"Woody's Roundup" opening title
Merchandise for "Woody's Roundup"
Woody's roundup
- Announcer: "Cowboy Crunchies, the only cereal that's sugar-frosted and dipped in chocolate proudly presents..."
Riders in the Sky: "Woody's Roundup. Come on, it's time to play,
there's Jessie, the Yodeling Cowgirl.
Bullseye, he's Woody's horse. He's a smart one!
Pete, the old prospector, (Has anyone seen my pick?) and the man himself, of course
It's time for Sheriff Woody. He's the very best.
He's the root'-ness, toot'-ness cowboy in the wild, wild west.
Woody's Roundup." - —Woody's Roundup opening theme song from the TV show, performed by Riders in the Sky
Woody's Roundup is a marionette show-within-a-show in the film Toy Story 2. It is sponsored by a cereal brand called Cowboy Crunchies. It is also the show's opening theme song performed by Riders in the Sky.
In the film, the show ran during the 1950s and gained a great deal of popularity, especially for its lead character, Sheriff Woody. However, the show was cancelled after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into outer space. Making westerns less popular with kids, as Stinky Pete declared, "Once the astronauts went up, children only wanted to play with Space Toys [Which is what he calls action figures]." (Similar to what happened in the first movie when Andy stopped with Woody and only was playing with Buzz, which Woody even referenced when learning this) The would-be penultimate episode ended on a cliffhanger at the Grand Canyon that, according to Stinky Pete, was never resolved, yet Woody and company remained pretty sure that it was indeed "Woody's finest hour."
Characters[]
- "Look, the thing is, I'm a rare Sheriff Woody doll, and these guys are my Roundup gang."
- —Woody attempts to tell Buzz Lightyear about his Roundup gang
The main cast of the show consisted of:
- Sheriff Woody
- Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl
- Stinky Pete, the Prospector
- Bullseye, Woody's horse
- Assorted 2-D critters such as rabbits and deer
Most of the gang shared personalities similar to their "real world" counterparts owned by Al, with the biggest exception being Stinky Pete. On Woody's Roundup, he is a joke character: a friendly bumbling fool that normally injures himself from his stupidity. However, Al's Stinky Pete is much wiser and became bitter and evil from being an unsold toy for several years.
The Roundup gang is about to be sold to the Konishi Toy Museum in Tokyo, Japan, but due to Buzz Lightyear's interference as part of his rescue mission, Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye go back to Andy's house while the Prospector ends up with a little girl named Amy who likes to draw on her toys.
Untitled penultimate episode[]
- "Will Woody and Bullseye land to safety? Can they reach Jessie and Stinky Pete in time? Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion: 'Woody's Finest Hour!'"
- —Announcer, at the end of the episode
During the next to the last episode, the Prospector and Jessie are trapped in an old abandoned mine. Jessie decides that they get out of the mine, but Prospector, wanting some light to find his gold, lights a "candle," which, to Jessie's knowledge, turns out to be a stick of dynamite that will blast them to smithereens. Jessie then calls to the critters with her yodeling and tells them to scurry off and get Sheriff Woody. Meanwhile, Woody has nearly finished building a new schoolhouse with help from Bullseye. Just then, the critters reach Woody, and he learns that Jessie and the Prospector are in danger, awaiting his rescue. Woody mounts Bullseye, telling the horse to "ride like the wind!". As Woody and Bullseye run off, Jessie tries to fan the flames out, then the Prospector tries to smother it out by jumping on it, but burns his butt instead. Woody and Bullseye then jump over the Grand Canyon as the announcer calls for the end of the episode.
