Opus and Bill in A Wish for Wings That Work is an animated Christmas television special based on the book A Wish For Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story, which itself was based on the comic strips Bloom County and Outland by Berkeley Breathed. Though not clearly defined in dialogue, the story itself likely takes place in Outland as more characters from Outland are featured than from Bloom County. Additionally, the contemporary timeline (the early 90s) is more suited to Outland as the comic strip began just one month after Bloom County ended in August of 1989.
The special originally aired on CBS on December 13, 1991. It was directed by Skip Jones and was produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Universal Cartoon Studios.
Synopsis
The story begins on Christmas Eve with Opus the Penguin writing a letter to Santa Claus asking for a pair of wings that actually work. In his letter he recounts the events of that day: He spent the morning attempting to fly with the ducks, but being a penguin- a flightless bird, he fails miserably, and is consequently downhearted. He is followed by his friend Bill the Cat who gets a trash can stuck on his foot and promptly crashes into a group of carolers. Opus is later teased by a trio of ducks (who resemble the Three Stooges) about his inability to take flight.
Opus decides to attend a support group called "Earthbound Birds Anonymous" at Ronald-Ann's self-help clinic, but when the other two group members-- a kiwi named George whose wife Dolores left him for an albatross, and a hen who is convinced she is a Boeing 747, become too self-absorbed in their own respective dilemmas, Opus gives up on the group therapy and decides to strike out on his own; as he leaves the clinic he is accosted by a cross-dressing cockroach named Milquetoast looking for a crisis group.
Compelled to "take the laws of physics into my own hands", Opus buys a bag of giant balloons, a corset and a leather flight helmet, and begins his crusade to become an "aeronautic vigilante"; he puts on the corset and helmet while Bill inflates the balloons and attaches them to the corset, but as he attaches the last one his tongue gets stuck in the laces and he becomes an unwitting passenger causing Opus' flight to go spectacularly out of control crashing into a string of Christmas lights, a Santa display, Truffles the pig (pretending to be a rhinoceros), and finally into the same group of carolers Bill literally collided with earlier. Opus is so angered by the abject failure that he reads Bill the Riot Act hurting his feelings. But as Bill totters away, the Santa display still on his head, Opus gets the inspiration to write the letter asking for Santa to grant him his one wish for "some penguin wings... that work." He begins to stuff the letter into an envelope, but when he reminds himself that it is already Christmas Eve, Opus decides to expedite matters and faxes the letter to the North Pole instead; he then climbs into bed telling himself, "I'll be flying on Christmas morning".
That night, Christmas Eve, Santa and his reindeer are flying over Outland when clear air turbulence causes the hitch between his sleigh and the reindeer harnesses to dismantle, sending Santa and his sleigh plummeting toward the earth. Meanwhile, Opus wakes up with a start from a nightmare in which he unsuccessfully attempted to fly the plane in the 1937 film Lost Horizon and hears a frantic knocking at his door. He answers it to find the same ducks that were mocking him earlier are now pleading for his help, but Opus thinks they're pulling a prank on him until they reach the lake and Opus sees that Santa's sleigh has landed right in the middle of the water. The ducks admit that the water is too cold for them, which is why they came to get Opus as penguins can tolerate extreme cold temperatures. Opus manages to swim out and pull Santa's sleigh to shore, during which a frog leaps away wearing Opus' flight helmet. A grateful Santa, lauding Opus' courage, gives him his own hat to wear before going on his way. The ducks are amazed, and Bill cracks a small smile.
At daybreak Christmas morning, Opus, still disappointed over his lack of flight, wakes up to a big surprise: all of the ducks in Outland (including the three who mocked him earlier) are waiting outside Opus' door wearing red bowties similar to his. To Opus' great euphoria, the ducks take him for a ride in the sky. An overjoyed Opus asks the ducks who suggested coming to him to rescue Santa, and one of them points to the earthbound Bill, and Opus in appreciation tosses Santa's hat to him and yells for him to catch up. The oversized cap lands on Bill's head covering his eyes and causing him to stumble. As he tries to keep up with Opus he gets trash cans stuck on both of his feet, which cause him to again nearly crash into the same group of carolers, but this time they all scatter when they see Bill lumbering toward them.
In a brief post-credits scene, Truffles yells "Don't get cocky!" up at Opus before his prosthetic buttocks fall nearby.
Reception
Lisa Horowitz of Variety gave the special a positive review, saying that it "crams a lot of action and intelligence into its half-hour". She also praised the animation and vocal performances.
Breathed, who was credited as the writer and executive producer of the special, was disappointed with the overall results. His displeasure with the special was shown in a 2003 Washington Post interview where someone asked where a copy of the special can be found on VHS or DVD; Breathed's response was, "Hopefully in the rubbish pail. We can do better than that and we will with an eventual Opus film." In a later 2007 interview, Breathed claims that the reason he dislikes the special was simply "unspectacular ratings" and that his humor "wasn't meant for television, even if it was done right." Another reason was his "lack of writing experience" and the director was way over his head. Breathed also stated that he wanted Sterling Holloway to provide the voice for Opus.
Availability
MCA Universal Home Video made the special available on VHS and Laserdisc in Holiday 1993. It was later released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on November 6, 2007. The DVD was reissued on October 10, 2010, this time packaged with a bonus holiday-themed music CD. It was later featured in a Double Feature DVD with The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus in 2013.
Cast
Voice actor/actress | Character(s) |
---|---|
Michael Bell | Opus |
Joe Alaskey | Truffles The Ducks |
John Byner | Bill the Cat |
Tress MacNeille | The Chicken |
Andrew Hill Newman | Milquetoast |
Sudy Nim | George the Kiwi |
Alexaundria Simmons | Ronald-Ann |
Frank Welker | Santa Claus |
Gallery
External links
- A Wish For Wings That Work at the Internet Movie Database
- A Wish For Wings That Work at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- A Wish For Wings That Work at Behind the Voice Actors
- A Wish For Wings That Work at RetroJunk.com
- Platypus Comix's review