Bucky O'Hare
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Bucky O'Hare was created by comic writer Larry Hama in the late 1970s. It can be likened to the adventures of Flash Gordon were he a humanoid green rabbit. It was first published by Continuity Comics in comic book form in the mid-1980s, appearing in the anthology series Echo of Futurepast, with Hama writing and Michael Golden on pencils. The series was later collected into an oversized graphic novel. Hama wrote a second Bucky O'Hare arc, which was never published. The comic book spawned an animated TV show in 1991, along with a series of action figures. A Bucky O'Hare video game developed by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1992, and a Bucky O'Hare arcade game was also released. The storyline follows a parallel universe (the aniverse), where a war is ongoing between the slightly inept United Animals Federation (run by mammals) and the sinister Toad Empire. The Toad Empire is led by a vast computer system known as KOMPLEX, which has brainwashed the toad population.
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[edit] Comic book
Bucky O'Hare, a green hare, captains a mammal frigate named The Righteous Indignation. His crew was introduced in the comic and consisted of:
- Jenny - first mate and pilot, a cat from the planet Aldebaran (not to be confused with the star in our universe of the same name) with mysterious magical and psionic powers common to the females of her species. They include telepathy, astral projection, energy blasts, and healing. She keeps these powers secret from the other members of the crew, with the exception of Willy.
- Blinky - an advanced AFC (Android First Class). Technically not an android. Has only one eye. Uses the phrase "Calamity and Woe!" to identify problem situations for Bucky and his crew-mates.
- Deadeye Duck - gunner, a four-armed former space pirate duck from Kanopis III.
- Willy DuWitt - engineer, a pre-teen human from San Francisco, Earth who enters the aniverse via a portal between the ship's photon accelerator and his own accelerator at home. He replaced Bruce, the former engineer, who attained oneness with the universe when the photon accelerator went haywire.
Bucky and his crew are members of the S.P.A.C.E organization, which stands for Sentient Protoplasm Against Colonial Encroachment.
The members of the Toad Empire introduced in the comic are as follows:
- KOMPLEX - the undisputed ruler of the Toad Empire. This computer program was designed to run the consumerist toad culture but instead took it over and militarized it.
- Air Marshal - one of KOMPLEX's foremost allies, with a uniform adorned with medals and a face covered in warts.
In the comic, Bucky and crew escape a toad attack but must rescue Jenny when she is captured by the toads. In the end, a strange, omnipotent mouse banishes the toads attacking Bucky to "a safe place where the food is bad and taxes are high". Willy's parents, not knowing what the photon accelerator does, deactivate it, trapping him in the aniverse.
The U.S. comic only ran this one plotline; however, to coincide with the TV show in the early '90s, a U.K. comic reprinted the issues and then continued (with a different, unknown writer and artist) for another 15 issues.
[edit] Cartoon series
The cartoon version, Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars (Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Menace in Canada), debuted in 1991 in the UK on the BBC, as well as in the U.S., and was created by Sunbow Entertainment, Continuity Comics, IDDH, and Marvel. It was animated at Sunset Animation Studios. The show is remembered for its distinctive and popular theme tune.
Most of the ideas from the comic book were used for the cartoon, with three major differences: Bruce is transported into another dimension instead of killed, Willy can travel freely between Earth and the aniverse, and the omnipotent mouse is nowhere to be seen. The cartoon explored more of the aniverse and followed a loose unifying arc, with Bucky's home planet of Warren being captured by the toads in the season premiere and rescued in the finale (which was co-written by Neal Adams).
Every character from the comic book appeared in the cartoon. Most of the new ones that were introduced are listed below.
The .S.P.A.C.E. members and allies
- Bruiser - Bruce's brother, a Betelgeusian Berserker Baboon who joins Bucky's team as space marine on the Righteous Indignation. He, like all berserker baboons, scares the toads out of their wits.
