Pete's Dragon Orchids

 

It's a Brazzle Dazzle Day.  While strolling through my local Lowe's Garden section, I stumbled across a familiar face.  It was Elliott, Pete's Dragon, from the 1977 Disney movie.  The ears, the pink hair, the color, the big jaw.  He has an actual mouth, nostrils, and eyes.  I was kind of shocked.  It looked like Elliott, in flower form.

As it turns out, the Pete's Dragon flower is a Paphiopedilum, which is also called a slipper orchid.  I'm guessing a lot of gardeners and botanists are not as interested in animation like me, so they failed to notice how much this orchid looks like a Seventies Disney dragon.

He has the head of a camel, the neck of a crocodile.  It sounds rather strange.  He's both a fish and a mammal, and I hope he'll never change.  (That's from a Pete's Dragon song, called "It's Not Easy", one of the great Helen Reddy tunes from the film).

While it may seem bizarre that there's a flower that looks like Elliott the dragon, it really isn't that outlandish.  Orchids that look like animals is something that is very much a thing.  Orchids have been known to look like monkeys, lions, ducks, egrets, and donkeys.

I ended up getting two Pete's Dragon orchids at Lowe's.  I couldn't resist.

Saiga the Trunk-Nosed Plains Deer

 

I've been making sculptures using materials I find at the beaches near my home in Venice, Florida.  I decided to build an animal bust series, with the challenge of not using any paint.  So, strictly natural materials.  One of the animals I really wanted to build was a Saiga Antelope.  This unusual deer lives in Mongolia and Russia, and has the distinction of having a trunk-like nose.  It has been called a "Star Wars deer" because of its alien like appearance.  The Saiga also somewhat resembles a Camel.  As Christmas is approaching, I think a Saiga would be a funny choice for a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer type Santa Claus story.  Hence, "Saiga, the Trunk-Nosed Plains Deer."

The first animal in this series that I built was a Lion.  Since he's made of shells, he's a Sea Lion.

I was definitely thinking of African masks when I was making these.

Being that I grew up in Alabama, I felt it was my duty to build an Elephant.  An Elephant is the mascot for the University of Alabama football team.

A Shellephant never forgets!

Since I made an Elephant, I also built a Tiger.  Auburn University is Alabama's main rival, and Auburn's mascot is a Tiger.

I call this "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Sharkteeth".  The sharkteeth are hidden in plain sight.

Florida's beaches are home to some Starving, Starving Hippos.

While Hippos are a cute, but dangerous African animal, it is somewhat surprising to learn that wild hippos do exist in Colombia.  They can be found around the Rio Magdalena.  They are descendants of escaped hippos owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar.

This Giraffe's eye lashes are made out of shark teeth.

A herd of giraffes is called a tower.  They are the skyscrapers of the animal kingdom.

A Rhino is Africa's unicorn.

These tank-like creatures look like living dinosaurs

Here's a fun fact:  all Spotted Hyenas appear male.  Even the females look male.  Nature can be wild.

Though hyenas are portrayed as sneaky or cowardly in a lot of media, they are actually highly intelligent.

An incredibly smart ape is the Chimpanzee.

Chimps are intelligent, but are also known to be incredibly violent.  They are kinda creepy.

The Orangutan is another bright ape.

The Orangutan is known as the "man of the forest" and it is easy to see why.

The Good Sesame Place

How does one get to Sesame Street?  Well, in Florida, you can find Oscar, Ernie, Big Bird, and Bert in a few different locations.

The biggest bird in the Sunshine State isn't a pelican.  It's a yellow Muppet.

 Big Bird is one of the latest sculptures I've made using materials I've found on the beaches near my home in Venice, Florida.  Here in Florida, the Sesame Street Muppets can be found at Busch Gardens in Tampa (Sesame Street Safari of Fun, opened in 2010) and SeaWorld in Orlando (Sesame Street Land, opened in 2019).  While these are relatively new additions, Sesame Street is no stranger to theme parks.
The very first Sesame Street theme park, Sesame Place, opened in Pennsylvania in 1980.  The small play park, operated by Busch, eventually morphed into a (still small) ride and water park.  Eventually, Sesame Place started getting cross promoted in materials for its sister Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Parks, appearing on brochures, shopping bags, and eventually in the form of small "lands" with attractions and shows.

A second Sesame Place is coming to San Diego in 2021 (replacing the existing SeaWorld Aquatica water park.
While Big Bird is no longer considered the main character of Sesame Street, the endearing modern day feathered dinosaur is still the mascot for Sesame Place parks.  For now.

