foodfightnovelization - Tumblr blog

foodfightnovelization · 6 days

Text

Foodfight! Deluxe Sound Storybook: Analysis and Discussion

So here it is, here's the book we're going to read together. That's right, I finally got my hands on a copy of the Foodfight! Deluxe Sound Storybook. Now you might be asking what's so interesting about this, since it's clearly a picture book for children even YOUNGER than the novelization's intended target audience, but if you're as fascinated by Foodfight! as I am, it's an absolute treasure. The front cover is made up of various concept art for the film, drawn by Foodfight! character designer Jim George, and the rest of the book consists of absolutely beautiful hand-drawn illustrations by artist Ron Zalme. It's like looking into an alternate timeline where Foodfight! was animated in the style of classic Disney films like Pinocchio or Snow White. Just getting to see versions of these characters and this story that are actually visually appealing is delightful, and it's reminiscent of the early footage of the film before it was retooled into what we know today.

The book inexplicably commands a high price on eBay, which is why I haven't had the chance to talk about it before, but now that I finally have a copy here in front of me (next to the multiple Foodfight! plush toys I own because I'm NORMAL about this movie), it's time to snap, crackle and pop our way into this book and see what lies within.

Now, before I get any further, I'd first like to take a minute to discuss the "sound" element of this book. This is a Deluxe Sound Storybook after all, which means small icons will appear next to words or phrases throughout the story, indicating the reader should press the corresponding button from a soundboard attached to the side. Given these types of books are designed for the very young, I'd imagine the purpose is to help teach word association and auditory learning. Plus, kids just like funny noises! This book in particular contains 16 different sound effects, which the front cover describes as "yummy" seemingly assuming the reader has developed the ability to directly taste sound. Given this is a movie-based storybook, you'd probably assume the sounds are taken, at least in part, from the movie itself right?

Well, you'd be wrong! As you can probably hear from the audio I included of all 16 sound effects (played in the order they are on the soundboard seen above) almost NONE of the characters are voiced by their actual actors, and the rest of the sounds are just miscellaneous foley. While I can't say if this is common for books of this nature, it's interesting to listen and hear just how different the voices are. Mr Clipboard sounds far more menacing and less deranged than Christopher Lloyd's interpretation of the character, Hairy Hold's voice is far more nasally, and Polar Penguin is just portrayed by generic blubbering.

The only character to be voiced by their actor from the movie is Kaptain Krispy, and given that he was voiced by Foodfight! producer George Johnsen in the film, this makes sense as he would've been readily available for recording something like this. Some characters don't even HAVE voice clips- for instance, despite being the main character of the film, Dex is represented only by the sound of a spatula flipping. Overall though, the sounds are remarkably well-done considering they clearly didn't have access to any of the main cast members. You'd easily be forgiven for thinking Lady X and Dan actually WERE voiced by Eva Longoria and Wayne Brady in this, as the impressions are surprisingly convincing. I'd say for what they were trying to do here, they did a great job. Now with that out the way, let's talk about the book itself!

Normally I'd start by discussing the inside cover pages, but there really isn't that much to talk about here. The only noteworthy element I can see is that the copyright date is listed as 2007, whereas the novelization is dated 2008, suggesting this was in the works long before the novelization was. But given that these books take a while to print and publish, and that the Sound Storybook didn't make it to stores until 2008, these dates are fairly non-indicative.

That does bring me to another interesting point of discussion though- unlike the novelization, the Deluxe Sound Storybook was actually published and sold at retail, with various websites and blogs from the time being suitably puzzled as to why tie-in merchandise was being sold for a movie that not only wasn't out yet, but didn't even have a concrete release date. If I had to guess, considering the movie was at one point set to release in 2007, it's possible the Sound Storybook was already printed and shipped out to stores to match that release, only for all the copies to start gathering dust when the movie didn't come out. Retailers, likely not wanting to destroy stock they'd been sitting on for quite some time, sold the books for cheap in the hopes that SOMEBODY would buy them. And thankfully somebody did, which is why we're able to talk about it today! Despite this book being far more expensive than the novelization, it's also far easier to find a copy given it actually made it to shelves, making it easily the most accessible of all the Foodfight! books. So if you ever feel like dropping way too much money on a children's book from over 15 years ago, eBay has you covered.

Just like the movie, the book opens with Mr Leonard closing his store for the night as the last customer of the day leaves, only obviously presented in a way that's far more aesthetically pleasing. Of note is that he appears to be locking the doors from the inside, trapping himself in the building as it transforms into Marketropolis. The man's going to have a heart attack when he sees the what the cereal mascots do after dark... (seriously though, I think it's just for practicality's sake, so we can see both the inside of the store AND him on the same page)

This beautiful illustration is accompanied by some narration from our hero Dex Dogtective, telling us how even though we may think a supermarket is just a place to buy food, we'd actually only be half right. I find it interesting that he mentions you "might recognize him" from the Cinnamon Sleuth cereal box- given at one point there were plans for a real Cinnamon Sleuth breakfast cereal to be released in stores, it seems like they were trying to allude to this while also leaving it somewhat ambiguous in case the food licensing deal didn't come through and no actual cereal ended up being produced. Which is what ended up happening, so it's a good job they just said you "might" recognize him! I also find it funny that Sunshine's raisin packages are the same size as the boxes of Cinnamon Sleuth- who's ever going to need that many raisins? Maybe if you were manufacturing your own Raisin Bran and needed to add two scoops to every delicious bowl, but that's still too many! I always imagined Sunshine Goodness raisins in those tiny snack-packs like Sun-Maid or something, not a giant 17oz cardboard box...

The store transforms into Marketropolis, and I know I've said this already but these illustrations are absolutely FANTASTIC! The character designs look so charming in this artstyle, and it really makes me wish the whole movie could've looked like this. Seeing Marketropolis actually resembling a city at night is fantastic as well, given that it's so horribly lit in the finished film it always looks like it's the middle of the day (despite the basic premise of the film literally being this is what happens when the supermarket closes at NIGHT). Dex and Sunshine look really cute together, and I think it's adorable how he refers to her as "his gal" in the narration. Dex talks about how this is where him and all the other product icons reside, and I can't explain why but I really like the way it's phrased as "At night, this is our world. This where we all live." Dex then goes on to talk about his best friend Daredevil Dan, describing him as "the world's greatest stunt pilot flying squirrel on a chocolate bar wrapper", which is perhaps the most overly narrow superlative I've ever heard. Just how many other stunt pilot flying squirrels are there on the front of chocolate bar wrappers?

Dex goes on to explain that not everyone's as sweet as his Sunshine and that he often has his hands full keeping the aisles safe, as we're treated to another fantastic illustration, this time of him fighting Fat Cat Burglar off with his price-tag gun. I don't have too much to say about these two pages, other than once again mentioning just how much I love the art in this. Part of why I bought the Deluxe Sound Storybook to begin with was so I could share the artwork with everyone, as I simply LOVE how it looks- even Fat Cat Burglar looks great when drawn like this.

Dex attempts to propose to Sunshine, only for Dan to crash his plane while attempting the loop-de-loop, with her disappearing on her way to check on him. What's described here more or less happens the same way in the film, but the artwork depicts it very differently. In the movie, this all happens outside whereas here it's in some sort of restaurant or club. In addition, Dex is wearing his white tux but at this point in the movie he's still in his Indiana Jones gear, and Maximilius is also in a white tuxedo while in the movie it's purple. (However in the case of Maximilius, this is just down to to the white being an earlier look for the character, as on the cover and throughout the rest of the book he's still wearing it)

I have to say, it's crazy how much of this is dedicated to what happens in the first 10 minutes of the movie. We're nearly halfway in, and we've only just gotten to Sunshine's disappearance- not that it's uncommon for storybooks like this to take liberties with the plot, but it does mean the majority of the movie's events are crammed into approximately ten pages and so have far less time to breathe than the first half of the book.

Following Sunshine's disappearance, Mr Clipboard arrives at the supermarket pushing Brand X products, and we're told customers are going crazy for them. While this does happen to some degree in the movie, the art we're seeing here is of a scene that was cut out of the finished film and we've only previously seen in the novelization. In said scene, Mr Clipboard has had a giant Brand X display set up in the store, with a cardboard washing machine that sprays Elixir into the air and attracts customers into buying Brand X products. This scene is important for two reasons- not only does it establish how a washing machine ends up in the store (explaining how Dex and Dan end up trapped in a dryer later on) but it also shows how Brand X's plan is affecting the real world, and the danger it poses to not only the store but to people everywhere as well. On top of that, it's cool to see the way the Brand X display resembles Lady X's tower, as in the movie we don't get to see what it looks like during the day.

