When you realized Filmation put more effort in their Pinocchio sequel than the Disney Live Action version of Pinocchio.

I’m thinking that the Emperor can turn people into puppets but Pinocchio is the only puppet that became human. Basically, the devil collecting souls and Pinocchio’s soul is special since he had to ‘earn it’ instead of being born with one. Or something.

When I think about it, the idea of Pinnochio falling in love with another puppet and risking losing his humanity for her might have been enough to carry a whole film just Twinkle another living puppet (and, you know, an actual character), and focus most of the story on that. If that's not involved, have the Night Emperor story as well. Except, make him The Coachman's true form, and make turning kids into puppets his new racket. It would still be a repeat of the Pleasure Island plot, but it would at least connect more to the original story, and it would be cathartic to give the book/films vilest character some actual comeuppance.

The Emperor of the Night feels like a villain who belongs in a much better movie - one that actually cared about reaching his badass potential.

My legally distinct conscience is telling me I shouldn't trick people into thinking my public domain-based movie is affiliated with Disney

You make a movie with people in it. Disney: STOP! We made a movie with people in it last year! We’ll take you to court!

I love how the Blue...Fairy Godmother always sounds like she's on the verge of nodding off XD

Coachman from the Disney film: I’m the scariest character and thing in Pinnochio Filmmation: hold my wood

Bat hero - Ms blue fairy please make me a real hero. Blue fairy - that's beyond my power. * Sad bat hero noises*

There was a Japanese series about Pinocchio in which during his misadventures he comes across a river with magic water which he hopes would turn him into a real boy, but instead it makes him regress back into a tree. Also, there was an episode where Pinocchio, Jepetto and a random girl end up at a deserted island where they meet freaking Devil himself. Traumatized me a lot back then.

My favorite part of this movie is that they wasted a massive chunk of its runtime trying to set up a Smurfs-like bug society that we never saw again because Filmation shut down.

the animation's not bad rly, i love how the emperor is animated

Between this, Care Bears, and Last Unicorn... I'm beginning to develop a carnival phobia.

“Pinocchio, you poor dummy.” The perfect title for a sequel.

I'm not sure where that comment was posted, but a former Filmation animator, who worked on these last couple fairy tale movies they made to try and piggyback off the earlier work from a certain house of rodent, had corroborated the stories of how Disney lawyers would walk up and down the halls of the Filmation animation studio, glancing into the cubicles of animators and making sure each line on the drawing tables didn't resemble something from those old cartoons. Anyways, this movie will forever be cemented in my head as one of the scariest things ever made for kids. Decently animated by Filmation standards, though.

Pinnochio: *I'm Blue, now prepare to da ba dee da ba die!*

The ultimate weakness of the Emperor of the Night: blue light! He uses his phone too much before bed, you see.

I remember the Pinocchio turning back into a puppet scene was traumatizing for many kids back in the day :0

It's always amusing to me that they went through the trouble to make the bug companion a wooden "GLOW BUG" instead of a cricket and then thumbed their noses at Disney by naming him "Gee Willikers," another exclamation like "Jiminy Cricket!" :D

Glad to know the geniuses behind Christmas skeletor got to do a sequel to Pinocchio.

What really gets me about this film is the fact Filmation was so confident that this was gonna be a huge new age for them, as they were planning no fewer than *11* of these 'New Classics" (as the line was called) and were hyping it up in the press as early as 1984 - and this one in particular seemed to really get a big rollout; at least one existing press kit even claiming it will make you "laugh", "cry", "sing", "dance", "stand up and cheer" in the opening credits. And for what it's worth, this IS probably the best-animated project the studio ever did; and they definitely took pride in the talent they had considering the credits were like 85% visual-related, along with "Made Entirely in the USA" being a selling point in their eyes. (Which is admittedly, pretty missed in terms of animation nowadays) I almost feel bad for everyone who tried this hard on what was such a flawed idea from the start. But at least some of these people went on to do much better things.

I saw this in theaters. The film broke halfway through. When they got it working, it jumped to the end and made no sense. A great childhood memory.

Once Pinocchio became a real boy, he grew up to become Grunyon and now works for Snow White and Snow White Junior.

Memory unlocked: I had a promotional drinking glass or something for this movie when I was a kid. Seeing the character designs just suddenly dug this up. Woah...

I wish Funimation went full-on creepy like this movie did more often.

