Twice Upon a Time (1983 film): Difference between revisions

| writer screenplay = John Korty<br />Charles Swenson<br />Suella Kennedy<br />[[Bill Couturié]]

'''''Twice Upon a Time''''' is a 1983 American [[Animated film|animated]] [[adventure film|adventure]] [[Fantasy film|fantasy]] [[comedy film]] co-directed by [[John Korty]] and [[Charles Swenson]] from a screenplay by Korty, Swenson, Suella Kennedy, and [[Bill Couturié]].<ref>[https://www.allmovie.com/movie/twice-upon-a-time-v51306 AllMovie]</ref> The first animated film produced by [[George Lucas]], it uses a form of [[cutout animation]] which the filmmakers called "Lumage"," involving prefabricated cutout plastic pieces that the animators moved on a [[light table]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |access-date=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/211/mode/2up |page=211}}</ref>

The film features [[Improvisational comedy|improvised dialogue]] and a visual blend of live-action, traditional 2D-animation, and [[stop motion|stop-motion]].

In the eternally busy city of Din, the black-and-white Rushers constantly go about their business in a fast-paced way and stop only to sleep, due to their Cosmic Clock beinggetting wound too tightly. Din lies between two worlds that create [[Dream|dreams]] to deliver to the sleeping Rushers – one is the bright and cheerful Frivoli, where Greensleeves and his Figmen of Imagination bring sweet dreams;. and theThe other is the Murkworks, a dark and dingy [[factory]] home to [[Vulture|vultures]] who drop [[nightmare]] [[Bomb|bombs]]. The evil {{Proper name|Synonamess}} Botch, a maniacal ruler of the Murkworks, wants to foil Greenie's efforts and subject the Rushers to non-stop waking nightmares. He uses his vultures to kidnap the Figs and Greensleeves, but not before Greensleeves writes an S.O.S. to Frivoli.

Meanwhile, two misfits –– known as Ralph, the All-Purpose Animal (named so for his somewhat unreliable [[shapeshifting]] abilities), and Mumford, a Chaplinesque [[wikt:ChaplinesqueMime artist|Chaplinesquemime]] mime –– are put on trial for their incompetence at work. They are determined to prove themselves when they meet Flora Fauna, Greensleeves's niece, who found her uncle's S.O.S. and wants to rescue him. Botch spies on the three through Ibor, his [[robot]] [[gorilla]], and uses Ralph and Mum's desire to be heroes to his advantage. Botch deceives the three, claiming to be a friend of Greenie and telling them that Greensleeves can be saved if they go into Din and take the main spring from the Cosmic Clock. Flora stays behind to act the part of the [[damsel in distress]] for Botch's nightmares.

Mumford and Ralph release the [[Spring (season)|spring]], which causes time to freeze. They chase the spring throughout Din, but Botch's vultures steal the spring and begin planting every nightmare bomb in the Murkworks' inventory all over Din. A [[Fairy Godmother]] (FGM) twinkles in to tell Mumford and Ralph that they have been tricked and gives them three dimes to make a phone booth appear in case they need her help. FGM also recruits the help of the dim-witted but musclebound Rod Rescueman to aid them. However, Rod is more interested in rescuing Fauna, however, and abandons the boys to find her.

Ralph and Mumford find nightmare bombs scattered in an [[office]], ready to be set off by Botch once it starts time again. Mumford accidentally [[Detonation|detonates]] a bomb, and the two are trapped in a nightmare in which theyoffice aresupplies nearly killedkill by office suppliesthem. When they are finally freed from the nightmare, the Fairy Godmother transports them back to Frivoli, suggests that they give up after all thetheir mistakes they've made, and fires them from the hero business. ThisIt further strengthens Ralph and Mumford's resolve to do right. Meanwhile, Rod "rescues" Flora from the Murkworks and attempts to get a kiss from her. She tries to escape from his [[Apartment|floating apartment]] in the sky and falls, landing on a mechanical [[Snake|serpent]] that attempts to stop Ralph and Mumford from reaching the Murkworks. The trio and Rod storm their way in with the help of Scuzzbopper, Botch's former nightmare [[screenwriter]], who decides to aid them after Botch cruelly discards his recently completed "Great Amurkian Novel."

