Sawyer seems to be a favorite of yours. What is it about her that you like most?

Who knows? The high waist line and streamlined legs, maybe?

The legs are definitely nice. Dancers and long distance runners always have the best legs. And to think! Just 30 years ago, the physically attractive ladies were those who possessed shapely legs, not ten ton busts.

I think the movie CDD had a lot to do with my fondness for Sawyer too.

What I couldn't figure out was what she saw in Danny. Sure, he inspired her to take up dancing again. But the marriage would probably have lasted only a year or two before she realized what a self-centered ham he was, and that he spent all his time on the set.

Ah but of course, there is the charm. She's the girl we all dream about and know does not exist. She's the forgiving, "I want to have fun with YOU," type. For all his flaws, she thinks she can have a lot of fun with him and thus is swept back into the business. (in as much as I could understand from the movie) I think of this as the relationship Lucille Ball had with Ricki Ricardo. It looks great on the screen but is likely a train wreck in real life.

Of course the movie is wonderful too. You can literally tell how much fun the animators were having when they were working on it. Be damned, that kind of animating is all but dead now. It will be up to me and any other animators-to-be to remind the world that 2D can still tell stories and be just as provocative and appealing as anything ILM, Dreamworks or Disney can fart out. Only Pixar seems to be doing anything that utilizes 3D as a story telling tool right now...

When I first saw it I declared CDD as "the perfect animated movie." Eventually, I sobered up a little... I'm not the world's biggest fan of musicals, for one thing, and CDD is really only another insincere tribute to the glamour of Hollywood... which is like a tribute to the fashion sense of the Nazi Party. It's there, *but*...

After six or seven watchings I finally grew tired of it, though the "Tell Me Lies" sequence is still one of my favourites from any animated film. It's a wonderful song. Too bad that the vocalist -- Natalie Cole -- doesn't seem to sing anything else quite like it.

That is true about Ms. Cole. Funny thing is, without the periodic accent showing through, almost any other singer in her vocal range could be Sawyer. The thought has occurred to me. I fantasize about a couple of animations to music where, if you just let your mind mellow enough, you can see her singing as the lead vocalist. Maybe, only maybe, Danny is there backing her up with the dancing.

To that end, using these characters, what story do you think you would tell?

I can't picture myself writing a story about Danny at all, he has such a one-track mind. "Hey, gang! Let's put on a show!"

"Groan. Will someone please give that cat a Valium?"

Sawyer I could see doing more interesting things -- like arguing about politics with Walt Winschel on the radio,joining Elenor Roosevelt in a campaign to flouridate water, or open a TVA project. Meanwhile Danny would be doing a soft-shoe routine at the Cocacobana... Maybe that's what my story would be about.

You know, I think that I am honestly seeing the very fact that these characters are quite different from each other and can't really connect on any level! Be damned, I never thought of it like this. Danny's motivations are really just caricatures of the real pointless ambition of stardom while Sawyer is the reality of the second and third tier talents that, like any beautiful flower, wilt and fade away without generous publicity and all the other components that go into world class fame. They really are too different...

Maybe it would have made a better novel that way... but I guess it was a better animated cartoon the way it was.

May I break in? I have thought a great deal about Danny and Sawyer's relationship. I think the trick there is that Sawyer is... well, it's in the story itself, but it actually works. Sawyer is jaded, pessimistic, and thinks too much. Danny attracts her (and angers her at the same time) by being vital and headstrong and idealistic. He makes her feel motivated. He's not just helping her achieve her dreams, his enthusiasm drags her into caring about things when she's forgotten how.

She might eventually not need that anymore, but by the time she did he'd have good odds of having grown up a bit and stopped being so obsessive. For the period of the movie, he's exactly what she needs to be happy.

In other words, a whirlwind romance, a happy marriage for a year or two, gradual breakdown, and the first of many Hollywood divources for the both of them.

And 200,000 drooling fanboys waiting to catch Sawyer on the rebound. A few waiting to catch Danny, no doubt... if he dances to that step.

Excellent sketch, Taral. Sawyer is cute on her hike.

very awesome Sawyer sketch