“It is the future you seek, is it not, my friend? Zoltar shall reach across the astral realms of Time to reveal your fate.
“I see… a vast arid desert. You will find yourself in this desert alone, with only a bird for company. The bird is plump and tantalizing and you will yearn to catch and consume it, but the bird is swift and eludes your grasp.
“You will chase the bird over mountains and valleys until you come face to face with it at the edge of a cliff. You will not feel the ground beneath your feet, but whatever you do, don’t look down. For that way lies certain doom.
Zoltar, by andreaarden, licensed under CC BY 2.0
But can he make me Big?
Be careful what you wish for!
That was my first thought, too. Desperately need to re-watch that movie.
“I for see a pile in your ‘chewed-up’ shoe” …
You got me, Mike! I didn’t realize what you were doing until the end.
I think Warner Bros. is doing itself a disservice by not syndicating the old cartoons anymore. Kids today hardly know anything about the old Looney Tunes.
This is one of those posts where I wasn’t sure where I was going, either.
Really? No Bugs Bunny? No Wiley Coyote???? I’m having a full-on old fogey moment as I weep for future generations.
They show them on Boomerang but that’s not a basic channel so unless you’re paying extra you don’t get that. It’s not nearly as accessible as it was back in the day. My nieces and nephews don’t know any of the really good things about Looney Tunes.
I still see the oldies sometimes on Cartoon Network – Bugs as a gold prospector, Foghorn Leghorn vs. a rockabilly rooster – but I haven’t figured out the exact schedule. It’s generally around lunchtime on weekdays.
Beep! Beep! Vrrroooommmm ….
Even with the Acme Catalog offer I didn’t get it until part way.
I don’t know this particular Wiley Coyote misadventure – Zoltar came up on Stephen Colbert last week but I was not familiar – please enlighten. I learn SO much (of REAL value?) on this site!!!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_teller_machine
Probably best known from the movie Big, at least for those of my generation.
Oh, yes, I saw the movie but I’d forgotten about the automaton. I love those! One of my favorite stories is “Something Wicked This Way Comes” – oh, and my very fave “Dandelion Wine” – both have all sorts of those long-ago oddities that are so wonderfully, spookily disconcerting.
I remember visiting the southwest as a small child and being excited about the prospect of seeing a real live road runner! My parents made sure to point out a depiction of one in a park visitors’ center so I would know what to look for. I was immensely disappointed that it was a scrawny little brown chicken-like thing instead of a huge colorful bird. That’s the day I learned not to get my hopes up.
A valuable lesson indeed. I had one like that involving something purchased from an ad in the back of a comic book.