Tiny Toon Adventures

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Tiny Toon Adventures

Babs and Buster Bunny, as seen on the show's opening sequence.
Format Animated series
Created by Tom Ruegger
Starring Charlie Adler
John Kassir
Tress MacNeille
Gail Matthius
Kath Soucie
Don Messick
Joe Alaskey
Maurice LaMarche
Frank Welker
Rob Paulsen
Danny Cooksey
Cree Summer
Candi Milo
Cindy McGee
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 102 (plus 2 specials) (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel Fox Kids
Original run September 14, 1990 – April 17, 1994
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures (also known as Tiny Toon Adventures or Tiny Toons) is an American animated series created and produced as a collaborative effort between Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. Tiny Toon Adventures began production when Warner Bros. reinstated its animation studio in 1980 after a decade of dormancy. During the 1980s, the new studio only worked on revivals of the classic characters. Tiny Toons was the first of many animated series from the studio. A major precedent for the series was the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which featured appearances by many of its famous cartoon characters, and was co-produced by Amblin Entertainment.[citation needed]

Tiny Toon Adventures premiered in 1990 on Fox Kids and ended production in 1995, then aired reruns on Kids WB from 1995 to 1998.

Contents

[edit] Background

[edit] Premise

Tiny Toon Adventures had been set in the fictional city of Acme Acres, where most of the Tiny Toons and Looney Tunes characters lived. Most of Tiny Toon Adventures' characters attended Acme Looniversity, a high school/university whose faculty primarily consisted of the mainstays of the classic Warner cartoons. In the series, the university was founded to teach cartoon characters how to become funny, with graduates receiving a "Diploma of Lunacy", giving them the opportunity to become full-time cartoon characters. Bugs Bunny taught the "Outsmarting Antagonists" class; Porky Pig taught "Wild Takes"; Yosemite Sam taught "Firearms", "Exploding Cakes", and "Anvilology" (the study of falling anvils for comic effect); Sylvester and Tweety both taught "Villain Whomping"; Daffy Duck taught "Spotlight Stealing" and "Advanced Wild Takes"; and Elmer Fudd taught "Booby Traps" and "Fudd-ology". The principal of the Acme Looniversity was a giant floating head like the one in The Wizard of Oz, voiced by Noel Blanc (son of Mel Blanc); the principal was later revealed to be Bugs Bunny in disguise. Wile E. Coyote was the dean at the Looniversity's School of Hard Knocks and taught "Anvil Dropping" (along with Foghorn Leghorn).

[edit] Characters

The series revolved around a group of young cartoon characters learning at Acme Looniversity to be the next generation of Looney Tunes characters. Most of the Tiny Toons characters were designed to resemble younger versions of Warner Bros.' most popular Looney Tunes stars by exhibiting similar traits and looks, but not actually being the characters themselves.

Major characters included:

In some ways, both Buster and Babs Bunny can be said to be modeled after Bugs Bunny, with each having taken on different aspects of the original character's personality. Buster, for example, normally shares Bugs' coolness under fire and laid-back attitude until provoked; Babs, on the other hand, displays more of Bugs' earlier, "wackier" personality, along with his flair for confounding enemies (and friends) with quick costume changes and impersonations. That being said, it's generally accepted that Babs is essentially an original character, created specifically as a counterpart for Buster in keeping with what was then a general trend in animation towards having more and/or stronger female characters in kids' TV shows, rather than being specifically based on any particular member of the Looney Tunes cast.

Other minor characters based on classic characters were:

  • Barky Marky, a dog based on Marc Antony from several Chuck Jones-directed short subjects.
  • Concord Condor, modeled after Beaky Buzzard a.k.a. Killer The Condor.
  • Fowlmouth, loosely modeled after Foghorn Leghorn; as his name (a play on "foul mouth") implies, the tempermental Fowlmouth is known for spouting apparent profanity, and his angry rants are often censored. He has a crush on Shirley the Loon, but she is repelled by his coarse nature and blistering language.
  • Marcia the Martian, the niece of Marvin the Martian, appeared in a single episode, lampooning the original Duck Dodgers cartoons. While Daffy Duck (as Duck Dodgers) and Marvin attempt to convince Marcia and Plucky to take part in their age-old feud, the protegés decide it's more fun to play with each other.
  • Mary Melody An African American girl, her named is probably based on one of Warner Brothers logo Merry Melodies.
  • Witch Sandy (and/or Sandy Witch), a witch who is based on Witch Hazel; she had a one-time appearance on the show in a parody of Hansel and Gretel. She lived in a house made out of carrot cake and drew the attention of Buster and Babs. She tried to use the two in a recipe like Hazel, turning Babs into a real rabbit and summoning her cutlery to try and kill Buster. But she got turned into a goldfish. Sandy wears a cute disguise but she is actually as ugly as Hazel.
  • Byron Basset, the sleeping puppy, is based on Sam Sheepdog. He appeared in a few episodes, even appearing in his own short entitled Dog Day Afternoon. He was also with Buster and Babs during the Tiny Toons movie as well.
  • Arnold, the pit bull, is modeled after Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • Bookworm, is based on the bookworm companion of Sniffles. Since he is the Looniversity's librarian he could be the very same character, despite design changes similar to Bosko and Honey.
  • Tyrone Turtle is based on Cecil Tortoise and was voiced by Edan Gross.

