A Wish for Wings That Work (1991) (TV)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Skip Jones

Writers:

Berkeley Breathed (book)
Berkeley Breathed (comic strip "Bloom County")

Release Date:

18 December 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Comedy | Short

Plot:

Opus the Penguin struggles to achieve his seemingly impossible dream to be able to fly.

Plot Keywords:

Penguin | Christmas | Cat | Satire | Based On Comic

Cast

Michael Bell	...	Opus (voice)
Joe Alaskey	...	Truffles / The Ducks (voice)
John Byner	...	Bill the Cat (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	The Chicken (voice)
Andrew Hill Newman	...	Santa (voice)
Robin Williams	...	The Kiwi (voice) (as Sudy Nim)
Alexaundria Simmons	...	Ronald-Ann (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Santa Claus (voice)

Runtime:

22 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Amblin Television

Trivia:

Berkeley Breathed was exceptionally displeased with the quality of the final product. In an exchange published in the Washington Post he said to a person trying to find the VHS or DVD version, "Hopefully [you will find it] in the rubbish pail. We can do better than that and we will with an eventual Opus film...but I'm glad you enjoyed it. I presume your family was on speed when they watched it. I would imagine it helps."

Quotes:

Opus: We're going down because penguins can't fly.

Movie Connections:

References Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

A must for all Bloom County / Outland fans.

I have not seen this Christmas special since it was new (did they ever show it as a rerun ?). Nevertheless, I still remember how underneath all the irreverent humor, "A Wish for Wings that Work" had a truly beautiful story. Opus the penguin is caught in the awkward position of being a bird without having qualities normally associated with birds and also of being completely anthropomorphic even though he is obviously not human in the physical sense. To make him feel even more like an outsider, he does not have much contact with other penguins. In the special (as well as in the "Bloom County" / "Outland" comic strips), this is a source of much angst for him. However, by the end of the show, he manages to recognize his true worth by realizing that his differences can be assetts too. While it´s true that this message is nothing new, it is one which is worth reinforcing. Otherwise, the special is really funny too, owing to Berke Breathed´s unique writing style. He is also probably the only person to have the proper handle on the characters. After all, he created them ! Nevertheless, "Wish" would have been even better if it had cartoon versions of great "Bloom County" characters like Steve Dallas, Michael Binkley, and Oliver Wendell Jones but it was made during the "Outland" era so their absence is understandable.