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popculturebuffet · 29 days ago

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Belated MLK Day Special: Our Friend Martin AKA Martin Luther King: Time Jesus (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and a happy very belated MLK day to you all. What happened was the slot only opened up for this review on the day itself and it took me a while to watch it but frankly any day is good for honoring Martin Luther King. And today we're honoring the good doctor, hero, legend, and man of peace with a look at a bizzare educational film that attempts to do the same. It... it certainly tried.

Our Friend Martin comes to us from 1999 and from 90's animation and home video giant DiC. I don't have much more: the film was shown in classrooms as my friend cory has vauge memories of it and was nominated for the outstanding animated program emmy, but wikipedia didn't have much more. It does have an absolutely STACKED cast: LaVar Burton, Jaleel White, Ed Asner, Angela Basset, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Ashly Judd, Susan Sarandon, John Travolta, Adam Wylie and current at the time of this writing Behind the Bastards subject Oprah Winfrey. Most of these are small rolls, a scene a piece, but it's still impressive and heartwarming just how many big names showed up for this.

Our Friend Martin is a lot. It has a child's shirt being ripped off as a running gag in the same film as an entirely accurate look at the Birmingham Riot. It's a film that's geninely educational as I learned some stuff from this specail.. but also uses time travel and has Martin Luther King sacrifice himself to save the future. It's a film that despite being behind I still badly wanted to review as it's something you just kinda have to get out of your system. Something so singularly weird yet exactly what you'd expect of it's time. it's our friend martin and it' under the cut.

Our Friend Martin is the story of Miles, an enthusastic young boy who dearly loves baseball and is a huge Hank Aaron fan but is bad at school. What I like is that there's some nuance to it, as Miles later tells his teacher part of why he focuses on it is he figures there's no real out for black people besides being famous and thus isn't focusing.

He's also 12 so his mom threatens to take away baseball and his teacher admits the principal wants to hold him back if his grade keeps up. Miles knows what most kids, and this grown ass man tend to know about Martin Luther King: he was a good man, did a lot of great things for civil rights. I know a bit more, his orignization of the march on washington.. but the fact I don't know much more than a fictional 12 year old is fucking damming and something that shamed me as I watched this. I mean.. I should know more about a man who helped make the world far better and was taken far too soon than what I barely remember from school. Granted my missouri education whitewashed a lot of stuff about the civil war, so i'm not super surprised we didn't have a big deep dive into martin luther king and all the horrible shit racist assholes did to him.

Miles is played by Robert Ri'chard. As I learned thanks to the magic of wikipedia, the child cast here all went on to do stuff, and Ri'chard went on to be the love intrest in One on One, a sitcom I dearly remember for being great fun when it was on the N, starring Proud Family's Kyla Pratt and having a bitching theme song.

His mom isn't in the movie much but is played by film legend and 911 superstar Angela Basset, one of many big names here for about 5 seconds but doing a terrific job.

Miles has other problems too in this case Kyle, his bully who as is standard for 90's bullies, wants to beat on him because shut up, is mildly dumb, has a weird haircut and gets comically humilated. In most cases this would be tripping in a puddle or having a dog bite him or getting escorted out of a ballet school after chasing Alfalfa and Spanky in there. In this case he chases Miles to the bus every day where he gets on just in time and the crazy old buss driver shuts the door on his shirt and drives off. This does not as you'd guess lead to Kyle being drug along the road to school to think about what he did and possibly be scarred for life, but instead his shirt just gets ripped off.

Now this is already fucking weird. When descirbing this to my good friend Jess, her response was an understandable

But it gets weirder, as Kyle now needs a ride in the car from his chainsmoking dad. His chainsmoking dad is only in one scene smoking it up, berating his son for being a half shirted looser and because they could get John Trevolta for a cameo. Weirdly he does not return later when they come back and the future is a back to the future part 2 style hellhole. Yes we're going full biff tanen for this one.

So on top of this, not only does this bus driver rip shirts off, but he also nearly runs children over. A lot. To the point miles is used to it. His name is Wild Man Willis and he's voiced by Richard Kind though we don't hear him till he shows up in the biff tanen timeline. Now granted all but one white person in the Biff Tanen timeline is a violent racist but the fact Mad Dog nearly runs over a black child every day tells me that maybe he always was and this is just plausable deniablity. Not all that plausable mind you as "I hit a child with a bus because I can't publicly do hate crimes again yet" isn't a defense in 1999, but hey.