Big Bird's best buddy is Mr. Snuffleupagus.  For many years, quite a few adults on Sesame Street thought that Snuffy was an imaginary friend that Big Bird had made up (because they never saw him).

Snuffleupagus started appearing at the Sesame Place theme park in Pennsylvania fairly recently.  He has also appeared at Busch Gardens Tampa, where he has his own ride called "Snuffy's Elephant Romp" (featuring Muppet Elephant ride vehicles) in Sesame Street Safari of Fun.

Grover is a rather super monster on Sesame Street, and in the world of theme parks.  Grover (and his alter-ego, Super Grover) has his own high-flying roller coasters at Sesame Place, Busch Gardens parks, and SeaWorld parks.

Grover was sort of the original "breakout" Monster character of Sesame Street.  Before a certain ticklish, crimson-colored Muppet took over the spotlight.

Sesame Street airs all over the world, and often features localized characters.  These international Muppets used to be showcased in Sesame Place at a ride called "Grover's World Twirl".  One of these characters was Nimnim (which means "Tiny") from the Egyptian version of Sesame Street called "Alam Simsim".

Nimnim is the colorful Egyptian counterpart to Big Bird.

Boombah the Lion takes on the Big Bird role in Galli Galli Sim Sim, India's version of Sesame Street.

Galli Galli Sim Sim has a very catchy theme song.

In 2014, Sesame Place debuted Cookie's Monster Land.  This area features play components and five rides, including the Disco themed Monster Mix-Up, which replaced Grover's World Twirl.

Me want Cookie!  Me from the beach, so me want Pecan Sandie!

Bath tub loving Ernie is the go-to guy for interactive water play elements at Sesame Place and the Sesame Street lands.  Whether it is a fountain, water slide, or wave pool, Ernie is ready with his rubber duckie.

Of course, the giggling Ernie was first performed by Muppet founder, Jim Henson.

Bert would be happy to know that there are indeed pigeons on some of the beaches in Venice, Florida.

It's kind of crazy that the original performer for Bert (Frank Oz) would later become a director for some wild films like Little Shop of Horrors and What About Bob?

I also made Oscar the Grouch.  He's created using genuine sea trash, like bits of coral and sharkteeth.

Sesame Street's resident bad boy got his own wooden roller coaster, "Oscar's Wacky Taxi"
 at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania in 2018.

Oscar and Big Bird were both performed by puppeteer Carroll Spinney.  Oscar's character was inspired by a taxi driver that Spinney encountered.

OK, that's it.  Now SCRAM!

Friends on the Other Side of Splash Mountain

With Splash Mountain in the news recently, I was inspired to make a Princess and the Frog Splash Mountain sculpture.  Riding in the front of the log are Naveen and Tiana in their frog form, inspired by the Brer Rabbit hood ornament found on the Splash Mountain logs.  Of course I had to include Dr. Facilier, the breakout villain character from the film.  Seriously, Keith David owns every animated character he plays.  This sculpture is made using materials found at the beach (including shells, rocks, and shark teeth) as well as glue and paint.

Thoughts about changes to Splash Mountain's theme have been swirling around for years.  Given that Splash Mountain already has similar looking Frog characters, a shift to Princess and the Frog is pretty easy to imagine.  I would think that if a change is ever made, new ways of implementing characters to the environment would be introduced.  Na'vi River Journey at Disney's Animal Kingdom famously uses multi-plane projections, and even has leaping frogs on leaves catching insects.  Splash Mountain could very well have its own jumping frogs, lightning bugs, and swirling shadow creatures in the event that Princess and the Frog ever took over Splash Mountain.

On June 25, 2020, it was announced that Splash Mountain would indeed change to a Princess and the Frog theme in Florida and California.

Duckworth Is Not A Duck: Uncle Scrooge's Canine Butler

In 1987, Disney's DuckTales debuted, bringing the world of Uncle Scrooge comics to life on television.  One of the characters created for the show was Duckworth (voiced by Chuck McCann), Scrooge's butler, based on other butler characters from the comics.  One of the maddening things about the show for me was that Duckworth was clearly not a duck, but a dog.  Duckworth definitely carried a chip on his shoulder, and had some of the best lines of the show.  My favorite was this sassy line to Scrooge McDuck, who is famous for swimming in his money bin: "Swimming in water?  Oh dear, what will you ducks think of next?"

