Why the HELL is Dr Livesey a Walking MEME? 

Edit to video - the majority of the talent involved in the production of the movie came from (at the time) Soviet controlled Ukraine and not from the USSR. Should have mentioned that in the video but it went under my radar, my mistake! The studio itself was Kyivnaukfilm and it had a good run from 1941 to 1998. Definitely will look more into it when I get around to my deep-dive about Ukrainian animation. Again, apologies for the mistake!

So one cool thing that you didn’t mention is that this version has been a meme in Russia for a long time. They’ve been making memes with these characters for ages and it’s only now spread to the international internet.

I love how the movie is an Anti-Drinking PSA, and the coolest character in the movie is literally the built gigachad doctor who doesnʼt even take fighting seriously and stood up to a gang of pirates just to say "hey guys btw you know smoking is bad for you right, dumbass" then just takes all of their pipes

The fact that the Russians were able to keep this meme a secret from us for years is amazing.

Dr Livesey is the ultimate gigachad. He is the embodiment of pure masculinity. Everyone wants to be like him and therefore it is addicting to see him walk. None of us can match the sheer awesomeness of Dr Livesey

Fun fact: from the songs in live action sequences, the movie is not only an anti-drinking campaign, but also an anti-smoking one, a pro-sport and generally pro-healthy lifestyle one :D I recommend the full subbed version: the songs are pretty catchy, and the live action part is no less entertaining than the animated one.

"The words 'Rum' and 'Death' should have the same meaning to you. Do you understand?" -Chad Livesey, 2022

Doctor Livesey's voice actor is absolute joy of a person.

Those panning shots? Shockingly fluid and incredible, especially in all 2D hand drawn animation. The animation studio didn't have to go that hard but they chose to and I'll tip my hat to that.

Dr. Livesey: "Rum and death should mean the same thing to you." Saber: There's no way this guy's sober

We should all strive to reach even 10% of Dr. Livesey's coolness

dr livesey doesnt drink, hes definitely on something stronger than booze

In Soviet Union school vacations began at the same day everywhere, and this was the main cartoon broadcasted on TV at the first day. Everybody knew - the first day of school vacations meant “Treasure Island” on TV. I was waiting for it like crazy. Still obsessed with the memes from the cartoon. I’m so happy people of the world discovering this❤

The thing about the gigachad doctor I can’t get over is that while he’s fighting off the three men with one hand, he switches it to his non dominant hand and is still effortlessly fighting them

The English dub of the Soviet Treasure Island is a literal warcrime against humanity and even those that didn't watch the original, but some clips from it agree. If you don't believe me, I can tell you one example: compare Dr. Livesey's laughs from the original and the dub and you'll see.

I think the vibe of the meme is simple. It's a realistic portrayal of the meeting of Chad. You got your skinny chad, your buff chad, and your husky chad. All just pulling up for a good time.

Here is some notes from someone from Soviet Union and was a kid in time this movie was made. It`s probably the most loved soviet-made animation movie for most of my generation. It`s sort of insane and is not your average soviet cartoon, yes it`s an anti-alcohol, anti-tobacco, anti-gambling, pro-sport propaganda, it has like tons of (Soviet) pop-culture references. It was made by an team of animators from Kyiv, Ukraine (the studio KyivScienceFootage was known for an experimental approach to an animation), a score was composed by Ukrainian composer, movie was originally voiced mostly by actors of Kyiv`s theaters (I had a chance to see most of them on stage) plus couple of USSR-wide celebrities. The movie was made for TV, hence the 2 parts of 1 hour each, the live action intakes were a measure to extend running time, because of production time constraints they were not finished. Initially it was going to be like "Roger Rabbit"-level animation and live action combos.

5:44 Apparently, the father/son vibe between Jim and Silver from Disney’s Treasure Planet was a subplot added by Disney that wasn’t in the original. In the original, Jim’s father is still there, and it’s not implied that they’re even estranged. The filmmakers wanted to use a subplot of Jim having abandonment issues to make the betrayal and mutiny more impactful than it would have been otherwise. It’s not just Jim and team vs the pirates. It’s Jim vs Silver personally. It was one of the major story deviations they made from the original. That’s why it’s not in most other adaptations.

The quote "The words *Rum* and *Death* should have the same meaning for you" goes hard as hell

Soviet Era Animation is something I deeply love. There was a lot of fantastic films and shorts came from this time and helped kick off the second wind of 90's cartoons in the US. One of my favorite films ever made was "The Mystery of the Third Planet" from 1981.

