Who Censored Roger Rabbit

Originally published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.

Roger Rabbit is sure that Clark Gable has not only stolen the role of Rhett Butler in the soon-to-be-shot Gone With the Wind, but he has also stolen the heart of Jessica. Investigating the affair, Eddie Valiant, Toon protector, finds himself up to his fedora in murder and Hollywood corruption. Who P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? will appeal to movie buffs, mystery fans, and Rabbit devotees alike.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit emerged at a nexus of people, technology, and circumstances that is historically, culturally, and aesthetically momentous. By the 1980s, animation seemed a dying art. Not even the Walt Disney Company, which had already won over thirty Academy Awards, could stop what appeared to be the end of an animation era. To revitalize popular interest in animation, Disney needed to reach outside its own studio and create the distinctive film that helped usher in a Disney Renaissance. That film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, though expensive and controversial, debuted in theaters to huge success at the box office in 1988. Unique in its conceit of cartoons living in the real world, Who Framed Roger Rabbit magically blended live action and animation, carrying with it a humor that still resonates with audiences. Upon the film’s release, Disney’s marketing program led the audience to believe that Who Framed Roger Rabbit was made solely by director Bob Zemeckis, director of animation Dick Williams, and the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, though many Disney animators contributed to the project. Author Ross Anderson interviewed over 140 artists to tell the story of how they created something truly magical. Anderson describes the ways in which the Roger Rabbit characters have been used in film shorts, commercials, and merchandising, and how they have remained a cultural touchstone today.

Falsely accused of a crime, a cartoon rabbit seeks the help of Detective Eddie Valiant.

In the United States of the bleak and menacing near future, teenagers have taken over the running of the country.The all-powerful young have enacted laws that mandate retirement at the age of fifty five. From that point on, geriatrics, or Gerrys as they're called, lose all access to social services, health care, and medications. They undergo regular, mandatory physical examinations. Any elder found to be the slightest bit infirm undergoes euthanasia. Mobile death vans, the dreaded Euth Wagons, patrol the streets, picking up the elderly for testing, executing them on the spot if they're in less than perfect heath. The callous and murderous attitude of the young toward the elderly sets in motion a frightening revolution, an epic struggle, a literal battle of the ages. Young against old. The raw, unbridled energy and arbitrary whims of teenagers against the wisdom and thoughtfulness of experience.Civilization's deliverance from this hideous, age-centric brave new world rests on the shoulders of an idealistic fifty-one-year-old, Herschel Lichter. The youthful government drafted Herschel to infiltrate and destroy the ranks of the underground OPA, the Old People's Army.Herschel soon realizes that in order to save his country from complete ruin he must join forces with the elderly rebels he has been tasked to eliminate. He must help them fight and defeat a government of arrogant, impulsive youngsters who control an army of well armed, bloodthirsty juveniles.This is the action-packed, pulse pounding, all-too-possible dystopian story from Gary K. Wolf, the author of Killerbowl, the ultraviolent, riveting tale of football played as a bloodsport.Wolf gained great fame as the creator of Roger Rabbit and the author of the three Toontown-based novels.Gary K. Wolf grew up in the Midwestern farm town of Earlville, Illinois, where his father ran the pool hall and his mother worked as a cook in the school cafeteria.He earned a Bachelors Degree in Advertising and a Masters Degree in Communications from the University of Illinois. He served as an Air Force Captain with the 5th Air Commando Squadron in the Vietnam War, winning a Bronze Star and two Air medals. Wolf worked as a copywriter and creative director for a number of San Francisco and Boston advertising agencies.His novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? became a visual reality in Disney/Spielberg's one billion dollar grossing blockbuster film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The film won four Academy Awards and the Hugo Award for Wolf. Walt Disney Pictures purchased film rights to his sequel novel Who P-p-p-plugged Roger Rabbit? He also has a third Toontown novel, Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?Two of Wolf's science fiction novels, The Resurrectionist and Killerbowl, are currently being developed as major motion pictures. With his childhood friend from Earlville, Catholic Archbishop John J. Myers, Wolf co-wrote Space Vulture, an old-school, throwback, pulp science fiction novel, soon to become an animated TV series.This novel, A Generation Removed, is also in development as a feature film.He is a full-time writer living in Boston.www.garywolf.comwww.spacevulture.com

Lydia, Christopher and Natalie are used to domestic turmoil. Their parents' divorce has not made family life any easier in either home. The children bounce to and fro between their volatile mother, Miranda, and Daniel, their out-of-work actor father. Then Miranda advertises for a cleaning lady who will supervise the children after school - and Daniel gets the job, disguised as Madame Doubtfire. This is a bittersweet, touching and extremely funny book.

Welcome back to the amazing fantasy world of Roger Rabbit creator Gary K. Wolf. This time, instead of Toontown, it's Los Olympus, California. New glitzy mountaintop home of the Greek Gods. The story kicks off when Tilly Hunter comes to ornithology expert Professor Jason with a strange request. She wants him to find her son's father. A talking swan. Jason knows his birds. Swans don't talk, nor do they seduce women. This was Godly work. Years ago, the Gods ruined Jason's life. Jason's ready for some payback. Jason takes the case. He finds himself caught up in a tempestuous and incestuous celestial soap opera. The star is Big Ben Bolt, formerly known as Zeus. Big Ben's' been there, done that, and wants to do it again. Big Ben's wife Hera always wins, no matter who suffers. Their daughter Demi, nasty-tempered Goddess of Love, won't take no for an answer. It's the murder, intrigue, and godly shenanigans of classic mythology tempered with a hefty dose of modern satire. Jason's ready and willing to die to fulfill his quest. The Gods are more than willing to let him. Can Jason bring the Gods to their knees before they bring him permanently to his grave?

Your Cartoons Will Never Be the Same. The history of animation in America is full of colorful characters - and that includes the animators themselves! Jim Korkis shares hundreds of funny, odd, endearing stories about the major animation studios, including Disney, Warner Brothers, MGM, Hanna-Barbera, and many more.

A fascinating history of motion pictures through the lens of the Academy Awards, the Best Picture winners, and the box-office contenders. In Best Pick: A Journey through Film History and the Academy Awards, John Dorney, Jessica Regan, and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony, and who won and why. Twenty films are reviewed in-depth, alongside ten detailed “making-of” accounts and capsule reviews of every single Best Picture winner in history. In addition, each Best Picture winner is carefully scrutinized to answer the ultimate question: “Did the Academy get it right?” Full of wonderful stories, cogent analysis, and fascinating insights, Best Pick is a witty and enthralling look at the people, politics, movies, and trends that have shaped our cinematic world.