This thread is focused on the cartoon episodes that have recently been released through Rhino Home Video and sold via Comedy III Productions (www.threestooges.com). I'll begin by presenting an observation of the "extra features" (DVD only) interview with Lee Orgel, who was the supervisor of production for Cambria-Normandy Productions, and a synopsis/critique of the first 4 episodes. I'll follow with synopsis/critiques of the other 12 episodes that are included in this first volume of cartoon releases.

(DVD Only) Interview with Lee Orgel
The interview is listed as "Interview with producer, Lee Orgel", which is slightly incorrect. Lee Orgel was the Supervisor of Production. The actual producers are listed as Dick Brown, David Detiege and Norman Maurer. (Norman Maurer, as is well-known, is the Son-In-Law of Moe Howard)
Lee Orgel got his start in the Crusader Rabbit cartoons before gravitating to the New Three Stooges. The pilot episode title was a spoof of the then current TV commercial that contained the catch phrase "That Little Old Winemaker, Me". Since this was going to be a Saturday morning kid's cartoon, it was decided to keep the live-action Stooges violence down to a minimum. In fact, Cambria got the National Safety Foundation to name the Three Stooges "National Safety Council Ambassadors". Lee purports creating an entire campaign with the slogan "Don't be a Stooge", but didn't elaborate whether this campaign would be in the form of TV commercial spots, or magazine/newspaper ads, or how much money was allocated for it.
Lee calls Larry "Curly" when speaking about the boys, but for an older gentleman who can't remember Larry's name, calling him Curly is a good guess. He did say that of the three, Moe was the most structured, disciplined, and hardest to get along with.
The last soliloquy Lee offers deals with cartoons in general. He has the opinion that the fun has departed from animation in these so-called "modern times", that cartoons have become a sit-com/drama with not much sight gags and little humor. Evidently, he hasn't seen any Ren & Stimpy, Spongebob Squarepants or South Park recently.
All in all, this interview was a pleasant chat with a nice old man reminiscing about the old days in animation and working with the Stooges. If you've bought the VHS version that does not contain the interview, I wouldn't feel too let down.

EP1 - That Little Old Bombmaker
This being the pilot episode, it is the only one in which the live-action sequences are integrated into the animated portion. At the end of the live-action opening, Moe is clobbering Curly-Joe for forgetting the lunch, and when the animated portion fades in, Moe is clobbering Curly-Joe. At the end of the animated portion (the Sergeant being blown-up), the Sergeant approaches and offers them a "peace" offering. If this format had been followed more closely, I feel the cartoon series would have been somewhat better. This episode, by far, is the best one of the bunch.

Also, the live-action portions of Episodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 make fun of Curly-Joe and his eating habits, almost to the exclusion of all else!

Great Lines
Moe: Right face, right face! I said right face!!
Larry: This IS my right face!
Moe: Oh boy, are you ugly.
Larry: My mother likes me.
Moe: Some people like monkeys!

1) Live-action Opening
The boys are dressed in their old World War I uniforms. Every year, on the anniversary when they were discharged, they get together to reminisce. Curly-Joe forgets their lunch, and runs off to retrieve it.
2) Animated Portion
Curly-Joe fetches the lunch pail, but the huge, mean sergeant takes it and sends the boys out to dig a trench. They inadvertently walk passed the front lines and start digging over a buried German staging area. They are captured by the evil Captain Von Vonce (Larry quips, "I'll tell you that Von Twice!") and are accused of spying. They escape while the bombmaker, Dr. Mach Schnell is creating a new weapon, the "lunch pail" bomb. He encounters the boys and asks them to hold it while he tells Von Vonce of the news. The boys steal a plane and fly back over to friendly territory, but are shot down at the last minute. The huge, mean sergeant steals the lunch pail … and when he opens it … BOOM!
3) Live-action Closing
The sergeant enters and gives the boys a lunch pail as a "peace offering" for all those times he stole their lunches, then leaves snickering. When Curly-Joe opens the pail … BOOM!