3:16 These ARE the live action parts of the movie. Here's the full version if you still couldn't get your hands on it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DvAyIfBkip4.html You might like Captain Wrongel's (it's actually Врунгель, which literally means LIEngel, 'makes up a lot') Adventures, some of the Treasure Island guys worked on it, it's pretty good, similar style, too. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MmaeeItzgoA.html

6:40 This dark faces is also inside joke. It's reference on Soviet film about Russian Spy in WWII Germany ("17 instantaneous of spring"). When you see some new faces - you got info about him with some slow deep voice telling about this character. "Uncanny dark faces" also become meme in russian media like year ago. Some sort of creepy pasta called "Dark Lievsy" and something like that.

6:38 Those "uncanny dark faces" you talk about are actually a very big reference to another extremely famous soviet film made in 1973 called "17 moments of spring". Notice how they did the "dark faces" only when introducing characters? Well that's exactly how they introduced them in that film. The film is about a soviet spy in the nazi Germany so character introductions were in dossier style. The cartoon did those same introductions that you folks find scary for some reason.

I think the most interesting thing about this version of Dr. Livesy is that he’s not a scrawny little guy like in the other interpretations

Might be called "Return to Treasure Island" because in the book, Long John Silver and a lot of the pirate crew that mutinies with him are former members of the crew that originally sailed to island and their captain buried the treasure there. So, in a sense for them, it is a return to the titular Treasure Island. Though, seeing as the book's main protagonists Jim Hawkins, Dr. Livesey, and Squire Trelawney have not been there before, I can see the confusion.

The only adaptation that doesnt depict Dr Livesey as a wimp. Also, as someone who used to watch that movie on regular bases as a kid you cant imagine the sheer amount of flashbacks I got when I saw the memes

I want to see this type of character more. No regard for human life, yet still moral. Larger than life, always positive, strong, skilled, and intelligent.

you can watch the Original w Subs ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MHzhecM19tc.html

The full version with the live action bits is on youtube. Here's a link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QKRG7PF73UA.html

I’m glad the meme is still going fairly strong. There is a sort of fun to see characters marching with pride while the one in the middle gives off the most energy of the three. That and the doctor has such a positive personality, that you can’t help but love the guy while he seemingly gives zero fucks about anything happening around him.

There is so much more to quality soviet cartoons. There are "The adventures of captain Wrongel", "Dr. Aibolit", basically any Armenfilm. The distinct style and humor in those are on par with "Emperor new groove" so i highly recomend it.

You may like some wird stuff too В синем море, в белой пере ... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WGc7ptKfA9c.html Ух ты, говорящая рыба! : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cR0ou0U3m2g.html Падал прошлогодний снег : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9hDjp0C79-c.html Следствие ведут кодобки: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BihaXNoR9J0.html

this reminds me a lot of the asterix animated movies who have been created around the end of the 60's up to the 90's, the way the characters laugh, move and perform their stunts and antics feel very similar.

I grew up watching old Soviet cartoons and you can't imagine how nice it feels to see this one become so popular. I wish more of them were dug up, a lot of them have huge meme potential with how surreal they are. A few of my favourites are "Кто расскажет небылицу?" and "Ух ты, говорящая рыба!".

Cool fact: Those cut ins with darkened pictures of characters and info about them are actually a reference to an old Soviet spy series called "Семнадцать Мгновений Весны"(Seventeen Moments of Spring). This series had really similar cut ins with character files. Dunno who might be interested in this information, but it's a thing.

One of my fav little details with the walk meme itself. They keep Liveseys head stationary but they're moving his teeth back and forth to simulate him turning his head a little with each step. That's a neat trick if you can't do a Milt Kahl head swaggle

There were several cartoons from creators of this Treasure Island. The first one is “Adventures of Captain Wrongel” released in 1981 - mind blowing with those mixed techniques and humor

It sure aged well. There's a constant among works that stand the test of time: they bottle archetypes that speak to a timeless human experience. For Dr Livesy, it's being a figure of great, radiant strength.

As someone who grew up watching the original, I'm so glad that this has finally become the meme it was meant to be Not to mention the live-action songs are such bangers

The original voice actors for Livesey and Silver are also fantastic. Livesey's va is still alive and well and seems like a great guy. Also! The studio and most of the production team were from the Ukraine SSR.

