Yet another of the patented Straight Dope ‘identify this’ based on minimal details:
Animated movie from the 80s (late 70s maybe), set in the future, vehicle driving along a desert road crosses a canyon via a “light bridge” (nothing spanning the canyon till the vehicle approaches, then a light beam appears and the vehicle crosses that to get to the other side). Almost certain the soundtrack song was “Sweet Emotion” - if so, this would eliminate “Rock and Rule” (and “Heavy Metal”) as neither list that song in their credits.
Hmm, Wiki in their ‘Covers and cultural references’ for “Sweet Emotion” list no animated films from the 1980s - crud! I may have misremember the song, but hopefully some-else remembers this scene. I think this scene was shown from time to time on ‘U68’ (indirectly the Uncle Floyd thread jogged my memory of this) - I wouldn’t put it past them to have clipped the scene and added different music.
Giving this a bump, since A) I’m interested in knowing this, and B) I hold fast to my belief that there’s almost nothing to which the Dope can’t find the answer.
A little more clues are needed, what kind of vehicle it was? No idea of the style of the animation? Anime, Hanna-Barbera, Disney like? Claymation? Stop motion? Early computer animation?
Wow, I thought this puppy was down for the count - thanks for the bump everyone!
OK, animation style as I recall would be much like ‘Rock and Rule’, which is why I mentioned that in the OP. Vehicle I believe was some sort of ground-based passenger car (as opposed to a hover-car or such), which is why it needed the ‘light’ bridge to cross (physics of the light bridge’s operation are left to the viewer), and the weather conditions in the desert scene were clear and sunny - I think there was a ‘overhead’ shot of the vehicle traveling along the desert road, then I think a sign saying ‘Light Bridge Ahead’, then the light bridge activating and the vehicle crossing it.
No further clues, as the neurons which once contained the remainder of this decades old memory have long since been repurposed for other usage.
I definitely saw it on either Friday Night Videos or U68 (I didn’t have access to MTV), so it existed by 1985 (and probably earlier). I keep returning to Rock and Rule simply because U68 also played ‘My Name Is Mok’ often enough, but I still maintain the background song was ‘Sweet Emotion’ and that song isn’t listed.
You made me look, as far as his bio is concerned John Kricfalusi did not work at Nelvana studios.
He was self taught so it would not be surprising to find that he and other cartoonists that later worked at R&S were influenced a little bit by this movie, however it is more likely that he and the makers of the movie looked at classic WB cartoons for inspiration for some scenes.
Oh, I know there’s no connection, it’s just that ten seconds into watching the clip, I suddenly thought “If human actors put on costumes and animal noses and tried to play a somewhat muted version of R&S, this is probably what you’d get.”
Renn-rat: Ahhh! What’s goin’ on? Where’s Angel?
Stimpy-rat: Angel’s gone, [Renn].
Renn-rat: What?
Stimpy-rat: Look, there! Mokk’s taking her to Nuke York.
Renn-rat: [runs through various facial expressions] Well, thank YOU, Leetle Mees Ambition… you tryin’ to keel me, mannnn!
Well, that last part was my mental segue.
Thanks - that clip from Rock and Rule is it then, with the desert light bridge.
I originally considered ‘Rock and Rule’, but got hung up on the song ‘Sweet Emotion’ - not sure how I got it mixed up with the actual background music (which actually is Cheap Trick’s “I’m the Man” - that one is listed in the film credits), since I was a big fan of Aerosmith at the time.
Anyway, consider this question closed, and another Win for the SDMB Thanks to GIGOBuster…
Omar and Ren do have a certain jerkass-ness in common, but that’s where the resemblance ends (well, and Diz is pudgy and has to deal with the jerkass).
But, Dizzy’s not at all like Stimpy, other than in build - he’s the Only Sane Man in the Omar/Dizzy/Stretch* triad. Which is clearer if you’ve seen the whole movie, but even in the scene in the fountain, he’s pretty clearly being the voice of reason, trying to talk down Omar, who’s off on a rage-bender (which he spends a good 4/5 of the movie in).
And Omar’s jerkass behaviour and Ren’s are directed differently. Notice he’s even really mild in his insult (singular!) directed at Angel - the actual subject of his anger - and doesn’t aim anything at Stretch and Diz - even a toned down Ren would have something more potent than a single ‘Miss Ambition’ for Angel, and would say SOMETHING to Stretch and Dizzy.
Omar’s a jerkass, Stretch is a paranoid stoner, Diz’s one of only two characters in the entire movie who aren’t in some way insane - the other being Angel. (Well, if you don’t consider willingly associating with Omar as a sign of insanity.)
