The Lorax (TV special)

This article is about the animated television special. For other uses, see Lorax (disambiguation).

The Lorax is a musical Dr. Seuss animated special produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises which first aired as a television special on CBS in the United States on February 14, 1972, and in Canada on CBC Television on October 22, 1972.^[1] The special was written by Theodor Geisel, based on his 1971 book of the same name.^[2]

The Lorax
Genre	Comedy/Fantasy/Musical
Based on	The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Developed by	CBS. BFA Educational Media.
Written by	Dr. Seuss
Directed by	Hawley Pratt
Voices of	Bob Holt Athena Lorde Harlen Carraher Thurl Ravenscroft Matt Bennison
Narrated by	Introduced by: Eddie Albert
Composer	Dean Elliott
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	David H. DePatie
Producers	Friz Freleng Ted Geisel
Running time	24 minutes
Production companies	Cat in the Hat Productions DePatie–Freleng Enterprises CBS Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	February 14, 1972 (1972-02-14)

Plot

A young boy in a polluted ghost town meets the Once-ler, who recounts the story of the Lorax, a creature who speaks for the trees. The Once-ler, initially enchanted by the Truffula trees, starts a business making Thneeds and rapidly depletes the trees while ignoring the Lorax's warnings. As industrialization progresses, the environment deteriorates, the animals leave, and the Once-ler's factory eventually shuts down after cutting down the last tree. The Lorax departs, leaving behind a pile of rocks marked "Unless." The Once-ler reveals to the boy that "Unless" signifies the need for someone who cares to take action. He gives the boy the last Truffula seed, encouraging him to restore the forest, signaling hope for the future.

Cast

• Eddie Albert – Narrator
• Bob Holt – The Lorax, the Once-ler
• Athena Lorde – Miss O'Schmunsler
• Harlen Carraher – Boy, Singing Bears
• Thurl Ravenscroft – Singer

Differences from the book

While the storyline closely mirrors that of the original book, there are some key differences.

• The Once-ler does not charge the boy to hear the story, nor does he tell it using a "Whisper-Ma-Phone". These elements were reintroduced in the 2012 film adaptation of the book.

• The Bar-ba-loots leave the valley to find a new food source after the sky becomes smoggy. In the book, they leave while the sky is still clear.
• The Once-ler's character is portrayed with more depth; at one point, he engages in an internal debate about the morality of his actions and convinces himself that someone else would behave similarly if he did not. He also argues that closing his factory would result in mass unemployment and harm the economy, a point that the Lorax reluctantly concedes.
• The line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie," originally spoken by the Lorax in the book, is instead delivered by one of the Humming-Fish. While the line was removed from the book in 1985 following successful cleanup efforts in the lake, it remains in all home video releases of the special.^[3]
• Following the departure of the Humming-Fish, the Once-ler begins to see reason, until he is informed by his secretary of a rise in his company's stock. This, rather than the Lorax's continuous protests, sparks his outburst.
• In the book, the Once-ler does not understand the Lorax's message until after he concludes his story, and gives the boy the last Truffula seed as a reward for helping him realize this. In the special, the Once-ler seems to already understand the message, leaving his motivations for giving the seed to the boy unclear.

Home media

The Lorax was released on VHS in 1994 as part of a CBS Video four-tape package called "Dr. Seuss Sing-Along Classics".^[4]

In 2003, Universal Studios Family Productions got the rights to the original 1972 TV special, and Universal released The Lorax on DVD under its home video label, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, with newly remastered picture and sound. This release also included another special Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? as an extra.

To tie-in with the 40th anniversary of the special and the release of film The Lorax, Warner Home Video released the special on a deluxe edition DVD and Blu-ray on February 14 (Valentine's Day), 2012.^[5] This release once again included Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? and now also included The Butter Battle Book as another extra (however, when The Lorax was released on digital retailer sites in 2021, the two extras were taken out of the release and moved over to being included with the digital retailer release of Green Eggs and Ham and Other Treats, where they were restored in high definition).

Reception

The Lorax received the Critics Award from the International Animated Cartoon Festival (Zagreb, 1972) and the Silver Media from the International Film and Television Festival (New York, 1972).^[6][7]

References

1. Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
2. Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 133. ISBN 978-0786474448.
3. Morgan, Judith (1995). Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography. Random House. p. 276. ISBN 9780679416869. Archived from the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
4. Fitzpatrick, Eileen (May 21, 1994). "Sing-Along Seuss Titles Coming from CBS Video". Billboard. Los Angeles. pp. 53, 56. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
5. Lorax, The: Deluxe Edition DVD – Warner Bros.: WBshop.com – The Official Online Store of Warner Bros. Studios
6. Cullinan, Bernice E.; Person, Diane G, eds. (2005). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. p. 710. ISBN 0-8264-1516-4.
7. Lindemann, Richard H.F (2005). The Dr. Seuss Catalog. McFarland & Company. p. 128. ISBN 0-7864-2223-8.

External links

• The Lorax at IMDb