Bill Cosby produced this one-shot cartoon special which featured the animated debut of Fat Albert and the gang. The animation style was sketchy and not fluid. The backgrounds were live outdoor urban scenes and changing two tone color footage. The look of this original special was totally different from the series later producedby Filmation.
The simple but hilarious story dealt with Bill and the boys being challenged to a football game by a rival neighborhood of boys. After all the boasting and posturing a game was scheduled for the next day. The rival team had not seen Fat Albert (Bill and the gang's secret weapon).
The animated style used physical exaggeration just right. Especially, when Fat Albert came on the scene (background footage showed buildings and bridges falling down). Anyway, all seemed well up until the night before the big game. Albert overhears his friends coming from movies talking about him, subsequently getting his feelings hurt from their comments
Come game time, Albert is a no show and Bill's team is getting creamed. But all is not lost, Fat Albert comes to the resuce and the rest of the team begins to play better as well to win the game. I believe some of the story elements were used again in a episode made by Filmation (just not as funny).
[This dercription is from a post by by Michael Alexander. Thanks to the two of you. The image was provided by Ron Kurer -- who sent it to the ToonTracker Message Board.]
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