 1978) chose not to show us "Freewayphobia." For that matter, they chose not to show us "Death on the Highway" either, substituting a far tamer Ohio State Patrol safety film titled "Signal 30" instead.
And I'd forgotten about "Ye Olde Off-Ramp Inn" (now 97% rat free).
Quote from: triplemultiplex on October 21, 2013, 07:43:26 PM
Some sign humor from a John Swartzwelder episode:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20120108220821%2Fsimpsons%2Fimages%2F7%2F7d%2FHighwayp.jpg&hash=81ab87af0302915cd513b71fb01cd1ec55460b47)
Are you sure that a sign like this isn't posted somewhere in the middle of the I-95/I-93 Randolph (MA) to Wellesley (MA) "add-a-lane" project, which MassDPW first announced when I entered junior high school in 1974.
In The Rugrats Movie, the truck the babies are in is said to have crashed "off of I-99". In one shot a narrow windy mountain road with an I-99 shield is visible.
The movie came out about a year before the first actual I-99 signs went up, so they probably chose it as an intentionally fake number. Little did they know...
In before Wacky Races.
In the South Park episode about people from the future traveling back in time to the present and taking people's jobs, the point where the "goobacks" came through was near I-285 (a sign was shown), which I believe was a two-lane highway. Since it's set in Colorado, I assume it's meant to refer to US 285.
^^ US285 runs through South Park
Quote from: english si on October 22, 2013, 06:33:55 AM
^^ US285 runs through South Park
And let's not forget the I-570 that was featured in a fictional script for the show:
http://www.kurumi.com/roads/southpark.html
Quote from: wxfree on October 21, 2013, 11:51:32 PM
In the South Park episode about people from the future traveling back in time to the present and taking people's jobs, the point where the "goobacks" came through was near I-285 (a sign was shown), which I believe was a two-lane highway. Since it's set in Colorado, I assume it's meant to refer to US 285.
I think this also exists in the episode where Cartman and Kyle go to Los Angeles on their big wheels, but in this episode I-285 is actually a freeway.
285 was shown as a divided highway in the South Park 7th season episode "Goobacks", but with an interstate shield, just to clarify. They later had a family of future Americans sprinting across the entire highway.
The big wheel chase with Kyle and Fatass was from "Cartoon Wars part 1" in season 10.
when they cycle their big wheels, I'm pretty sure that 'I-285' isn't a freeway, and there's a cut before showing them on the freeway.
Not necessarily a highway, but the road where the Wacky Arm Inflatable Emporium is in Family Guy is a little bit of a stretch. In the cartoon, it's on Route 2 in Weekapaug. Route 2 is a noted retail strip, especially through the southern edge of Cranston and Warwick. Weekapaug does exist, but it's a district in the easternmost part of the town of Westerly. RI 2 does come close to there, but it ends at US 1 in the town of Charlestown about 5 miles east of where Weekapaug is. Of course, Weekapaug is pretty significant for Phish fans too.
Another South Park highway is the 12-lane one the Native Americans wanted to build through South Park to get Denverites to their casino, demolishing the entire town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Man%27s_Greed).
Route 66 in Disney/Pixar's Cars. Route 66 was also in the Grand Canyon episode of Rugrats.
The is more of an oblique reference, but the "Musta taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque" gag had its routes in the relatively frequent realignment of Route 66 through that town. There was a single intersection that, depending on when you got there, would send you left, right, or straight to continue on Route 66, and if you followed your map and not the signs, you were likely to end up Lord-knows-where.
(Note that the last assertion is apocryphal; anyone got the facts on that one?)
I couldn't find a video of it on YouTube but Bill Cosby's infamous Chcken Heart story skit in the 70s cartoon, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids makes reference to & shows it (the Chcken Heart) eating up the New Jersey Turnpike.
Quote from: ilvny on October 27, 2013, 06:56:39 PM
Route 66 in Disney/Pixar's Cars. Route 66 was also in the Grand Canyon episode of Rugrats.
There is some speculation on fan sites that there's a third installment in the works that will feature old U.S. 99.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 28, 2013, 04:35:26 PMThere is some speculation on fan sites that there's a third installment in the works that will feature old U.S. 99.
Wasn't
Planes the third one?
You mean the franchise reboot (like Spiderman): after a mediocre first film and two dire sequels, but a thriving toy market - they need to keep selling toys but regain the Pixar name tarnished by McQueen and his buddies...