I think the reason why the meme is still going is too how right it feels to strut walk like Dr.Livesy is doing, try it out yourself, makes you feel like a badass

This cartoon is my childhood, and it's really heartwarming to see this cartoon shine in the international community. Sadly, the creator of this masterpiece haven't seen this wave of appreciation.

One interesting tidbit is that the vast majority of Soviet animation that gained fame in the West was made by Soyuzmultfilm in Moscow. Everything from Cheburashka to Hedgehog in the Fog to Lolo the Penguin. This film however was made in the Ukrainian SSR by the lesser known Kievnauchfilm.

Full version of Treasure Island with life-action is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bgxzu0a5M3o.html PS it's full on Russian :P

Great impression of “why not” at 0:59. 👍🏻

You don't understand how happy I am to see my beloved childhood movie becoming a meme and everyone gets to enjoy it, watch the cartoon and get creative with it, gahhhhh just puts a huge smile on my face!!! 🥰

Fun fact, the russian media did a segment about the popularity of this meme in western culture and even interviewed the VA for livsey on his opinion on it. And yeah as someone who had there childhood be mostly Soviet cartoons, the footage you gave was indeed part of the live actions, tho I'm sad you didn't find the livsey part in the live action.

Also the Anti-smoking song is hilarious: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MtU70thxMGU.html IDK where to find the song with English subtitles though. Here is the full movie (songs included) with subtitles for you: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DvAyIfBkip4.html

ru-vid.com/group/PLQwG351L6ICCJ3gEh1tSRQJioAz0tYNrd Playlist with all russian songs

"Dark faces from a nightmare" is a reference to an old film "17 moments of the spring" about soviet spy during WWII (highly recommended to watch). There also was tablets|cases about people with information, that could be important. Like person's character, family, job and that things. Of course, in the cartoon it was made in ironical way, without making fun of the film itself

6:39 In fact (in the original), these "bios" are a reference to the Soviet TV series "12 moments of Spring". The series tells the story of the Soviet spin Stirlitz, who works in the main office of the SS. There were similar moments with "bios" in the series.

the whole film is in youtube, with the live action parts and all ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QKRG7PF73UA.html

from what little ive seen from the memes i figured it was something well made, but no it goes BEYOND that. my god! there were such amazing camera movements ive not seen in a cartoon before. i will need to see the whole thing some day, i just wish my friend were still here he would love this to bits.

This is one of those means that seems strange that I’ve never heard of it all and it evolved into this. But for some reason I just love it it’s that Chad thing except I think it actually is better than Chad.

To whomever it may concern, the original Treasure Island cut (with songs and the original Russian dub) is in fact uploaded on RU-vid! It even has a full English transcript (EVEN FOR THE SONGS, which arguably slap hard; the CC guy even kept the rhyme and rhythm in, which is awesome)! I encourage you to watch the original first and foremost, due to "Return to Treasure Island" heavily botching the voice talents and adding unnessesary sound effects, to hear Dr Livesey in all his laughing glory. Quick edit with obligatory link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QKRG7PF73UA.html

0:48 I really love Saber's own remake of it with his voice. It's actually pretty damn good!

This is suprisingly very good. Such amazing artsyle and even better animation. I wish this kind of animation and art style was still made today.

Really glad to see people talking about Soviet animation! A lot of the animation is done really well and if you liked the style of this film, I recommend checking out the soviet Captain Vrungel animated series, it was one of my favorites as a kid!

The voice actor for the Doctor is still around and he's such a Chad, bless that man 👍

Dr Livesey become surprised for just a second 5:23

The whole "oh, the pirates are my family now" thing is VERY Disney - makes you stop thinking about how messed up the whole situation is. I mean, pretty much anything the company "adapted" was smoothed out and had syrupy moments added to keep kids from asking questions.

This is one of those memes that I feel actually help artists in general when it comes to animation. Walking to the beat of a song as well as practicing different stances/movements based on the personality of 3 characters.

I grew up with Soviet Union-era cartoons, and the one thing I've always noticed is the rapid movements and fluidity of the characters. Also the earlier cartoons are quite beautiful, such as the Snow Queen, Beauty and the Beast, and the Steadfast Tin Soldier. I highly recommend diving deeper into soviet era cartoons, including the claymation Cheborashka and Russian Winnie the Pooh (aka Vinny Pooh)

Time to make something good for today. Full cartoon with eng subs: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QKRG7PF73UA.html

LOVED that movie as a child! Not even from the old ussr or anything, my parents rented the VHS tape of this as a good introduction to the novel. Later I read the original it became my favorite book! Had no idea this was meme material for so many people for so long!