For the 2017 reboot of DuckTales, Duckworth became an obsession with Disney fans when the show first debuted.  It seemed that the character was not included in the series, but in fact he was always in the show's intro, but in disguise.  In this new version, Duckworth (now voiced by David Kaye) was Scrooge's deceased butler.  The ghost of Duckworth returned to the mansion and showed off a scary, sinister looking identity that has always been in the show's main title animation.

In the world of TV Tropes, Duckworth is a 1) Non-Indicative Name  2)Ghost Butler  3)Hellhound.

I decided to make Duckworth out of rocks and shells.  I also wanted to include his different identities.  So here's mortal Duckworth, ghost Duckworth, and demon Duckworth.

How To Train Your Disney Komodo Dragon

Komodo Dragons are cool, and it looks like Disney finally made one into a character on the new version of DuckTales.  At least, I think he is a Komodo Dragon.  The reptile in question is wrestler named Jormungandr and appears in the episode "The Rumble for Ragnarok."  It is fitting that I made a statue of him using rocks and shells.  This particular episode hasn't even debuted as I type this, but I thought the character was an impressive new addition to the world of DuckTales.

UPDATE: So the episode aired today and it turns out that Jormungandr is a snake with legs and arms.  So, not a Komodo Dragon, even though it looks like one.

Rockabilly Astro Boyd Biker Hog: Insane Anime Clown Piggy

Astro B.O.Y.D.!, the newest episode of Disney's DuckTales animated series, took place in Japan.  Among the new characters introduced in this episode was Clown, a biker pig with a giant pompadour.  Clown wears a scary clown helmet that somehow does not ruin his perfect hair.  I decided to build a figure of Clown using rocks and shells.

The Astro B.O.Y.D. episode features a ton of Anime Easter Eggs, including characters inspired by Lupin III and Sailor Moon.  I don't know if Clown is influenced by any particular Japanese character, or maybe just the popularity of Pompadours and Rockabilly in Japan.

Clown's helmet is a smooth, round rock that doubles as a support structure for the figure.

Clown is one bad hog.  It is hilarious to me that he is a pig with huge pectoral muscles.

Ludo is Your Friend in the Labyrinth

I saw the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth by myself in an empty movie theater in Sarasota, Florida when I was a kid.  The movie was a disappointment when it debuted, but has gained a big cult following over the years.  I decided to make a statue of Ludo using some of his rock friends.  When the Muppet Babies cartoon did a Labyrinth themed episode, Ludo was described as an "Orangutan Troll" which seems like a very appropriate description of Ludo's appearance.  It is somewhat shocking to live in Sarasota today and be able to find merchandise of Ludo at Books A Million.

I also built Sir Didymus and Ambrosius, Sarah's canine friends in Labyrinth.

When I first watched Labyrinth, the concept that the events of the movie were a dream Sarah was having didn't even cross my mind.  I didn't make the connection of all the character toys in Sarah's bedroom and that Ambrosius was the same type dog as Sarah's dog, Merlin.  It is very Wizard of Oz.  Of course, Labyrinth ended up inspiring other people.  Sir Didymus seems to have been an inspiration for Puss in Boots in the Shrek series, and Buck the Weasel in the Ice Age films.

Precious Moments Rankin Bass Gollum: Put A Ring On It

Rankin/Bass Productions is probably most famous for its stop-motion Christmas animated specials like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."  But they also produced a lot hand drawn animation, including 1977's The Hobbit and 1980's Return of the King.  My introduction to the Rankin Bass version of Gollum was a Disneyland Records Album and Book of Return of the King (Disneyland Records produced a lot of recordings for non-Disney properties, including Garfield and Gremlins).  The Rankin Bass Gollum is oddly endearing to me, looking very much like a frog.  Gollum looks a lot like the Toad from the later 1987 Rankin Bass special version of The Wind in the Willows.  As with the majority of Rankin Bass productions, the animation itself was actually done in Japan.  So, there's definitely an Anime quality to these two Tolkien adaptations.

I made Gollum using shells, shark teeth (for his tooth and his fingers and toes) and rocks.  And Sharpie paint pens.  And yes, he even has a Ring.

Haunted Mansion Pop Up Rock Ghost and Gargoyle

Welcome, Foolish Mortals, to The Haunted Mansion.  A place where Grim, Grinning Ghosts come out to socialize.  But we mortals shouldn't socialize at the moment, due to the pandemic.  So I've been busy making figures using stones, shells, and shark teeth sourced from the beach in Venice, Florida (the beaches are still closed, but I have a stockpile).  My latest source of inspiration is Disney's Haunted Mansion.  Instead of focusing on the Hitchhiking Ghosts, I wanted to build something different.  So I made a Pop Up Ghost and a Gargoyle.