Quote from: PHLBOS on October 28, 2013, 04:32:04 PM
I couldn't find a video of it on YouTube but Bill Cosby's infamous Chcken Heart story skit in the 70s cartoon, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids makes reference to & shows it (the Chcken Heart) eating up the New Jersey Turnpike.
The original audio skit (from the album Wonderfulness) is IMO far funnier than the cartoon version was - I still listen to it every Halloween night - and yes, with the lights off.
Quote from: hubcity on October 27, 2013, 08:26:02 PM
The is more of an oblique reference, but the "Musta taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque" gag had its routes in the relatively frequent realignment of Route 66 through that town. There was a single intersection that, depending on when you got there, would send you left, right, or straight to continue on Route 66, and if you followed your map and not the signs, you were likely to end up Lord-knows-where.
(Note that the last assertion is apocryphal; anyone got the facts on that one?)
It's actually "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque" - one of Bugs Bunny's most famous lines.
Quote from: english si on October 28, 2013, 05:07:34 PM
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 28, 2013, 04:35:26 PMThere is some speculation on fan sites that there's a third installment in the works that will feature old U.S. 99.
Wasn't Planes the third one?
You mean the franchise reboot (like Spiderman): after a mediocre first film and two dire sequels, but a thriving toy market - they need to keep selling toys but regain the Pixar name tarnished by McQueen and his buddies...
I thought "Planes" was considered more of a 'spin-off.'
Apparently Planes was more of a 'fuck-off'.
"Planes" was a spin-off by Disney in which Pixar was not involved.
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 30, 2013, 04:55:27 PM
"Planes" was a spin-off by Disney in which Pixar wasn't involved.
Which makes NE2's comment make perfect sense...
Quote from: NE2 on October 28, 2013, 06:26:18 PM
Apparently Planes was more of a 'fuck-off'.
I still fail to see where Cars (the original one) is all that bad. Maybe compared to most of the Pixar films, but it's still better than most of the other animated tripe out there.
Cars was John Lasseter's pet project. He's a car guy, he wanted a movie with cars. And U.S. 66, because he likes that too. It received mixed reviews but in the end it was pretty good, IMO.
I... don't know what exactly happened with Cars 2. I think that they realized how successful Cars was, especially with merchandise. I guess that they wanted to capitalize on that and hurried to make a second one to keep the momentum. (They also made a bunch of animated shorts for TV prior to that.) They also focused on Mater (the annoying uneducated redneck rusty tow truck character) presumably because he turned out to be more popular than Lightning (main character in the first movie) with the audience. The end result was a film that just didn't have the depth of other Pixar movies, and reviews showed it. Pixar has been known to make movie sequels "grow up" somewhat with the audience of the first one, which may explain why it has more action and a lesser "cute" factor. However, generic ugly (unless you like AMC Gremlins and solid hubcaps on electric cars) one-dimensional villains is something that is unusual from Pixar, and is what killed it in my opinion. That, and torturing what looks like a Mustang.
I haven't seen Planes. The consensus seems to be that it proves that Disney can't compete with Pixar, but it's cute nonetheless. NE2's comment does make sense. :p
Cars 3 is only a rumor (although a voice actor apparently did leak it; I haven't listened to the interview though), and if it is in the works and does happen on U.S. 99, then I guess it might be an attempt to fix the Cars 2 "mess."
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 31, 2013, 11:08:21 AMI... don't know what exactly happened with Cars 2. I think that they realized how successful Cars was, especially with merchandise. I guess that they wanted to capitalize on that and hurried to make a second one to keep the momentum.
Five years doesn't sound like much of a hurry (but, I'm not aware of the development timeline; it could have been 12 months for all I know), but I think they made a movie for kids, gearheads, and race car-nerds, but a bit of a shallow effort otherwise. There's nothing really in it for the roadgeek, unless there's some aforementioned overlap. They'd basically exhausted most of the good ideas (isn't that always the case when a fart joke is used?), so if there's a third movie, it's either 20-25 years from now to capitalize on nostalgia, or an even more awful direct-to-video effort. It seems every movie is created with eventual concept of it becoming a trilogy nowadays...
QuoteI haven't seen Planes. The consensus seems to be that it proves that Disney can't compete with Pixar, but it's cute nonetheless.
Me neither; my son's all into planes now, so we'll probably rent it around its Christmastime box release.
(With all the cartoons I've watched, somehow I can't come up with a highway-in-a-cartoon post? What gives, brain?)
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 28, 2013, 04:35:26 PM
Quote from: ilvny on October 27, 2013, 06:56:39 PM
Route 66 in Disney/Pixar's Cars. Route 66 was also in the Grand Canyon episode of Rugrats.