He ain’t lying… that animation is crispy af.

Can never get enough of that Pino-C. He's such a gangster.

so in revenge, Disney cribbed off Grumblebee's design for Monterey Jack, eh? lol

2023-2024 Was the Pinocchio era of Phelous

Okay, that thing at the end where Pinocchio promises he won't fall for this same trap a third time, and then his nose starts growing again, that was kinda funny

Man, the Emperor of the Night has a great design. His vibe reminds me of Tirek from the first My Little Pony special (Rescue at Midnight Castle). Although he's a little more melodramatic. The color contrast between the Emperor of the Night and the Blue Fairy reminds me of the Red Bull and the unicorn in The Last Unicorn (1982).

The Emperor forgot to include a No Take-Backs clause in the contract.

21:16 I find the character animation in this movie incredibly entertaining! It demonstrates excellent character acting and smooth, fluid movement. It makes this movie more charming to me.

I honestly like the Emperor of the Night as a concept for a Pinocchio Villain. Sort of a demonic opposite of the Blue Fairy who wants to dwindle her power and take peoples freedom via temptation. Only problem is he's killed way too easily! The story and by extension the movie's aren't about defeating evil, but being headstrong and improving yourself in spite of overwhelming odds. I think it would've have been cooler if he was defeated but not ultimately destroyed...still able to cause harm but with less power than he had before.

Kinda interesting that whatever it was Pinocchio drank, he managed to be less tripped out then Grumble Bee. Guess even The Emperor shows more concern about Alcohol poisoning then the bugs do.

When I was a kid this was the Pinocchio movie I had and I was wildly confused when other people would describe the story because it wasn’t even close to sounding right

I’ve beeen waiting forever for Someone to talk about this film. That pino turning back into a puppet scene traumatized me as a kid. Seeing it now years later … it’s still kinda messed up, luckily it’s now replaced with You’re a Star being stuck in my head FOREVER. Damn you Kid Creole

To this day, I'll never get over the fact that Pinnochio here is voiced by the actor who's Steve in American Dad....

26:30 This bit of the emperor of the night doing the rainbow thing needs to be a meme. It's amazing.

80s 90s movies hit differently. They felt dark, creative, strange and wondrous, like a true fairy tale.

It doesn't happen often, but I absolutely live for companies making sequels to public domain stories that deliberately invoke the Disney feel. It's just fun to get my Noggin working by asking "what if the Disney version went into a completely unexpected direction? What if Pinocchio and Jiminy had a new adventure where they met other puppet people and had to deal with an otherworldly emperor of the night? What if (spoiler alert) Snow White had to learn more about her prince not through mundane conversations but because a spell was cast on him turning him ugly?

So this video just solved a 30+ year mystery for me! I distinctly remember being at the YMCA kid babysitting room (my mom swam and taught swim lessons) when I was probably around preschool age, I'm guessing 1990. Eventually I stopped playing with the toys and went over to the little TV area, and the movie they had playing was clearly a version of Pinocchio. The part I walked in on was the scene where Pinocchio sees Geppetto captured and chooses to sign his life away. And let me tell you, as a very little kid not expecting to see something that intense, that scene out of context was especially horrifying, especially adding in the Emperor character. And in my memory, I swear I remember him actually turning back into a lifeless puppet and his little girl puppet friend crying. So now in my late 30s, I saw you were going to be covering a non-Disney Pinocchio movie from the 80s and I wondered if I was finally going to learn what happened at the end of the movie from the Y. Sure enough, it was absolutely this movie. Thanks for inadvertently helping me solve this childhood mystery!

10:11 I dunno, personally speaking, I'm impressed Scalawag managed to get Pinky a cameo in this movie...before Pinky even existed. ...Oh no, Wabuu and his lineage really DO know how to open time portals, don't they?

We had this on VHS when I was a kid and I watched the heck out of it. My family was poor so my mother tried her best and got many off brand and non-Disney movies for us. I recently found this one on KZfaq and rewatched it for nostalgia, it was a trip for sure! All I vividly remembered was the sparkling, dancing ladies and the creepy Puppetino

Pinocchio I am your father!

