🎄 Grab an emergency parachute as we dive in to a 1991 TV Christmas special starring Opus the Penguin and Bill the Cat from the comic strip series Bloom County and Outland.  

****  

🎙 Guests:  

Erin Evans (@mserinmevans).  

Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24).  

****  

💬 Topics & Tangents:  

1. This is based on a book version you can watch someone read to you on YouTube, if you’d like.  

2. Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed was not happy with this special. He also confirmed the animators hid some naughty bits in the opening.  

3. Bill the Cat’s presidential run in 1988, including the candidates’ interpretations of the song Louie Louie.  

4. Joey interviews Michael Bell, the voice of Opus.  

5. The Ant and the Aardvark, starring John Byner, the voice of Bill.  

6. Surprise cameos by Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, who may or may not have walked over from the set of Hook to record their lines.  

7. Opus’s flight attempt is reminiscent Larry Walters’s real-life flight using over 40 weather balloons tied to a lawn chair.  

8. Opus’ nightmare is from Lost Horizon, a 1937 movie by future It’s a Wonderful Life director Frank Capra.  

9. A Frog Thing, a children’s book with a very similar plot, but less Christmassy.  

10. Opus plushes with Santa hats are pretty easy to find on eBay.  

****  

“A Wish for Wings That Work” ©1991 Universal Cartoon Studios, Inc. / Amblin Entertainment, Inc.  

Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  
Say hi on Twitter @adventcalhouse.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.