''Techno-Cracked'' is a 1933 Celebrity Productions, Inc.

animated short Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

, directed by

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious ...

and featuring

Flip the Frog Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring chara ...

Synopsis

In this satire of the

Technocracy Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-maker or makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts wi ...

is nearly killed by a menacing

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

he builds to work for him. Flip would rather not mow the lawn. He reads an article from "Unpopular Mechanics" entitled "Technocracy: Why be a Slave - The Mechanical Man Works While You Sleep". Flip makes his robot out of household parts but gives it a

Jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenomen ...

for a head. The mechanical man cannot follow directions and begins mowing down everything in sight. Flip blows up the robot with a stick of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

and finishes the lawn by himself.

Notes and comments

When the robot mows the welcome mat it reveals the word

Nerts Nerts (US), or Racing Demon (UK) is a fast-paced multiplayer card game involving multiple decks of playing cards. It is often described as a competitive form of Patience or Solitaire. In the game, players or teams race to get rid of the cards in t ...

, a possible reference to either the card game or to a popular expression of the time -- "nertz". Some have speculated that Techno-Cracked may have been photographed in two-strip

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

References

External links

Techno-Cracked at the Big Cartoon Database
1933 films 1933 animated films Films directed by Ub Iwerks American science fiction comedy films 1930s science fiction films American robot films Films about frogs Films scored by Carl Stalling Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films 1930s American films {{short-animation-film-stub