The breakout character from Toy Story 4, Forky, has found a new home in the original series titled, Forky Asks A Question available exclusively on Disney+.
Directed by Pixar veteran, Bob Peterson (story artist, director, and voice of Roz, Mr. Ray, Dug and more), the series of approximately 3-minute shorts doesn’t center around Forky’s exploration of what it means to be alive (as he pondered in Toy Story 4), but will center around a series of informative and hilarious queries — like “What is cheese?” or “What is time?”.
With the first episode, “What is Money?” which aired on November 12 and “What is a Friend?” aired on November 15, we wanted to kick off a post (which we’ll continually update) with our favorite moments from each episode in the series. Be sure to leave your comments below or chat about the series with other fans in the Pixar Post Forum — what are your favorite moments?
EPISODE LIST
- What is Money? featuring Hamm (Released – November 12, 2019)
- What is a Friend? feat. Hamm (November 15, 2019)
- What is Art? feat. Mr. Pricklepants (November 22, 2019)
- What is Time? feat. Old Timer and Rex (November 29, 2019)
- What is Love? feat Chairol Burnett, Bitey White, Melephant Brooks & Carl Reineroceros (December 6, 2019)
- What is a Computer? feat Trixie (December 13, 2019)
- What is a Leader? feat Dolly (December 20, 2019)
- What is a Pet? feat. Rib Tickles (December 27, 2019)
- What is Cheese? feat. Buttercup, Peas in a Pod, and Mr. Spell (January 3, 2020)
- What is Reading? (January 10, 2020)
FAVORITE MOMENTS
1. WHAT IS MONEY?
We absolutely love how the series kicks off and it immediately explains the premise in just a few simple (and brilliantly delivered lines). Forky opens with, “Hey, Forky here! What’s everything about? I don’t know! I was made from trash like two days ago and so I got a lot of questions believe-you-me! And now — it’s time for one of those!”
November 12, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
- We love how Forky consistently calling Hamm the wrong name — we even love how this carries into future episodes as well. In this short, Forky calls Hamm, “Hand’ and “Sam.”
- When Forky is trying to remember Hamm’s name (and after repeating his name seven times), he says, “Now, I’m going to think of a smell to even further lock that in my memory….Mmmmm…OH GROSS!“
- When seeing what George Washington looks like on the face of a quarter, Forky says, “Wow — that looks like a lady!“
- We also love the silly, fun, innocent nature of Forky — especially as he distracts himself and spins his googly eyes and says “Ooooh. I’m gettin’ dizzy!” in the post credit scene.
MUSIC:
The music throughout the episode really sells it and the easy-going jazz helps keep the piece moving without being too front-and-center. If you want to learn even more about the music through the entire series, be sure to check out Episode 069 of the Pixar Post Podcast where we chat with the composer of the series, Jake Monaco.
LISTEN TO OUR INTERVIEW WITH JAKE MONACO HERE
It was also a nice surprise to hear the emotional moment from the short punctuated with the Bye Boo song by Randy Newman from Monsters, Inc. (where Sulley is saying goodbye to Boo at the end of the film).
2. WHAT IS A FRIEND?
November 15, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
- We love the writing of how the mug’s name came to be when Forky says, “Now I know that’s my friend’s name because Bonnie’s Mom always carries him around when she’s on the phone and she says over, and over, WHAT, NOOO!“
- The continuing gag of Forky calling Hamm the wrong name is brilliant — in this episode he calls him, “Trevor” and “Martin.” (We hope this gag can continue.) Also, how Tony delivers the line, “Hey, Trevor” is hilarious.
- Naming the mug “What, Nooo” is hilarious by itself, but when the short ends with the mug breaking and then cuts as Forky begins to yell “What, Nooo!” (at the realization that his friend is broken) is sheer genius. This series is quickly becoming a free lesson on how to write great comedy — using a phrase in two ways like this is fantastic.
MUSIC:
Continuing the theme, the music in this short is even more subtle than the first episode. We love the classical Italian folk music feel and how it moves from slower to upbeat as Forky dances with his mug-friend.
3. WHAT IS ART?
We know that Mr. Pricklepants is classically trained and even has a bend towards Shakespeare as he performs the classic Romeo and Juliet balcony scene at the end of Toy Story 3. In this episode, a strolling renaissance song moves the episode forward as Mr. Pricklepants expounds what art is to him.
November 22, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
- The standout moment from this episode is after the credits when Mr. Picklepants is shining a flashlight on Forky and giving him themes to try and mimic. His instructions progressively get more silly starting with acting like a “tree” or “rock” and progressing to act like “George Washington” or a “baloney sandwich” — LOL! This definitely reminded us of the gag in Monsters University where Mike is training with Sulley and has him pantomime an “angry poodle”, “my Aunt Phyllis…in the morning!”
While this episode was enjoyable, there were areas that were a bit distracting for us. Most notably, the vocal recasting of Mr. Pricklepants from Timothy Dalton to Robin Atkin Downes proved too distracting of a change for us. His intonation varied quite a lot from Timothy’s delivery and the animation of Mr. Pricklepants seemed off-character as well (we felt his motions were too flowing).
4. WHAT IS TIME?
November 29, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
To kick off the episode, we got to see one of our favorite supporting-characters…but, wait…Old Timer is only in the episode for a few seconds. Although we wish we could have seen more from him, we understand that the story is more carried by Rex’s retelling of how the dinosaurs roamed the earth in the past. Two of our favorite moments from the 3 minute episode are listed below.
- Favorite Line: Forky, “Booooo. Booooo!” Rex, “Why are you booing me?” Forky, “I dunno – what is time?” It’s such a silly moment and made us laugh a lot!
- We also loved the slow scraping sounds as Forky crept into the frame as Rex is laying on his back after getting knocked over by the Pixar ball asteroid. Of course, our Son loved the slap-stick nature of Rex getting hit with the ball.
5. WHAT IS LOVE?
December 6, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
What a silly episode — and in a great way. We really “loved” how they took the angle of making this an exaggerated soap opera with a love triangle. Poor Carl Reineroceros can’t catch a break in the longest Forky Asks a Question short to date (coming in at 4:00).
- We loved the sounds that Melephant Brooks makes when he moves — it sounds like a balloon with a sock over him and it makes his character (voiced by Mel Brooks) even more cute.
- The music was a standout to us as it really helped accompany the dramatic emotions happening on the screen.
- The inclusion of Bitey White (voiced by Betty White), was another great surprise as we hadn’t heard she was going to be included in the episode. We assumed that maybe she wasn’t mentioned because it didn’t work with her schedule to record the new lines — but, this was a fun surprise!
- Best Line — this definitely has to be when Forky says, “Bitey White can bite! We’re going to need a therapist!”
You can learn even more about the great elderly…senior…experienced toys, Chairol Burnett, Bitey White, Melephant Brooks & Carl Reineroceros in our earlier post when they were announced to appear in Toy Story 4.
6. WHAT IS A COMPUTER?
December 13, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
This 3-minute episode had us roaring! From Forky’s hilarious acclimation of British dialogue to Kristen Schaal’s vocal acting (Trixie), this was another fantastic entry into the “Asks” series. Our favorite lines from the short are listed below.
- We laughed a lot when Trixie utters (as Forky dances across her keyboard), “Hey, easy there Fred Astaire, that thing’s fragile.”
- We also loved when Trixie’s frustration boils over and says to Forky, “Oh, shut it Fork, you ruined my life.“
And, remember, it’s not yelling — you’re just encouraging and nudging emotionally when your computer isn’t working! Ha!
7. WHAT IS A LEADER?
December 20, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
8. WHAT IS A PET?
December 27, 2019
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
Be sure to read up on the new character, Rib Tickles, featured in the short.
9. WHAT IS CHEESE?
January 3, 2020
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
10. WHAT IS READING?
January 10, 2020
BEST GAGS / FAVORITE MOMENTS:
Leave a comment below with your favorite Forky Asks a Question episode.