Sometime after Brand X's arrival, Dan goes missing and Dex follows the trail right to Lady X. It's here we see yet another scene that was cut from the film and previously only in the novelization- Dex's first encounter with the Xobytes in Lady X's penthouse. (Dex even has two price-tag guns here, something I saw mentioned in the novelization and assumed was a mistake on the author's part as we only ever see him with one in the movie). I really think this scene should've been in the film, as it serves as a proper introduction to the Xobytes, as well as the threat they pose to Dex and the other Ikes.

Dex attempts to fight off the Xobytes with his price tag guns, but he's quickly defeated and wakes up in Lady X's dryer where he finds Dan. The fact that it's a dryer and not a washing machine gives some indication as to which draft of script author Justine Fontes was working from when writing this- the I Can Find It! book (which I covered in a previous post) was based on an earlier draft and had them trapped in a washing machine full of water instead, seemingly changed due to this being too difficult for animators to render. As such, we can hypothesize this book was likely based on the same draft of the script the novelization was, given it's a dryer in both (and later on in the story Brand X are defeated by a lightning storm, whereas in earlier drafts/the I Can Find It! book it's a flood)

Dex and Dan escape the dryer, only to find Brand X is building an entire army of the Xobytes encountered earlier. This scene goes down more or less the same as it does in the movie, but visually looks very different. In the movie Dex and Dan see the army of Xobytes while looking through an air vent, whereas here they spot them from around a corner. In addition, the Brand X War Room looks very different to the way it does in the movie, on top of the Xobytes' poison being green instead of black. However these changes are likely down to Zalme not having any reference images of the room to work with, and so instead coming up with his own version of the design (given even in early footage it looks the same as it does in the final film). In addition to that, some degree of creative liberty is always taken with these kind of books anyway- what looks good on film doesn't necessarily look good on paper, and so you have to come up with something that still looks dynamic and visually appealing as a 2D image.

The book then skips entirely over the part of the plot where they cross the supermarket during the day, visit the Expiration Station, and meet Vlad Chocool, and we instead go straight to Dex and the other Ikes waging a food fight against the Brand X army. While this is a mostly accurate depiction of the battle as it happens in the film, there are still a few changes. For one, Kaptain Krispy and Twinkleton (the blue elephant) are part of the scene, despite both having been rubbed out by Brand X at this point in the film. Granted, the book skips over this part of the plot as well, and they likely wouldn't have wanted to include characters being killed in something intended for very young children, so it's not surprising this change was made. However, it does mean the Ikes are waging a war against Brand X before they've actually done anything to wrong them. I guess Dex and Dan knew they were building an army though, so it was best to just deal with the threat before it became a more serious problem.

Dex gives the signal for his secret plan, and Cheazel T Weasel starts a an electrical lightning storm, destroying the Brand X buildings while the rest of the Marketropolis is safety protected by lightning rods. It's a shame Cheazel only gets a brief mention here- I would've loved to see how he looked in this artstyle, and given he was voiced by director Larry Kasanoff they could have easily got him to voice a line for the soundboard as well. Seriously, how did Lord Flushington get a button on there over Cheazel? One is a toilet frog who has maybe two scenes in the entire movie, and the other is a classic "lovable rogue" character who plays a key role in taking down Brand X, helps save the day, and was even important enough to get his own plush toy. The Brand X Mashed Potato Man is similarly absent from this version of the story, but despite my preference for the character, he isn't particularly relevant to the plot, so this makes sense.

In the midst of the chaos, Dex finds Sunshine at the top of the Brand X tower, and as I'm sure you already know from either watching the movie or reading my analysis of the novelization, it's revealed Lady X had her kidnapped. (I know this is all incredibly obvious, I just like describing the plot of things, okay?) As the building collapses, Dan finally gets the loop-de-loop right and saves both Dex and Sunshine, daring the day and flying away. And damn, I know I've said this at least three times already, but I still can't get over how fantastic these illustrations are! The characters look so charming in this artstyle and they're drawn so dynamically against the night skies of Marketropolis, it's just a visual delight to look at. The one downside to all this is the book's extremely short length- just two more pages and it's over already! I'd have happily read a version of this that was double the length, so we could see how the rest of the characters and story would've looked drawn this way. (We didn't even get to see the Copabanana in this version of the plot) Still, it has all the major beats of the film covered, so let's press on and see how it ends.

Mr Clipboard comes stomping through the store, threatening to destroy Marketropolis. Dex gets Maximilius to use a piece of dental floss as a tripwire, and as Mr Clipboard's head hits the ground it breaks open, revealing he was one of Lady X's robots the whole time. Once again, the Marketropolis is safe, and Dex and Sunshine can finally be together.

This is more or less how the ending goes across all versions of the story (except the I Can Find It! book which Mr Clipboard is entirely absent from), but it does leave out the Lady X revealing she used to be Priscilla Pussly, the Ike for a failed brand of genetically giant prunes, along with Sunshine beating her up so badly her plastic surgery comes undone and she's transformed back into the hideous prune she once was. I'm glad this was left out- as much as I've warmed up to Foodfight! over time, I always thought repeatedly hitting a woman so badly that it destroys everything she's done to feel good about herself was a pretty horrible way to end things. Like yeah, destroy her sense of image and humiliate her in front of everyone, THEN kill her? That's so cruel, aren't Dex and the other Ikes supposed to be the good guys?

Either way, with that we reach the end of the Deluxe Sound Storybook. Despite consisting of an incredibly trimmed-down version of the movie's plot, the beautiful artwork was worth the price of admission alone, and it was truly fantastic to see characters and environments from Foodfight! rendered so beautifully. I'd say it's up there alongside the novelization, meeting the (incredibly low) bar of versions of Foodfight! far better than the finished film. I'm really glad I got to share this book on my blog too- while the Deluxe Sound Storybook has been talked about across various places over the years, nobody made its contents available in their entirety before now. I hope you all enjoyed taking another dive into the fascinating world of Foodfight! merchandise, and shortly after this post I'll make my scans of the book available on the Internet Archive for anyone who wants to check it out for themselves.

If you can believe it, long before I started this blog, all I ever wanted out of Foodfight! was a copy of this book someday so I could see what the movie would've looked like if it hadn't been spoiled before its time. But then I stumbled onto the novelization and realized I just HAD to write about that, then ended up interviewing a cast member, and ultimately ended up getting involved in a documentary that'll satisfy everyone's curiosities about Foodfight! a million times better than the Deluxe Sound Storybook ever could. However, finally getting to discuss what I was originally so fascinated by makes it feel like my blog has truly come full circle. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I'll see you next time!

#foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #lady x #analysis #book review #mr clipboard #deluxe sound storybook

2 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 1 month

Text

A Promotional Press Release For Foodfight! The Junior Novelization

Hey everyone, it's Tiffany Amber back once again with something NEW to share! A while back, while searching to see if the Foodfight! novelization was documented anywhere other than my ownership of seemingly the only existing copy, I came across the Random House book catalog from the fall of 2007, and given they were the company that published the novelization, I decided to skim through and see if Foodfight! was mentioned anywhere within its hundreds of pages. Much to my surprise it WAS, and it's almost as interesting as the novelization itself! First off, it's the only place I've seen it officially acknowledged outside of a very brief mention on the movie's website back in 2008- not that movie novelizations are highly promoted to begin with, but it's been an enigma for some time how just how little information is out there about this book or why only a single copy has ever surfaced. With this catalog excerpt however, I think we have some answers.

So first off, the movie's release date is mentioned here as being November 16th 2007. Not that this is especially unusual- the official Foodfight! website displayed a tentative release date of "Fall 2007" for quite some time, but the film must have been close to completion at this point for them to have an exact date laid out. As to why this date wasn't met?

I can't say, but just under a year later, a post on the film's IMDb message board indicated that the film had been finished, and that screenings were being held in New York. This tracks with a comment from a crewmember in 2011 mentioning they "saw this movie at a Threshold screening back when it was completed" and makes it clear beyond all doubt that Foodfight was actually finished back in 2008 (if you can actually call the film that came out "finished") Why wasn't it released until 2012 and why did they sit on the movie for 4 years after it had already been completed? Well now I'm just getting off track, but it's curious they held off on releasing it for so long when all the tie-in marketing and merchandising was ready to go that year and their releases would've actually lined up (indeed, blog posts from around 2008 mention seeing various Foodfight! books and soft toys in bargain-bin stores despite the movie not being out yet)

The catalog goes on to mention they were expecting "over $100 million in marketing support" (yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt) as well as various other tie-in products that were set to be released. These include toys from Playmates and video games from Global Star Software, both of which I've covered in previous blog posts and were ultimately never released, but also mention board games by a company called Master Pieces and apparel by CK Pacific, which I've never seen mentioned anywhere in relation to the movie. It's interesting just how deep the rabbit hole goes with Foodfight! merchandise, and just how much they were planning that never even made it to store shelves.

