The 1966 Sci-Fi Cartoon that Shaped Me
The Oscar-nominated, animated short was ostensibly produced by Martians.
It was either 1972 or ‘73. In any case, I was in second grade at P.S. 312, in Brooklyn. One day, my teacher, Mrs. Schwartz, walked us to the AV room, where she proceeded to screen a 16-mm print of a documentary that had ostensibly been produced by Martians.
Actually, it was a mockumentary (before the term existed) about the Martians’ search for intelligent life — on Earth. After uncovering evidence of civilization, a probe beamed back video of what the Martians deemed to be our planet’s dominant life form: cars.
There was a depiction of an “Earthling” stopping for a meal:
Eventually, the Martians detected human beings, but they decided we were nothing more than pesky parasites who depended on the true Earthlings for locomotion:
I’m not sure the film would have had the same impact on an adult — or even on a modern kid — but for an early-70s second-grader, this (cars = Earthlings, we = parasites) was mind-altering. It introduced questions you would keep asking your entire life:
- Are my beliefs objectively true, or just true from my perspective?
- Could I, like these fictitious Martians, be drawing faulty conclusions about the world from seemingly straightforward evidence?
- Wouldn’t it be fun to experience how others see the world?
These questions, in many ways, shaped who I became. They led me to get to know a foreign culture (Japan), nurtured a desire to study diverse fields, and probably have something to do with my current line of work — helping entrepreneurs tell their stories. They’re the questions I would want all kids to one day grow to ask.
Finding the film as an adult
For years I searched for the film, unaware of its title, to no avail. Then, a few days ago, I finally hit upon the right keywords (“animation 1970s cars viewed from Mars”):
Clicking through, I learned that What on Earth! was a 1966 production of the National Film Board of Canada (not Mars) and was an Oscar nominee for best short film in 1967. Its director was Les Drew, with story and animation credited to Danish-born Kaj Pindal. (Pindal apparently still mentors animators at Ontario’s Sheridan College. He emigrated to Canada during Germany’s occupation of Denmark, after, according to Wikipedia, “his series of anti-Hitler cartoons put his life in peril.”) What on Earth! first aired in the United States in 1971, as part of the ABC kids show Curiosity Shop.
Here’s the full version of What on Earth! (9 minutes, 38 seconds). Like I said, not sure it will have the same impact today. But even in the 21st century, the swing soundtrack and Rube Goldberg-esque sequence on reincarnation are fabulous:
