Curse of The Two-Legged Cat- Annotations
 Back to menu |
 Read cast list |
 Read the comic |
Page 1
Jim's Saloon: Possibly referring to Jim himself, I don't remember.
Ted Tex: Davenall's resemblance to Texas Pete from Superted.
"Any ideas, Stuart?": Originally intended to have my character as one who could change the cartoon at will, being the representation of the author.
Page 2
"As if by magic, Ivor appeared!": Ivor the Engine- an old kid's cartoon about a Welsh train. This kind of outburst is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett's Bursar character.
George Cookson with net: Something of a salesman among the Camp Hill staff, we often wondered if Mr Cookson got his wares from cargo loads falling off the back of lorries.
Page 3
"A green and purple woolly snake": Christian used to own this as a draft excluder. I once found this hysterically funny while I was drunk.
"A wardrobe": Referring, of course, to C.S.Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.
Page 4
"...a herd of wildebeest...": Allusion to that oh-so-tragic scene in Disney's Lion King.
Falling Farmhouse: The Wizard of Oz
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead: By the Crash Test Dummies. I was looking everywhere for this song at the time. Now I have two copies.
Page 5
"She's turned into a bag of popcorn!": An injoke at the time. I forget the details.
"All hail Macbeth!": Shakespeare's 'Scottish Play'
"...A cunning plan": Replacing Banquo with Blackadder's Baldrick.
"Welcome, Dungeoneer": Anglia TV show Knightmare
Page 6
"Warning, team": Tregard often interceded to stop contestants from practically committing suicide by falling prey to traps.
Page 7
Red Dwarf: From the Hattie Hayridge era.
"The forest of Blunderland": Anis in Blunderland! Get it?
Jem & Atticus": From To Kill a Mockingbird. See cast list for explanation.
Page 8
"When your thoughts turn to stairs...": '...Turn to Stannah'- Stairlift commercial.
"B.U.M.P.s": Based on the Birmingham University Mid-term Mathematics Puzzles, popular in the Maths department at Camp Hill.
"Tweedledum & Tweedledummer": Tweedledum & Tweedledee combined with Dumb & Dumber.
"Looking for me?": Dave Cocks' only role. He was the Cheshire Cat because of the famous grin.
Page 9
"Stop it!": From Jim Henson's Labyrinth when Sarah approaches the maze and finds Hoggle gassing the fairies.
"I've got 13 hours...": Jareth gave Sarah until 13 o'clock to find her baby brother.
"Pauludo down!": If you know the film you know this scene. I resisted the urge to write "Pauludo fwwiend!"
"Sir Bazile de Brosse": Sir Didymus and Bazil Brush. Both fox puppets, so an obvious mental link there...
Page 10
P & S: R & M- The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer
Page 11
"Hear my song!": For some reason, singing this used to really annoy Richard, hance the hand puppet. The frying pan is from another Vic & Bob sketch, as is most of this scene.
"We'd better be getting back to Washington": Scully (The X-Files) could be a real killjoy at times.
"...to meet his Uncle Kenneth": "Uncle Sam" is the U.S. You can work it out from there. This narrative also echoes a line from the Madness song "Uncle Sam".
Page 12
"Manners Maketh Man": A favourite maxim of Mr Bulloch's. He also often said 'Rhubarb' where Ebeneezer Scrooge, for example, might have said 'Humbug', hance "Rita's Rhubarb Recipes".
Page 13
"Look at this": The sign mirrors the one on the first page.
"Not unless you really want to know why this building has no revolving doors": A reference to Mr Jack's joke about the Basque tourists.
Page 14
"What's that building next door to yours?": It's Ghostbuster HQ.
Page 15
"My head fits inside exactly": Readers of Frontier may remember that Mr Russell's head was always drawn as a tall dome.
"This is 'Tank Thomas'": We couldn't decide whether Mr Mason looked more like the Pringles face or Thomas the Tank Engine.