The catalog also shows a display of various Foodfight! books set to be released, among them our beloved novelization we've spent so much time discussing on here. However, there are several OTHER Foodfight! books shown there about which no information has ever surfaced. The following pages contain further details about each book, but they hardly tell you anything about what they would've consisted of- each of the blurbs are just a generic description of the movie's plot, along with some incredibly brief clarification as to the contents of the books. There's a full-color storybook called Mission Marketropolis, a "Step 2 Reader" called Dare The Day, the Junior Novelization, a sticker book called The Secret's Inside, a coloring book called Top Dog, and a paint book called When Good Food Goes Bad. Outside of the novelization, not a single copy of any of these books has ever surfaced, and the catalog doesn't give any further insight as to their content.

So, did these books ever actually even exist? I'm sure they did! After all, if they went to the trouble of having a 128-page novelization written, I'm sure they'd do the same for several other, smaller books. Some of the books even have Amazon pages, although all of them claim their availability is limited and they're out of print. Is it possible they were never even IN print? That these books were created with the intent of being widely published and distributed, but the deal fell through for whatever reason, and only a few copies of each were ever printed? I'm just spitballing at this point, but if that were true it'd certainly go a long way to explaining why I seemingly own the only copy of the novelization in existence. Incidentally, the other Foodfight! books I've mentioned on this blog (the Deluxe Sound Storybook and I Can Find It! books) were published by a completely different company known as Meredith Books, and so wouldn't have been affected by whatever was going on with the books set to be published by Random House. The whole thing is still something of an enigma, but this catalog at least helps clear up a few lingering questions. However, in the process it does raise another..

For some reason, the catalog uses an incredibly janky and off-model version of this Dex render on one of the book's covers, and I have literally NO IDEA why. It looks like a completely different model that's been posed in an attempt to replicate the original render, but the cover on the book's Amazon page uses the better-looking, more dynamically-posed version anyway, and surely they would've had a copy of the original lying around to use instead of recreating the whole thing with a different model, but it's not even the Dex model actually SEEN in the movie, and if the Amazon page used the original render then what was the point in making an entirely new one just for this insanely obscure book catalog, and... and... and... what the hell?

And so with that oddity having left my brain scrambled like an egg, I... gotta stop thinking about Foodfight! for a little while. But rest assured, I'll be back soon! I know a bunch of posts I've made recently seem like filler, but this is a big, BIG year for Foodfight! fans, and with the documentary on the way there's a lot I'm not allowed to talk about just yet. But once it is, the floodgates are open! On top of that, I have another Foodfight! book coming in the mail very soon, one I've been waiting a LONG time to get my hands on... that's right, I'm going to finally be talking about and analyzing the Deluxe Sound Storybook!

#foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #lady x #analysis #book review

2 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 2 months

Text

Why Don't You Foodfight...Like Some Other Men Do?

Hey everyone, I just wanted to update this blog real quick to share some art I drew! I rewatched Who Framed Roger Rabbit a while ago, and was shocked by just how many similarities it has to Foodfight!. Despite many people claiming it to be a Toy Story knock-off, I honestly think Foodfight! borrowed far more from Roger Rabbit than anything else. Christopher Lloyd even plays a villain in both movies, and they both share the twist his character is actually somebody else disguised as a human. AND early versions of Foodfight! featured Dex as a human detective in a trenchcoat and hat, just like Eddie Valiant! Although that early version of Dex was clearly paying tribute to Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca- the design looking like a stylized caricature of him, on top of all the Casablanca references throughout the film, I suspect one of the reasons Dex was ultimately changed to a dog in Indiana Jones gear was to avoid the movie straying a little TOO close to what Roger Rabbit did.

Anyway, I just wanted to redraw the famous "Why Don't You Do Right..?" scene from the movie, with Dex and Lady X in place of Eddie Valiant and Jessica Rabbit. After all...Lady X isn't bad, she's just rendered that way. Well, she was a genocidal military dictator who tried to build an army of deadly robotic mosquitos for the sole purpose of destroying thousands of grocery store brand mascots in a misguided attempt at world domination, so actually I guess she was pretty terrible. There's not a whole lot you can do to come back from that... come to think of it actually, was Lady X killed at the end of Foodfight!? Odd question I know, but given the rest of the Brand X characters die at various points during the titular food fight, and Dex tells Dan to "wrap her up and take her to the Expiration Station with the rest of Brand X", was she mercilessly slaughtered offscreen while everyone else was celebrating? I guess there's no way to know and it was probably left vague because it's a children's movie, but I bet if you shot her in the back of the head with a price tag gun she'd go down like a sack of potatoes. Dan is an ice cold son of a bitch too, I bet he'd do it. Mr. Leonard would come into the store the next day and there'd be prunes and detergent all over the floor...

ANYWAY! I hope you enjoyed my artwork, and I'll be updating this blog some more soon, so stay tuned!

#foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #lady x #who framed roger rabbit #jessica rabbit #eddie valiant #fanart

8 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 2 months

Note

Hey there! I found your blog last Wednesday, and I gotta say, it's about time someone showed this misbegotten movie some love! I've also been reading Ziggy Cashmere's ebook Drawing For Nothing, which includes all sorts of old material from the film - and even directs you to an early draft of the script! Awesome-sauce! Aside from that, I want to know your thoughts on the proposed franchise Larry wanted to make out of the movie, including sequels, video games, books, live stage performances, etc.?

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying my blog, and yes, Drawing For Nothing is fantastic isn't it? There's a lot more where that came from too, with Ziggy currently working on a documentary called "ROTTEN: Behind Foodfight" (see my last post for more info on that). It should be coming out very soon, so stay tuned for that! I was fortunate enough to be involved in it, even making a small cameo at one point, and I can't wait for everyone to see the plethora of incredible behind-the-scenes material he's uncovered.

And yes, I read that early draft of the Foodfight! script a while ago and I'll talk about it (alongside... other exciting things) some more once the documentary is out It's a draft from April 2005 and is VERY similar to the novelization, but there are still a bunch of interesting differences worth discussing. For one, the script includes all the real-world mascot cameos intended to be in the movie (such as M&Ms, Pringles, Oscar Mayer etc.) which were excluded from the novelization presumably due to brand deals not extending to merchandising. This actually leads to some surprising changes in the plot and dialogue, some of which I find incredibly funny, so there'll be a whole lot to talk about!

Anyway, as for my thoughts on the proposed franchise? I think it could've worked, I really do. Not to the extent Larry Kasanoff dreamed of- I don't think there was anyway the proposed "Foodfight! On Ice" show was ever going to happen (there's no way the Brand X soldiers could goosestep in iceskates, come on now). I think that's dreaming too big too soon, the "Disney On Ice" shows didn't happen until Disney had already been making movies for decades. That said, I do think if the production of Foodfight! hadn't been so horribly mismanaged and had come out when it was intended to it would've been somewhat of a hit, and to that end some of the merchandising ideas were really smart. Stuff like the tie-in videogame, children's books, and videogames were just what a lot of movies had back then- this was 2006, every movie had a sidescroller on the GBA and a 3D platformer on the PS2. From what little we've seen of the game it's impossible to know how good it would've been, but those kind of movie tie-ins are usually pretty harmless.

As for the other merchandise, a lot of it WAS released...and I think it's pretty great for what it is! If all of the books, toys etc. had just released alongside the movie as intended, then they'd just seem like exactly what they are - merchandise made to promote a recently released children's film, and there'd be nothing much to discuss about them. They're all only so fascinating because the movie itself came out so badly, and so the merchandise provides a glimpse at what might've been had things gone better. That said, I still desperately want to make a post talking about the Deluxe Sound Storybook at some point, and hopefully I'll get the chance soon.

I don't think Foodfight! ever would've been popular enough to warrant a sequel- I think it would've been like Hoodwinked where some people look back on it fondly but it's largely been forgotten over the years, and I don't think Threshold (the studio who animated Foodfight!) would have ever been the "next Pixar" like Larry Kasanoff thought they'd be either. But maybe in another world, where the production of Foodfight! went as smooth as butter, for a time there'd have been a real Cinnamon Sleuth Cereal with a free Dex Dogtective toy inside. Ten years later someone would make a post on Reddit saying "Hey! Anyone else remember Cinnamon Sleuth?" and a series of pointless arguments about the movie's blatant commercialism would fire up in the comments. And that wouldn't be such a bad legacy to have, right...?

#foodfight #dex dogtective #cinnamon sleuth #daredevil dan #lady x

3 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 3 months

Text

Things I'm Not Allowed To Talk About Yet; or How I Learned More About Foodfight! Than I Ever Thought I Would

Okay, so I'm just going to come right out and say it; I know a lot more about Foodfight! than I've let on in this blog. Like, a LOT more. Shortly after I wrote my original series of posts cataloguing the novelization and various other Foodfight! trivia, I was contacted online by someone named Ziggy Cashmere. He'd been working on a book called Drawing For Nothing, exploring the history of unfinished and underappreciated animated films (with a chapter on Foodfight! among its many pages), as well as a full-on documentary about the movie called "ROTTEN: Behind Foodfight".

