Ménage Á Pop is a three times a week intimate discussion between two people and a piece of pop culture.
Bob and Tim are friends. Just like Frog and Toad. But the anthropomorphic animal Bob chose to discuss is actually Bloom County's mascot, Opus. And that conversation could have been about comic strips, or the Regan era or even Bob's career in cartooning. But instead, this look at a flightless water fowl revealed something deeper about Bob that Tim had been unaware of for the duration of their friendship.
You can follow today’s guest BOB CANNING on TWITTER @rhcanning. You can also listen to him cohost the podcast 20TH CENTURY POP! at www.nahpods.com/20popcast.
POP NOTES
Opus made his first appearance in the June 26th 1981 strip of Berkeley Breathed’s BLOOM COUNTY. Introduced as a supporting character, it wasn’t until a full year after this debut that he became a main part of the strip’s ensemble.
Opus is named after a pair of songs by the rock band Kansas, “Opus Insert” and “Magnum Opus,” as featured on their 1976 album LEFTOVERTURE.
Opus made his animated debut in the 1991 Christmas special A WISH FOR WINGS THAT WORK. He was voiced by actor Michael Bell, better known as Prowl from the TRANSFORMERS (1984) and Duke on G.I. JOE (1983). Berkley Breathed was not a fan of the special has since stated he pictured Opus sounding more like Sterling Holloway, the original voice for Disney’s version of Winnie The Pooh.
Following the final BLOOM COUNTY strip on August 6th, 1989, Opus went on to appear in Breathed’s follow-up strip OUTLAND (1989-1995) and a self titled Sunday-only strip OPUS (2003-2008). Since 2015 he has been a main character in the online exclusive reboot of BLOOM COUNTY..
Miramax (and, sadly, their offshoot) were set to produce a big screen, CGI animated feature entitled OPUS: THE LAST CHRISTMAS for release on December 19th 2008 (the actual release date of Universal’s animated THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX). Following its five year development the project was ultimately cancelled with Berkeley Breathed vowing to never make a proper BLOOM COUNTY film.
The final two weeks of Opus’s self-titled comic strip were intended as an absolute finale to the character. The last published strip on November 2nd 2008 featured a heartfelt illustration of Opus as a permanently sleeping penguin in the pages of GOODNIGHT MOON. This was retconned in the 2015 revival by revealing Opus had actually taken a 25 year nap, rendering both OPUS and its preceding strip OUTLAND as out of continuity dreams during an extended slumber.
Tune back next Monday when musician GRETCHEN BOSTROM has an A-Ha moment with the music video for “Take On Me.”.
This episode of MÉNAGE Á POP was recorded by CAST, an online audio platform that lets you create and record a multi-guest podcast straight from your web-browser. It was then mastered by AUPHONIC, a web-based post-production service. Check out both sights for trial and subscription information.
MUSIC FEATURED IN TODAY’S EPISODE:
“Three Ways To Do That” (opening theme) composed and performed by The Madeline Prior. All rights reserved with Not A Holograms podcasts.
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Follow Tim Blevins on TWITTER @subcultist and on INSTAGRAM @subcultist.
Try to understand the present while living in the past with Tim’s weekly podcast 20TH CENTURY POP! at www.nahpods.com/20popcast
For questions, queries or, by random chance, press contact Tim Blevins at subcultist@gmail.com.