Gee , I wonder why the Jiminy Knock-off and Drunk Army Bee Show never took off. Definitely was Filmation's collapse, no other reason😊

Just to point out - the other puppets are formerly people. The whole thing, even covered in the speech you play in the video, is that he gets stronger as he takes people's will away. People sign away their freedom to him and become his slaves - his puppets. It's basically a metaphor turned literal. The Emperor grows stronger and he gains new tools he can use as he wishes. as displayed in The Land Where Dreams Come True, he can make his puppets look like normal people. So, based on what we see, clearly Puppetino was a man who signed away his freedom and has been used a a recruitment tool by the Emperor. As for why the fairy godmother never does anything? Eh, that's somewhat standard narrative tropes TBH. If we're having a story about a battle for a soul, the forces of good usually trust the soul to do the right thing without intervention unless absolutely necessary.

Scott Grimes will always be best known as the genius who sang the banger "Daddy's Gone"

Honestly the graphic novel, "Pinocchio Vampire Slayer" is a superior Pinocchio "sequel"

The Emperor of the Night is such a cool character, he is def where all the budget went too for the movie

"Having wood was your problem last time!" LOL ROTFLOL.

My mom recorded it like video to video. And marking of the name on the VHS said "Pinocchio And The Emperor of HELL" so growing up i always thought it was "Emperor of Hell"

I appreciate your restraint on relying on too many Darth Vader audio clips. I was half expecting when the Emperor dies you'd throw in a "noooooo".

While I did not grow up this movie, I'd imagine the sequence of Puppetino transforming Pinocchio back into a wooden puppet would have scared the gee willikers out of me as a kid, especially the moment he loses his voice. I can imagine the whole nipped bud scene with Gee Willikers and Grumblebee is kind meant to be of a sort-of reference to Don Knotts' Barney Fife's "Nip it in the bud." I kind of read Pinocchio's nose growing near the end is kind of just the writers way of justifying him going through the same beats in the film... because he's terrible at learning his lessons.

Pinocchio's voice actor would also grow up to do the voice of Steve in American Dad. So there's another link to him being in another Seth Macfarlane show.

Filmation was pretty creative (if only the cool villian had more screen time 😅) and then Pinocchio goes super saiyan blue or something 😂

I remember when Mickey Rourke kept saying gee willikers when they were trying to save the Radioactive Man movie.

How have I never put it together that Darth Vader and Mufasa share the same voice actor!?

I’m so glad you tackled this movie! The puppet transformation scene chills me to the core even as an adult.

As always, Phelan giving voices to the background characters of these kind of animated movies never fails to give me a good laugh! XD And the "instant depressing ending" bit! Never gets old!

Honestly, I have a soft spot for this movie. It terrified me as a kid, especially the Emperor. I like how strange and dark it is at times. And that it even exists. That being said, Disney’s Pinocchio is one of my favorite movies of all time. But I do still enjoy this odd Filmation production. I can’t really explain why. Thanks for another great episode, Phelan!

It's great to see Phelous take a break from Dingo, Good Times, and Golden Films with a "higher quality" FILMATION film.

Always love the background history/added context bits that are included in these reviews!

7:19- DREW CAAAAAREEEEEY! DREW CAAAAAREEEEEY

This wasn't even the first "unofficial Pinocchio sequel animated movie". There was an earlier one in the 60s called Pinocchio in Outer Space that involved a talking alien turtle with a space ship and Pinocchio learning hypnotism to stop a giant flying space whale. I kid you not, I'm pretty sure it's on KZfaq. Might make for good review fodder.

Scott Grimes is also the voice of Steve Smith from American Dad. and was in the Critter movies.

6:30 Geppetto: "unfortunately they got turned into donkeys along the way"

At one point point, I wanted to do a review video of this movie. The one gag I remember having planned out was for the part when they go to Bugburgh. ME: And what are we doin' in Bugburgh? *Cut to clip of Honest John from Disney's "Pinocchio."* HONEST JOHN: Ho-ho-ho! We're wasting precious time!

I love how every raccoon is just spiritually Wabuu at this point. Showcasing they are truly the superior animal.

Man, ain't we one step away from Filmation's final pseudo Disney sequel and movie in general, Happily Ever After, formerly known as Snow White and the Land of Doom? The latter of which is pretty fitting for them.

I mean, the power struggle between higher beings of Emperor of the Night and Blue Fairy Godmother on the grander scale where Pinocchio is just a puppet of their power games is an interesting concept. I wish it would have a more cohesive movie to explore it though.