Obviously me being the fan of Foodfight! that I am, I wanted to be a part of it in any way that I could. We talked for a while along with another Foodfight! fan in an internet chatroom appropriately titled "Foodfight Obsessives" and fast became friends. Since then I've been shown an early script I never thought I'd see, videos containing behind-the-scenes footage I never dreamed ANYONE would see, and interviews with people who worked on the movie I never imagined anyone would be able to track down. I've seen so much stuff over the past few months and it's been SO EXCITING... but I'm not allowed to talk about it, share any of it, or show anyone just yet! Gah!

It's been SO HARD keeping quiet about this for as long as I have, but since a trailer for the documentary has been up on YouTube for a while, I just wanted to let the cat out of the bag and preemptively say before it comes out: yes I knew about this, I've seen everything that's going to be in the documentary and it's fascinating, yes I was involved in it (in a very minor sense- I have a small cameo and helped with some of the research, Ziggy did 95% of the work) and it's going to be AMAZING. Ziggy's work on this is streets ahead of anything I've managed to do with this blog- the production materials he's dug up and the crewmembers he's managed to get in touch with are nothing short of incredible, and the amount of work that's gone into this is insane. It's like those true crime podcasts where a journalist talks to the victims of some decade-old crime, but instead of a murder case it's a below-average animated children's movie.

Everything Ziggy has on the movie (documents, video footage, pictures, interviews, the whole shebang) will be released alongside the documentary, so don't feel like you're missing out- you'll get to see everything soon enough, and I promise it'll be worth the wait. "ROTTEN: Behind Foodfight" answers the decade-long mystery about Foodfight! as best, if not better than any one person possibly could, and closes the book on what happened behind the scenes on this enigma of a movie once and for all. I'm seriously SO excited for it to be out so I can talk about all the crazy things I've seen, you have NO idea what's in store for you guys. Check out the trailer here:

youtube

And if you can't wait for the documentary to come out, you'll see a preview of the kind of thing you can expect in his book, Drawing For Nothing. It's a fascinating free ebook with behind the scenes trivia and concept art from all kinds of lost and forgotten animated movies from over the years (for example, there's a chapter dedicated to Joe Jump, a Disney movie that eventually ended up becoming Wreck It Ralph) It's genuinely a work of art, and speaks strongly to my passion of films that feel like they deserve a second chance.

There's a fantastic chapter on Foodfight! showing off concept art, storyboards, unreleased merchandise and excerpts from an early draft of the script- it's truly fantastic. For example, check out this concept art for the Asian food aisle! I think pieces like this really show more than anything the strength of Foodfight!'s core concept, and how genuinely phenomenal of a movie it could've been were it managed better.

So I highly recommend you check out the book, and stay tuned for ROTTEN: Behind Foodfight, because it's gonna be one hell of a ride. I'll make a much more in-depth post about it once it's out and I can actually talk about the contents of the documentary, but for now it's Tiffany Amber, strawberry jamming out of here!

#foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #analysis #drawing for nothing #documentary #Youtube

5 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 3 months

Text

Interview With A Cast Member, Action Figures and More!

Hey everyone! It's time for another update. As mentioned in my previous post, I was lucky enough to be able to interview an actual cast member from Foodfight! a while ago. Her name is Holly Cruikshank (or at least it was when the movie was in production, today she goes by Holly Ireland) and she did the motion capture for Lady X! So yeah, I didn't score an interview with Charlie Sheen or Christopher Lloyd or anything- but did you really expect that from a small blog like this? Besides, it was wonderful talking to Holly and she made it clear from the start she had only good things to say about working on the movie- a far cry from a lot of crewmembers who unfortunately had a thoroughly miserable time on the project.

For example, this animator (who appropriately titles themselves "tortured artist") talks about their experience on Foodfight! with nothing short of hatred. A large amount of said hate is directed towards the director, Lawrence Kasanoff, who apparently made them clean up his dog's diarrhea and switched up what they were supposed to be working on on a whim, as well as ordering constant do-overs on scenes that had already been done countless times over. This really sounds like a terrible work environment, and as much as I have a sincere apprecation for Foodfight! it's clear there was some incredibly poor direction going on behind the scenes, and that Kasanoff treated a lot of crewmembers really badly. But there are two sides to every story, and in my interview with Holly she speaks of working on Foodfight! with people who were genuinely excited to be there every day and thoroughly enjoyed their time on it. So without further ado, here's my full interview with her, taken directly from our emails with each other (the purple text is me, and the black text is her).

This was a really lovely interview, and I was delighted to talk to someone who was so happy to discuss the movie and share their experience on it in a positive way. Some interesting things to note here are that the show she was doing was a Broadway play called "Movin' Out", and if you look up footage of that show online...

...the character Holly is playing in that show looks INCREDIBLY similar to Lady X! The dark hair, the red dress, etc... is it possible Kasanoff cast her because of how closely she resembled the character he wanted her to play? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely interesting. It's also sweet that she talks fondly of Larry, remembering him being kind, fun and supportive, especially considering how negatively a lot of former crewmembers speak of him. Not that said crewmembers are in the wrong for this- considering Larry's apparent behavior during production I'd say all their comments are justified, it's just interesting to get a different perspective on the matter.

She also mentions filming all the motion capture, then having to come back around a year later to do some more scenes- presumably this was down to either not having correctly captured some scenes the first time (the motion capture technology seems like it was quite temperamental) or script revisions requiring some scenes to be redone. I think it's also a really fun anecdote to share that when she did the motion capture she was in the early stages of her pregnancy- and by the time the movie finally came out her daughters were old enough to actually watch the movie! It really puts into perspective just how long it took for Foodfight! to get released.

I also completely agree that the creative team behind the movie had "an amazing story and idea" and I think it's fantastic she was excited to be a part of "something inventive and unique"- I really do think there's a hidden gem at the heart of Foodfight!, it's just hard to see with the horrible animation casting such a large shadow over it- I don't blame her daughters for not wanting to watch the finished film). Overall though it was a pleasure talking to Holly, she was so enthusiastic about the movie, as well as being very gracious and open to answering all my questions- even telling me to let her know if there was anything else I wanted to ask. A lot of people who worked on Foodfight! had their lives go in very different directions after they finished working on it, and with there also not being many fans of the film to begin with, I imagine this was the first time anyone had really asked her about it. It was really fantastic to get to talk to someone who worked on the movie, but I have other things I'd like to share in this post as well!

That's right, Foodfight! action figures! No, not the plush toys that were actually released and sold off in arcades and carnivals as prizes, these were prototypes that never made it to shelves. These pictures were found in the trademark registration documents for Foodfight! and show off a wide variety of Foodfight! figures and plush toys, none of which have ever been seen before or since.

First off, we have a line of small collectible figurines, based on all your favorite characters from the film! There's Dex Dogtective, Daredevil Dan, Sunshine Goodness, Vlad Chocool, Cheazel the Weasel, Polar Penguin, Maximillus Moose, an Xobyte, Lord Flushington, a Brand X soldier, Hairy Hold, Lady X, Lieutenant X, General X, and a variant of Dex in his fancy tuxedo. That's a pretty wide range of figures, 15 in all! Towards the back, you can also see a set of 5 of these figures packaged up, and on the box we can see these were made by Playmates, as opposed to Nanco, who created the actual merchandise released for the movie. Honestly, the way these figures are designed, the way they have no articulation, and the way they're packaged, they remind me a lot of Homies. You guys remember Homies, right? The little figures you could win in capsule machines (or buy sets of) that depicted various caricatures of Mexican-American culture? No? Well those would've been popular around the time these figures were made, so I wonder if they were an inspiration? In any case, these figures look ADORABLE and I wish they were fully produced, because I'd LOVE to have had a full set of them. They're so teeny and tiny and cartoony, they're adorable. At the very top of the first image, we can also see the packaging for something called "Dex Dogtective's Utility Belt", but since we can't see the rest of it, there's no knowing what it would've consisted of.

Onto the second image, and this is where it gets interesting. These are plush toys of various movie characters, but they're very different to the ones that actually came out (a given, considering these were prototypes and made by a different company). They're incredibly detailed and have hats and coats made out of different textured materials (with Dex's hat being a hard plastic for instance), and are seemingly the kind of plush toy with a hard wire interior so that you can pose them in various different ways. A sign below also says "We're electronic! We say movie phrases!" Again, none of the official movie toys are electronic (but it's debatable if even these were given they're just prototypes). And of course it has to be said, these plush toys look FAR superior to the ones that were actually released. Just for fun, here's a comparison between the prototype Dex plush and the one that was actually released.