The Pop Up Ghosts in the Mansion are a throwback to the Ghost Train and Spook House attractions found at fairs and carnivals many years ago.  They are really simple, but can be legitimately frightening.  I was particularly terrorized by the ones in the Attic scene.  The one here is based on one that is now gone from the Attic at Walt Disney World's Mansion in Florida.  For a while, the Pop Up Ghosts in the Attic were dressed up as grooms.  Sadly, the Pop Ups were removed years back when the Haunted Mansion got a new Bride accompanied by moving portraits of headless grooms.

The Gargoyle is based on the gargoyles found in the Stretching Room.  When looking at the Haunted Mansion's gargoyles, I noticed that they seem to look like a cross between a frog and a Boston Terrier.  The flames of the candles are shark teeth, as are the Gargoyle's ears.

Six Flags Over Georgia Monster Mansion Masonry

In 1981, Six Flags Over Georgia debuted its dark boat ride, The Monster Plantation.  Set in a flooded mansion, human riders are welcomed to a monster picnic filled with colorful, friendly monsters.  Guests are warned to stay out of the Marsh (a warning that is ignored), a dark swamp filled with scary monsters.  As a kid, I was obsessed with this ride, and still have dreams about it to this day.  In 2009, the ride was mercifully refurbished, and re-opened as The Monster Mansion.  I decided to make a figure of the ride's mascot, Buzby, using rocks and sea junk from the beach.  Buzby's teeth and horns are made out of shark teeth.  He was painted using Sharpie paint pens.

Mizzy Scarlett and her monster dog, Tatty-Too welcome guests to the flooded mansion.

Tatty-Too's name comes from a character named Tattoo featured on a popular (in 1981) TV show called Fantasy Island.

Guiding humans through Monster Mansion is Marshall Billy Bob Fritter, and his dog, Fritter Bitter.

Billy Bob warns visitors to stay out of the Marsh.  Unfortunately, riders have no control of their boats.

Among the many characters visitors see is the Kissing Booth monster named Honeysuckle.

This particular monster has giant animated kissing lips that have terrified generations of children.

The resident popular strongman is known as The Big Monster on Campus.

The BMOC is proud to be from Georgia.

The Chili Contest monster is named Spurgeon.

Spurgeon was named after the late Spurgeon Richardson, who was a manager at Six Flags Over Georgia when the Monsters debuted in 1981.

The Tennis Monster is named Thurston Dinwiddie III.  This character was changed to a gardener when Monster Plantation became Monster Mansion in 2009.

The Tennis Monster bears a striking resemblance to the Crows in the 1978 movie The Wiz.

Despite warnings, the boats enter the Marsh and encounter the scary monsters.

One of the first character encountered is the ogre-like Gengenbacher.

The boats pass monsters with treasure, led by a gruesome fellow named Nero.

Allegedly, in the backstory for Monster Plantation/Monster Mansion, the treasure was stolen from the Mansion.

The hissing Swamp Serpent sneaks up on riders in their boats.

The Marsh is full of spooky monsters and tree creatures.

The biggest monster in the Marsh is the dragon-like E Rategator.

The E-Rategator terrorizes riders, but he is thwarted by Marshall Billy Bob Fritter, who fires a cannon at the creature and leads the boats back to safety.

For many years, a puppet character named Buford Buzzard lived near Monster Plantation/Monster Mansion.

Buford was an insult-comic character, who frequently targeted visitors from Alabama.

Q*bert and Coily: Silly Snouted Scholar and Sinister Sandy Snake Saturday Supercade Stone Statues

Lately, I have been making sculptures using materials I've gotten from the beach.  My latest project is Q*bert and Coily from the 1983 CBS cartoon, Saturday Supercade.  The show was produced by the now defunct Ruby Spears animation, and featured a rotating block of segments based on video game properties.  Other cartoons in the series were based on Pitfall, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Donkey Kong Junior, Kangaroo, and Space Ace.  The Q*bert segment seemed to be based on Archie comics and the TV show Happy Days, but set in the modern world of 1983.

Q*bert and Coily are made from rocks, shells, and paint.  Coily's tongue is a painted shark's tooth.

Rock 'N" Robin Hood

Growing up, Disney's 1973 animated Robin Hood was one of my favorite films.  When I saw it in theaters for the first time during a re-release in the eighties, I was frustrated that I couldn't find any merchandise for it.  I recently started building figures out of seashells, rocks, and paint.  I naturally had to make Robin Hood, the fox, and Sir Hiss, the snake.

Oo De Lally!  Golly, what a day!

