It's the Hip Fab Fun cover. The four stars, top to bottom, are occupied by Speedy Gonzales, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Sylvester Jr.
Sylvester, saying "Pay attention son! You're watchin' an expert in action!", tries to untangle himself from the fishing line he's gotten tangled up in while trying to show Sylvester Junior how to ice fish. Sylvester Junior wears a paper bag over his head in shame as Playboy Penguin and even a fish laugh at the spectacle.
At an Antarctic research station, Sylvester and Junior wake up to discover that they're alone and all the scientists have left during a blizzard. Sylvester panics, worried about starvation. Junior shows him that there is plenty of canned food, but also discovers there is no can opener. Again Sylvester panics, but Junior suggests an alternative method involving a hammer, which they do have. The elder cat rushes to apply it, and ends up getting nowhere. He winds up throwing a tantrum.
Just then Playboy Penguin knocks at the door. At first Sylvester kicks him out, then he sees the penguin as a possible meal and invites him in. Junior helps Playboy get away from his hungry father. The penguin manages to defend himself with a mallet, then hide with Junior's help. Sylvester discovers Playboy just as the blizzard ends. Leading the cats outside, he shows them a frozen over lake, with fish visible under the ice.
Junior talks Sylvester into cutting a hole in the ice and fishing. He has no problem cutting the hole, but gets tangled up in the fishing line and has yet another tantrum. When the way is clear, Playboy dives through the hole and soon emerges with a fish. It isn't long before all three are well fed. The scientists return later to collect the cats and find them unconcerned and relaxing as if they were on a beach.
Page 4: Tuxedo Junction is the name of a tune written by Erskine Hawkins and recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in 1940. A movie of the same name, and seemingly completely unrelated, was released in 1941. Page 4: While penguins would not be found at the South Pole, but near the ocean at the Antarctic shores, Playboy Penguin was delivered to the South Pole in 8 Ball Bunny (Jones, 1950). (EC)
Sylvester's and Sylvester Junior's footpads are not colored in throughout the story. While pet cats were taken along on some Antarctic expeditions, that would not be the case in 1995, the presumed time of this story. In 1991 the
Protocol on Environmental Protection was adopted, amending the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. Article 4 of Annex 2 to the Protocol specifically prohibits the importation of non-native animals to Antarctica except for laboratory animals. Even then, there is a permit process involved.Speedy Gonzales welcomes readers to the big bullfight which he is going to see. While he bought his ticket in advance, he couldn't afford to get a good seat. Waiting for Speedy up in the cheap seats are Slowpoke Rodriguez and Flirtita, a girl he would like to impress. When Speedy arrives, his complimenting of Flirtita moves Slowpoke to action. Slowpoke goes to get a souvenir from a vendor.
As Slowpoke gets the souvenir, the bullfight begins. Slowpoke purchases a picador figure which is dressed the part and happens to be about his size. Meanwhile El Magnifico turns out not to be so magnifico when faced with El Toro Terrible. The panicked matador tries running from the bull and is eventually ejected from the ring by the bull.
Just as it looks as if the show is over, Slowpoke appears as a picador on the back of a burro. The burro, having some sense of self-preservation, doesn't move as Slowpoke directs. Instead, a buck sends Slowpoke flying toward the bull. The bull also tosses the mouse, leaving him rather dazed. Slowpoke needs help or the bull will flatten him. Speedy borrows Flirtita's scarf and zips into the bullfighting ring.
Speedy distracts the bull and even manages to flip him over by his nose ring. The bull is quite angry, charging Speedy. The fast mouse leads the charging over not just over up stairs and over the outside wall of the ring. This, unlike El Magnifico's performance, meets with the crowd's approval. Flirtita rushes to be with her hero - Slowpoke. Speedy shows that the bull isn't in bad situation, either, as he landed in a pasture and the cows find him attractive.
This story uses more Spanish words and phrases, such as page twenty's comment on El Magnifico being chicken and calling him El Pollo Magnifico, than most Speedy Gonzales stories. Perhaps at this relatively early point in the current series, it was trying to appear educational? Also unusual is the appearance of Slowpoke Rodriguez, though without the standard humorous catch for unwary cats that he while he's slow, he packs a gun. A bull in a bullfight would not have a nose ring. The ring is placed on a bull to allow control of the animal ("Lead by the nose.") where in a bullfight the idea is that the animal is not controlled save by the skill of the matador and the picadors. Page 19: The bullfighter's exclamation, "Madre Mia!" is a half Spanish and half Italian version of Mama Mia!. Page 19: Flirtita's line about hot water, "aqua caliente" isn't fully in Spanish. In Spanish, the word for water is agua, while aqua is Latin for water. (ARM)There are two one-page fillers.
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Last update 25 September 2004