There is some speculation on fan sites that there's a third installment in the works that will feature old U.S. 99.
I'm hoping it's a prequel: show us what happened between the reign of humans, the extinction of humans, and the takeover of the Cars. Some say this movie has already been made (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091499/). But I think Pixar could do it better.
"You have to watch Episodes 4, 5, and 6 before you can watch Episodes 1, 2, and 3."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of."
The Harrisons (Pawn Stars) discussing Star Wars.
"[George Lucas] is f-ing with us numerically - "Children, let us count up to ten: four, five, six, one, two, three, ten." "
Eddie Izzard
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 31, 2013, 11:08:21 AMI haven't seen Planes.
Surely you have seen Airplane.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstream1.gifsoup.com%2Fview4%2F3227064%2Fand-don-t-call-me-shirley-o.gif&hash=a266083250f39a86db1ca41446d8401e12200cda)
Quote from: webfil on November 01, 2013, 05:09:08 PM
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 31, 2013, 11:08:21 AMI haven't seen Planes.
Surely you have seen Airplane.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstream1.gifsoup.com%2Fview4%2F3227064%2Fand-don-t-call-me-shirley-o.gif&hash=a266083250f39a86db1ca41446d8401e12200cda)
Yes I have, and stop calling me Shirley.
Quote from: Brandon on November 01, 2013, 05:11:38 PM
Quote from: webfil on November 01, 2013, 05:09:08 PM
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 31, 2013, 11:08:21 AMI haven't seen Planes.
Surely you have seen Airplane.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstream1.gifsoup.com%2Fview4%2F3227064%2Fand-don-t-call-me-shirley-o.gif&hash=a266083250f39a86db1ca41446d8401e12200cda)
Yes I have, and stop calling me Shirley.
Roger!
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on November 01, 2013, 05:19:49 PM
Quote from: Brandon on November 01, 2013, 05:11:38 PM
Quote from: webfil on November 01, 2013, 05:09:08 PM
Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on October 31, 2013, 11:08:21 AMI haven't seen Planes.
Surely you have seen Airplane.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstream1.gifsoup.com%2Fview4%2F3227064%2Fand-don-t-call-me-shirley-o.gif&hash=a266083250f39a86db1ca41446d8401e12200cda)
Yes I have, and stop calling me Shirley.
Roger!
What? Over!
This appeared in the new (2012) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5553/15129296278_06ef8056bf_h.jpg)
Kind of messed up, isn't it?
Quote from: bzakharin on September 21, 2014, 09:41:54 PM
This appeared in the new (2012) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5553/15129296278_06ef8056bf_h.jpg)
Kind of messed up, isn't it?
Indeed, but I believe there is an I-87 BGS somewhere that closely matches the inverted-T-shaped one in this shot.
Quote from: Thing 342 on September 22, 2014, 10:34:58 PM
Indeed, but I believe there is an I-87 BGS somewhere that closely matches the inverted-T-shaped one in this shot.
There is, but not quite matching the content of the TMNT one:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alpsroads.net%2Froads%2Fny%2Fi-87%2Fn10.jpg&hash=c35c685a038e5ce1f1dfefb77ba37932e6bd6a54)
From Alpsroads.netThere's also:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alpsroads.net%2Froads%2Fny%2Fi-87%2Fnn7.jpg&hash=413e564713b98a5585561c71d8959cb9c18d63de)
From Alpsroads.net
I thought the distance sign was real if misplaced, because the relative distances are plausible, but
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1218612,-75.2301812,3a,75y,326.28h,87.07t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sgvFIdFMs7HNSBtuymGJIEA!2e0
not quite
If we are including Supermarionation,
I get a real kick out of Penelope's big pink car on Thunderbirds. Road scenes are always shot perpendicular to direction of travel.
Quote from: Molandfreak on October 22, 2013, 09:40:23 PM
Quote from: wxfree on October 21, 2013, 11:51:32 PM
In the South Park episode about people from the future traveling back in time to the present and taking people's jobs, the point where the "goobacks" came through was near I-285 (a sign was shown), which I believe was a two-lane highway. Since it's set in Colorado, I assume it's meant to refer to US 285.
I think this also exists in the episode where Cartman and Kyle go to Los Angeles on their big wheels, but in this episode I-285 is actually a freeway.
That Big Wheel chase en route to L.A. looks like it took place along I-70 near Grand Junction. Both my wife and I said that that freeway chase scene looked very familiar.
And the hospital seen in many South Park episodes looks alot like the real hospital in Glenwood Springs.,
Quote from: roadman on October 21, 2013, 07:10:19 PM
Some examples that immediately come to mind:
[...]
