[Wednesday and Pugsley dressed as you know who.]
I checked out "Puttergeist", the Halloween episode of the 90s "The Addams Family" cartoon. This was my first exposure to the show and it's um... pretty weird. Or maybe I'm pretty weird. Who can say?
The plot of this episode is that it's Halloween night and the Addamses are preparing for two things: 1) spooky festivities and 2) the appearance of the legendary Puttergeist. In a not subtle reference to Caddyshack (1980), a foolhardy golfer dies at the 13th hole during a thunderstorm after being struck by lightning. Now every Halloween, he haunts the neighborhood on a souped up golf cart, launching golf balls at unlucky residents.
The voice acting for this show is all excellent though Debi Derryberry's (real name?!) performance as Wednesday is probably too monotone to the point of distraction. I appreciate her commitment to the bit, but she was out-shined by legends like Carol Channing, Rip Taylor, John Astin, Edie McClurg, etc. The animation is goofy and well done, but the voice acting talent they managed to wrangle into the studio is where it's at.
The big joke that made me laugh out loud featuring Gomez having his back walked/stomped on by Lurch to make him less relaxed. Afterwards, as he's suffering in pain quietly, Morticia asks him to stop being selfish and scream loud enough so the whole family can enjoy it. He then proceeds to crawl around on the floor, bleating in pain.
The adult humor the creators snuck in is smartly tempered by a mountain of absurdity, which I greatly appreciate. Obviously, this is par for the course -see what I did there?- for Addams adaptations. I recommend this episode, but I can't tell how I feel about the series overall based on this small sampling. I suppose I'll need to see more than just "Puttergeist".
Live. Laugh. Lurch. I guess.
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