So yeah already we have attempted comedy and attempted manslaughter and while it won't get WEIRDER it certeainly comes close.

For now let's meet the rest of the main cast as they prepare for a field trip: First up is Randy, Miles Token White best friend with a questionable southren accent, played by future fast in the furious tokyo drift star Lucas Black, once again in a roll he just was not ready for. Tokyo Drift speaks with a horrible southren accent they shoudl've just abandoned as young mister black cannot keep it up. Randy is a skateboarding cool dude who unforutnately is in most of this movie. I do not blame his voice on BLack whow as a children at the time, but more on the voice directors for not getting a better performance or dropping the southren accent.

Filling out the class is Maria, played by Jessica Cruz of On my Block and Liv and Maddie fame, both shows I haven't watched but I will give credit where it's due for. Maria is poorly written as the brains. She's not stupidly written but she is a know at all type a who constantly downtalks the main cast and whines constantly. It's a case of me appreciating that they made the only latina member of the cast smart.. but then being annoyed that she's that sort of smart that grates. The kind of person who just ahs to waggle their brain in your face.

Teaching these annoying children is Mrs. Dale, a hippie teacher who is wise and kinda there and played by Ashley Judd. That's about it.

Now we've met our cardboard cutouts their taken to visit Dr. Martin Luther King's home, and meet the curator, Mrs. Peck.

Yup Whoopi Goldberg taking a break from the Enterprise and the View to help with time travel. Or maybe this is Guinan as she is hundreds of years old. Point is Whoopi Goldberg is helping children travel through time so we should get back to that. When shown MLK's childhood bedroom miles notices some sparks and decides to visit the roped off room.. and is let in when Whoopi notices he has the touch, winds the magic time watch and off we go.

First stop is Martin Luther King Age 12, whose playing some baseball. We get the usual "We've traveled back in time?!" stuff you expect, not realizing it, realizing this is young version of person, etc. You get it.

It's also one of the more effective segments as young martin is playing with some white kids... whose racist mom shows up, berates them for playing with the "colored" and tells Randy, whose also here, point blank if he keeps hanging out with black people "he'll hang from the same tree as them" I... I don't have a pithy reaction image for that this special went fucking hard and it won't be the last time. For all it's flaws and weirdness.. this specail dosen't sugarcoat racisim. It isn't as blunt as it could be, but it's still blunt enough to make it clear just how bad it was. While most kids films, especailly edutainment like this, woudlnt' shy from the racisim part, the mention of hangings and some of the later stuff is pretty damn blunt, as well as the whole biff tanen future.

Next they join a teen martin on a train, finding out about segregation first hand. Danny Glover is the train conductor. That's.. not the best use of your Danny Glover film. They do make better use of their other stars for this bit: Jaleel White plays teen martin very well and I appricate having a diffrent performer for each time period. I"m already a fan of Jaleel as a voice actor, and i'd say he's my faviorite of the martins, injecting some energy into him. James Earl Jones plays Martin's father Reverened King, who the boys meet as they join MLK for supper and I like emphasising that his father made rounds, visting the sick and those who can't leave the home for prayer and such, imparting WHY MLK was like this: he had a good role model who taught him to look out for people. It's simple, sure, but it works and makes me want to learn more about the good reverened, which is what an educational film should do: teach you but also make you want to learn MORE about the thing. To make you enjoy the subject.

Next up is the Mongomery Bus Boycott, the famous one inspired by the rosa parks incident and something I had heard of because who hasn'.. and this is where the film once again goes hard. After the film's usual repitive round of our heroes trying to get martin to remember them, it happens almost every time and never stops being annoying and it's clear he dosen't from timeline to timeline, Martin gets some horrifying news from his friend Turner, played by Samuel L. Jackson himself who unlike a lot of the cameos in this film, actually gets a decent chunk of time to do stuff. Martin's house has been bombed