1:49 "Standing here, i realize..."

I literally can’t stop watching the original Dr Livesey original walking meme, it’s just so badass and satisfying!

Ay, in case you start researching Ukrainian animation, Cherkassky was one of the most remarkable animators of soviet times as well as one of the founding members of Kyivnaukfilm, amongst his other well-known works there're "Adventures of Captain Wroongel", which is close in looks to those of Treasure Island but is made in a different technique that you may have seen at times in treasure island when the motion was not hand drawn but rather resamble a collage, aside with "Доктор Айболіт", which became kind of childhood classics for many of those who grew in times of late brezhnev and 90s. He was good friends with another founding member of Kyivnaukfilm, Volodymyr Dakhno, who made a series of short films "Як козаки..." ("How Cossacks...") about adventures of, obvious enough, Cossacks - Cherkassky helped with numerous episodes of the series that have been remembered since this day and in 1991 Dakhno produced what I would consider a major milestone in Ukrainian animation and what anyone generally knterested in animation should definitely take a look at is a full-length cartoon "Енеїда", released in 1991 and which is an adaptation of classic Ukrainian burlesque poem, written by Ivan Kotliarevsky in 1798 - in a nutshell, man took Virgil's classic Aeneid but essentially memed it and changed it to stylistically fit into the lifestyle, culture and values of Ukrainian folk of the late XVIII century, and so on and so forth - it's very entertaining and visually inventive but I'm not sure whether there is a version with English subs uploaded on RU-vid - though it mostly consists of literal narration of the poem, so you can use Eneida's translation if you can find one as a libretto. You can also look up cartoons of Yevhen Syvokin, Iryna Hurvych, Natalya Marchenkova and many others, just take a look at Ukrainian animation page of Ukrainian Wikipedia with a translator in case you're really interested, I think you'll be able to find most of the cartoons on RU-vid albeit I doubt many will be subbed. Anyway, have fun exploring the ocean!

3:00 - Yeah, finding the live action scenes is borderline impossible. Typing "Russian Treasure Island" into the youtube search box is a level of effort and commitment no one could possibly expect. Edit: Спасибо русскоязычным. Сарказм именно в том, что обозреватель "не смог" найти оригинальный фильм, притом что любой, самый простой поиск, найдет его на ютубе.

0:49 me and the boys heading to catch the new saberspark upload

This film in general is SO damn funny, from the overly cartoon physics, the english voice acting, the characters, the constant time problem, dr livesay diagnosing people to death, and various other minor shot inconsistencies; everything about this movie is just hilarious and it was such a treat to watch :)

6:17 There's even a VK community to this film, which does memes every day.

Well, if you still need a live-action part'y version there it is. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DvAyIfBkip4.html

I grew up with USSR Treasure Island and re-watched it probably a few hundred times. I am very happy that it got recognition in the US through memes, which on their own deserved it. Just some additional context for the video: 1) The live action segments are great, it was a mistake not to include them with English localization. Both live action segment and Russian dub for the animation was made with very well-known and even A-list actors at the time. Live action is stylized to look very old, almost like Charlie Chaplin era, so I’m not that surprised it didn’t make the cut in English 2) The movie is not just an anti-drinking PSA. It has songs that are anti-smoking, anti-greed, promoting exercise and fitness, as well as just general bangers. All of it is integrated into the plot and contributes a lot to the comedic moments. 3) Was already mentioned in the comments, but the memes from treasure island became popular in post-Soviet space a bit earlier, but THE meme at the time was not Dr. Livesy’s walk, but rather his laugh and cheer even in the most messed up situations. For me though, almost every scene has a good meme in it and memorable quotes which I use often in real life. 4) It was never called “the return to treasure island” in here. The movie as a whole is The Treasure Island and the 2 parts were titled “The Map of Captain Flint” and “The Treasure of Captain Flint”. I don’t get the English naming tbh I hope you aren’t getting backlash for calling the movie a USSR production. It’s technically true and comes from the time when we considered each other brothers and enjoyed the movie as our treasure. Your video about it was a good distraction from how depressed I feel about it all getting thrown out the window

I'm studying animation right now, and HOLY SHIT this slapstick and character design goes hard. I'm enamored lmao

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LUykh5-HGZ0.html Here is the original soviet "Treasure island" cartoon with English subtitles (not the English dub where they changed the entire essence of the film). It even includes the original live motion sequences! Although its divided into episodes (like it did when it was aired on soviet TV the first time), so yeah.