I have to admit, I started laughing out loud putting these two pictures side by side. I'm reminded of that popular internet joke (look it up if you're not aware of it) of a character saying "this edible ain't shit-" and then cutting to to them looking absolutely wrecked. With that being said though, it's not entirely fair to compare a prototype to a mass-produced plush toy, and I still find the released Foodfight! toys to be endearing enough that I'm currently in the process of collecting a full set of them. (I'm hoping to collect every piece of Foodfight! merchandise at some point, I'll make a fantastic post showing everything off eventually). Regardless, it's an interesting look into what might've been with the world of Foodfight! toys, and it's fascinating to see them all presented this way- it makes me think of that scene from Toy Story 2 where Woody sees Al's "Woody's Roundup" collection and realizes he was famous. Everything here is laid out in a way that makes Foodfight! look like it was a smash hit. Not in this world though...maybe in some other world.

Anyway, I have one more thing to talk about in this post. Remember a while ago, when I talked about the various Foodfight! websites over the years? It turns out I actually missed one! In around 2008, the Threshold Animation Studios website had a section on Foodfight! containing some very interesting information about the movie. You can view it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20081003194856/http://thresholdanimationstudios.com/foodfight.html

Unfortunately, only the website's text has been preserved, so none of the images have been archived. There's a main page explaining the plot of the movie and a subpage about the cast, but that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about the Foodfight! Foundation.

So yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Foodfight! was at one point planned to launch alongside a charity organization that helped cure world hunger and feed starving children. As admirable of a goal as this is, it's also insanely ambitious- cursory research will show the Foodfight! Foundation did exist at one point, but I highly doubt it was ever actually active or fed 10 million kids. It's fascinating to see how much of a hit Kasanoff thought this movie was going to be- sometimes it's good to have realistic expectations in mind.

There's one more thing on this website worth talking about- there's a section called Merchandising Program, and on there we see a list of tie-in merchandise they had planned for the movie. We see videogames, (which we saw a clip of at E3 2006- see a previous post for my discussion of that) amusements (Nanco is mentioned here, who were the company who made the actual Foodfight! plush toys released in stores) but...what's this under publishing?

That's right, it's a mention of the novelization of the feature film! The book that started this whole blog! This is the ONLY official mention of the book I've found anywhere on the internet, and it's fascinating to see it acknowledged in an official capacity by Threshold. This still doesn't answer my one lingering question about the book- WHY is there only one copy of it in the entire world? But if I had to guess, I'd say it was commissioned, written, published and printed just for the sake of showing off to potential investors in the project the merchandising potential the movie had. That's the only reason I can think of that there'd only be one copy, and it fits with the prototype action figures we saw above. But how did the novelization end up on eBay? How did the only existing copy end up in a Goodwill in Minnesota? (that's where it was shipped from) I have no idea...

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I know the topics I discussed here weren't particularly connected to each other and don't segue into one another very well, but I had a whole bunch of Foodfight! stuff I wanted to share and I didn't want to just post my interview with Holly by itself, since it was pretty short. So that's it for this round of Foodfight! facts, knowledge, and wild speculation! Tune in next time for something rather exciting...

#dex dogtective #foodfight #daredevil dan #lady x #analysis #action figures #plush toy #this edible ain't shit #book review

18 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 3 months

Text

Hey everyone, I just wanted to reblog this analysis of Foodfight! here. It's one of my favorite pieces of writing about the movie, and perfectly summarizes just WHY I like this movie so much, why I write about it the way I do, and how over time I've grown a sincere love and appreciation for it. It explains it far better than I ever could, so please give it a read.

if i only had a heart

I started this blog almost three years ago and I’ve been watching Foodfight! pretty regularly ever since. The weird thing is… right around my most recent viewing, I think I’m finally starting to get a sense of the movie’s “heart.” That or I’m just very, very tired.

Keep reading

#foodfight #dex dogtective #movie analysis #film analysis

92 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 3 months

Note

I just finished reading through your entire blog archive for reasons I can't fathom -- I haven't actually seen Foodfight! the movie, just heard about it here and there. I love the passion and enthusiasm you brought to this incredibly niche project and I'm genuinely excited to see the interview when you post it.

Oh my goodness, thank you SO much! I almost teared up reading this, this is one of the kindest things anyone's ever said to me! I'm so glad you could feel the passion come through in my writing- my inspiration for this blog was that around 10 years ago I read this blog called "B to the F", in which a writer called Ryan North went ridiculously in-depth on the bizarre novelization of Back To The Future and all its peculiar differences from the movie. It was sharp, it was passionate, it was interesting, it went into fascinating detail about how crazy the production of the movie was, and I just loved it. I was so captivated by how it was laced with this incredible level of enthusiasm and zest, where it was constantly evident the writer was truly enjoying sharing and discussing an old movie novelization most people had never heard of before.

So when I saw "Foodfight! The Junior Novelization" on eBay I felt like I'd struck gold and this could be my own personal B to the F. My passion for the movie Foodfight! had always bubbled beneath the surface, but as soon as I saw the book it ignited and I knew I HAD to be the one to talk about it. With my blog, I felt like I'd have a chance to write about the movie in a way nobody else had, and it was genuinely thrilling to share and talk about a book nobody in the world had ever even READ before. It was my hope that one day, someone would read my blog and feel the same love I did when I read B To The F for the first time, for just one person to recognize and sincerely enjoy my work for what it is, and to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. So to receive a message like this really does mean the world to me.

Thank you again so much for your message, and I highly recommend actually watching the movie at some point! It's best enjoyed with a friend (I recently showed it to my best friend for the first time and she reacted with an expression of pure confusion that slowly turned to disgust, before shutting it off 15 minutes in because the motion capture made her nauseous) A lot of people dislike the movie, and they're not without their reasons, but over the years I've developed a sincere love for it and the incredibly strange story of how it came to be the way it is. Sort of like Stockholm Syndrome, but instead of falling in love you just get obsessed with a weird children's movie. There's actually a fantastic analysis of the heart behind the movie by the @fuckyeahfoodfight blog I'll reblog after posting this, since it perfectly summarizes just WHY I enjoy this movie the way I do.

Also, I'll post the interview soon but I hope I haven't talked it up too much- contrary to most accounts of what working on the movie was like, in a rare turn of events the person I interviewed had only good things to say about it and seemed to sincerely enjoy their time acting in it. I guess that's kind of fitting for this blog though, right?

#foodfight #dex dogtective #bttf #analysis

2 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 3 months

Text

Foodfight! The Junior Novelization High Quality Scans

Hey everyone! I'm updating this blog once again to let you all know I finally scanned Foodfight! The Junior Novelization and uploaded it to archive.org, so that it's available in the highest quality possible. I know when I originally wrote this blog, I just posted pictures taken using a low quality camera phone, and those were the "scans" I initally uploaded to the Internet Archive as well, but honestly I was just overexcited- I mean, how often does it happen that you wind up owning the world's only copy of a book? I wanted to share it with the world as soon as possible, and at the time I didn't have access to a scanner to do that as professionally as I wanted to.

But now that I DO, I felt like I owed it to myself and everyone else to archive it properly. If something's worth doing, it's worth doing to the best of your ability, right? And as the sole owner of this obscure novelization of a below-average children's movie, I want it to be preserved forever, like a fly trapped in amber.

Here's a brief snippet of what the scan looks like- I chose Chapter 3 because it's the scene introducing Mr Clipboard, which is by far the most well-known part of the movie, but obviously if you want to see the whole thing you can just follow the link at the top of the post!

The scans look great! I'm really happy with how they came out, and feel like I've finally done my duty to archive this novelization as best as I possibly can. I'll update the blog again in the near future with an interview I did with a cast member, alongside some other tidbits once I have enough for a really great post. (I'm hoping to get the Deluxe Sound Storybook sometime soon so I can talk about that too, but it's EXPENSIVE). So for now, it's Tiffany Amber signing off again. Don't forget to check out my Foodfight! fangame on itch.io!

#foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #lady x #mr clipboard #analysis #book review #christopher lloyd

1 note · View note

foodfightnovelization · 3 months

Text

Foodfight! The (Fan-Made) Video Game

DOWNLOAD IT HERE: https://tiffyamber.itch.io/foodfight-the-video-game

Hey there, everyone! I'm updating this blog once again to let you all know there's a Foodfight! VIDEO GAME! No, not the official one that was in development alongside the movie and shown at E3 2006, this is a fangame made by yours truly, Tiffany Amber (me!). This is a retro-style platformer inspired by the ludicrously hard movie tie-in games of the 80s and 90s (I'd been playing Wayne's World on the Gameboy just before I started making this).

This was a huge passion project of mine that I put a ton of effort into, and I hope everyone enjoys playing it as much as I enjoyed making it. All your favorites are here- Cheasel, Kaptain Krispy, Mr Clipboard (there's a Donkey Kong '94 style boss fight with him at the end) and even elements taken from earlier drafts of the script, such as the Brand X Mashed Potato Man and the heroes defeating Brand X by using the store's sprinkler system to flush them out. So if you're ready to strawberry jam yourself into 8 levels packed full of action, raisins, and thrilling 2D cutscenes, check it out!

