What on Earth! (1967) User Reviews

What on Earth! was a nice satirical animated short from The National Film Board of Canada

[tavm · 8/10 · 30 March 2009]

Just watched this Oscar-nominated animated short on YouTube. Presented by "The National Film Board of Mars", What on Earth! has a narrator telling the Mars audience about the life there is on Earth that feeds on a pump of gas. It seems he's referring to the cars that dominate the highway. We also find out about the "Earthling"s "retirement" parking place and how they "reproduce". And then there are those "parasites" (humans) that inhabit these "Earthlings"...This satirical animated short from The National Film Board of Canada hits the mark of how the Mars people think the cars are the living creatures since the road is dominated by them. And considering how there hasn't been any evidence of actual life on the red planet yet, there's no chance of anyone there being offended by the material here. So on that note, I cautiously recommend What on Earth!

A great story idea makes the simple animations work...and work well

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 10 August 2009]

This is a very clever film from The National Film Board of Canada. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it and I can certainly understand why it was Oscar-nominated.

It begins with a message that the film is brought to you by The National Film Board of MARS!! It turns out to be a documentary about Earthlings, and the film goes on to show the day-to-day habits of car--which, the Martians assume is the dominant life force on the planet! It's all very clever, as these aliens supposedly think that the cars are intelligent and humans are parasites! Very tongue-in-cheek--and I like the dry and business-like narration.

The only negative about it is a sign of the times in which it was made. Compared to Oscar nominees from the 1940s and 50s as well as more recent ones, the animation is rather poor--simple drawings with moderately low frame-rates. However, for the 1960s, this is pretty typical so I don't fault it for this.

Martian chronicles of life on Earth

[jamesjustice-92 · 8/10 · 11 April 2020]

I've stumbled upon this short animated feature by accident but was absolutely fascinated by its premise - it is a fictional documentary made from a perspective of Mars scientists and their beliefs about life on Earth. It grabs your attention from the get-go and 9 minutes pass by very quickly; the idea of having cars as true inhabitants of Earth is not new but it's the way it's presented that keeps you interested. People are shown as parasites that stand in the way of real progress and the whole cartoon can be interpreted as a satirical commentary on current life that people are living. Machines are doing everything for us now and what are we doing to leave a trace on this Earth? Exactly! Great short feature and a very well-crafted piece of art.

Excellent cartoon from the National Film Board of Canada

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 25 September 2001]

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, is a very funny and very pointed satire that really deserves to be more widely seen than it has been. Produced under the auspices of the NFBC, it scores points in quite a few areas, lampooning aspects of modern culture. Produced in 1967, the points it makes are just as cogent and valid today. Until recently, Cartoon Network showed this occasionally on the very late-night series, O Canada, which, sadly, is not currently airing. Cartoons are not just for children and much of the output from the National Film Board of Canada shows that they understand this. Try and catch this somewhere if you can. It's most definitely worth seeing. Most recommended.

A comic gem as the Martians discover the true life on Earth.

[Bill-619 · 9/10 · 27 August 2000]

Earthlings. They have strange names that consist of two groups of three letters and numbers. They have strange lives, as they play on complicated running fields all day. Their reproduction process is most confusing, and most efficient also. They communicate by making strange honking sounds. But thanks to painstaking research by Martian scientists and Martian probes, we are understanding them more and more, and hope to make contact with them one day.

This satirical short is only ten or so minutes long, but in that time it accomplishes plenty. It cuts to the truth of this world. What is the dominant species of the planet Earth? Why, automobiles, of course. This excellent short, while not perfect (the reproduction sequence took a little too long), takes a very amusing look at the people of Earth and their strange habits. 9/10.

What Happens When One Jumps to Conclusons

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 18 March 2019]

Some Martians have visited Earth, not landing, but making visual scans. It is determined that our cars and other vehicles are the indigenous Earth people. Once that is assumed, all the activities of motorized vehicles seem to parallel a kind of civilization. They investigate travel, garages, junk yards, used car lots, road signs, on and on. The pompous narrator really helps because at no time does he get anything right. But his tone makes it seem like this is the way it is.