SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS - THAT SLY FOX, "COLUMBO"

I belong to several 'Columbo' pages on Facebook but my favorite is "Columbo TV".  There are quizzes, off-beat humor, and over the summer we even had Arts & Crafts with 'Columbo' characters built from toilet paper rolls!

For this edition of "Saturday Morning Cartoons", I wanted to give one of the members of the page a special showcase.

Theo Solorio has an exceptional talent as an illustrator and it's easy to see who was his greatest influence - Don Bluth.  As a director in animation, Bluth helmed projects like "Anastasia", "The Secret Of N.I.M.H.", "An American Tail", "Titan A.E.", "All Dogs Go To Heaven", and "The Land Before Time."

Theo portrays the Lieutenant and several of the characters in Bluth's distinctive funny animal style while still making them distinctively his own.  (Bluth's style was most evident in the Disney film "Robin Hood" for which he served as the character animator.  In fact, if I dealt in such meta-universes, I would say that Theo's variation on 'Columbo' would be on the same Tooniverse timeline as "Robin Hood".)

So here are some of the scenes which Theo has depicted and shared with his fellow fans of 'Columbo':

"PRESCRIPTION MURDER"

This would serve as a promotional picture for the first pilot episode.

"SUITABLE FOR FRAMING"

Dale Kingston and the show's best "Gotcha" moment

"A STITCH IN TIME"

Dr. Mayfield portrayed as a jackal

With Columbo flashing a rare expression of anger

"FADE-IN TO MURDER"

I think it was brilliant on Theo's part

to cast "Inspector Lucerne" as a skunk.

After all, it was a French name like Pepe Le Pew.

"COLUMBO CRIES WOLF"

Sean Brantley showing off his texting watch.

And we have a late entry!  Theo shared this next one to the Columbo TV page around the same time that this post was published.

"REQUIEM FOR A FALLING STAR"
Columbo calls his brother-in-law to rub it in that he's in the home of the movie star Nora Chandler

Good work, Theo!  I hope we'll be seeing plenty more along these lines.....

Finally, here's a quick clip of Theo's foxy Columbo, voiced by a certain actor we all knew and loved.....

If this became a TV show, I'd watch it!

BCnU!