EP2: Woodsman Bear That Tree
Great Lines
Moe: (looking at compass) Hhmm … North By Northwest, which means a little bit east by west.
Curly-Joe: I don't care where we are on paper; I wanna know where are we on the Terra Firma!
Larry: Yeah, the more firma, the less terra!

1) Live-Action Opening
The boys are out hunting and become lost. They stop to take their bearings, and Curly-Joe lays out a lunch spread fit for a king.
2) Animated Portion
The boys have taken a new job as lumberjacks. They make so much noise, it keeps a hibernating bear awake who comes out of his cave periodically to clobber them. The Stooges try to explain it to the boss, but he doesn't believe them and sends them back out to work. The bear, driven to distraction, takes an ax and cuts down a huge tree that falls onto the bosses office-cabin. The Stooges must then beat a hasty retreat.
3) Live-Action Closing
The boys discover that they are "lost" at a nearby football field in the park, and spend the rest of the time razzing each other.

EP3: Let's Shoot The Player Piano Player
Great Lines
Moe: (conking Curly-Joe) I told you to take care of the horses, didn't I?
Curly-Joe: I did, I did! I put them in the barn, I fed them … I turned on the TV set.
Larry: Yeah? … what show?
Curly-Joe: "A Day At The Races", they loved it.
Moe: Quit horsing around!

1) Live-Action Opening
The Stooges bring gear for camping and horseback riding so they can spend the weekend as cowboys, but forget to bring the horses! Moe then harnesses Curly-Joe to the wagon and makes him become the horse.
2) Animated Portion
The "Last Chance Saloon" in Boothillville is being menaced by "Old Loudmouth" in which the Stooges are the piano players/entertainers. He gives them one minute to get out of town for being terrible piano players. Curly-Joe is coerced by Moe to challenge Old Loudmouth to a shootout. When Curly-Joe tries to draw his shootin' irons, they become stuck in the holsters and begin rapid firing, sending him racing around town and ultimately capturing Old Loudmouth in jail. Just the boys' luck, Old Loudmouth IS the sheriff!
3) Live-Action Closing
Curly-Joe claims that if he's gonna work like a horse, he's gonna eat like one! Moe ties a feed-bag on Curly-Joe and he starts happily munching away!

Episode 4: Dentist The Menace
This is the first episode that Emil Sitka appears in with the boys. He uses his famous German accent for this VERY brief role.
Great Lines
Moe: (upon seeing Larry stealing finger-bites of pie) Hey, Frizzletop! … you like pies?
Larry: I love it!
Moe: Well, let me give you one! (splatt!!)

1) Live-Action Opening
The boys take a job making pies for Mr. Hasenpfeffer, but they goad themselves into a pie fight, ruining almost all the pies.
2) Animated Portion
Curly-Joe has a bad toothache and Moe tries to save money by pulling the tooth himself. Moe ties a string around Curly-Joe's tooth, and after the doorknob trick AND the hit-the-baseball trick doesn't work, Moe ties the string around the bumper of a car. However, the car belongs to a bank robber who races off dragging Curly-Joe and a lamppost behind him. In the course of the chase, Curly-Joe's tooth pops out just as they crash land in front of the dentist's office.
3) Live-Action Closing
Moe and Curly-Joe fight over the last undamaged pie, causing it to fly into the face of Mr. Hasenpfeffer who just walked in.

Episode 5: Safari So Good
Great Lines
Moe: Hey! What's all that?
Larry: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, string beans, ice cream ...
Moe: That's for a sick water buffalo?
Larry: No, that's for me! I'm hungry.
Moe: Oh, that's for you ... well, (picks up ice cream dish) have some ice cream! (splat!)

