Thursday, May 18, 2006

Ooola and Umpa return


Frequent commenter Monroe has been rightfully fretting the sudden disappearance of Ooola's character from the narrative after we were led to believe that she and Oop were finally on the path to marital bliss. But now it seems that both Ooola and Queen Umpa have returned just in time to take part in the big party that Oop is organizing to celebrate "winnin' the war with Lem."

First off, allow me to complain just a bit about the sissification of Oop these days. Is this what our macho caveman hero has become? First we spend months watching him take tango lessons from Rudolph Valentino and now he is busy organizing a big party complete with flowery banners and a caterer. As Ooola would say, "Oooh! How exciting!" Yeah, a thrill a minute around here. What's next? Oop takes up knitting and starts making sweaters for everyone?

But back to Ooola and Umpa. I wonder how Umpa will take the news that Oop has brought in a caterer who he thinks cooks much better than she does to handle the food chores? Will she be happy preparing just a few side dishes? Or will she join Wizer in his cave and start cooking up her own batch of WMDs to take revenge on the unappreciative Moovians?

Finally, I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction - Oop and Ooola will use the occasion of this party to announce their engagement. Does that seem too obvious for our authors? It would seem to fit the arc of the current storyline - such that it is. Maybe then we can spend a couple of months watching Ooola's bridal shower. I can hardly wait!

Monday, May 15, 2006

Who's who in Moo


I've been meaning to get a new post up but have had little time. Thanks to all of our commenters for keeping tabs on this latest mess of a storyline.
We are getting new characters thrown at us almost weekly now so let's step back and take a quick inventory. First we had the "Professor" who suddenly appeared wearing a graduation cap and gown which I suppose came from the University of Moo. He is also wearing a modern set of spectacles that one commenter noted must have been picked up in the optical department at the local Moo-Mart.
(It would seem that the Benders are not even trying to maintain any kind of historical accuracy about the strip these days.)
The professor introduces himself by taking a highly offensive and racist jab at Oop ("Alley Oop makes a brilliant point, considering the neanderthal stock from which he comes.") What?!? Like this guy has evolved overnight into a higher lifeform? Is he supposed to be a missing link or something?

When Guz decides on the spur of the moment to hand over the historian job to this upstart, it makes the Wizzer insane with jealousy and resentment and he retreats into his lab where he is apparently hard at work cooking up some kind of pre-historic weapons of mass destruction. There's nothing like taking a beloved character from a long-running strip and turning them into a terrorist.

Next we meet "Pidali," a Hippie artist (notice that he is left-handed) who makes flower power designs on cave walls and keeps a modern looking paint brush behind his right ear. No wait!! It's behind his left ear! No, scratch that, it's back behind his right ear again. Whatever! We learned long ago not to expect the strip's authors to keep these kinds of things straight.

Now we have "Fill," the surly proprietor of boB's piG shop who nearly gets into a fight with the short-tempered Oop over a silly mix-up involving his name. Fill also frequents the optical shop at the local Moo-Mart where he gets his very modern looking glasses. Fill has the most amazing invention - a wooden barbecue pit that somehow manages to cook lots of meat without catching fire and burning to the ground. Very impressive.

Fill is another character, like Mountain, who appears to be drawn to intentionally resemble someone in real life. One commenter even claims to know who Fill is:

I know the character that Fill is based on. He's the owner of Bob's Pig Shop in Pauls Valley, Okla.


In fact, there is a Bob's Pig Shop in Pauls Valley owned by a Phil Henderson. And then we have Foozy making a crack about not smelling that aroma "nowhere this side of Oklahoma." So did Foozy ever go time traveling with Oop, or is this just another instance of the authors ignoring reality in order to make an isider's reference for their own benefit?