Imaginaria

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Imaginaria was a compilation of 13 CGI shorts released by Miramar on VHS and laserdisc in 1993, who produced the popular The Mind's Eye series. Most are multiple shorts edited together, but on the whole it's not as confusing as most examples of the method.. It's notable for including The Adventures of André and Wally B, how well most of the shorts have aged and for its many, MANY memorable songs and instrumentals by Gary Powell.

The full list of shorts, according to The Other Wiki:

  1. Imaginaria Where the audience is invited on a journey to a wonderous land of magical sights.
  2. Anything Is Possible A continuation of the above, where we meet: a Fountain Pen with a taste for dancing and fancy dress, a fat airplane, reality warping butterflies, and a naked artist figure model. The wooden kind.
  3. Locomotion Engine No. 9 has difficulty crossing a tressel on the way to his destination. Hilarity Ensues.
  4. The Adventures of André and Wally B. Andre wakes up in the woods to find a bee coming for him.
  5. All Shapes and Sizes A catchy song set to Exactly What It Says on the Tin. One thing's for sure, they're always changing.
  6. Rubber Duckies A duck spawned from an inner-tube explores... some sort of factory/nursery/studio.
  7. Gourmet Records A guy hungry for music, and records, looks for just the right song. Uncanny Valley Ensues.
  8. Night Magic Basically Toy Story with Brave Little Toster in the city... Also, naked aliens.
  9. Down the Road Watch as your tour guide drives you through the set of Earthquake and past the evil paperwork, all while singing about the joys on the road.
  10. Lucy & Remo The epic story of two birds in love, and the mysterious window that separates them.
  11. Styro the Dog A Badass Dog brags about how awesome he is.
  12. More Bells and Whistles One of the most EPIC music videos produced in the early Nineties.
  13. Going Home It's time to leave.

Can be found here on YouTube.

Tropes used in Imaginaria include:
  • An Aesop: Use your Imagination, kids!
  • Alien Invasion: A scouting party for one seems to show up in "Night Magic".
  • Determinator: Engine No. 9 from "Locomotion".
  • Extreme Omnivore: Evidently, you can get music videos by eating records...
  • Fridge Horror: "Hey, that castle-island rising into the sky is pretty—HOLY CRAP, IS THAT SOMEONE DANGLING FROM THE EDGE?!"
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Hey! Donald Duck faces off against a huge bee!
  • No OSHA Compliance: During "Down The Road" the Point-of-View camera/car drives through what appears to be some sort of industrial/oil refinery complex. Hopefully the driver of that flatbed got fired for all those unsecured barrels he lost.
  • Scenery Porn: For CGI ranging from mid-1980s to early 1990s? Plenty.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The Salt and Pepper Shakers from "Night Magic": Salt inexplicably has a pearl necklace, and the Pepper has a bow tie.
  • Word Salad Lyrics: "Anything Is Possible" seems to have been written as the lyricist was watching the edited footage.