I knew “Home on the Range: The Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” (Disney Editions, April 2004) was going to be an interesting read when I saw who the book’s two co-authors were: Maggie the Cow and Monique Peterson.
Maggie the Cow (for those of you who don’t know) is pretty much the star of “Home of the Range.” Voiced by Roseanne Barr, Maggie is the brassy bovine who motivates Mrs. Caloway and Grace (two other courageous cows) in their daring plan to save their owner’s farm by capturing Alameda Slim.
Whereas Monique Peterson … Ms. Peterson is NOT an animated character. She’s actually a flesh-and-blood human being who has already written a number of pretty snazzy Disney-related books. Among them “The Little Big Book of Pooh,” “The Little Big Book of Disney” and “The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters.”
“So what’s the deal with this book allegedly being a collaboration between a real live human writer and an animated cow?,” you ask. It’s a gag, folks. Given that “Home on the Range” is an affectionate spoof of movie westerns, it only stands to reason that this movie’s making-of book would be somewhat silly too.
So the gimmick here is that “The Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” is supposed to be Maggie’s production diary. A gossipy, behind-the-scenes look at how “Home on the Range” was actually made that this clever cow would allegedly type up (on her Farmer-in-the-Dell Computer) during breaks in production.
I know, I know. There are a lot of you movie history buffs out there who — just from hearing the concept of this book — are going to decide to take a pass on this “Home on the Range” making-of book. Since you’re thinking that “Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” will just be too silly to include in your film research library.
Well, don’t make that mistake. Yes, this “Home of the Range” production book is loaded with WAY too many cow-related puns. (EX: Among the other films that Mrs. Caloway has reportedly appeared in are “Much A-Moo About Nothing” and “Madam Bovinary” Grace — on the other hand — is said to have appeared in “Chi-Cow-Go,” “American Cowpie” and “Bridget Jones’ Dairy.”) But — if you can get past all those groaners — “Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” is not a half-bad read.
I mean, just for the art alone, this “Home of the Range” making-of book is worth picking up. You have all this great visual development art for the film by David Cutler, Michael Humphries, Carol Keifer Police and Caren Scarpulla did for the film. Which was reportedly very heavily influenced by the color palate and design sense of two Disney Legends, Mary Blair Eyvind Earle.
You’ll also get to see numerous storyboards from the film as well as rough character animation by WDFA greats Dale Baer, Chris Buck, Mark Henn and Mike Surrey. Which — in spite of the text of “Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” (which — for all 124 pages — keeps insisting that “Home on Range” was a really-for-real movie that was shot on location, rather than being a traditionally animated feature length cartoon) — really gives you a sense of all the hard work and artistry that went into making this film a reality.
Look, I know that some of you might find reading through “Adventures of a Bovine Goddess”‘s pun-filled prose a bit of a chore. But I advise you to stick with. There are some real nuggets of gold here if you can just dig long enough. Cool little “Home on the Range” production tidbits like”
In order to make sure that Alameda Slim came across as a fat man who was still light on his feet, Dale Baer studied films in which Hollywood heavyweights like Jackie Gleason and Oliver Hardy danced.
To insure that Randy Quaid (the veteran comic actor who provided Alameda Slim’s voice) came across as the world’s greatest yodeler in “Home on the Range”‘s show-stopping “Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo” number, Alan Menken brought in two “stunt warblers”: yodeling virtuosos Kerry Christenson and Randy Erwin.
In order to insure that “Home on the Range”‘s production crew got a real feel for what the West is like, Disney sent a dozen WDFA staffers up to Wyoming for a week to take part in a really-for-real cattle drive.
Plus — if you look really carefully through “Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” (like — for example — on Page 22) — you may even go to see a few pieces of art from this WDFA feature’s earlier incarnation. Back when this film was called “Sweating Bullets,” and it was supposed to have been directed by “Pocahontas”‘s vets Mike Gabriel and Mike Giamo. That version of the film — which was totally trashed when Will Finn and John Sanford were brought on board to replace the two Mikes — was to have featured a ghost town full of undead desperados. (Sounds kind of creepy, don’t it?)
Much like the movie that inspired it, “Home on the Range: Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” is light, breezy and a lot of fun. And — just like “HOTR” (the movie) — it’s all over too quick.
So my advice is that you Mooo-ve on out to your local bookstore and/or contact Amazon.com today and rustle up your very own copy of this Disney Editions / Welcome Enterprises book today.
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Do you want to buy a fun making-of book as well as help support JimHillMedia.com? Then order your copy of “Home on the Range: The Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” from Amazon.com by clicking the link to the right. Your cost will (unfortunately) remain the same (though Amazon.com is currently offering this Disney Editions book for 30% off!) But — if you go there through us — JHM gets a tiny cut of what you spend. So help keep Jim Hill behind the computer where he belongs and pick up your copy of the Masterpiece Edition of “Home on the Range: The Adventures of a Bovine Goddess” through the link to the right. |
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