I'll be updating the blog some more with some very interesting stuff sometime soon, but for now it's your girl, Tiffany Amber, signing off again!

#foodfight #retro gaming #8 bit #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #lady x #mr clipboard #8 bit aesthetic #video games #indie games

4 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 8 months

Text

Internet Archive Link

Hey everyone! I'm updating this blog once again to let everyone I've made the novelization available in its entirety on the Internet Archive, so anyone can read it whenever they want. After all, if this really is the only copy of the book in the entire world, it belongs somewhere it can be preserved forever, so that future scholars may one day ruminate on the life and times of the Brand X Mashed Potato Man.

Thank you to anyone who's read even a single post of this blog- I really wanted to catalogue ALL the differences between the movie and the novelization, so there's a definitive comparison online somewhere of just how different the two are. Besides that, I've always wanted to write a blog about an obscure movie novelization- and what better to do than the novelization of Foodfight!, one so obscure nobody had EVER written about it before (and will probably never write about again)? This was a lot of fun for me, but now we've analyzed every chapter and I've compared it to the finished film, I think we're done with it. We put together a lot of pieces of the Foodfight! puzzle with the novelization, the storyboards and everything else- and sure that puzzle isn't completely solved yet, but maybe it will be someday. Who can say what the future holds? For now, I'm satisfied with having found and documented a far superior version of Foodfight! for everyone to enjoy.

Unless something crazy happens in the future, like I get an interview with a cast member, or I find some other long-lost piece of media relating to the movie (like the tie-in videogame; now THAT seems to be truly lost), I think this marks the end of our journey. I hope this blog answers all your questions, and I sincerely hope you loved accompanying me as we solved the mystery of this long-lost novelization together. So from me, Tiffany Amber, this is goodbye...for now. Maybe this cookie crumb trail isn't completely dry yet?

#foodfight #dex dogtective #daredevil dan #novelization #lady x #eva longoria #charlie sheen #wayne brady

3 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 8 months

Text

Chapter 24: Analysis and Discussion

So here we are at Chapter 24, finally at the end of this novelization. It's been a wild ride, right? From different dialogue, to entirely new characters, to scenes that weren't in the final film at all, this has been SO much more enjoyable than watching the actual movie. The changes made in the novelization add so much to the story, and a lot of what I didn't like about the movie was either changed or left out entirely. I hope you enjoyed reading about it and reading along with me, because I sure loved writing about it. With all that said and done, let's see how this story ends, right?

Hairy Hold finally shows up to join the Resistance...after everything's already over, of course. Dex congratulates everyone on a job well done, but tells them they still have a lot of work to do- the store opens in just four hours. It's then that Dr Nustrix shows up and says he's created an antidote that should bring all the Ikes they lost back to life. He spritzes Polar Penguin with it and he wakes up, as if he were just in a deep sleep the entire time. The only difference here between the novelization and the movie's version of events is the additional line from Dex about their store opening in 4 hours, which is pretty minor but does remind us there's still work to be done as well as the nature of Marketropolis' existence.

Polar says he knew Dex would save him, and Sunshine tells Dex how proud he deserves to be, jumping into his arms and throwing a raisin in the air for him to catch in his mouth. Dan lampshades how everything really turned out perfect in the end, and Dex finally pulls the engagement ring from his pocket (remember, from when he was going to propose to Sunshine right at the beginning of the story?) and she instantly says yes, the whole store cheering as the two finally kiss. Dan almost starts crying until he notices Sweet Cakes giving him a flirty look, and realizes he might be getting some action too. This scene is once again the same across both the novelization and the movie, with the exception of the brief exchange between Dan and Sweet Cakes at the end. So, this is the second-to-last page, and with only one more to go, you'd THINK things would stay the same and the novelization wouldn't end in a completely different way to the movie, right? Well, good guess but you'd actually be wrong!

We cut to the next morning, back in the supermarket. Mr Leonard looks around and sees burnt, destroyed Brand X products littering the floor and is mortified until he notices all the colorful, familiar products are back on their shelves, everything back the way it should be. He's suitably puzzled, thinking this must be some sort of dream.

A month later, he's helping a customer load groceries into her cart, with all the products at the top of the bag being ones we're now familiar with- Kaptain Krispy chips, Polar Pleasures ice cream, and Twinkleton toothpaste. As she leaves, a large delivery truck pulls up- but this time it's a shipment Mr Leonard's excitedly been expecting for a while now. He opens the box and pulls out a brand new box of cereal- "New and Improved Cinnamon Sleuth Cereal- Now with Sunshine Goodness Raisins".

So, uh...YEAH. This is COMPLETELY different from how the movie ends, and it's a total last-second left turn. For context, in the movie after Dex proposes to Sunshine, we cut to their wedding at the Copbanana. It's being ordained by a rabbi, and Dex stomps on a carton of milk before he and Sunshine kiss. Dr Nustrix is shocked by this, and loudly exclaims "Dex is JEWISH?" as the credits start rolling, interrupted several times by brief interludes showing all the Ikes having fun at Dex and Sunshine's wedding. There are literally no similarities AT ALL to compare between these two endings, it's crazy how completely different in tone and content they are.

I VASTLY prefer the novelization's ending, however. It's way more toned-down, with a quiet scene of Mr Leonard being baffled by what happened to his store overnight, like he finally gets a hint that something more is going on behind the doors of his supermarket after it closes, a brief wink toward the world of Marketropolis he'll never see. Although we lose the revelation of Dex being Jewish (losing out on some much-needed representation), the much more subtle implication that Dex and Sunshine are now married by showing a Cinnamon Sleuth box with Sunshine Goodness raisins now in the mix is a much sweeter and genuinely endearing way for the story to end. It does raise some questions about how marriage works in Marketropolis- for instance, if Mr Clean marries Charlie Tuna, do the two products combine and release an all-purpose cleaner that smells like fish?

Regardless, it's a lovely ending to the story, and I really hope everyone enjoyed reading along with me. I definitely enjoyed combing through this and talking about all the changes made, and I absolutely consider Foodfight! The Junior Novelization to be a far superior version of the story. Of course, a lot of that is likely down to the novelization being based on an earlier version of script and so the writers also deserve a share of the credit for that, but without this novelization we may have never even got to know what that early script was like!

Now that I've finished going through the novelization in its entirety, I'll put it up on the Internet Archive for everyone to read whenever they want- after all, this is the only copy known to exist, and I want to make sure it's properly preserved. Thank you again to anyone who's been reading this blog and joining me on this journey, I'm honored to have shared this experience with you. I mean, how often do you get to read the only copy of a book known to exist, share it with the entire world, AND unravel a huge part of the tangled web of mysteries behind the production of Foodfight!?

I'll update this blog again when I've uploaded the book to the Internet Archive, but for now this is Tiffany Amber, signing off!

#daredevil dan #dex dogtective #foodfight #analysis #book review #charlie sheen #lady x #novelization #wayne brady #eva longoria #cinnamon sleuth cereal now with sunshine goodness raisins #ending

2 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 8 months

Text

Chapter 23: Analysis and Discussion

Here we are at the penultimate chapter in our story, and as Dex prepares to face off against Mr Clipboard in one last showdown, he orders Dan to go find Lady X, while Sunshine tells him not to try and square off against a human. In the movie, Dex says "I'll be fine. I have to be, to make sure nothing bad ever happens to you", but here in the novelization he gently kisses her hand and says "Whatever happens Sunshine, we'll always have Produce".

It should be obvious at this point, but I prefer the line they used in the novelization, mainly because it's one last Casablanca reference! That's right, one more for the road, and it's of course referencing Rick's famous line "We'll always have Paris". Although saying "Produce" instead doesn't QUITE work (it doesn't rhyme), it's a lot snappier than the line used in the actual movie, and I like that Dex doesn't immediately just try to tell Sunshine he'll be fine.

Dex gets the attention of Maximilius and Lola, telling them he needs their help. He taunts Mr. Clipboard into following him down the aisle, where Maximilius and Lola have stretched a piece of dental floss across the floor in a sort of makeshift tripwire. Mr Clipboard doesn't see it and crashes to the floor, his...neck breaking open? Sparks and wires fly out, and it's revealed Mr Clipboard was actually a robot the entire time! If you hadn't seen the movie beforehand (I'm presuming if you're still reading this you have) would you have seen this coming AT ALL? It's so out of left field and there's literally no buildup to it that it actually loops back around to being genuinely surprising. That aside, this scene is the same across both the novelization and the movie- the only difference being in the movie Dex calls him "whackjob" whereas here he says "pencil neck".

