Red's Dream

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Red's Dream

Red the unicycle in the lonely corner of the store
Directed by John Lasseter
Produced by John Lasseter
Written by John Lasseter
Release date(s) 1987
Country USA

Red's Dream is a short film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by John Lasseter, which was released in 1987. To date, this is the only short that has not been attached to one of Pixar's feature films, the only Pixar Short to be rendered on the Pixar Image Computer, and the first Pixar Short to feature an organic character: the circus clown known as Lumpy.

[edit] Plot

The setting is a lonely city on a rainy night. No cars or humans are present. Somewhere in the city is a bike shop called "Eben's Bikes",named for Pixar engineer and technical director of Knick Knack, Eben Ostby.The shop is closed for the night. In the corner of the shop sleeps Red, a red unicycle who languishes in the "clearance corner", awaiting to be purchased. As the camera zooms on him, the sound of rain falling turns into a drumroll, and we go into the dream-sequence. In his dream, Red is being ridden by a crude looking circus clown (which was nick-named 'Lumpy' due to his appearance). The clown enters the ring, accompanied by a fanfare, expecting a huge applause, but instead receives a few scattered claps from different parts of the (unseen) audience. Nevertheless, Lumpy starts juggling three balls whilst riding Red, occasionally dropping them as he does. However, Red will slide out from underneath Lumpy (while the clown stays afloat) and spike the balls back to him with his bike pedals. The confused clown ponders this for only a second and continues on with his act. At this point, Red is forced to catch another ball which Lumpy unintentionally throws across the ring. Lumpy continues to ride in the air while juggling the other two balls while Red bounces the green ball on his pedal. Eventually Lumpy comes to a sudden realization, and looks between his legs, only to discover he's been riding on nothing. He then looks to the camera, gulps, and falls (Lumpy is never seen afterward). Red catches the other two balls and begins juggling all three of them, and then balances them on top of each other, after which he receives an uproarous applause (unlike Lumpy, who received only a few measly claps as previously stated). But then the sound of clapping turns into the sound of rain, and Red awakens, left to face bleak reality. Depressed, he returns to the corner where he was previously resting, and goes back to sleep. The short ends with the final image of the neon sign for "Eben's Bikes".

[edit] Trivia

  • Andre from The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. is seen on the clock.
  • Red's price is 50% off, although he doesn't wear that tag in his dream.
  • This is the first Pixar animated short not to win or be nominated for an award, the second is Mater and the Ghostlight.
  • This is the only Pixar short film not to be included in a Pixar film, yet.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Luxo Jr.
Pixar Animation Studios animated films
1987
Succeeded by
Tin Toy