1) Live Action Opening
The Stooges are zookeepers on their the first day on the job and don't want to make any mistakes. Moe sends Curly-Joe and Larry on zookeeping tasks, but each return with food instead.
2) Animated Portion
The boys are employed by the Bungling Brothers Circus to go to the jungle and capture an authentic wildman. At the jungle, they accidentally run across the "beatnik" wildman and try to catch him with the "glue-on-the-vine" trick and the "cut-the-vine" trick, but each one fails. They finally capture the wildman by playing beatnik music and trapping him in its spell.
3) Live Action Closing
Curly-Joe and Larry are trapped in the cage of the chimp they were sent to feed. Moe admonishes them and climbs inside the cage to begin handing out slaps, when the chimp sneaks up and locks all three in the cage!

Episode 6: Thimk or Thwim
Great Lines
Moe: (to Larry) Remind me to take the keys, the cars not insured.

1) Live Action Opening
The boys are out motoring in their old, broken-down jalopy and stop when the car gets a flat tire. They decide to hitchhike into town, and a motorist (Emil Sitka) stops when Curly-Joe flashes a bare leg at him. He gets out of the car and picks up a five dollar bill from under Curly-Joe's foot, then drives off. Moe declares, "Well, I guess we'll have to fix the flat ourselves".
2) Animated Portion
The Stooges have new jobs at the Knotso Klene Kar Wash. The system has a tendancy to break cars apart, so Moe adjusts the "power" to high in order to correct the problem, which causes real havoc! When the boss gets an eyeful of Moe's idiotic antics, he pulls a shotgun on the boys who must beat a hasty retreat.
3) Live Action Closing
The boys finish repairing the flat, but suddenly realize they are out of gas and Curly-Joe winds up pushing the car.

Episode 7: There Auto Be A Law
Great Lines
Moe: Maybe we're low on gas ... look at the gauge.
Curly-Joe: Uh, the needle is pointing halfway ... I don't know if it's half empty or half full.

1) Live Action Opening
The Stooges are stopped at the side of the road attempting to repair their old jalopy. Of course, they make one mechanical failure after another.
2) Animated Portion
The boys have entered in the annual auto race. Dirty Dan Dimwitty will do anything to win, fixing it so that the Stooges car doesn't start. The car coasts backwards into a barnyard where an angry bull butts it, sending the car flying into the race and passing Dirty Dan. The car, now completely out of control, not only wins the race but careens crazily out of sight.
3) Live Action Closing
The boys figure out that the rubber-band that powers the car is busted, so they remove Curly-Joe's suspenders to repair the car. This leaves Curly-Joe's pants in a droopy state of affairs as he runs behind the car trying to catch up.

Episode 8: That Old Shell Game
Great Lines
(the boys are loading for a fishing trip)
Moe: (to Curly-Joe) Hey Knucklehead, go get the gear.
Larry: Hey Moe, what'ya think I can do?
Moe: I don't think you can do anything! But as far as I'm concerned, you can ...
(Curly-Joe brings a gear from the boat motor)
Curly-Joe: Here it is, Moe ... is that what you want?

1) Live Action Opening
The boys are out for a pleasure cruise and fishing trip, and Curly-Joe continuously has trouble getting all the fishing gear onboard and calls for help.
2) Animated Portion
The boys are detectives at the Tea House of Karate Carl. His pearl business is in danger from thieves and it's up to the Stooges to solve the crime. The thief has constructed a one-man diving bell to look a giant oyster shell and is robbing oyster beds at will. As he tries to run from the boy's pursuit, the thief accidentally runs into the mouth of a giant whale. The whale spouts the bad guy out into the waiting hands of the Stooges. The boys capture the thief, but destroy the oyster bed in the process!
3) Live Action Closing
Larry comes up on deck and proclaims his love for the sea, at which Moe knocks him off the pier into the water!

Recent news says that a "colorized" version of the Stooges is coming soon to DVD. It'll contain the original B/W episodes, plus an opportunity to watch the same episode in color.


The question I have is: "Why?"