Yellow Submarine (1968, UK)

In the trippy, landmark animated film directed by George Dunning that featured many colorful, inventive animations. Its story was about the Beatles accompanying Admiral Fred in his Yellow Submarine to venture back to Pepperland to defeat the music-hating Blue Meanies:

• Pepperland was portrayed as a paradisical land 80,000 Leagues Under the Sea - a happy, colorful, peaceful, music-loving kingdom. On an elevated bandstand, the 4-member Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (resembling the four Beatles) played in a concert for the members of the Kingdom.

Pepperland

• the Blue Meanies, led by Chief Blue Meanie and his henchman Max, lived closeby beyond the mountains and were planning to invade and put an end to Sgt. Pepper's Pepperland. They had various devices, such as Apple Bonkers (with Huge Green Apples), Splotch Guns, Dreadful Flying Gloves (that turned residents into stone with pointed fingers), and Anti-Music Missiles to eliminate Pepperland by immobilizing everyone and taking away color and turning everything grey.

Chief Blue Meanie

Attack with Music-Proof Glass Globe to Imprison Band

Turning Things Grey and Colorless

• as an attack occurred, uniformed Young Fred - who was appointed Admiral by the elderly Lord Mayor at the base of the platform holding Pepperland's Yellow Submarine, was sent off to seek help in the surface world. He journeyed to Liverpool, England, to retrieve the four Beatles (Ringo, John, Paul, and George) to return with him in the submarine back to Pepperland to save the land.

In England ("Eleanor Rigby")

Ringo Starr Found in Liverpool

Four Beatles in Portholes of Submarine

• once the submarine arrived in post-war England, it traveled over a depressed, industrialized, gray land, as the song "Eleanor Rigby" played - about loneliness and the elderly ("Ah, look at all the lonely people"). Ringo (of the Beatles) was located in Liverpool, before all four Beatles were located. They joined Young Fred in the submarine - each one viewed in one of the sub's portholes.
• during the submarine journey back (a "modyssey") when they went under the waves, and singing "All Together Now," the group encountered various strange worlds, including the Sea of Time, the Sea of Science, the Sea of Monsters, the Sea of Nothing, the Sea of Green, and the Sea of Holes. In the Sea of Time, time flowed both forwards and backwards (the song "When I'm Sixty-Four") - illustrated by the psychedelic count of numbers to demonstrate the length of a 60-second minute.
• in the Sea of Nothing, they met poetry-spouting Jeremy Hillary Boob Ph.D. - a short and studious creature (the song "Nowhere Man") who was muttering to himself: "Ad hoc, ad hoc, and quid pro quo, So little time, so much to know." Shortly later, in the Foothills of the Headlands, they sang about "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" accompanied by glittering and glowing fantastical imagery - some thought it was an oblique reference to an LSD-inspired hallucinogenic trip.

"Nowhere Man"

"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"

In the Sea of Holes

• after returning to Pepperland, the Lord Mayor was revived and the Beatles disguised themselves and dressed up as members of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and also stole some instruments. They were able, through music ("All You Need Is Love"), to defeat the Dreadful Flying Glove, unfreeze the inhabitants, and bring the return of color and blooming flowers that ended the assault of the invasive Blue Meanies. The Chief Blue Meanie was transformed by the Boob's poetry and bloomed pink roses on his body as he realized he was defeated - he bemoaned: "It's no longer a blue world. Where can we go?" He realized that he must join the happy musical group.

Back in Pepperland
Back in Pepperland to Save Lord Mayor and Inhabitants	The Beatles Disguised as the Band in Pepperland, Singing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"	Flying Glove Defeated by "All You Need is Love"

• the live-action finale featured the actual Beatles after restoring love, life, color, and happiness. As a warning while looking through his spyglass, however, John noted: "Newer and bluer Meanies have been sighted within the vicinity of this theatre" and urged everyone to sing "All Together Now." He added: "There is only one way to go out... Singing!" The film ended with translations of the song's title into various languages.

Live-Action Finale: "All Together Now"