Lady X climbs out of the robot, revealing she was the one controlling him the entire time. She THEN holds up an old picture, revealing she was ALSO Priscilla Pussly (remember like 8 chapters ago when she was mentioned as the only other recall on file?) who went to Brazil, got plastic surgery to turn herself into Lady X, built a human robot, recalled Sunshine, stole her Elixir and created Brand X with it. It really is just one twist after another right now, huh?

This scene is the same across both the novelization and the movie, however the novelization notes Lady X is wearing "a skintight red catsuit" during this scene- in the movie however, she's just wearing her usual Brand X military outfit from earlier. Dex also says "How the Ho-Hos can this be happening?" in the movie, whereas here he just says "How can this be happening?", presumably changed to avoid mentioning another real-world brand name.

Lady X explains her motive for doing all this (she was jealous of Sunshine) and explains a lot of it it was made possible by manipulating humans- mentioning when you look like her, you can get them to do anything. The movie has an additional line here where she says "Size only counts for men" which wisely isn't included here- the novelization has consistently removed almost all the sex jokes from the story, and I can't tell if they weren't in the script back when this was written or if Irene Trimble just has better taste than the writers of the actual movie, but either way it makes the whole thing far more palatable.

In the movie, Lady X finishes her spiel and says "Enough about me; let's kill YOU!" before attacking Dex, but here in the novelization she says "let's do something about you" which is far less punchy. I'm guessing this was done by the author to avoid using the word "kill", often avoided in children's media. She then starts beating the crap out of Dex, and in the movie there's a gag where Lady X throws two melons at Dex, with Dan quipping "Tell me somethin'- are those melons real?" which has thankfully been left out here. Maximilius has a few more lines that aren't included in the novelization either, such as "He should puddin' pop her one, but that ain't his M.O, forget about it" as Lady X continue to mop the floor with our hero (get it, because she's a detergent mascot and it's a cleaning-related metaphor?)

Sunshine steps in and says SHE's not afraid to hit a girl, and delivers a roundhouse kick right to Lady X's face, before administering a full-on beatdown which somehow undoes Lady X's plastic surgery, turning her back into the wrinkly old Priscilla Pussly. Lady X begs Dex not to let things end like this, and that all she ever really wanted was him, but Dex shuts her down with a simple "Frankly my dear, I don't give a SPAM". This is present in both the novelization AND the movie, so I guess the novelization WAS allowed to name at least one real-world brand after all! How about that, huh? Lady X is suitably devastated by Dex's brutal Gone With The Wind Reference, and is taken away by Dan to the Expiration Station.

There are a few differences between the novelization and the movie- mainly that in the movie Lady X tells Dex "All I ever really wanted was you! Well, you and world domination..." whereas here in the novelization the latter part is left out, making it seem like her intentions really were just out of jealousy and romance. When Dan takes her in she starts wailing about the indignity of it all as well, but here she doesn't say anything as she's taken away. All that aside, that's the end of this chapter! With our main villain defeated, a few classic movie references, and an actual reference to a real grocery store product, it looks like everything's just about wrapped up! Just one more chapter left now to finish things off- and the ending might surprise you!

#daredevil dan #dex dogtective #analysis #foodfight #charlie sheen #book review #christopher lloyd #eva longoria #lady x #mr clipboard #novelization

1 note · View note

foodfightnovelization · 8 months

Text

Websites, Web Videos and Production Stills

Alright, so before the end of the novelization I want to just take a minute to talk about the various Foodfight! websites from over the years. From about 2001-2005, foodfight.com was simply a brief Flash animation of the movie's logo, with a second animation saying "When good food...goes BAD!" Not much to talk about, right?

However, in around 2006 the website was updated into, well, an actual website! You can still check it out here via the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20060901184349/http://www.foodfight.com/FF-flash.html

This is honestly pretty cool- we get a brief summary of the plot, a bunch of character bios that explain things about Dex, Dan and the other Ikes that are NEVER made clear in the movie itself -for instance, did you know the cereal Dex is the mascot for actually contains a free toy of him in every box? If that was a real cereal (and they WERE planning to make it one when this movie was something of a big deal) I would've loved that, I miss cereal prizes so dearly. These character bios also show concept art from an earlier version of the movie- art that again, looks far more visually appealing than the movie we ended up with. How is it basically everything about Foodfight! except the movie itself is actually pretty cool?

The website even opens with a genuinely impressive animation of the grocery store transforming into Marketropolis- I can't really show it here because it's animated, but if you follow the link you'll see it and it looks AWESOME- it really makes you think "yeah, supermarkets DO kinda look like cities!", right? Also, on the Production page we see the character model for a large, ugly Brand X soldier who we never see in the finished film. Is this the fabled Brand X Mashed Potato Man? (Almost definitely yes, there's nobody else this could be)

Well, he looks absolutely HORRIFYING, but it's good to know what this character would've looked like had he not been replaced by the Brand X Lunchlady. On the Partners page as well, we see one of the companies the studio is working with is Random House, who published the novelization we've been analyzing for the past twenty-something blog posts. So far, this is the only evidence I've found of the novelization's existence outside of the copy of it I own, so it's good to see it get some acknowledgement. There's not much else to talk about with this website, so now let's move onto the next- that's right, there was ANOTHER website.

So as you may or may not know, Foodfight was initially released in theaters in 2012 in the UK and Ireland- it makes no sense at all to release it there, as British people aren't going to be familiar with characters like Charlie The Tuna or Twinkie the Kid, but apparently this was part of a contractual obligation the studio HAD to fulfill of giving it a theatrical release SOMEWHERE. As it happens, I actually grew up in England (I live in Canada now, however) and this theatrical release was where my obsession with Foodfight began. Back in 2012, I saw a poster for this movie outside a theater in London- it had Charlie Tuna, Twinkie The Kid and the Vlasic Stork on it, but I didn't recognize any of them because I was an 11 year old British child with no knowledge of Twinkies or tuna mascots. I DID however see Dex Dogtective up on the poster, and I was instantly enamoured because he looked like Indiana Jones, and I LOVED Indiana Jones back then. I begged to go see it, but was given a harsh and firm "no". Now 11 years later, I'm writing the most comprehensive blog about the movie to ever have existed. Life is funny like that sometimes, right? But that's not what we're here to talk about- when the movie was released in the UK and Ireland, there was a website coinciding with this release- foodfightmovie.co.uk.

This was also saved via the Web Archive, unfortunately however only the Introduction page of the site was saved. The picture above (and a button below that says "ENTER") is basically all that's left of this site, so whatever else was on there is long gone...right?

Well, not quite! In late 2012, this Youtube video was uploaded entitled "Foodfight vox pop". It shows the audience reaction after a theater screening in the UK, comprised mainly of very young children saying they liked the movie whilst holding various Foodfight plush toys. I can't find a source for this video ANYWHERE on the internet, so it's my theory this video was originally made for the "foodfightmovie.co.uk" website before it was lost to time. I don't have any definitive proof of that, but it doesn't make sense for this video to have come from anywhere else.

Now, I just have one last thing to share! These are production stills dated from sometime in 2007 that I found while scouring the web for more juicy tidbits about Foodfight! These stills mostly look similar to what we see in the final movie- however Lieutenant X, Sunshine, and Maximilius's character designs look far higher quality than what we see in the actual movie. The design of the ketchup tanks is slightly different as well, and Sunshine appears in a grassy meadow that looks vastly different from the one we see in the finished film. These aren't a huge deal, but based on the character designs and models we see here, we can say DEFINITIVELY that the version of the movie we know and...tolerate today was in development in 2007. Besides that, I wanted to share EVERYTHING I know about Foodfight on this blog, even the minor things that'd otherwise be uninteresting.

I really hope you enjoyed these- I didn't want to just talk about the novelization on this blog, I wanted to share the wider world of Foodfight! as well, from storyboards to concept art to long-lost videogames, and I hope by reading these you learned something you didn't already know. We have two more chapters to go before we reach the end of the novelization, so I say let's snap crackle and pop our way through to the end!

#daredevil dan #dex dogtective #foodfight #charlie sheen #christopher lloyd #eva longoria #lady x #mr clipboard #the brand x mashed potato man #websites #Youtube

4 notes · View notes

foodfightnovelization · 8 months

Text

Chapter 22: Analysis and Discussion

It's Chapter 22, and for the final time in this novelization we open with a scene that isn't in the movie at all! Vlad and the other flying Ikes watch the Xobytes flee, and realize Dex successfully destroyed their fuel supply. It's a small scene, but given Vlad has a line here I can't help but wonder what Larry Miller would've improvised had this made it into the finished film.

Meanwhile, Dex and Sunshine try to escape the tower. In an element of this scene unique to the novelization, Brand X soldiers fire on them with baked bean machine guns as the building collapses, whereas in the movie they run out of the penthouse and get to the roof without any more trouble. I think the movie is actually better for leaving this part out- they already had their victory over Brand X and the food fight is all but over, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for them to still be under fire at this point.