A. Crew of The Indefatigable:
- Commander Dogstar - Bucky's ally, captain of The Indefatigable, another frigate fighting against the toads
- Wolf - the canine pilot and first mate
- Rumble Bee - the robot gunner (eps. 7 and 13)
- Digger McSquint - the mole engineer (ep. 13, briefly in 7)
- Pitstop Pete - the laconic pit bull space marine (ep. 7)
B. Other S.P.A.C.E. Officers:
- Captain Mimi LaFloo - originally a captive of the toads, Mimi is rescued by Bucky and goes on to command her own mammal frigate, The Screaming Mimi (eps. 4 and 10)
- Major Bottlenose - a dolphin member of S.P.A.C.E. Intelligence, Cryptology Division (ep. 6)
- Dexter - a large octopus who operates as the S.P.A.C.E. Intelligence Attaché (ep. 6)
C. The United Animals Security Council:
- The Secretary General - a pig; he commissioned the S.P.A.C.E frigates The Indefatigable and The Screaming Mimi to assist Bucky (eps. 1, 2, and 4).
- Grebb - a jackal; he initially opposed the treaty with the Corsair Canards (ep. 9).
- Chairman Harman - a walrus disguise operated by a newt in the employ of Al Negator (ep. 9)
- Other members of the Council include a male moose, beaver, cat, dog, penguin, wombat, and two or three others of indeterminate species; there is also a female squirrel stenographer (eps. 1, 2, and 9). The bearded, green parrot in ep, 9 may just be the penguin miscolored.
D. Others:
- The Corsair Canards - an alliance of four-armed duck space pirates to which Deadeye used to belong; includes Captain Lanelle, Redjack, Black Beak, and Scarbill (ep. 9)
- Felicia - the High Artificer's young and naive granddaughter and student of Jenny (ep. 10)
- The High Artificer - monarch of the Aldebarans (ep. 10)
- Kamikaze Kamo - a noble four-armed ninja duck (ep. 11)
- The Creators - the three toad scientists who created Komplex; their names are Dr. Hopkins, Dr. Wartimer and Dr. Croakley (ep. 6)
- Larry and Bob - two hares who assist Mimi LaFloo in the slave uprising on the planet Kinnear; they later became the leaders of the free hares (eps. 4 and 13)
- Jeffrey - Bucky's nearly identical second cousin (ep. 13)
Enemies of the UAF
A. Toad Empire subjects and allies:
- Toadborg - a large, purple cyborg second-in-command under KOMPLEX
- Komplex-2-Go - The mobile configuration of Komplex (ep. 13)
- Frix and Frax - the Air Marshal's two bumbling subordinates
- Al Negator - a sleazasaur crocodile spy and mercenary frequently hired by the Air Marshal
- Captain Smada - a toad officer with a strong lisp and outlandish clothing (ep. 4)
- The Total Terror Toad - an abominable pink toad, hostile to mammal and toad alike; kidnapped from the White Cliffs of Cahill and used as a weapon by Toadborg (ep. 12)
- The Master Toad Spy - the Toad Empire's best secret agent, incapable of being broken except by the threat of a Berserker Baboon (ep. 7)
- Void Droids - gigantic autonomous battle tanks, although in the first appearance easily defeated by Willy using a water pistol on its mechanisms (eps. 3 and 8)
- Tri-Bot - three oddly shaped robots capable of combining to form a heavily armed guard (ep. 13)
- Virus Defense Squad - a team of mostly-mouth, toad-like robots armed with crushing jaws and charged with defending KOMPLEX by feeding on intruders; informally known as "Mostly-Mouth Robots" (ep. 7)
- Guardroids - robotic toads who serve as automated defenses aboard slave ships (ep. 1)
- Andy Phibian - an annoying reporter for TTN, the Toad Network (eps. 2 and 3)
B. Independent operators
- Sly Leezard - a villainous iguana samurai-in-training from the planet Saurion (ep. 11)
- Tinker - an opossum who operated a spy shop which was frequented by Al Negator. Commander Dogstar, carrying a warrant from United Animals Security Council, arrested him (ep. 2).
