Though it’s been quite a while since the first episode of Kittysneezes TV, we’re back with a look at animation. For those of you who missed the first one—which is still available to watch—Kittysneezes TV is a roughly two-hour program of short films, music videos and more. You can watch the full thing below, and I’ve included notes for many of the clips—but there are some surprises. All Kittysneezes TV bumpers are by Jeremiah Aulwurm, host of Headclog in the Operator, except the Videodrome/CIVIC-TV one, which is by Lee Hughey of Owl-Stretching Time.
Les Escargots
Les Escargots is a short film by the René Laloux and Roland Topor, the team behind the utterly brilliant Fantastic Planet. It draws the viewer in immediately, with the activity taking place on its own marble-esque planet sitting on a plane. The mix of comedy and horror is spot on, and, let’s be real: the light-up kitty would have totally got me too.
Neighbours
While Les Escargots is an early-to-middle era work by Laloux and Torpor, 1952’s Neighbours by Norman McLaren is well into the artist’s career. McLaren started his career in 1933 at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, eventually moving to Canada in the 140s, where he made many of his most popular films. Neighbours is a brief comedy about borders and nationalism, but not particularly preachy. It won the Oscar for best documentary short subject in 1953, though that version—which is shown here—is slightly edited. And, it’s worth noting, despite its Oscar win, it’s not a documentary. (A 2005 press release from the Academy said the film was “among a group of films that not only competed, but won Academy Awards in what were clearly inappropriate categories.” The Academy did not clarify why it won the documentary Oscar despite not being a documentary.)
Leaving LA
Though Tim Minchin is perhaps best known for his comedic songs (either that or his musical theater work, writing the songs for Matilda and Groundhog Day), a few years ago he put out his first “serious” album. This is one of the singles from that album and the video is amazing. Artist Tee Ken Ng made so many zoetropes and turntables to get the unique look of the video. The making-of documentary is fascinating as well—no computers were used in the animation, everything actually exists in the real world.
Stop, Look and Listen
We’re well into the stop-motion animation spotlight of the program, and it’s another Oscar-winner. (This one won for Best Short Subject, Live Action, which is actually an accurate category.) The film was made by comedians Len Janson and Chuck Menville. Both Janson and Menville worked in traditional animation before and after this film, with the two working on cartoons for Filmation (including the Star Trek cartoon) and Hanna-Barbera. Janson also wrote for Baywatch Nights. Menville worked on the 1993 Batman: The Animated Series before his death, and is the father of Scott Menville, perhaps best known as Robin on Teen Titans.
Art Clokey’s Mandala
Art Clokey, of course, is best known as the creator of Gumby, and second-best known as the creator of Davey & Goliath. But Clokey was a brilliant artisan and made a number of art films, pardon the pun. Some might accuse Clokey of engaging in cultural appropriation in Mandala, which takes inspiration from religious symbols from around the world, but the film is very respectful and celebratory. It’s also utterly beautiful.
Camouflage
I once wrote a full piece about this video by Chris Sievey — but the short version is that this video was included on the B-side of the 12″ single. Listeners were intended to dub the B-side to a cassette tape, which was then inserted into a Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. Once the program was loaded, it could be synched to the A-side to make a neat little music video. (The single also included a game, Flying Train, also coded by Sievey.) The song itself is a nice little slab of power-pop; Sievey was a brilliant, hooky songwriter and his skills are on full display here.
Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions
Each segment of this episode has its own theme, and this is square in the MTV Tribute section. Younger people may not know that MTV used to be a platform for outstanding independent animation—both in terms of music videos, but in its own bumpers and programming. This is an early pilot for a proposed show by Henry Selick (who went on to direct The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline and Wendell & Wild among others), with score by The Residents. Sadly, the show wasn’t picked up, so we only have this pilot—which aired frequently throughout the 1990s on the channel as an interstitial. I’ve loved it since I was a kid, and it holds up very well.
African Tale
Viewers may need to turn the subtitles on on YouTube first; if you can’t tell what’s going on and you don’t want to learn Russian to watch a cartoon, try that.
This is a 1963 film from Soviet Russia and, yes, it’s propaganda. But just because it’s propaganda doesn’t mean it’s wrong. The film is a fabelized version of Jomo Kenyatta‘s fight against the colonial powers in Africa (and specifically Kenya). The European powers are characterized as different animals based on both national identity and the rulers of the time—for example, the Hyena is a caricature of French president Charles De Gaulle.
A big CONTENT WARNING here though: I’m pretty sure the subtitles are not from an official translation. There’s a pretty nasty slur (the “r-word”) in there thrown around casually. It’s a real-life example of the ProZD sketch comparing fansubs to official releases.
Samson vs. Voodoo Serpent
Honestly, this could be in the MTV tribute section—it’s a recent cartoon by the amazing animator Joe Horne. Horne was one of the people who was responsible for the look and feel of early MTV, creating the interstitial series of shorts about Stevie Washington, The Angry Youth and his partner in crimefighting Zoya. Horne also created the series The Specialists for MTV’s Liquid Television; his current YouTube work combines the universes of Stevie & Zoya with the Specialists, continuing the story.
Horne’s style has always had a large collage element—both visually and on the soundtrack—and his work is always delightful. Though he uses modern techniques and computer animation now, it’s still got the same vibe and spirit of his hand-drawn work. It’s an extension of his work. Outside of his own work, Horne’s directed episodes of The Boondocks and the Andre 3000-fronted Class of 3000.
Candy.zip
Candy.zip is a short film by stop-motion animator Tomoki Misato. On the internet, Misato is perhaps best known for the outstanding film My Little Goat—which is very much worth watching. That said, My Little Goat is incredibly heavy, being about child abuse, and not something I necessarily wanted to spring on anyone and catch them unawares. If you’re in a space where you can handle something like that, I recommend it, but yeah—Goat isn’t a super fun time.
Candy.zip, however, is much lighter, just being about corporate backstabbing! The animation techniques in here are absolutely amazing, and the character design is phenomenal. And, honestly, the various candy/files legit look delicious.
Currently, Misato is working on My Melody and Kuromi, a stop-motion show for Netflix based on the Sanrio characters. A 10-second teaser has been released, and the show is expected to debut in July 2025.