Rod and Flora rescue Greenie and the Figs, but have to contend with Ibor. Rod tries to save Flora again but fails, and Flora destroys the robot herself. At the same time, Botch has his head vulture, and Rudy flyflies the spring back to Din as the final phase of his plan. When Ralph, Mumford, and Scuzzbopper enter Botch's office, he has his pet rat attack them, but Scuzzbopper tricks it into chasing a bowling ball out a window. Botch retreats to a [[control room]] housing his master nightmare bomb button, "The Big Red One"," with Ralph and Mumford chasing after him. Ralph finally manages to control his shapeshifting to get through Botch's arsenal of [[Booby trap|booby traps]] and flies into the control room, while Mumford struggles through the traps and into the barrel of Botch's cannon. Ralph, inIn the form of a fly, Ralph tricks Botch into pressing The Big Red One, detonating all the nightmare bombs before Rudy couldcan put the spring back in the Cosmic Clock, the still-immobilized Rushers being unaffected. An enraged Botch is about to kill Ralph for ruining his plans when one last nightmare bomb appears, about to blow. Terrified of being subjected to his own nightmare, Botch isgets knocked out the window. The bomb turns out to be Mumford, who had stretched his hat over himself and used a [[cigar]] to simulate nightmare [[smoke]]. Ralph and Mumford consider themselves heroes, while Botch is saved and carried away by his vultures (who may harbor ill- will toward Botch for his insults and cruel demands).

Scuzzbopper, Flora, and Rod assume command of the Murkworks, with Flora giving a parting kiss to Ralph and Mumford for helping to save Greenie. As the two heroes leave, the Fairy Godmother congratulates them and allows them to keep their last dime as a symbol of good [[luck]]. The spring returns to the Cosmic Clock of its own will, and restarts the [[Timestream|flow of time]], but at a pace where the Rushers can enjoy their lives.

John Korty developed the "Lumage" animation process, a type of modular animation in which cutout shapes are photographed on large fields of glass up to 46 inches across rather than the standard 12-inch fields used in [[Traditional animation|cel animation]] over twenty years providing animated segments for projects such as ''[[The Electric Company]]'' and ''[[Sesame Street]]''.<ref name="TwiceUponProduction">{{cite magazine |last=Anderson|first=Kay|date=1982|title= Twice Upon a Time|url=https://archive.org/details/cinefantastique_1970-2002/Cinefantastique%20Vol%2013%20No%202-3%20%281982%29/page/n10/mode/1up?view=theater|url-status= |magazine=[[Cinefantastique]]|location= |publisher= Fourth Castle Micromedia|access-date=May 7, 2023}}</ref> In 1979, Korty set his sights on producing a feature film as a showcase for the Lumage technique as it was more economical than cel animation with 90 minutes of Lumage animation coming in under $4 million vs 75 minutes of cel animation costing $15 million.<ref name= "TwiceUponProduction"/> Korty raised $130,000 dollars to develop a script and produce a sample reel for potential investors which was screened for [[George Lucas]] who became an executive producer shortly thereafter with Lucas then taking the project to [[Alan Ladd Jr.|Alan Ladd Jr.'s]] [[The Ladd Company]] who had greenlit Lucas' ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]''.<ref name= "TwiceUponProduction"/>

The studio producing ''Twice Upon a Time'', [[The Ladd Company]], was nearing bankruptcy and had a choice of either putting the movie into limited release or worldwide release, facing a similar difficulty with ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]''. The Ladd Company decided to release ''Twice Upon a Time'' into a limited release, andAugust there5 were1983. fewKids early screenings ofsee the filmmovie. Bothit’s thisbad, filmkids andcrying, ''Theit’s Rightdisaster, Stuff''the failedmovie atpulled theaters, making the boxmovie. officeBox Office failure, causingat and Korty films is shut down, The Ladd Company to shut down years later in 2007, especially with this film grossing only five thousand dollars$5,000 against its $3 million budget, making it one of the biggest box office bombs in animation and cinema history. After that it was failed

In 1991, the film was released on [[Videotape|videocassette]] and [[laserdisc]]. This release contains John Korty's intended [[family-friendly]] cut, with some scenes roughly trimmed short to remove profanity that was still present. Years later, [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] made the film temporarily available for rental download via [[Amazon Prime Video|Amazon Unbox]]. Now, the film is unavailable there, citing licensing restrictions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Amazon.com: Twice Upon a Time: Lorenzo Music, Marshall Efron, James Cranna, Julie Payne |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SW16A8 |access-date=7 December 2015 |website=Amazon}}</ref>

Its [[Cult following|cult status]] boosted when the film began to be shared on [[viral video]] sites. Perhaps in response to the lack of official support for the film, several bootleg copies of the original, uncut version were available via torrents. The film aired on the [[Disney Channel]] as part of its "[[Disney anthology television series|Magical World of Disney]]" movie block in 1997, it also aired as part of [[Cartoon Network]]'s Cartoon Theatre on September 12, 1998. It has also been shown early mornings on [[Turner Classic Movies]], first on February 1, 2015 as part of the channel's [[TCM Underground]] block, and again on May 20, 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=TCM Full Schedule-Turner Classic Movies |url=http://www.tcm.com/schedule/index.html?tz=CST&sdate=2019-05-19 |access-date=25 May 2019}}</ref>