It looks like this is it for Dex and Sunshine, when at the last second Dan arrives to save the day, preparing to rescue the two of them by making the loop-de-loop he's never managed to perform until now. All the dialogue here is the same as it is in the movie, but there are two brief additions- an explanation that the Brand X soldier firing beans is what's stopping Dan from just flying up and saving them both, and a brief mention of Dex taking the sniper out with his price-tag gun. I appreciate the explanation as to exactly why Dan has to go for the loop- there's no scenario in real life where a loop-de-loop is faster than a more conventional approach, but it makes sense if they're being fired at and he's trying to avoid the bullets.

Dan successfully loops the loop, with the running gag having turned out to be a Chekhov's gun all along, and the three of them celebrate having made it to safety. This is more or less the same as it is in the movie, with an extra few lines where Dan happily exclaims that Dex has stopped Brand X, before Dex corrects him and says it's not over until they discontinue Lady X as well. However, is there someone else we're forgetting...?

The lightning storm stops and Dex realizes someone's cut the power- it's Mr Clipboard, who's somehow managed to make his way into Marketropolis. The ikes are all horrified- humans are never supposed to see them, and this is one intent on crushing them all. Most of this is exclusive to the novelization- the lightning storm stopping with Dex realizing someone must have cut the power, the Ikes screaming about a human seeing them, and Dex and Dan wondering what Mr Clipboard is doing here. Regardless, in both versions of the story, he shows up and starts stomping through the Marketropolis, leaving our trio of heroes wondering how they're going to take him down. It looks like there's one last villain to fight before Dex can put an end to Brand X's reign of terror once and for all, and I've gotta say if the Foodfight! videogame that was in development was ever released, this would've made for a great final boss fight.

But that's the end of Chapter 22, so we'll pick things back up next time to see how Mr Clipboard is defeated. I'm gonna post one last interlude real quick as I still have a few things to talk about unrelated to the novelization, but after that we'll cover the final two chapters and the ending! Is it the same as in the movie? Is it different? The answer may surprise you...

#daredevil dan #dex dogtective #foodfight #analysis #charlie sheen #book review #christopher lloyd #eva longoria #lady x #mr clipboard #novelization #baked beans #climax

0 notes

foodfightnovelization · 8 months

Text

Chapter 21: Analysis and Discussion

Chapter 21 begins with Cheazel entering enemy territory, climbing out of a manhole and cutting the power lines with a large axe. He accidentally cuts the power lines AND the pole itself, and it begins to fall when suddenly the Mashed Potato Man appears out of nowhere, picking up his axe. He's overheard Cheazel saying "disaster is like a loyal mistress to me" and says HE wants a loyal mistress too.

This is pretty different to how the scene goes in the movie- in the movie, Cheazel hits his head trying to get out of the sewers at first, and so climbs out a manhole cover further down the street. He also cuts the power lines with a chainsaw instead of an axe (and in the early storyboards he's cutting the phone line connected to the fire alarm, not the power lines to the entire store. That's a different story though- check out my last interlude for that) and instead says "Agony, she's like my loyal beloved" when the pole begins to fall. In addition, the Mashed Potato Man is replaced by the Brand X Lunchlady, who's already brandishing an axe of her own instead of picking up Cheazel's. That's a whole bunch of changes, but obviously the biggest is just due to the Mashed Potato Man being cut out of the film and replaced with a different character.

Cheazel kicks the Brand X Mashed Potato Man in front of the pole, and it proceeds to crush him. Cheazel pours a pitcher of water over the power lines, frying his corpse and electrifying the wires with a quip about french fries. In the movie, Cheazel kicks the Brand X Lunchlady in front of the pole and it just flattens her, with Cheazel throwing the wires in the air to start the lightning storm, and saying "Note to self: Cheazel T Weasel...rocks!" So again, pretty different but mostly down to the Brand X Potato Man being replaced with a different character. Rest in Peace, our unsung starchy hero. You may be gone, but you won't be forgotten.

Meanwhile Dex and Dan fly over the Brand X tower and Dex parachutes down using a grocery bag. This is only given two sentences here in the novelization, but in the movie it's a short scene with Dex saying "Once more into the bleach, my friend. Once more" as he jumps out, and Dan telling him to dare the day as he parachutes down. It's not a huge difference either way, since it's a very minor scene in both versions of the story.

Outside the Copabanana, Lord Flushington jumps into the sewer, sending water spilling out everywhere. The water travels across to the power lines Cheazel just cut, and a huge lightning storm begins. In the movie, the lightning storm has already begun, and this scene is instead a conversation between Flushington and Maximilius about exactly how Dex's plan works (The lightning rods divert the lightning away from the Ikes' buildings, and since Brand X doesn't have any lightning rods, it all hits their buildings instead). I prefer the novelization's version of events here, but as we established in the last interlude, it seems like they had to cut or otherwise alter basically every scene involving water.

Here, the narration explains how the plan works, and Flushington just says that Dex is a genius as the Brand X buildings weren't made to withstand lightning. Maximilius quips about it being a royal flush, and the scene ends. In the movie, this is instead replaced by Maximilius calling Dex a regular Benjamin Franklin- Flushington doesn't understand who that is and mistakes him for an Ike, asking what aisle he's in. Obviously once again the novelization wins out, with a funnier joke as well as not implying the Ikes know about real-world historical events. (If Maximilius is aware of Benjamin Franklin, what else does he know?)

Meanwhile, in the Brand X war room, Dex loops a grappling hook around the Xobyte fuel tank and smashes it, destroying their fuel supply. This scene IS in the movie and is identical to how it's described here in the novelization, but what happens next sure isn't.

Dex sees Lady X up on a balcony, pushing away an Ike bound up in a laundry hamper. He can't believe his eyes- it's Sunshine. That's right, she's not dead- she's been alive this whole time, held captive by Brand X! She says she's going to kill Sunshine as punishment for him rejecting her, and wheels the hamper into another room, Dex following close behind. I can't believe my eyes either, because this scene doesn't happen in the movie at all!

In the movie, Dex destroys the Xobyte fuel supply and then there's a VERY awkward cut, reusing footage from earlier in the movie of him grappling onto the top of the Brand X tower, before going straight to him finding Sunshine tied to a chair in Lady X's penthouse. However, the way it's edited together in the movie, clumsily bridging a gap between two scenes with footage from earlier on in the film, makes me think this scene WAS in the movie at one point, but it was just never finished. After all, movies typically don't reuse footage to hide a gap in editing unless something's gone terribly wrong somewhere.

What IS in both the movie and the novelization however, is Dex finding Sunshine bound and gagged in a chair, with Lieutenant X holding a turkey baster filled with the Xobytes' deadly poison. He tells Dex to stop right there or Sunshine is done for, as Lady X makes the dog kneel for her.

Lady X looks at Dex and tells him she always thought he was damaged goods, and it's right here in the movie that Dex says one of the movie's most infamous lines- "I'm not the one who's gonna be puppy-whipped, you cold-farted itch!" however it's entirely left out of the novelization (and rightfully so- it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, and it's just weird to try and have a kid-friendly way of calling someone a cold-hearted bitch). The rest of the page is exactly the same in the novelization as it is in the movie however, with Lady X leaving Lieutenant X to execute both Dex and Sunshine, only for Dex to trip him using a rug, with Sunshine then tossing a handful of raisins his way. Will Dex finally catch the raisins in his mouth? (Remember, that was a running gag like...10 chapters ago?)

The answer is yes! He catches them, spits them into the air, and sends the baster flying, then grabbing and jabbing Lieutenant X as hard as he can. In the movie, Lieutenant X says "I think I just wet myself...it feels rather nice" as he falls to the floor, but that's wisely been left out here. Once again I consider this a huge win for the novelization, as is the implication a villain pissed/came in his pants as he died something that belongs in a story for children? I'm going to say probably not.

Dex and Sunshine are finally reunited, and he's overjoyed to find she's still alive after everything that's happened. This is basically the same as it is in the movie, so let's continue.

It's noted that Sunshine has an X marking her face, and that Brand X stole her essence. The perfume smell, the Elixir all the customers found so addictive- that was Sunshine's goodness, corrupted and turned into an addictive chemical (yes I know this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but just go with it). The two try to escape together, when Dex notices Lady X making a getaway herself through a hole in the wall. This is also identical to the corresponding scene in the movie apart from Lady X being seen escaping at the end, and Sunshine's mark being on her face instead of her neck. Still, Sunshine and Dex back together! Don't you just love happy endings? It's not quite over yet though, as there are still three more chapters to go before the novelization's over, and there are a few more twists yet to come! Stay tuned for Chapter 22, and I'll catch you on the flipside!

#daredevil dan #dex dogtective #foodfight #analysis #book review #charlie sheen #christopher lloyd #eva longoria #lady x #mr clipboard #novelization

1 note · View note