Baffled Bear (Yogi Bear)
This cartoon has Yogi stranded in the middle of a highway interchange that was constructed while he was in hibernation.
The Yogi Bear short "Rah Rah Bear" had Yogi making a road trip to the Chicago Bears-New York Giants game. There was a brief segment which showed shields for "Wyoming 26", "Nebraska 30", and "Iowa 6" -- all real US highways that run through those states -- plus Illinois 7, a real state highway.
The video is here (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy2935_yogi-bear-28-rah-rah-bear_fun); the segment in question starts around 2:00 in.
There's a good CGI Welcome to Ohio sign in Disney's Bolt
Wasn't there an old cartoon (Car of Tomorrow?) where a guy was stuck on an interchange, kept going back to the same guy to tell him how to get off the freeway, then in the end, we find out the guy from which he was asking directions had actually given up trying to get off and opened a hot dog stand?
This afternoon I was watching The Amazing World of Gumball with my little brother. I very rarely watch the show (LOL Idek most of the characters' names, but anyways) so I can't tell you what episode it was, but in the middle of the episode the characters were on the road, and there was actually some BGS pretty impressive for the type of show it is. http://prntscr.com/4qave2
Here's the best shot: http://prntscr.com/4qb1vf I give credit that the shields are correct (for America that is), but the numerals aren't all that great, lol. Still very impressive considering the kind of show The Amazing World of Gumball is.
Quote from: Jardine on September 23, 2014, 07:24:49 PM
If we are including Supermarionation,
I get a real kick out of Penelope's big pink car on Thunderbirds. Road scenes are always shot perpendicular to direction of travel.
Not to mention the episodes "End of the Road", where IR had to rescue a contractor who got stuck on a collapsing road in a monsoon, and "Day Of Disaster", where IR had to rescue the crew of a space rocket that fell into a river when a suspension bridge collapsed.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 25, 2014, 11:27:42 AM
Wasn't there an old cartoon (Car of Tomorrow?) where a guy was stuck on an interchange, kept going back to the same guy to tell him how to get off the freeway, then in the end, we find out the guy from which he was asking directions had actually given up trying to get off and opened a hot dog stand?
I remember this cartoon. I don't recall the title...
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on September 25, 2014, 05:47:31 PM
This afternoon I was watching The Amazing World of Gumball with my little brother. I very rarely watch the show (LOL Idek most of the characters' names, but anyways) so I can't tell you what episode it was, but in the middle of the episode the characters were on the road, and there was actually some BGS pretty impressive for the type of show it is. http://prntscr.com/4qave2
Here's the best shot: http://prntscr.com/4qb1vf I give credit that the shields are correct (for America that is), but the numerals aren't all that great, lol. Still very impressive considering the kind of show The Amazing World of Gumball is.
One of the benefits of working from home most of the time is a lot of TV time... I must admit, as sad as it is, I watch this show occasionally. It actually is pretty adult in its humor (as most shows on Cartoon Network actually are). There are probably at least a dozen episodes of TAWG using the highway as a scene. The signs are very good, if really confusing (highways that never belong together), but showing a divided freeway with double yellow lines on each side (two roads parallel to each other???) is a little... odd.
ICTRds
Quote from: roadfro on September 27, 2014, 04:44:09 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 25, 2014, 11:27:42 AM
Wasn't there an old cartoon (Car of Tomorrow?) where a guy was stuck on an interchange, kept going back to the same guy to tell him how to get off the freeway, then in the end, we find out the guy from which he was asking directions had actually given up trying to get off and opened a hot dog stand?
I remember this cartoon. I don't recall the title...
It was from a 1949 Warner Brothers' short called
There Auto Be A Law. The individual who ended up opening the "Mustard and Relish" stand, which was located next to the Hamburger stand opened by the first guy that got stuck on the interchange, was only one of several skits within the six minute short.
The "Car of Tomorrow" was a segment in a mid-1950s MGM short of a similar vein to
There Auto Be A Law, though the exact title escapes me at the moment. A simplifed version of the concept shown in the MGM short was later used by Hanna-Barbera for
The Jetsons (which was logical, given that Hanna and Barbera originally worked for the MGM cartoon department).
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but found another one in TMNT, seen in an apocalyptic future. Any idea if this is a real sign?
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4456/37579754091_d6e331fd3c.jpg)
The scene in the Beavis and Butt-head movie where they jump out of the car trunk is supposed to be on I-81 in Virginia. I do not remember whether that was made clear in the movie, however.