Song Lyrics[]
Woody's Roundup
Right here every day
Woody's Roundup
Come on, it's time to play
There's Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl
(Yo-de-la, yo-de-la, yo-de-la)
Bullseye, he's Woody's horse
(Grrr...he's a smart one)
Pete the old prospector
And Woody the man himself, of course
It's time for Woody's Roundup
He's the very best
He's the rootinest, tootinest, cowboy
In the wild, wild west
[musical interlude]
Woody's Roundup
Come on, gather round
Woody's Roundup
Where nobody wears a frown
Bad guys go running
Whenever he's in town
He's the rootinest, tootinest, shootinest,
hootinest cowboy around
Woody's Roundup
Merchandise[]
The show was so popular that a lot of merchandise was made, it included:
- Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Prospector dolls
- Toy wagons
- Woody and Jessie hats
- Posters
- Signed Pictures
- Radios
- Record Players
- Cookie Jars
- Money Banks
- Plates
- Mugs
- Clocks
- Flags
- Ball Toss Woody game
- Learn the Guitar with Woody
- Woody's Quick on the Draw card game
- Woody's Horseshoe Throwin' game
- Pin the Tail on Bullseye game
- Books
- Music and sound records
- Lunch boxes
- Thermos flasks
- Water bottles
- Paint with Woody's Paint by Number
- Snake-in-boot launcher
- Checkers board game
- Prospector's Dynamite Pass and Catch game
- Woody's Ropin' Rodeo game
- Yo-yos
- Spoons
- Items of clothing
- Bubble blowers
- Lamps
Trivia[]
- Woody's Roundup is Woody's counterpart to Buzz Lightyear's Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
- The theme song for Woody's Roundup is heard in its entirety during the film's credits. It is listed as Track 1 on the Toy Story 2 Soundtrack and on the 2000 album Woody's Roundup: A Rootin' Tootin' Collection of Woody's Favorite Songs by Riders in the Sky.
- Ash Brannon and John Lasseter, who were director and co-directors of the Toy Story series created the merchandise of the TV show themselves, which they really enjoyed doing.
- On the cover of Life magazine showing the success of the show, it has the date January 12, 1957, which is John's official birthday.
- The Ball Toss Woody game is Ash's favorite of the merchandise he helped create.
- According to John in his theme of the Cowboy Crunchies cereal, if you saved 20 box tops of the cereal and sent them to the company, you would get a Woody's Roundup collector's plate, each one composed of a Roundup gang character. Al is shown to own all four which assumes that he either collected them as a child or just bought them from somewhere else.
- Based on Woody's and Prospector Pete's comments when the latter revealed the show was abruptly cancelled and the reasons why, "Woody's Finest Hour" was most likely intended to air on October 4, 1957, and the penultimate episode aired on October 3 of the same year.
- The actual lyrics for the theme song of Woody's Roundup are slightly different from the one's heard during the TV episode intro.
- The song heard during the TV episode intro is missing the first line "Woody's Roundup, right here every day."
- Also, the line "And the man himself, of course. It's time for Sheriff Woody" is substituted for "And Woody the man himself, of course. It's time for Woody's Roundup" in the TV intro.
- The final episode was, according to the announcer, going to be about "Woody's Finest Hour." When Buzz and the others walk off, the episode ended with Woody singing "You've Got a Friend in Me" on his guitar and a small child who resembles Andy hugs him.
- At the airport, when Jessie is about to be loaded into a plane bound for Japan, Woody tells Bullseye to "ride like the wind" as they (with Buzz) gallop across the airfield. Also, he even says, "Hey, howdy, hey!" as he, Buzz and Bullseye go to save Jessie. During the chase scene's opening minutes, the final next to episode's climactic music is heard. When Woody is rescuing Jessie from the plane that is about to take off, Woody orders Jessie to let go of the plane, telling her to "pretend it's the final episode of Woody's Roundup." After they find out together, in which Woody and Jessie swing down from the plane using Woody's pull-string and land on Bullseye, Jessie triumphantly describes the rescue as, "That was definitely Woody's finest hour!"
- It could be possible that "Woody's Finest Hour" was produced; the series may have just been cancelled before it could air.
- Woody's Roundup appears in Toy Story 3: The Video Game ("Toy Box" mode), in which you can customize the town.
- Woody's Roundup is likely an allusion to such classic western puppet shows as Howdy Doody.
- The show also shares the same duration with the iconic western show The Lone Ranger.
- Stinky Pete's phrase: "My biscuits are burnin'!" after accidentally setting his rear end on fire during the would-been penultimate episode could be a possible reference to a similar phrase said by Yosemite Sam of Looney Tunes fame in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.[citation needed]
- The song "You've Got a Friend in Me," used as the main theme for the Toy Story franchise, is actually this show's in-universe ending theme.
- Based on Woody's "Alright! Next day!" remark just before learning the intended conclusion never aired, Woody's Roundup was a daily serial.