Wander Over Yonder - The Liar

Here we see Sylvia in "Loch Ness Monster mode" as she rescues some little Tiki guys. They are trying to escape from an erupting volcano which is about to blow it's top. She swims away frantically as giant flaming boulders rain down from Mount "Krak-yer-big-toa".

(Spoiler Alert) 

Having reached the mainland, Sylvia thinks the excitement is over and heads to a beach side bar. She's unable to relax when she sees that Wander has gone back to rescue a momma bird and her chicks.

In a tree.

Right over the mouth of the volcano.

Sylvia can only mutter to her drink: "Wait for me, tiny umbrella".

 (copyright Disney)

The action really begins as they struggle to rescue the family of birds from the volcano. When Sylvia says trying to save the birds is impossible, Wander chastises her with "I smell a big pile of  'can't do-do'".

The running gag is the momma bird keeps biting them to protect her young. (She thinks Wander and Sylvia are attacking her chicks.) The bird also delivers an electric shock which illuminates their skeletons. 

One baby bird runs off ("Gary") and hides in a hole in the side of the hill. Naturally, Wander and party pursue, and only to fall into some caves underneath the volcano.

 I kept wondering who the Liar was in this episode. It turns out that it's Wander. He swore that no one would die this day. Instead, it is Wander who turns out to be the Liar when they become trapped. 

Fortunately, Sylvia does not succumb to despair. She notices the hazards they faced before, and gets an idea. She makes a literal leap of faith, and takes them to safety riding one of the giant flaming boulders as Mount "Krak-yer-big-toa" finally blows itself to bits.

Their boulder crashes back on the beach, which also knocks over the bar. Fortunately, one of the little Tiki guys brings Sylvia her drink, complete with little pink umbrella. But before she can take a sip, she gets shocked by the birds one more time, only this time they jump on her out of gratitude.

Wander compliments Sylvia on her bravery and ingenuity.

Sylvia smiles and walks away, saying: "I never doubted it for a second".

With her back turned, her smile turns into a grimace of worry.

Thanks again to-

http://wandernews.tumblr.com/

Cartoon Horse and rider - Wander Over Yonder

I've become a big fan of Wander Over Yonder. and noticed over the years how the cowboy, or adventurer theme comes back to TV animation every now and then.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder?from=Main.WanderOverYonder

Wander Over Yonder seems to have some roots in these old shows.
Wander is the hippie-cowboy who rides his alien "Zbornak" named Sylvia.
Sylvia serves as his horse.
In most of these shows, the horse is very often the reluctant companion,
or, after a misadventure, is the one who usually says "I told you so."

(copyrights clockwise from upper left: Terrytoons, Filmation, Jay Ward Productions, & Disney)

Starting in the upper left, we have The Adventures of Lariat Sam from Terrytoons in the early 1960's. Lariat Sam was produced by Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo). Lariat Sam's horse was Tippy Toes, a fussy horse who wore a bowler hat with a white dickie and bow-tie. While Lariat Sam relied on his lasso instead of a gun, Tippy Toes often took the brunt of the jokes in the show's physical humor.

Then in the 1980's, there was BraveStarr with his cyberhorse 30-30 by Filmation. 30-30 could use his bionic limbs to transform from a four legged horse to a person that stood upright. 30-30 was large, strong, had a short temper, liked a good scrap, and seemed to be a weapons expert. (He even talked to his gun "Mary Jane" in one episode.) But it was BraveStarr who saved the day in overcoming the villians with the right amount of reasoning, insight and directed power. 30-30's direct confrontations with opponents never seemed to end well.

Going back to the 60's, there was Dudley Do-Right. As a Mountie in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Dudley was far from being the sharpest knife in the drawer. His horse, simply called "Horse", was the only one to notice when things were going wrong. Horse was also the only cartoon horse that I know of who could not speak.

Which brings us back to Wander Over Yonder. Wander is a good-natured alien meddler who travels from planet to planet with his best friend Sylvia, who also happens to be his "Sapient Steed".

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SapientSteed

Sylvia is the more grounded "straight man" to Wander, and the voice of reason in contrast to his impulsive need to bring help and fun across the entire galaxy. She also gets more than her fair share of physical punishment from their enemies, and just by trying to keep Wander out of trouble. It's amazing she still stays with Wander with all the abuse she has to put up with.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Another show that was kind of obscure was Luno the White Stallion: I actually only saw one episode while on a car trip to Florida while passing through Atlanta. From then, I was hooked. It took me years to find some episodes on VHS. Luno was another version of Pegasus that symbolized travel, adventure, and magic. Luno and Tim could fly back in time to classic storybook adventures.

(original copyright Terrytoons)

Hey, the Aquabats liked him enough to put him in a song:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpmwW68FOJU
www.theaquabats.com

While not a TV show,  I have to bring up the Magic Pony by Soyuzmultfilm. CFPL TV 10 in London, Canada would drift over Lake Erie to northeast Ohio. The CBC brought me an extra range of children's shows in addition to the U.S. networks in the 1960's.

 (copyright Soyuzmultfilm)

To my knowledge, the Magic Pony was never shown, but I loved the full animation Soyuzmultfilm put out. The boy in this story learns the dangers in telling tall stories, and gets more than he bargained for when he accidentally captures the queen of the magic horses.