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When I was a little kid, I saw an animated movie on TV which stuck in my mind for a long time. I couldn't remember that much, but one scene, in which a bunch of blue-skinned, white-haired creatures chanted "Into the machine! Into the machine!" while a machine tried to suck someone in and turn them into another of the blue critters. I also recall a sense of surreality.
Some time ago I managed to find out what this cartoon was by, you guessed it, Googling "Into the machine! Into the machine!" It was Jack and The Witch, a '67 animated movie by Toei Animation, the same studio that would later bring us Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon. After reading a few online reviews I had to get a copy, even if it wasn't officially available in the US. But I found a site that would sell me a DVR of it, and got it, and watched it...
... Wow. Memories came back. Not only of the movie, but of the circumstances in which I saw it. (My grandmother's house on a summer long ago.) Anyway, despite the very poor video quality - it looks like a third-generation SLP videotape made from an old 8mm print - I enjoyed it, and was awed by its sheer freakiness. I would love to get an official Japanese copy (Shonen Jakku to Maho-tsukai) if it was subtitled, but I don't believe such a thing exists.
Anyway, one image I liked was Allegra, a little harpy girl, flying a helicopter with a broomstick tail. Since there was a lot of bone imagery in the movie - machinery that was part bone, bone switches, even motorcycles that incorporated ribs and a spinal column and a blimp made of ribs and a jawbone - I tweaked the helicopter design a tad.
Some time ago I managed to find out what this cartoon was by, you guessed it, Googling "Into the machine! Into the machine!" It was Jack and The Witch, a '67 animated movie by Toei Animation, the same studio that would later bring us Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon. After reading a few online reviews I had to get a copy, even if it wasn't officially available in the US. But I found a site that would sell me a DVR of it, and got it, and watched it...
... Wow. Memories came back. Not only of the movie, but of the circumstances in which I saw it. (My grandmother's house on a summer long ago.) Anyway, despite the very poor video quality - it looks like a third-generation SLP videotape made from an old 8mm print - I enjoyed it, and was awed by its sheer freakiness. I would love to get an official Japanese copy (Shonen Jakku to Maho-tsukai) if it was subtitled, but I don't believe such a thing exists.
Anyway, one image I liked was Allegra, a little harpy girl, flying a helicopter with a broomstick tail. Since there was a lot of bone imagery in the movie - machinery that was part bone, bone switches, even motorcycles that incorporated ribs and a spinal column and a blimp made of ribs and a jawbone - I tweaked the helicopter design a tad.
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Thanks for this.
Australia, TV, mid-70s. What I remember were the spirals such as Allegra being banished to the ice caves (we'd chant "The Washing Machine! The Washing Machine!") and the models of the characters over the end credits, particularly Auriana in her balloon.
Australia, TV, mid-70s. What I remember were the spirals such as Allegra being banished to the ice caves (we'd chant "The Washing Machine! The Washing Machine!") and the models of the characters over the end credits, particularly Auriana in her balloon.