Out of seven Ralph Wolf & Sam Sheepdog toons, this is the 6th & last one done by Chuck Jones. Most Looney Tunes are named after something else & this one is named after the song Asleep In The Deep. By this time, Chuck had been laid-off, fired & rehired enough by Warner that he was pretty much tired of their policies, so he had one foot out the door already & had formed his own animation company called Sib Tower 7 that did lots of other things such as feature films, Dr. Seuss stuff & just on the horizon Tom & Jerry toons for MGM.

For this reason, Chuck’s layout artist Maurice Noble had been groomed for directing & he co-directed this with Chuck, who also wrote the story. Chuck’s ace writer Michael Maltese had also soured on Warner Brothers & already left for Hanna Barbera. Chuck however is a very good writer & the sight gags in this toon are classic. Ralph’s rube-goldberg way of getting around in the morning itself is highly creative & classic Chuck Jones visual humor all the way with a strong emphasis on motion & timing all the way from the morning routine right up through the daily shift as it ends with typical Jonesian surprise disguises.

There are 2 versions of this toon. The original and the censored one.

Milt Franklyn is the music orchestrator & supplies plenty of toony musical flare to underline all the motion & punctuate every punchline using such classics as Raymond Scott’s Powerhouse for when Ralph’s get up & go gizmo is working, Rossini’s William Tell Overture, Brahms Lullaby, A Cup Of Coffe A Sandwich And You, Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone, and (of course) You’re A Horse’s Ass. Yep. Milt went there.

In this period, Warner Brothers was a very unstable place. Studio boss John Burton was on his way out & the final Termite Terrace producer David DePatie was coming in to oversee what would be the end of The Golden Age Of Cartoons before Warner would commit the crime of dismantling the animation department & shutting down the studio forever.

1994 film adaptation of the 1899 novella of the same name, written by Joseph Conrad. A fairly decent “compressed” version of the telling of the story that would eventually be rewritten by, and become the basis for director Francis Ford Copplala’s epic film, “Apocalypse Now”. Another of literatures great mind’s, Conrad is so eloquent in his writing, that you may think that you’re actually with him, as you both watch the descent of the raindrops through the jungle canopy he’d just spent half a page describing.
IMO, read the novella first, follow up by watching this film, then, move on to “Apocalypse Now”.

Chuck Jones really was a master of animated motion as well as the unscripted visual sight gags. He did this to great effect with Wile E. Coyote & The Roadrunner, but he also had the fun pairing of Ralph Wolf & Sam Sheepdog.

The Coyote & Wolf each look mostly alike with scraggly fur, super long ears & knobby joints, but Ralph has a big red nose & white eyes instead of a black nose & yellow eyes. He’s also not an uppity self-important narcissist like Wile E. is. He’s really not even driven by anger or one-upsmanship the way Wile E. is. He’s hunger driven, but Sam Sheepdog isn’t his enemy. They’re co-workers. Each has to punch a clock at 8am and work a shift until 5 or 6pm when the new shift arrives - usually Fred & George. Nope, Ralph & Sam are just doing their jobs. Like Wile E. Coyote, Ralph Wolf leans heavily on Acme’s poorly applied products. However, unlike Wile E. Coyote, Ralph Wolf sometimes might have to dress up as Little Bo Peep in this 3rd toon of the working class pair written by Michael Maltese.

Music orchestrator Milt Franklyn uses all the fun musical punctuations he learned from his mentor Carl Stalling. He even includes quotes from Mary Had A Little Lamb & Little Bo Peep.

Ralph Wolf & Sam Sheepdog were created in 1953 by Chuck Jones. There’s a total of 7 classic Golden Age cartoons with them as an adversarial comedic pair & sometimes their names get switched around. Their day begins at 8am & ends at 5 to 6pm. They’re co-workers. Sam guards sheep & Ralph steals sheep. That’s the bit.

The job is a 24 hour one, so there are other wolves & sheepdog pairs before & after Ralph & Sam’s shift. While on the clock, Sam sleeps much of the day in a pastoral setting guarding a flock of sheep. While he sleeps or otherwise lays about, Ralph is hard at work trying to steal the sheep, frequently with Acme products. However, for all of Ralph’s efforts, the Acme products often fail him & his own ineptitude gets him in trouble with Sam, who is always very brutal to Ralph once caught, providing a lot of great visual gags that Chuck Jones & writer Michael Maltese are known for. The toons are low on the scripted gags, but the “Mornin’ Ralph” - “Mornin’ Sam” lines have been widely copied over half a century in other cartoons & tv shows from My Little Pony to News Radio & even Veronica Mars.

There are two versions of this toon. The original & a censored one. This toon is followed by 1954 Sheep Ahoy, 1955 Double Or Mutton, 1957 Steal Wool, 1960 Ready Woolen And Able, 1962 A Sheep In The Deep, and then 1963 Woolen Under Where. There’s even a cool 2001 PlayStation game called Sheep Raider that’s spot on. Get an emulator. It’s a fun game. Play it with Bugs Bunny Lost In Time. Big fun. If you’re lucky, you can also find them on 2003 Behind The Tunes- Blanc Expressions.

