- A Wish for Wings That Work
Infobox Book
name = required
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption =
author =Berkeley Breathed
illustrator = Berkeley Breathed
cover_artist = Berkeley Breathed
country = USA
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = Children's
publisher = Little Brown & Co
pub_date = 1991
english_pub_date =
media_type =
pages = 32
isbn = 0316106917
oclc =
preceded_by =
followed_by ="A Wish for Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story" was a children's book by
Berkeley Breathed that was published in1991 . It was made into an animated television special that same year. The story is 30 pages long, and contains large color pictures every other page, and small black and white ones over the writing. Each page contains at least one joke, either in the picture or in the story itself.Plot
The story centers on
Opus the Penguin (who was at the time one of the main characters in Breathed's comic strip "Outland"). Opus is downhearted because as a merepenguin he is denied the ability to fly. He longs to be able to soar in the air with the other birds, and his heart grows cold with the reality that he can't. Even thepigeons look down upon Opus, so Opus decides that one way or another he will learn how to fly. He orders a machine off theTV , and assembles it (maybe not correctly, the directions were in a different language). When it comes time to test the machine by jumping off a three mile high cliff, Opus decides to do something less dangerous, and goes home to makeanchovy Christmas cookies. He doesn't give up on his dream though, and makes aChristmas wish toSanta for "wings that will go!". Happily for Opus, his dream of flying comes true, though not "quite" in the manner he expected.TV special
Infobox Film
name = A Wish for Wings that Work |
caption = DVD cover
director = Skip Jones |
producer = Peggy Regan
writer = Berkeley Breathed |
starring = Michael BellRobin Williams
music = Thomas Chase
Steve Rucker |
cinematography =
editing = Larry C. Cowan
distributor = Amblin Television
released =
runtime =
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0103272
The animated special, which was directed by Skip Jones and produced bySteven Spielberg 'sAmblimation animation studio forUniversal Studios , featured the voices ofMichael Bell asOpus the Penguin ,John Byner asBill the Cat , andAlexaundria Simmons asRonald-Ann Smith . It also featured the voices ofRobin Williams (credited under apseudonym ) andDustin Hoffman .The special now airs annually on the
ION Television network.The special was released on
DVD for the first time ever onNovember 6 ,2007 .Trivia
*
Post-hardcore bandPoison the Well used the name for a song on their 1999 albumThe Opposite of December .
*The special incorporates the plane crash scene from 1937's "Lost Horizon", this time with Opus flying and crashing the plane.
*As of2006 , the special is the only time that characters from Breathed's "Bloom County " series of comic strips have been animated.
*ThoughSteven Spielberg helped produced the animation special, he was not credited.
*Berkeley Breathed has voiced his dislike for the TV special, as shown from this 2006 exchange in the Washington Post (see link below):::Salt Lake City, Utah: I need a copy of "A Wish for Wings That Work" either VHS or DVD. Where can it be found?
::Berkeley Breathed: Hopefully in the rubbish pail. We can do better than that and we will with an eventual Opus film.. but I'm glad you enjoyed it. I presume your family was on speed when they watched it. I would imagine it helps [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A47999-2003Nov16¬Found=true] .
External links
* [http://www.berkeleybreathed.com Berkeley Breathed's website]
*imdb title|id=0103272|title=A Wish for Wings That Work
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A47999-2003Nov16¬Found=true Washington Post interview, mentions the TV Special]
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