I had not heard of this and frankly this should be taught in more classes: The reverend's house is bombed. It woudln't even be the last time as the Birmigham Riots we'll get to next were caused by a bombing in a hotel room Doctor King had stayed at and the bombing of his brother Dexter's house. It's not at all suprising there were attempts on the good doctor's life before the one that sadly succeeded. It dosen't make it any less horrific as his wife , played by Behind the Bastards Subject Oprah Winfrey, Coretta is in deep fear.. and his friend Turner wants blood. It's understandable frustration: all Martin did was the right thing, boycotting the busses for equal rights.. and he was attacked for it. And it's telling his response isn't to join them in the attack (If hammily called by Jackson calling for people to use "guns and bricks") but for peace like Ghandi. IT's overwrought sure but I get the message: we are not them. The sad part is sometimes.. that just dosen't work. I respect dr king, he was a truly wonderful man who fought with peace despite how much he went through, how many hoses were turned on him how much time he spent in jail he persisted. I respet him. I wish peace always worked. I really did and I wish the world he dreamnt of would exist... but even if I don't agree that peace is the only option... I can agree that it should be the main one, and that he's one of the most courageous, kind and brave people i've ever known for fighting for it so damn hard, for fighting for what everyone should've had all along.

So to hammer this in our heroes are transported to the Birmingham Riot of 1963, something I dove into on wikipedia and was.. ugly. The short version is that Civil Rights Protestors were targeted and after bombings on Dr King's brother and an attempt on his life the people took to the streets and riots broke out, not unfairly given .. everything. What the special cuts is that John F Kennedy decided to quell the riots.. after all the violence against black people essentially sending the national guard to beat up black people rightfully upset that racists attempted to murder people just doing the right thing and had already taken several firehoses to the face from Bulll Connor, racist politican bafflingly voiced by Frank Welker here.

It's.. a bizzare experince to be sure. I don't doubt frank as a voice actor, he's one of the best in the buisness. He's scooby fucking doo, nuff said. And he has played villians, most famously president megatron

But it's very werid to hear one of his staple voices coming out of historical monster bull connor. He's a pitch or two from Megatron turning the fire hose on protestors. It's .. a lot.

The rest is fantastically done.. a horrifying panoply of dogs, fire hoses and bottles broken as violence spirals and our heroes are just.. lost in it. Their not hurt because edutainment, but I apricate the effort. It's a truly horrifying scene.

So it's back to the present and while he's genuinely learned some stuff Miles main takeaway is "time travel is rad" and "Martin Luther King is my friend now" so he plans to go back with randy tommorow.

The next day in class we get one of the weaker scenes. After a quick check that yup Kyle lost his shirt again and escaped death once again, our heroes chime in on a discussion of MLK and narrate over a video shown historical facts about King's arrest by bull connor, his being held and how after days of hearing nothing his wife called JFK who while a piece of shit about the riots, let's not mince words, did the right thing here and put pressure to get the good doctor released. IT's interesting stuff but I question both why this wasn't another stop on their time journey. Was it because King woudl've been absent if theyd idn't visit the jail itself? I dunno. It's weird.

Speaking of weird we have the weird way a lot of historical footage is used.. with a lot of color filters over grainy old footage. It looks weird isn't great and is mostly there to paper over where they didn't have the budget to animate something.

During the footage miles and co are spotted by Maria. Suspcious she tails them to the king house.. and brings Kevin because.....

So Miles and skrateboard get let back in while Whoopi Goldberg warns them about alterting witht he fabric of time. With a vauge warning instead of saying "Don't change the past dumbass". She lets Maria and Kevin in because why not send more dumbass children through time, and they end up in the room and end up traveling to the march on washington.

Kevin looses his shirt, again and he and miles prepare to throw hands but are stopped by Dr King. He was played by Levar Burton in the previous flashback and now by King's son Dexter, who does a great job especailly for someone who dosen't voice act regularly. The kids encounter their teacher as a younger woman, a bit I love, and Miles buys kevin a shit to bury the hatchet. The running gag comes full circle.

So we get the I Have a dream Speech.. which is done via archival footage but is still as stirring as ever and is the only time the use of historical stock footage works. The man's audio himself is the only way this really coudl've gone and while i'ms ure his son could've recited the speech well, and by heart, it feels right to use Martin's own words.

