“A Wish For Wings That Work”

Penguins do, in fact, fly. If you’ve ever seen them swim, you will recognize that as merely flying through water instead of air. They are exquisite as they do so. Water is a penguin’s natural environment just as surely as land appears to be. Penguins do indeed look very silly waddling about; it’s part of their charm. But as charming as that might be to the casual human observer, there’s a real discussion about how penguins might feel about the whole thing.

Opus, beloved creation of Berkeley Breathed, has the distinct disadvantage of not living in his native Falkland Islands. Instead, he lives in Bloom County, Somewhere in Middle America. There’s water, but not a lot of it. Not as much of it. And so Opus dreams of flight, to the mockery of most of the birds around him. He writes a letter to Santa Claus asking for wings that work, and arguably he gets it, just not the way he was expecting.

Unsurprisingly, given the screenplay was written by Breathed, the special works out much the same way. There’s the addition of voices, of course; Opus is the extraordinarily prolific Michael Bell. We’ve also been given a support group, led by Ronald-Ann (Alexaundria Simmons), for flightless birds. (Including a kiwi voiced by “Sudy Nim,” really Robin Williams.) And, yes, there is the letter to Santa Claus, and there is the lovely climax.

Breathed felt that the story didn’t work on television, that his humour didn’t transfer over well, and that he wasn’t great at writing screenplays. I disagree; I think it’s charming and deserves to be higher in the TV special pantheon than it is. It was the first thing directed by Skip Jones, though his animating credits go back to “The Small One.” (He’s one of the animators who followed Don Bluth away from Disney, by the look of it.) Breathed thought he was in over his head, but I think it turned out well. Perhaps not the way it was in Breathed’s head, but we do what we can.

The one advantage to its being forgotten now is that the short is available on YouTube—and the version I saw even includes its period commercials, to my great delight. If you want to read the book, it’s accessible. The story is wistful, touching, and funny all at once. And also, of course, there’s the cartoon version. You can hear Dustin Hoffman as a transvestite cockroach if you’re so inclined. You can even do it with the commercials that offer you the chance to watch The Golden Palace or the world-premiere movie of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Next month, enjoy some Dick Van Dyke shenanigans with Fitzwilly!