The Powerpuff Girls and the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the 30th Powerpuff Girls crossover film to be made by Stephen Druschke. It will appear on YouTube in the near future.
Storyline[]
- As the film's animated segments are based on literary works, they are both introduced in live-action scenes set in a library as a framing device as The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba enter.
- The first segment is introduced and narrated by Basil Rathbone, and the second segment is introduced and narrated by Bing Crosby.
- Decca Records issued an album called Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow featuring Crosby in 1949 to tie in with the release of the film.
- This segment is based on The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame.
- The story is set in and around London, England, United Kingdom between June 10, 1907 and January 1, 1908 as The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba enter it.
- The protagonist J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. is introduced as an "incurable adventurer" who "never counted the cost".
- As the story's "one disturbing element", although he is the wealthy proprietor of the Toad Hall estate, Toad's adventures and "positive mania for fads" have brought him to the brink of bankruptcy.
- As a last resort, Toad's friend Angus MacBadger volunteers as Toad's bookkeeper to help Toad keep his estate which is a source of pride in the community.
- One summer day, MacBadger asks Toad's friends Ratty (a water rat) and Moley (a mole) to persuade Toad to give up his latest mania of recklessly driving about the countryside in a horse and gypsy cart, which could accumulate a great deal of financial liability in damaged property.
- Ratty and Moley confront Toad, but are unable to change his mind.
- Toad then sees a motor car for the first time and becomes entranced by the new machine, having been taken over by "motor-mania", much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's terrible astonishment.
- To cure Toad's new mania, Ratty and Moley put Toad under house arrest by forcing him to repent for ignoring and squandering his dad's money up before the law and giving them a bad name with his furious driving, smashes, and rows the police.
- However, Toad escapes and is later arrested and charged with car theft.
- At his trial, Toad represents himself and calls his horse Cyril Proudbottom as his first witness.
- Cyril testifies that the car which Toad was accused of stealing had already been stolen by a gang of weasels.
- Toad had entered a tavern where the car was parked and offered to buy the car from the weasels.
- However, since Toad had no money, he instead offered to trade Toad Hall for the car.
- The prosecutor and judge show disbelief toward the statement, so Toad then calls the bartender Mr. Winky as a witness to the agreement; however, when told by Toad to explain what actually happened, Winky falsely testifies that Toad had tried to sell him the stolen car.
- Now much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's shock, Toad is found guilty on the spot and sentenced to 20 years in the Tower of London.
- As the months passed by, Toad's friends make every effort to appeal his case, but to no avail, much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's terrible sadness.
- On Christmas Eve, Cyril visits Toad in disguise as his grandmother and helps him escape by giving him a disguise of his own.
- Toad quickly runs to a railroad station and hijacks a passing train and drives out of the station heading toward the river bank without getting caught by the police on another train.
- Meanwhile, MacBadger discovers that Winky is the leader of the weasel gang, and that they have indeed taken over Toad Hall; Winky himself is in possession of the deed.
- Knowing that the deed bearing Toad and Winky's signature would prove Toad's innocence, the twenty four friends sneak into Toad Hall and take the document after a grueling chase around the estate.
- The film then ends on New Year's Day with Toad exonerated and regaining his house while it is implied that Winky and his minions have been arrested and imprisoned, much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's delight.
- As MacBadger, Ratty, and Moley celebrate the New Year with a toast to Toad, who they believe has completely reformed, Toad and Cyril recklessly fly past on a 1903 Wright Flyer; Toad has not truly reformed and has developed a mania for airplanes as they exit the story in pure disgust.
- The second segment is based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. Although the film introduces the story as Ichabod Crane, later individual releases retained the story's original title. (As a short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was originally published in The Sketch Book with other stories, not as a single volume as pictured in the film.) as The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba enter it.
- In October 1790, Ichabod Crane, a lanky, gluttonous, superstitious yet charming dandy arrives in Sleepy Hollow, a small village north of Clark summit that is renowned for its ghostly hauntings, to be the town's new schoolmaster by meeting The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba.
- Despite his odd behavior, appearance, and effeminate mannerisms, Ichabod soon wins the hearts of the village's women and forms good friendships with his students.
- Brom Bones, the roguish town hero, does his best to bully Ichabod, much to the anger of The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba.
- However, he is very good at ignoring these taunts and continues to interact with the townspeople.
- Ichabod then falls in love with Katrina van Tassel, the beautiful daughter and only child of Baltus van Tassel, who is the richest man in the village (unlike in most films, Katrina does not have spoken dialogue in this segment).
- Despite the fact that he is falling in love with her, Ichabod mainly desires to take her family's money for himself, much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's great surprise.
- Brom, who is also in love with her, proceeds to compete with the schoolmaster.
- Ichabod wins Katrina over at every opportunity, although, unbeknownst to him, Katrina, who thinks Brom is too sure of himself, is only using Ichabod to make Brom jealous and force him to try harder for her affections.
- The two love rivals are invited to the van Tassel Halloween party where Brom tries to swap a plump woman for Katrina who is dancing with Ichabod but comically fails, much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's great joy.
- While both men dine, Brom catches Ichabod accidentally knocking the salt shaker over and nervously tossing salt over his shoulder.
- Discovering that Ichabod is superstitious, he decides to sing the tale of the legendary Headless Horseman who was apparently killed by a cannonball in a recent conflict and travels one night each year while searching for a head to replace the one he had lost and that the only way to escape the ghost is to cross an old covered bridge over a brook, much to The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba's terrible fright.
- Everyone else, including Katrina, finds this amusing while Ichabod, on the other hand, starts to fear for his life.
- On his way home from the party, Ichabod, on his horse, old Gunpowder, becomes paranoid by every animal noise he hears while riding through the dark woods, increasing his fear of the possibility of encountering the Horseman with The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba following.
- While traveling through the old cemetery, Ichabod believes he hears the sound of a horse galloping toward him, but discovers the sound is being made by nearby cattails bumping on a log.
- Relieved, Ichabod begins to laugh with his horse, Gunpowder, along with The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba, who laugh too.
- However, their laughter is cut short by the appearance of the real Headless Horseman riding a black horse (that is, suspiciously, identical to Brom's horse, a.k.a. Daredevil).
- When the ghost gives chase through the dark forest, Ichabod, remembering Brom's advice, crosses a covered bridge, which stops the ghost's pursuit with The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba following as they manage to escape.
- However, as Ichabod looks back and screams in terror, he sees the horseman throw his flaming head, revealed to be a great big jack-o'-lantern, at him from a first-person camera view.
- The schoolmaster attempts to duck beneath the horrible object, but is too late when it hits him with a tremendous crash, and presumably knocks him out, and tumbles him headlong from Gunpowder into the dust, just as flames appear with a large explosion and the screen dissolves to black.
- The next morning, Ichabod's hat is found at the bridge next to the Headless Horseman's shattered pumpkin, but Ichabod is nowhere to be found.
- Sometime later, Brom takes Katrina as his bride and they marry.
- Rumors begin to spread that Ichabod is still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county with children who all look like him.
- However, the people of Sleepy Hollow insist that he has been "spirited away" by the Headless Horseman as The Powerpuff Girls, Pinocchio, The Seven Dwarfs, Merlin, Dumbo, Chowder, Woody, Victor, Hugo, Laverne, Wendy, John, Michael Darling, and Simba leave the story and know that Ichabod is still around and living well.
Trivia:[]
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Toy Story, and Pinocchio were released on home video as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection in 2000, the same year several episodes of Seasons 2-3 of The Powerpuff Girls were released.