The kids are inspired and return and Miles is ready for more adventures.. till he finds out the awful truth... Martin Luther King was assassinated. And here's where I feel the film slips up: while the idea of this last act isn't horrible.. I question why it was necessary. The film's already nearly an hour long, it's more than long enough to fill up a class period or tv schedule. Why did we need Miles to go back in time to save Martin Luther king but destroy the present? It dosen't really add much... we get from the various flashbacks how important martin is, and Miles hearing the I have a dream speech in person feels like a better climax. Or if you have to touch on his assination have him be too late and instead go to the funeral. Or talk to martin shortly before and have MLK comfort him. THere were other methods

but instead miles grabs 12 year old martin.. whcih itself is just.. why? I get it was th efirst he met but woudln't it make more sense to grab him BEFORE he died? As a result time is destroyed and everyone else looses their memory.

So after ominously hinting at it all review, let's talk about the Biff Tanen Timeline. With MLK disappearing at age 12 miles is living in a beaten down apartment, MLK"s childhood home is rubble, and Randy's now Racist Randy, while Miles stupidly goes to his school and gets shooed out by the racist principal played by Ed Asner in a wasted part. Also maria can no longer speak english which... kay.

I'm... very mixed on this. I do like some touches like Randy being racist, showing had things just been slightly diffrent he woudln't be the kind annoying dullard we know but a racist asshole. And I may fucking hate randy but Racist Randy is even worse. Kevin would largely be the same but without his shirt based face turn from the sacred timeline.

My two big issues are

Miles is a fucking dumbass the whole segment and while I get not all fictional kids are going to be Marcy Wu levels of genre savy and spot the tropes, it's too blindingly obvious for him to not get, let alone for Martin alone to figure out.

While the present would be worse, which yes is possible, if MLK never existed, it feels insulting to all the other brave men and women (And probably a few nbs) in the civil rights movement, men and women who I wish I knew more names of and feel like researching more after this entirely due to this section of the film, to insuiate NO PROGRESS would be made without him. I get it, this is a late 90's edutainment specail. It's not going to be subtle. But MLK, while one of the biggest faces of civil rights was not the only one who fought for them. History would not be the same, things would've taken longer to set on the right course. It would not be good.. but I refuse to belivie all those involved would've done nothing. That Malcom X would've done nothing had MLK not existed. That's bullshit. It dosen't mean things wouldn't be much worse, or that Randy might be racist or what have you, but it wouldn't be the same as it was in the 60s. For all the fuckery we have now, I have to belivie humanity's better than that.

So Martin realizes he has to go back and die and become time jesus. Miles begs him not to.. but Martin returns and so does all of time. The actors play it very well and the moment is done shockingly well. As for why he can't just go back in time and save MLK... it's because the creators realized having Whoopi Goldberg explain MLK Has to die because time reasons goes against the message just the time. She also has ripple effect proof memory so she lived through all the horrors of the biff tanen timeline are left glued to her memory.

Miles is left sad though, if happy his friends are back to normal, but takes a good message: that we still do what we can and the work continues. Granted the work in this case.. is painting a mural of mlk while a bunch of acid washed clips of king are filtered in and a very 90s cover of ain't no mountain high enough plays

There are not enough drugs in the world to explain this ending, and i'm not on enough of those drugs to explain this ending. So with that inspiring acid trip done, our heroes stare at their handiwork as the movie ends.

Our Friend Martin means well. It does teach a lot about Dr King and to it's credit got me intrested in the man's life on a deeper level. Part of it is wanting the full story without the editing down for children, but i'm still intrested in something I shoudl've studied long ago and that counts.

This special's still trapped in the confines of it's time, being incredibly 90s and thus not having the budget something like this really deserved or the time it needed. This specail REALLY needed to be a full movie to get the full impact of things and truly use it's cast, but they barely had the budget for 40 minutes, and would've been better served shaving it slightly. We didn't need the biff tanen timeline or the montage at the end.

Our Friend Martin is a decent special, easy for me to poke fun at, fun too, but I can't deny that unlike a lot of other edutainment specials it does the best it can for it's time to be honest about it's message and about the horrific times MLK lived in and a good reminder of what the "good old days" many a jackass wants to go back to meant for the bulk of Americans. I can mock Martin Luther King being made into time jesus all I want, but I still give credit where it's due. This specail may be choppy, on the nose and with one timeline too many.. but it's heart was in the right place. Thanks for reading

#my friend martin #martin luther king jr #mlk #animation #the 90s #1999 #levar burton #james earl jones #oprah #whoopi goldberg #angela bassett #samuel l jackson #frank welker

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