Have said more than once about not caring on the whole for the Tijuana Toads series, though a few of the cartoons were watchable. My general findings, or things in common, being great music, a few good supporting characters and the odd amusing gag but flimsy, recycled and repetitive stories, very stale and rehashed gags, the two titular characters being unappealing, instances of less than tasteful stereotyping and the voice acting being too broad.
While other cartoons in the series fared worse, including the previous cartoon 'Hop and Chop' (which had that terrible beetle character), all of that can be seen here in the sixth cartoon 'Never On Thirsty'. It is a semi-watchable cartoon with a few good things and moments, but all the usual flaws are here and done pretty badly. Despite it being a familiar scenario, there are cartoons and such in existence that manage to bring freshness to ordinary premises but 'Never On Thirsty' and the whole Tijuana Toads series didn't do that.
'Never On Thirsty's' good things will be discussed first. Doug Goodwin's music, especially the upbeat main theme on the ever creative opening titles sequence, is characterful and immensely fun to listen to. The best character by far is the dog, there is a pattern in this series that the supporting characters (well most) fared a lot better than El Toro and Pancho. Although the dog's role has been seen many times in other cartoons and with similar material, he is still interesting and amusing with a suitably formidable entrance.
There are a couple of decent gags, the straw gag was amusing and well timed but actually the best part was the ending. Which did risk being too cruel, but actually wasn't and was the one part of 'Never On Thirsty' that was unexpected, it was also the part that stuck in my mind the longest whereas most of the rest of the cartoon was easily forgettable after about 10 minutes.
However, there are too many debits. The animation is very scrappy, the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises output often did take on a simple abstract style. The animation style took simple to extremes and was too hasty and incomplete looking to pass for abstract, those backgrounds were very unappealing as were the flat colours and the dog's character design was always oddly proportioned. Once again, El Toro and Pancho irritated as lead characters and don't have large enough personalities or subtlety to be likeable or interesting and the comic timing isn't there. The voice acting is too broad and lacks clarity in the diction at times, making the already awkward sounding dialogue not always easy to understand.
Furthermore, the gags don't feel many at all and only two stand out. Pretty much all the material is lifted from other cartoons, it's not even the first time the candle/dynamite gag was used in a Tijuana Toads cartoon, and executed in a stale fashion. Due to some of it being old and had been reused more than once already well before this was produced. The story is routine at best, with a lack of energy, and is predictable (due to it being a reused plot) and repetitive. As well as being hardly any.
In conclusion, another cartoon of the series to lack lustre. 4/10.