This movie rocks, and you can watch the whole thing on KZfaq for free. I saw it once on tv as a kid, and never remembered the title. Only rediscovered it a couple years ago.

I really love this particular film. It has no right being as good as it is. The songs are catchy too, even if the Fairy Godmother does sound drunk.

That Mortal Kombat Konquest reference is such a nostalgia trip

Hell yeah, NES Sesame Street moon makes a comeback!

Always nice to see a new animation review from Phelous. I mean I enjoy all the videos but the animated movie ones are always my favorites. I appreciate the incredible amount of background information in them about both the work itself as well as the company, it's always fascinating and a level of detail most reviewers don't go into.

I love how the bees stinger hits the ground but he doesn't die. Instead he is completely fine.

Nice subtle reference to James Rolfe at the end there. 😁

i really DO find the whole idea of Filmation's not-quite-sequels and wonder what ones for other movies could've been like if they followed the same pattern, as darker continuations of the original while also kinda-sorta being retreads of the first story

Look, no one condones what Puppetino did, but you have to acknowledge he's a legend in the industry

This movie isn't terrible, but it's missing a lot of stuff from the original Pinocchio, such as the essential horse poop smelling scene and Pauly Shore thinking a horse is his daddy.

"Most of the wooden boys are sooo stupid"

The organ grinder scene scared the shit out of me as a child, and I LOVED it. Stepping back as an adult, I feel like I can argue for this movie being a solid B or C+. My review for both the music and the animation is: “it’s not Disney but you clearly tried.” I like Pinocchio’s bad trip on green soda and the “running through doors” chase, which both allowed the animators to just kind of go nuts. Points deducted for literally every second Grumblebee is on-screen.

Bugsburg, the early reject version of Antz and A Bug's Life.

I recall coming across this by chance online, and seeing RebelTaxi posting a pic of an animation cel of the nightmare fuel scene with the Emperor's hands changing into monsters asking about its source on his Tumblr. This is a bizarre movie, but it's honestly got effort and I enjoyed it. 😊

YEEEES I WAS WAITING FOR THIS Phelous delving into these filmation movies was something I didnt know I wanted

I often miss the ‘insane amount of knockoff/Random’ animated films of the 80’s/90’s…I mean besides Disney, Don Bluth, Dreamworks, Warner Brothers…you used to have all these other smaller studios doing these animated films that you never even heard of…and some of them were actually kinda decent. Though usually not. Also…nice reference at the end circa 2016, made me giggle. But in ‘Happily ever afters’ defense the dwarves were made all girls for the actual plot. …not just…y’know, *Because* . Also they were the dwarves sisters…I guess, I only ever watched it once. I honestly only remember a commercial for the toys before the end credits started…toys that nobody asked for or wanted.

7:12 Clefairy! Clefairy! Clefairy! Clefairy!

I hate that this unlocked a childhood memory....

It should be noted that while Filmation won the case against Disney it did screw them over in the long run. The time and money they spent fighting Disney over Emperor of the Night and Happily Ever After ended up costing them more than they could afford, even though they technically legally won.

Also Puppetino kind of looks like Vincent Price. Should have been an immediate red flag, Noches

I think Monterey Jack in a previous life was Lt. Grumblebee

I do recall seeing this a very long time ago when I was nearly a toddler. I seriously thought it was a fever dream..still kinda does

I haven’t seen this in well over 30 years and yet seeing the clips in this video I remember so much of it. Creepy film but I remember loving it.

This was really nostalgic. I remember getting hyped up by the trailers to see the cool Emperor of the Night only to check it out and realize he's barely in it. I do believe if we had more of him and, consequentely, more of the dark stuff, this could be quite a cult film - even if you keep some of the dumber elements. Also, looking forward to your eventual review of Happy Ever After. As I kid, I really loved that one.

Thanks to Filmation, Pinocchio was more wooden as a real boy than a puppet.

I was hoping you’d cover the Filmation “sequels” one day. I’m especially excited for Happily Ever After with Snow White because I actually grew up with that movie. It’s not as much of a retread of the first story like Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night is, but it does make some “interesting” choices…

Honestly, that gray strand looks quite cool ^^

I knew about the movie, but I had no clue it was also setting up a spin-off show with those bug characters. Thanks(?) for informing us!

I was waiting for a song chorus about "We... are... the seven friendly puppets!"