Disney DuckTales Sea Treasure Lost and Damp: Fenton Crackshell Made of Cracked Shells

I live near the beach in Venice, Florida.  Before the age of Coronavirus sheltering in place, I was working on making sculptures out of seashells, rocks, and other stuff I found at the ocean.  Luckily, I stockpiled materials, because now the beaches are closed, and I have a lot of free time to make some really elaborate sculptures.  These include characters from Disney's DuckTales.  Specifically, I've been referencing the 2017 DuckTales reboot, which I think is actually way better than the original 1987 TV series.  One of the most recent episodes of DuckTales brought back Gene the Genie from the 1990 film, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.  Oh my, that movie had some issues.  Thankfully, the reboot of DuckTales was definitely aware of these issues.

My main beef with the DuckTales movie is that it was a bit of a bait and switch.  I actually saw it in the movie theaters in August of 1990.  The beginning of the movie, up until the characters enter the pyramid, is really beautifully done.  I believe that this animation was done by Walt Disney Animation England/UK.  This was the same Disney unit that worked on Roger Rabbit.  Roger Rabbit's animation was directed by famous animator Richard Williams.  I'll get to Richard Williams again in just a minute.

After the characters enter the pyramid, there is a noticeable shift in the production quality in the movie.  I believe the rest of the film was animated by Walt Disney Animation France.  And it wasn't the same level of greatness, in my opinion.

The DuckTales movie wasn't bad, but I thought it could be a lot better than it was.  It was released as a "Disney Movietoon" which clearly was supposed to be a thing, but the problems with the film seemed to end the label.

We'll start with D'Jinn, a character based on the 1990 film's character, Dijon.  Dijon was a cowardly stereotype thief in the DuckTales movie.  Dijon could be seen by many as offensive.  However, I think Dijon has the best animation in the DuckTales movie.  And I think he is endearing.  Reboot DuckTales D'Jinn is an updated, badass version of Dijon.  D'Jinn even inherited some of the costuming style of his movie villain master, Merlock.

What's interesting to me is that both Dijon and D'Jinn remind me a lot of a character called the Thief from the decades-long-in-production Richard Williams animated movie, The Thief in the Cobbler.  Dijon has the Thief's goofiness, while D'Jinn has slightly cunning looking eyes, very similar to the Thief.

The Genie from the 1990 movie was voiced by Rip Torn.  At the end of the DuckTales Movie, the Genie turned into a real "boy", finishing a film that played very much like a test run for 1992's Aladdin.  Gene the Genie appeared to take up residence with Scrooge McDuck and family, but he was never seen again in the original series.  Dijon, however, did appear in the final episodes of that version of DuckTales.

Updated 2020 Gene the Genie was voiced by Jaleel White (Urkel of Family Matters fame). This Genie is a much more interesting character, in my opinion, than the somewhat annoying Genie in the film.

This Gene the Genie is made of shells and rocks, except for the ear rings, which are tiny metal rings often used for key chains or medals.

GizmoDuck (voiced by the late Hamilton Camp) made his debut in March of 1989 as a very long special on NBC called Super DuckTales.

GizmoDuck debuted before the DuckTales movie hit theaters, but curiously was never mentioned in the 1990 movie.  GizmoDuck would later appear in 1991's Darkwing Duck.  GizmoDuck became an early addition to the 2017 version of DuckTales, voiced by Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda.


As of this writing, one of the latest characters to get the reboot treatment on DuckTales is villain rooster Steelbeak from Darkwing Duck.

In Darkwing Duck, Steelbeak was voiced by veteran animation actor, Rob Paulsen.  In the new DuckTales, Steelbeak is voiced by actor Jason Mantzoukas (from Brooklyn Nine-Nine).  This version of Steelbeak is portrayed as an "evil Launchpad" foe for Launchpad .

One of the biggest twists of the 2017 DuckTales reboot was the introduction of Darkwing Duck.  Fans were initially disappointed that the character seemed to exist only as a TV show within the DuckTales universe.

I am the terror that flaps in the night.  I am the sand in your swimsuit.  I am the craft project you take on while under quarantine.  I am Darkwing Duck!

The introduction of Darkwing Duck (voiced again by Jim Cummings) as an actor named Jim Starling playing a TV character named Darkwing Duck was a big, giant tease to the audience.  Jim Starling turned out to become the villain Negaduck, while a new actor character named Drake Mallard (played by Chris Diamantopoulos) had been brought in to play a reboot Darkwing Duck.  Then, with the encouragement of Launchpad, he became the new Darkwing.