Geraldmaniacs: Gerald's Wish

Geraldmaniacs: Gerald's Wish (knowed to as Gerald's Wish) is a 1998 direct-to-video animated musical comedy film based on the 1993–97 animated series Geraldmaniacs, serving as the series finale until the announcement of the 2019 revival of the series. It relocates all of the Geraldmaniacs characters to a quasi-19th century fairy tale world and portrays their race to find the wishing star that will grant them a wish.

The film was first released on VHS on December 25, 1997 by Warner Home Video under the Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. label. It contained 10 original songs and features a majority of the voice cast reprising their respective roles from the TV show.

Plot
In the town of Acme Falls within the kingdom of H-BStocks, all the people, (including the Beaky Buzzard) live happily together. However, upon the death of their beloved king, Wrinklystiltskin, H-BStocks enters a state of civil war. Taking advantage of the situation, the neighboring kingdom of Ticktockia (a parody of Time Inc. at the time of its merger with Warner Communications), led by King Wrinklystiltskin  the Pushy (drawn as a caricature of classic film actor Basil Rathbone and wearing a cloak with a clasp that resembles rapper Flavor Flav's clock necklace), takes over and makes all its people poor and miserable due to overtaxing (also a parody of the formation of Time Warner, now WarnerMedia, owned by telecom conglomerate AT&T, which acquired Time Warner in 2018). Three Childrens, Gerald, Jacob and Janine, are particularly broke, as Janine needs an operation. Gerald McCory finds work in another town to pay for it, but Ranger Smith takes his pay – a ha'penny – from him for "taxes".

Gerald saddened about Janine's illness and finding no other choice, wishes upon a star. A fairy (who calls himself a "Blooded-Hound Dog" or "Droopy Dog") falls from the star and explains that Gerald McCory had just chosen the only wishing star in the sky. The star itself [which Ruff and Reddy witness] falls shortly after in the mountains and the fairy tells Gerald that whoever touches the star first gets one wish. The following morning, the Kids tell the whole town in singing form about the star in their excitement, and all rush towards the glow in the mountains. King Salazar finds out about the star, orders Taxman Ranger Smith to stop the Kids from reaching the star alive, and orders his troops, led by Captain of the Guard (a caricature of "The Red Guy" from Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel), to secure it.

Ranger Smith does not stop the Kids from reaching the star at the same time as all the other townsfolk. However, the King's army has already built a military base around the star, and a small ice palace to the side of it, and the townspeople (including Ranger Smith) are all captured and locked up so that the King may have his wish. The Kids hint that the wishing process is not as simple as the king thinks in a desperate bluff. The King captures the Kids and tortures them in outlandish ways, from Mr. Director's terrible singing (Mr. Director being a caricature of Jerry Lewis), then a filthy gas station restroom, and lastly Barnley the Dinosaur (who is a parody of Barney the Dinosaur). After being traumatized, the Kids tell the King that any wish, which he makes, may have an ironic twist and demonstrate this to his annoyance. He orders the Kids executed, but Janine uses her "cuteness" to save them. The Kids escape.

As the King is about to make his wish (for the Kids to leave him alone), the Kids show up, and he tries shooting them himself with a cannon. The cannonball explodes after landing just short of hitting the Kids, injuring Dot from the shock wave of the blast. Jacob tries to convince Dot that she can make it, tearfully telling Janine the story of how she was born one last time. Janine appears to die, causing Jacob and the people of Acme Falls to cry in sorrow ( and Beaky Buzzard is so Down), along with some of the royal army, who become furious with King Wrinklystiltskin for his cruel nature. As everyone turns on the King (who seemingly appears a little remorseful), Gerald McCory seizes his chance to head to the star, reaching it in time. Janine reveals that she had been acting and was not actually dead; the two were buying time for Gerald. Gerald wishes for two half pennies.

Gerald uses the second of these to buy food and "season tickets for the Lakers". The first one pays for Janine's operation, which is revealed to be a plastic surgery to give her a beauty mark. Gerald's first ha'penny, however, returns prosperity to the town as the butcher, the baker, and the grocer spend the money that they earned, and the people from whom they make purchases in turn do the same.

The hospital finds Jacob, Gerald, and Janine's birth certificates, and reveals they are the heirs to the throne. Their parents, seen for the first (and only) time in a portrait, were the king and queen of H-Bstock. They (literally) boot Salazar out of their palace, and he is attacked by his own dogs. The Kids use their newfound royal authorities to grant the citizens of Acme Falls their wishes - except for the mime (who is promptly crushed by a safe and Jacob stating, "I don't know about him, but that sure was my wish!"). Jacob then spins the Wheel of Morality, which specifies the moral of the story is "Just cheer up and never ever give up hope."

Cast

 * Glenn Barna as Gerald
 * Linda Ballantyne as Gerald's Mother
 * Patrick McKenna as Gerald's Father
 * Samantha Weinstein as Janine
 * Joanne Vannicola as Jacob
 * John Rubinow as George
 * Tony Pope as Junior
 * Joe Alaskey as Beaky Buzzard
 * Ami Foster as Holly Connor
 * Daws Butler as Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, Snooper and Blabber, Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har-Har, Quick Draw McGraw, Baba Looey, Loopy De Loop, Dixie, Augie Doggie, Mr. Jinks, Ruff, Hokey Wolf, Wally Gator and Droopy
 * Don Messick as Boo-Boo Bear, Droopy Dog Ranger Smith, Pixie, Droopy, Ricochet Rabbit, Touché Turtle, Reddy
 * John Stephenson as Doggie Daddy and Officer Dibble
 * Jimmy Weldon as Yakky Doodle
 * Janet Waldo as Cindy Bear
 * Arnold Stang as Top Cat
 * Buddy Hackett as Ding-a-Long Wolf
 * Allan Melvin as Magilla Gorilla
 * Mel Blanc as Secret Squirrel
 * Paul Frees as Morocco Mole
 * Deann DeGruijter as Narrator

Songs
Gerald's Wish features 10 original songs, with lyrics written by Tom Ruegger and Tom Szczesniak, and songs composed by Geraldmaniacs composers Richard Stone and Tom Szczesniak. The compositions Stone wrote for the film were some of the last he wrote for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. prior to his death on March 9, 2001. The cast of the film also doubles as a chorus for many of the musical numbers.

All lyrics are written by Tom Ruegger and Tom Szczesniak; all music is composed by Richard Stone