I might just have to watch it, I've seen quite a few clips and it looks really interesting

It feels so weird to see Soviet anything, let alone Treasure Island on Saber's channel, I hope he looks more at the stuff that came out, especially the Armenian for just how balls crazy it is (look up "Oh, wow, a talking fish!" - "Ух ты, говорящая рыба!"). Saber, I know you read comments - DM me, no joke, I will give you tons of recommendations for content from the Soviet Union and if English subs don't exist, I'll flat out make them for you. EDIT: Aw, you missed the live action bits, I have them in HD.

Due to the centralized nature of the economy the majority of soviet cartoons had little to no budget and were almost always passion projects of an extremely enthusiastic animators. That's where the dedication and the extra effort come from.

How didn't you find version with live action? Here you go ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bgxzu0a5M3o.html it also has better quality.

Thank you! Been thinking about this movie for a while! I grew up with it and my parents had it on VHS. I remember it had me laughing a lot!

Funny that long ago I wish to recommend you that cartoon(and some other Soviets cartoons too). For a fan of animation like you, I think you will love this. It's not hard to find correct dub version on RU-vid. Also it's more than just "don't drink". It's about good health like exercises and "don't be greedy". After all, it's for kids. Well, soon some group of people will finish their great reanimated version of this cartoon

Although it’s just cresting above surface, I’m really glad to see Soviet era animation getting respect. That country produces so much art and film. It’s disgusting that it’s so overlooked.

I think Dr Livesey is going to be almost like what Zelda CDI King Harkinian was a couple years ago.

Core childhood memory unlocked. I’ve looked for this movie twice and just had no idea what I was looking for. You sir have done me a service today

Does anyone else realize that this version of Dr. Livesey is possible the worlds first media giga-chad?

Been hearing this meme for a month and took me two days to find out the name of the song when you literally say it one minute into your video 🤦🏽‍♂️ lol thank you

I was born in the USSR and this animated film was my favorite in my childhood. Livesey was Gigachad of the time, you're absolutely right. :D But the funniest character IMO was Captain Smallet. Voiced by Viktor Andrienko, it was a masterpiece :D

Soviet cartoons are finally getting some recognition for once. I saw them a lot as a kid and loved the hell out of them

I grew up watching this film and it warms my heart to see that epople finally realised how *C H A D* Dr. Livesey is.

For those who couldnt find full version: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O9J1INLXJNY.html

They say an apple keeps the doctor away. Dr. Livesey: YOU HAVE NO POWER HERE

Soviet animation is pretty good. Actually, art is one of the things that the soviet culture did well in general. Unfortunately, the heavy censorship and regulations made things difficult for artists to create works of true free expression, but it's interesting and unique.

Here's one thing I don't get; not only has the chad walk become a meme, but there's also that one specific line people like to quote in reference to it; "the words "rum" and "death" should mean the same thing to you" (or light variations on it). I always kinda assumed, based on the fact that Dr. Livesey is such a chad, that it was like a badass boast he said to someone, but based on the English translation ("if you keep drinking that rum, you're a dead man!") and the context of the scene AND the knowledge that this is largely an anti-drinking PSA, I'm lead to believe that it's more on the nose than that; he's literally just saying "you should associate rum with death and not drink it". I just wonder why that line became so quotable and memetic, because out of context it does sound pretty raw, like a pre-battle line, but in context it's really just sort of like, a genuine warning from a health professional.

Dr. Livesey's voice actor is still alive! Check him out in this video! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8H3ryUAgyBk.html

I'm from Ukraine, and it's really famous and beloved in post USSR country's Really surprised that it found its way to the west, but I'm really happy that you can enjoy this masterpiece, and somewhat sad that you can't catch all references)

There is one missing detail, the cartoon was filmed at the Kyiv Film Studio (Ukraine) under the name "Kievnauchfilm". More than 300 films created at the studio were awarded prizes and diplomas at all-Union and international film festivals. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, the studio gradually fell into decline and film production almost ceased.

This film was a great part of my childhood. Watched it on old ass VHS player. And yes, live-action parts were a PSA, promoting Healthier life style in general, not only Anti-Alcohol. And they were suprisingly good

1:32 quick note : Anti-drinking, Anti-smoking AND Pro-sport PSA

7:53 I-bpbtbptbtpbtbtpbt- he just SWORDLUNGED out the window like he's in Sea of Thieves!!