Other characters
A. Aniverse civilians
- Mrs. B - the mother of Bruiser and Bruce (ep. 12)
- Quentin - a Koala who resisted the Toad invasion of his planet Rigel V by using a ham radio to summon the Righteous Indignation (ep. 5)
- Aunt Iris - Bucky's aunt, formerly a slave of the toads until Bucky's liberation of the slave colony on Kinnear (ep. 4)
B. Non-aligned characters from Earth:
- David & Sunshine DuWitt - Willy's parents, likely former hippies (eps. 1 and 6)
- Susie - a friend of Willy's at school (eps. 5 and 12)
- Doug McKenna - the school bully, who often picks on Willy (eps. 1, 2, and 3)
- Jeff and Mark - Doug's friends who joined him in tormenting Willy; Jeff eventually befriended Willy though (eps. 1, 2, and 3)
- TJ - an older girl at Willy's school who attempts to take advantage of his hard work (ep. 12)
[edit] Episode list
| Episode | Episode Title | Final Script Date[1] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | War of the Warts | 20th November 1990 |
| 2 | A Fistful of Simoleans | 21st November 1990 |
| 3 | The Good, the Bad and the Warty | 23rd November 1990 |
| 4 | Home, Swampy, Home | 7th January 1991 |
| 5 | On the Blink | 11th January 1991 |
| 6 | Kreation Konspiracy | 18th January 1991 |
| 7 | The Komplex Caper | UNKNOWN |
| 8 | The Search for Bruce | 21st January 1991 |
| 9 | Corsair Canards | 2nd August 1991 |
| 10 | The Artificers of Aldebaran | 2nd December 1991 |
| 11 | The Warriors | 26th February 1991 |
| 12 | Bye Bye Berserker Baboon | 4th March 1991 |
| 13 | The Taking of Pilot Jenny | 6th March 1991 |
[edit] Video games
A Bucky O'Hare game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992, which required Bucky to rescue each of his crew members (except Bruiser) on a series of planets. As each character was rescued, the player gained the ability to switch between them and Bucky on the fly to deal with different problems. The gameplay and level design very closely resemble that of Capcom's Mega Man series. For this reason, the Bucky O'Hare video game is sometimes referred to as the Konami Mega Man.
A Bucky O'Hare arcade game was also released which allowed players to control Bucky, Jenny, Deadeye or Blinky in a format similar to the arcade games based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Simpsons. Perhaps to satisfy fans when a second season was not released, the plot of the arcade game allowed players to achieve final victory over the toads by releasing an energy called the Interplanetary Life Force contained within KOMPLEX. This last hurrah to the series also featured the original voice cast.
[edit] Toy Line
In 1991 the toy company Hasbro released a line of action figures based closely on the Bucky O'Hare series. Most of the major characters were represented: Bucky O'Hare, Deadeye Duck, Willy DuWitt, Blinky, Bruiser, and Commander Dogstar were the heroes released, and Toadborg, Air Marshall, Storm Toad Trooper, and Al Negator were the villains that made it to the shelves. Three vehicles were released as well.
For various reasons, the line was terminated before the next two series of action figures could be finished. There are several photographs available online of the unreleased figures, some completely painted with accessories, and others as unpainted prototypes.
At least one photo shows the fully packaged Jenny, likely because this figure was completed in time for the first release, but was delayed to be part of the second. Several others show Pitstop Pete and Sly Leezard both as unpainted and as completed figures. Bucky in a spacesuit, Rumble Bee, Kamikaze Kamo, and Total Terror Toad are the other finished figures. The mobile configuration of the chief villain Komplex (Komplex-2-Go in the arcade game), Digger, and Tri-Bot (a minor villain from the final episode) are the other unpainted prototypes known to exist from these photos.
[edit] Today
Little has been heard from the Bucky O'Hare property since the cartoon went off the air. It is currently available on DVD in the UK. Recently, Neal Adams and Continuity created a short online 3-D cartoon of Bucky O'Hare, apparently hoping to interest investors in reviving the franchise.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars at the Internet Movie Database
- Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars at TV.com
- Neal Adams and Continuity Studios
- Bucky O'Hare at MobyGames
- A fan site, including the Web Series (fanfiction)
[edit] Notes
- ^ This information came from the Bucky O'Hare DVD (Region 2) (c) 2006 Hasbro Entertainment
