What is that Pulp Fiction Cartoon?

June 25, 2005 7:53 PM

MovieFilter: In "Pulp Fiction" an animated cartoon is shown briefly. What is it?

Just before Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) arrives to give his "watch up the ass" monologue, Young Butch Coolidge is shown watching a cartoon with what appears to be an Eskimo talking about how his dog is tupid for thinking that a totem pole is alive. In the script for the movie, the cartoon featured is "Speed Racer". This however is clearly not the cartoon shown. Any clues? I did try to Google this to no avail. My Google-fu is usually quite strong but maybe it's a little off tonight.

posted by horseblind to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Best answer: From the IMDb site: " The show on the television behind young Butch is "Clutch Cargo" (1959)."
posted by itchie at 8:03 PM on June 25, 2005

Best answer: This link gives more info about Clutch Cargo, a toon from the late 50's. BTW, the using of human lips over an animated picture was called "Synchro-Vox." I always found it creepy looking, myself...
posted by bawanaal at 8:20 PM on June 25, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks itchie! oy! I feel dumb. I looked on IMDB. I guess I just needed to read further.
posted by horseblind at 8:21 PM on June 25, 2005

Response by poster: bawanaal, thanks to you too! It's the Synchro-vox that really has me fascinated. Yeah, very creepy.
posted by horseblind at 8:22 PM on June 25, 2005

Synchro-vox was parodied in the animated short included on The Incredibles DVD. See, in the movie world, they're real superheroes, and they had a crappy cartoon made about them... Craig T. Nelson and Samuel L. Jackson do commentary on it in character. It's mildly amusing.
posted by kindall at 10:25 PM on June 25, 2005

Semi-relevant factoid: the comedy bits on Conan O'Brien where he talks to a "celebrity" on the monitor where only their lips move are called clutch cargo.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 10:44 PM on June 25, 2005