Opus n’ Bill in A Wish For Wings That Work
TV on DVD Title: Opus n’ Bill in A Wish For Wings That Work
Rated: Not Rated
Screen format: Full Screen Standard Definition
Studio: Universal Studios / Amblin Entertainment
First theatrical release: 1991 (TV)
Previously released on DVD/BluRay/HD DVD: NA
Director: Skip Jones
Starring: Joe Alaskey, Michael Patrick Bell, John Byner, Tress MacNeille, Andrew Hill Newman (Allegedly both Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams played voice roles as well but are uncredited)
Sound Formats: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Length: 24 Minutes
Seasons/Episodes: 1 episode/show
Subtitles: English
Plot: 2.5/5
From the twisted brain of Berkley Breathed comes a most unlikely Holiday Special: Opus n’ Bill in a Wish for Wings that Work. Based on the paperback Comic Book of the same name, Wish for Wings finds Bloom County resident penguin Opus mourning his lifelong inability to fly. While pal Bill the Cat tries to support Opus in his attempts at simulated flight, everything seems to turn out wrong and Opus treats Bill horribly. Opus turns to the one man who has the power to give him what his heart desires most: Santa Claus. While waiting for Santa to respond, Opus has his hands full with a bunch of bullying ducks that I don’t remember from Bloom or Outland, and in going to a support group meeting with other flightless fowl (and one twisted cockroach) which seems to have been attended by both Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, if IMDB is to be believed. When Christmas Eve rolls around, fate puts Santa in Opus’s hands, er wings, and Opus has his big chance to see if Santa can make his dream come true in return.
While I am a huge Bloom County fan, the years between the last weekly dosages and the casting choices here really worked against my enjoying this show. Even the outrageous Bill the Cat is neutered into a mild sniffle and a single hairball, and Opus is a lot more whiny than his charm in the strips would presume. As a Christmas ‘classic’ it is hard to believe that this will appeal to even a very small segment of children, as there are very few sight gags, Santa is rushed in and out, and even Opus acts like a real jerk to Bill (and he never repents or apologizes, even in his moment of victory).
Sound Quality: 2.5/5
The sound track also really worked against my enjoyment here. Tinny sounding stereo with a lot of muffled voices, zero bass, and no real presence. On the upside, there are some jazzy and soulful original songs based on the story which feature Breathed’s signature outlook, and that at least kept my attention.
Visual Quality: 2.5/5
Visually, Wings has a lot of uneven-ness as well. The animation on one hand is _perfect_, it really does seem exactly like a fan of Bloom county would expect. Color wise it seems like a muted pastel set of backgrounds was chosen and this neither hits what I would expect for Bloom nor seems very holiday oriented. The main characters are well colored tho and that’s what really counts.
There’s also a lot of noise and flicker, which seems odd for a hand drawn animated show. Then there is the whole 4:3 ratio, which I guess I can’t complain about since it is the native format, but it would have been interesting to see this remastered as a full HD release in a widescreen format.
Extra Features: 0/5
Not a stinking thing at all! A real crying shame for fans of Bloom County and Outland!
Overall: 2.5/5 (not an average)
In the end, I wasn’t really captured by this short despite being really looking forward to it once I found out I was going to review it. As I noted above I am a huge Bloom Fan and never saw this on broadcast TV. The end result wasn’t what I was expecting and the casting really didn’t mesh with the voices I have assigned to those characters over the decades of reading the strips, but that’s just my own personal problem. The truth is tho that there isn’t a whole lot of either humor or good holiday cheer in this show, and for those reasons I’d recommend this to fans only.
