Turbo, The Live Action Snail Mascot For Go Go Escargot Fast Food Restaurants In France

Bonjour!  The 2013 DreamWorks animated film "Turbo" stars Ryan Reynolds as a snail racing in the Indianapolis 500.  The Turbo F.A.S.T. series on Netflix was just the start of the snail's quest for world domination.

Today, Chanson Pourlespetitsenfan, the CEO of Go Go Escargot Restaurants (the fastest growing restaurant chain in France) has announced that Turbo will become the official mascot of the snail-based fast food empire.  Chanson says, "We encourage children to play with their food, so Turbo is the perfect fit.  Also, the character works well with our slogan."

That slogan just happens to be "Slow Food---Fast!"

New live action commercials will star a trained garden snail playing Turbo.  The snail will be fed peanut butter to stimulate the mouth movement, and Ryan Reynolds will add the voice later.  The new ads, directed by Michael Bay, will be filmed all over the world as part of the new ad campaign for Go Go Escargot.

Or I was inspired to make all that up when I found this 1999 STP fuel injector cleaner snail ad in an old magazine, and it reminded me of Turbo.

U.S. Acres (Garfield's Friends) At The Indianapolis Zoo

I have many relatives in Indiana, which happens to be the state where Garfield the Cat's cartoon production empire is located. I have family in Plainfield, Indiana, just minutes from the site of the proposed Garfield Theme Park that did not happen (we followed that for years, and I saw where it was supposed to be built).

U.S. Acres ("Orson's Farm" in other countries) was a comic strip launched by Garfield's creator, Jim Davis, in 1986. The main character was Orson the Pig, who lived in a barnyard full of wacky characters like Wade the Duck, Roy the Rooster, Booker and Sheldon (baby chicks), and sheep siblings Bo and Lanolin.

There are some lesser known characters shown here, too. The dog is named Cody and the cat is named Blue. They appeared in earlier strips, which I remember reading in the Indiana newspapers during family visits. The identity of the horse and calf shown on this sheet of stickers (dated 1985) remained a mystery to me for a few years, until I visited The New Indianapolis Zoo in July, 1988.



The New Indianapolis Zoo was years in the making (I remember seeing a model of it when I was a little kid). This Zoo was really unique because it featured dolphins (though the Whale and Dolphin Pavilion did not open until Fall 1988, so I did not get to see it).



The Zoo was split up into different sections called "biomes." The Encounters biome was home to domestic animals, and included an interactive exhibit called the "U.S. Acres County Club." Yes, I double-checked that--it says "County" Club, not "Country."



The U.S. Acres County Club is not labeled on the map, but it is right next to the Encounters Arena. I was really impressed with this well-themed Zoo. I have only been that one time, and I know it has changed quite a bit.

The Encounters Arena was home to a Birds of Prey show. A lucky child from the audience was chosen to feed the owl a mouse.


I'm only kidding---that did not happen!

The U.S. Acres County Club is seen in the background here.

Here's a better view from the Encounters Arena:


I don't have any pictures of the inside of the U.S. Acres area, but it was decorated with images of the characters, including the calf (here I learned his name was "Chuck"--clever) and a fiberglass ride-on/photo opportunity figure of what turned out to be "Jodie" (or was that Jody?) the horse. This area also featured various real animals, including farm animals, ferrets, and a cat.

Visitors could also meet Orson the Pig near the Encounters Arena.


In the Fall of 1988, the U.S. Acres characters had their animated television debut as part of the long-running "Garfield and Friends" series on CBS Saturday Mornings. Blue, Cody, and the horse and calf characters were never seen on the series. I guess they were written out with no explanation, like Richie Cunningham's older brother on "Happy Days" and little Judy Winslow on "Family Matters."

Snow White at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

In late 1994, I was lucky enough to visit a special exhibit focused on the creation of Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  Collector Steve Ison provided artwork for the display.  There was also a film shown featuring lost and deleted scenes, some of which had been colored, with some new voice work provided by actor Jim Cummings for the dwarfs.

Click on the pictures, then click them again to zoom in and read all the details (don't strain your eyes!).

The Education Division and the Publications Department from the Indianapolis Museum of Art created a great booklet for this event.

I sent one of these booklets to the Walt Disney Archives shortly after visiting the Museum.

More rejected Dwarf names:  Psycho, Sleazy, Klepto, Gassy and Grabby.  OK, maybe I made those up.

 At Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are featured in a dark ride called "Snow White's Scary Adventures."  The Disneyland version recently got some new effects and upgrades.

At Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland, you can escape the madness of the theme park crowds at the serene "Snow White Grotto" (complete with Wishing Well).

These days, there's quite a bit of buzz about a planned Seven Dwarfs Mine Car ride for Walt Disney World's Fantasyland.  Hopefully there will be spiffy animatronic Dwarfs, shining diamonds, and careening through some caverns.

The Muppets Take Indianapolis

In 1985, I got to visit a special Jim Henson exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  This was presented on the ground floor, and I believe it required separate admission.  There were all sorts of puppets on display, as well as documentaries, models, puppet materials, interactive exhibits, and a store!

The Muppet Babies from the 1984 film, The Muppets Take Manhattan, were some of the newer characters on display.

Here I am with Junior Gorg from Fraggle Rock.  This show was especially interesting to me.  During its initial run, Fraggle Rock was exclusive to HBO, which we did not have.  A visit to Indianapolis meant a visit to my grandparents, and they had HBO!  So this particular trip to Indiana was really great.

The Fraggles themselves could be seen here, too!  Here's Wembley, Gobo, Boober, Red and Mokey.  The songs for Fraggle Rock (written and composed by Philip Balsam and Dennis Lee) were simply brilliant.  I still have my Fraggle Rock album, but no record player (you can find the songs on iTunes).

A touch of a button activated motion in a Doozer construction site behind glass.  The Doozers were a technical marvel, utilizing radio-control puppetry.  In Fraggle Rock, the Doozers were constantly building their towers, which the Fraggles enjoyed knocking down and eating.

Another interactive display featured characters from the 1977 TV special, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.  This was also shown on HBO, and I remember watching this at my grandparents' house.  Visitors could press a button to make Emmet Otter and his Ma row their boat.  In 2008, Goodspeed Opera House adapted this special into a live musical, mixing costumed actors and puppets (it looked very impressive).  Seen in the background of this photo are puppets from Jim Henson's first TV series, Sam and Friends, which aired from 1955 to 1961 out of Washington D.C.

Seen here are Emmet's rivals from the Riverbottom Nightmare Band.  One of my favorite characters is the Catfish (seen here in a bucket on skis).  This puppet was manipulated immersed in water, and often spit on other characters.

I got Fraggle Rock PVC figurines from the Muppet Store at the Museum.  Pictured here are Pa Gorg, Ma Gorg, Red, Wembley, Gobo, Mokey and Boober.  These figures were made by a company called Schleich.  Junior Gorg was also part of this set (as was a Doozer) but the store did not have any to sell.  Schleich also produced PVC toys of the Muppets and the Smurfs many years ago.

I was very excited to visit this exhibit (I want to tell younger me to smile for the camera)!  There were also puppets on display from The Muppet Show, Sesame Street (Big Bird is huge!) and Saturday Night Live.  I felt really lucky to get to see this.  Get it?  Muppets?  Felt?  Wocka-wocka!