It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special

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Image:Tinytoonsxmas.jpg
The Tiny Toons gang celebrating Christmas.

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It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special is a Christmas-themed episode of Warner Brothers Tiny Toon Adventures, utilizing the show's entire cast in what is essentially a parody of the Frank Capra/James Stewart holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life.

[edit] Synopsis

Buster is in charge of the Tiny Toons prime-time Christmas special, but everything that could possibly go wrong and then some does go wrong, despite his best efforts to hold everything together (in part because of the machinations of Montana Max, who is sabotaging Buster after being cut from the special). While Babs is insane with jealousy over Buster's apparent affection for Cher (whom she is supposed to perform a duet with), Plucky being disappointed over not having any parts, and other issues among the toons, things start to fall apart. When it appears that the special is not going to be performed, Max (who is in a wheelchair throughout this episode due to a skiing accident) gets the producers to fire Buster and convinces them to put him in the blue rabbit's place. Buster becomes wracked with guilt and depression, feeling that he let his friends down, and contemplates jumping out of the picture.

He almost does it, walking right out of the frame and standing on the edge of the film strip (in a scene reminiscient of George Bailey, James Stewart's character, standing on the bridge at his lowest point in It's a Wonderful Life). A white rabbit named Harvey (actually Bugs Bunny in disguise, as revealed at the end), comes along and tries to dissuade Buster from throwing himself into the great white abyss of oblivion; Buster says he wishes he'd never been on Tiny Toons, and Harvey grants his wish, showing Buster what life in Acme Acres would have been like if he had never been around. To Buster's horror, he finds that in the world without him, Plucky is the star of the show, but Acme Acres (now called Montyville) is controlled by Montana Max, and sees that majority of his friends and associates are living miserable lives. Particularly heartbreaking for Buster is seeing how sad and lonely Babs is in this alternate world; although Babs remains co-host, she is little more than a patsy for Plucky, endlessly enduring the painful brunt of the egotistical green duck's jokes (the "no relation" gag no longer works in this alternate universe). Buster realizes just how important his existence really was to Acme Acres and asks that his wish be undone.

Acme Acres is restored to normal and Buster resumes his place as star and leader of the toons, rallies them together and gets the Christmas special produced - with Montana Max as the "Star" ornament at the top of the faux Christmas tree. Inspired by what he saw in the alternate world, Buster kisses Babs as his Christmas present to her, reminding her of just how much she means to him. The special ends with Bugs, taking off his Harvey mask and costume, commenting, "Not bad... for amateurs."

[edit] Trivia

  • This was the last episode of Tiny Toon Adventures produced, and also the last regular episode broadcast on the FOX network, besides the Spring Break special. However, the syndicated reruns shown on Nickelodeon would later broadcast the banned episode "Toons from the Crypt".
  • In addition to the episode's plot, several other references to It's a Wonderful Life appear throughout:
    • When Max makes his entrance, God refers to him as the "richest and meanest Toon in Acme Acres"; this is a direct take-off on Mr. Potter's introduction. Also, like Potter, Max spends most of the episode in a wheelchair.
    • Gogo slides down a staircase and knocks off a loose banister knob.
    • Babs is shown watching a cartoon where Porky Pig tells Petunia that he's going to lasso the moon for her. Then, in the next cartoon she watches, Pepe Le Pew applies a cologne labelled "Zuzu's Petals".
  • A blue-colored Grinch makes a cameo at the beginning.
  • The guest stars at the rehearsal consist of caricatures of Bob Hope, Cher, Luke Perry, and William Shatner (referred to "The Parum-Pum Man" in the closing credits), and Whoopi Goldberg (who was just there for "comic relief").
  • When Max is in charge of the special, he forces a reluctant Elmyra to portray Leona Helmsley.
  • Bugs's alias, Harvey, comes from the 1940s stage play Harvey which was made into a film of the same name, which also starred Jimmy Stewart.
  • In the alternate world, Bugs/Harvey reads a newspaper with the headline "Encino Man Wins Best Pic Oscar."
  • During the Bob Hope sequence, he references the Olsen twins as being on "that Saget show" (reference to Full House).
  • Buster comments that he feels like he is on a bad episode of Quantum Leap.