"Exposure to sunlight": From the opening credits to Cosgrove Hall's Count Duckula- a speech that I can recite verbatim. See also Besieged page 36, frames 6 & 7.
"Secret rites, sir. Suits you": From the Fast Show, which I didn't watch at the time so that catchphrase always used to bug me.
Page 16
"Get out": Mr Liggins' feature in Frontier, the Cat's debut comic.
Page 17
"My secret magic word": Another allusion to Superted.
"Gus Lurry's pig farm" etc...: All refer to the elaborate tales Mr Cookson used to relate to us, sometimes used to explain chemistry.
"The School of Modesty": Brennan's School of Modesty. Class in-joke.
"Somewhere outside Gannow": Gannow and West Heath cropped up surprisingly often, given that they're both places I hate.
"M. C. Escher": An artist famed for his sketches of mathematical and physical impossibilities.
Page 18
"You with the head": A phrase invented by Richard and myself for attracting the most attention in a crowd. (Never used, I hasten to add).
Page 19
"It's my father's actually. George stole it": Recognise the truck from page 2?
Page 20
"Soggy Weetabix": It occurred to me one day while washing up my breakfast bowl that Weetabix and milk do chemically react to form a very powerful adhesive.
"Perhaps a Harold Pinter play, or a poem by Silvia Plath": My mum was studying for an English teaching diploma at te time. She wasn't too fond of these two.
Page 21
Second half: Pay attention there. That's a good chunk of plot you're missing when you blink...
Page 22
First frame: Notice the car that pulls out ahead of the Crew.
Frame thirteen: The Silent One's face is in the distant window.
Page 23
"STIG-INGË BJØURNAÄB": One of Jim's brain-children. Pronounced Stig ingyer Byornaby
Page 24
"They always come up against people who can't shoot": Dey do dough, don't dey dough?
Page 25
"Where's that microlite of yours?": Mr McCormack did indeed have his own microlite.
Page 26
"..King's Norton: nothing but cul-de-sacs": That's how it semed to me anyway.
Page 27
"What kind of cartoon baby are you?": The Maggie Simpson kind, obviously.
Page 28
"My duck was abducted by playwrights": In the X-Files, Mulder's motivation came from the fact that his sister had been abducted by aliens when he was little.
"Koochiekoo": See the cast list under Chris Parsons.
"I'm over here": from a Reeves & Mortimer song:
Vic: I'm over here
Bob: I'm over here
Vic: And I'm up here, so high in this tree. Oh my friend can you see me?
Bob: No, my friend, I can't see you. This plate fungus obscures my view.
Page 29
"Yo vhont to seyh, mayht?": "You want to see, mate?"- Jim's 'eastern accent'.
"Is it voodoo?": From a commercial for the drink Taboo.
Page 32
"M. F. Luder": Mulder used this pseudonym in one episode of the X-Files.
Page 33
"Had to arrest your neighbours for disturbing the peace": In the films the authorities were always hounding the Ghostbusters over something.
Page 35
"Double O Quits": A play on words with Double-0 Seven (James Bond) and 'double or quits', an example of Phil Carmen altering the sakes to begin another round of cards.
Page 36
"I've been slimed!": Peter Venkman's old catch phrase.
Page 37
The violin: Becky was learning to play the violin at this point in time.
Page 38
"We'll be totally discreet": A line from the movie.
Page 39
"Hoy-de-hoy! Could you possibly spare me any... cake?": I believe Jim stole this line from Men Behaving Badly.
Page 41
"Hoi agree, farder!": If anyone can think of a better way to write the Irish accent used on Father Ted then let me know.
Page 43
"The more complex they build these...": I'm sure Scotty uses this line in a Star Trek film when he sabbotages an engine.
"Wu-Tang Spam": Another brain-child of Jim.
"Defended path to Rome": Found scrawled in pencil in a hand-me-down French text book.