Music maestro Carl Stalling uses less Big Band Swing and more classical quotations in these toons, including Rossini’s William Tell Overture & Mendelsohn’s Spring Song. He also uses nursery rhymes like Baa Baa Black Sheep, of course. The notable Big Band Swing tune is (naturally) The Five O’Clock Whistle.

The Ralph & Sam toons are 1953 Don’t Give Up the Sheep, 1954 Sheep Ahoy, 1955 Double Or Mutton, 1957 Steal Wool, 1960 Ready Woolen And Able, 1962 A Sheep In The Deep, and 1963 Woolen Under Where. In 2001 the PlayStation video game called Sheep Raider was released It’s fun to play & accurately recreates scenes from the Ralph & Sam toons. There’s also a rare 2003 documentary called Behind The Tunes- Blanc Expressions that features Ralph & Sam.

So sad. She said he’d get away with it & he did.

This episode was typical of this writer’s fluffy story-line with very little substance. One whole season of build-up resolved in a few minutes. Same as last season. Spend some time on Moll and the Progenitor tech ffs.

As a whole series it really suffered in the writing department. They replaced the show-runners a bunch of times but with every new turn new bizarre choices came along. So many.

At least we got Strange New Worlds out of this.

My new favorite Laurence Fishburne performance. A really fun watch.

Trolling ozempic, I know a lot of people that should watch this

I think this is the series repackaged in a movie. I just remember I saw that….

If anyone digs the Stargate family of actors, this was done by David Hewlett of SGA, featuring his sister Kate, as well as Chris Judge from SG-1 and Rachel Lutrell from SGA. It’s left of center & comedy fits them well.

Gatchaman again. Sequel to Battle Of The Planets.

Gatcha. Man.

Not bad at all. 7/10

Alternate universe evil Dr. Nami.

I put in a request at TVMaze to have the series added, I’m much too lazy to do all that work, so if it does happen I’ll add links here.

Aboot 200 episodes of the series.

That was so groovy.

G-Force: Guardians of Space was a much better, and more accurate, adaptation.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302109
Apparently, there is no TVMaze listing for it, so there is no page for it here, but if you are interested message me I can give you an Archive dot org link that has most of the series.

G-Force: Guardians of Space was a much better, and more accurate, adaptation.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302109
Apparently, there is no TVMaze listing for it, so there is no page for it here, but if you are interested message me I can give you an Archive dot org link that has most of the series.

Man, I remember this from way back when I was just a wee little sprite, and also the InHumanoids…talk about bringing back memories!

Seriously, this is indeed dandy. You’re a little rascal, you are! A tabula rascal! (musses up hair).

(sound of heart breaking)

there is literally nothing more old school than this

Excellent flick. Well worth the watch.

㋡㋡Right On㋡㋡ Now if they would cast Randi Oakes in something.

This guy needs to stop making movies.

wooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww

Holy Toledo! What a twist!

Thanks to Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey we now have films like this.

New spin on The Wicker Man. Engaging until the end. Look forward to more.

I’ve been on a Daniel-Day Lewis run for a couple of days now. I’m embarrassed to say I’m quite sure I have not watched this movie yet. I can’t wait to be dazzled!

Athena needs to seriously apologize to dude, after accusing him pulling a gun on him etc.

Wow this was horrible… who told this chic Sweeney she could act? smh

Wow this was horrible… who told this chic Sweeney she could act? smh

No, he’s a time traveler, a recurring character on the series Star Trek: Enterprise.

Your post is quite funny, newman ~ bizarre and made me giggle 🤪

This guy needs to stop making movies.

This guy needs to stop making movies.

Smooth move, Ava.

police unions help police officers avoid accountability.. its like they have superpowers - “Its a system that privileges a class elite, a racial elite, people who are free of social stigma. And yet there are many people involved in shoring it up, who find themselves on the wrong side of all of those divides”…

well presented, thoughtful.. required reading..

Originally entitled “Chasing Shakespeare”, this is a beautiful love story - social observation that meritocracy is a sham, a scheme, a scam.

The film shows the brutality & hypocrisy of society where race & mobility through personal merit are concerned. It’s probably Glover’s best acting ever. Chelsea Ricketts does a fine job playing the younger version of his wife. The story breaks your heart & mends it all at the same time. Aboriginal Native American 1st Nation director Noory Niven tells the story his way, which is smart, artful & satisfying.

Lovely photography & direction, wonderful editing tells the story in flashback remembrance style.

11 out of 10 = worth watching more than once. You’ll share it with people special to you.

You mean you couldn’t stand the show yet watched every episode?

You mean you couldn’t stand the show yet watched every episode?

It was all feelings and relationships with every woke concept possible shoved into each episode absolutely shoved down your throat. Good riddance

take a hint