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Deep within the dark vault of lost specials and made-for-TV movies lies one that has never since saw the light of day again: The Earth Day Special. Due to the fact that this aired in 1990, that's probably why it hasn't aired since, but in case you're curious, let's analyze this.
Now, this special is filled to the brim with the biggest stars at the time, and has characters such as the Looney Tunes, E.T., Kermit the Frog, Doc Brown from Back to the Future (apparently this special takes place after Part 3), and Doogie Houser M.D., but the characters that the special mostly focuses on are Mr. Everyman and Mother Earth, played by Robin Williams and Bette Midler, as well as the couple of Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman as Vic and his wife Paula. Due to the apparently unstable fourth wall, Vic and Paula are watching the special with us as Mother Earth comes to chastise the people, including Everyman, for not giving the environment the respect it deserves. At that moment, Mother Earth falls into a brief coma, and nearly everybody feels rather remorseful and tries to do their part to protect the environment, except for Vic, but he receives a change of heart towards the end. What else were you expecting?
But to be fair, despite some flaws that the plot has, and all of these cameos and commentaries being all over the place, some of these parts are actually effective. A few of the Mother Earth scenes in the hospital were rather melancholy, while the cameos with Rodney Dangerfield and the cast of Married... With Children were actually pretty funny. However, there are missed opportunites with a few cameos. For example, Rick Moranis plays one of Vic's jerk friends alongside Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase, but wouldn't it have been cool to see Wayne Szalinski team up alongside Doc Brown and Doogie Houser? Sigh, only in our dreams...
Overall, I didn't find this special to be BAD, but it's not great. However, it seems to be worth a watch if you were a fan of any of the characters and celebrities.
My rating: 6/10