Minor original characters included a family of Italians fleas who lived on Furrball (based on the animated movie An American Tail), a trio of singing girl roaches (modelled after and voiced by The Roches), Byron Basset, and the two Ralphs. One was a fat security guard who later migrated to Animaniacs, while the other was a slobbish Ralph Bakshi caricature. There was also Orson Whales (Maurice LaMarche), a parody of the late actor Orson Welles, and Vanilla Louse (Rob Paulsen), a parody of the rapper Vanilla Ice.

In Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, while on a road trip with the Pig family, Plucky encounters a hockey masked hitchhiking psychopath who carries a chainsaw and gibbers incoherently. The character is never named onscreen, though fans have unofficially dubbed him "Mr. Hitcher". In another short, it is revealed Plucky actually first met Mr. Hitcher as a baby, when the two spent time on a department store elevator. Mr. Hitcher also has nonspeaking cameos in "The Return of Batduck" and as Plucky's cellmate and "hoodlum friend" in a short set to "Yakety Yak".

Guest stars included Henny Youngman as a chicken version of himself; Edie McClurg as Hamton's mother; Julie Brown as Julie Bruin; and the Roches as cockroach versions of themselves.

[edit] Production

[edit] Writers

The series and the show's characters were developed by series producer and head writer Tom Ruegger, division leader Jean MacCurdy, and story editors Wayne Kaatz, Paul Dini, and Sherri Stoner. Among the first writers on the series were Jim Reardon, Tom Minton, and Eddie Fitzgerald. The character and scenery designers included Alfred Gimeno, Ken Boyer, Dan Haskett, Karen Haskett, Jeff Pidgeon, and many other artists and directors.

[edit] Voicing

The Tiny Toon Adventures voice caster Andrea Romano auditioned over 1,200 voices for the series and chose a more than a dozen main voice actors.[1] The role of Buster Bunny was given to Charles Adler, who gave the role, as producer Tom Ruegger said, "a great deal of energy".[2] The role of Babs Bunny was given to Tress MacNeille. Writer Paul Dini said that MacNeille was good for the role because she could do both Babs' voice and the voices of Babs' impressions.[2] Voice actors Joe Alaskey and Don Messick were given the roles of Plucky Duck and Hamton J. Pig, respectively. Danny Cooksey played Montana Max and, according to Paul Dini, was good for the role because he could do a "tremendous mean voice".[2] Cree Summer played the roles of Elmyra Duff and Mary Melody; former Saturday Night Live cast member Gail Matthius played Shirley the Loon; and Kath Soucie had the roles of Fifi La Fume and Li'l Sneezer. Other actors for the series included Maurice LaMarche as the voice of Dizzy Devil; Candi Milo as the voice of Sweetie Pie, Frank Welker as the voice of Gogo Dodo, Furrball, Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper, and other various voices; and Rob Paulsen as the voice of Fowlmouth, Arnold Dog, Concord Condor, and other various voices.

During production of the series' third season, Charlie Adler, the voice of Buster Bunny, left the show due to a conflict with the producers; Adler was upset that he hadn't landed a role in the new show Animaniacs (the follow-up to Tiny Toons), and that small-role voice actors like Rob Paulsen, Maurice LaMarche, and Frank Welker were given starring roles in Animaniacs.[3] Adler was replaced by John Kassir for the remainder of the show's run. Joe Alaskey, the voice of Plucky Duck, also left Tiny Toons for financial reasons, but returned when an agreement was reached with the studio.[3]

[edit] Animation

In order to complete 65 episodes for the first season, Warner and Amblin contracted several different animation houses to share the workload. These animation studios included Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Wang Film Productions, AKOM, Freelance Animators New Zealand, Encore Cartoons, StarToons, and Kennedy Cartoons.[4] Kennedy Cartoons left the project while working on the episode, "The Looney Beginning".[3]

Tiny Toon Adventures was made with a higher production value than standard television animation. Tiny Toon Adventures had a cel count that was more than double that of most television animation.[2] The series had about 25,000 cels per episode instead of the standard 10,000, making it unique in that characters moved more fluidly.[2] Pierre De Celles, an animation producer, described storyboarding for the series as "fun but a big challenge because [he] always had a short schedule, and it's not always easy to work full blast nonstop". De Celles said that he made six or eight panels per scene instead of the usual three or four since the show required "a lot more key expression and attitude poses".[5]

[edit] Hallmarks and humor

The show often contained political and entertainment satire. Caricature versions of celebrities made frequent appearances, though were almost always voiced by imitators, and often appeared under parody names ("Tom Snooze" instead of Tom Cruise, "Michael Molten-Lava"instead of Michael Bolton, etc). The show also parodied other TV shows and cartoons of the day, including The Simpsons. A recurring parody was that of the Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs, which poked fun at the popular cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both tactics would later be copied by the show's successor, Animaniacs.

[edit] Credit gag

Buster Bunny saying one version of the many closing words that would appear at the end of the closing credits to Tiny Toons Adventures episodes.
Buster Bunny saying one version of the many closing words that would appear at the end of the closing credits to Tiny Toons Adventures episodes.

At the end of an episode, the credits at the end of the show always closed with one or more characters appearing in the Warner Bros. rings and saying a closing line. Among these lines were:


In addition, a humorous message would appear among the credits shortly before the closing quote. This running gag would turn up in the later shows Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, Freakazoid!, and Histeria!

[edit] Films and television specials

One feature-length Tiny Toon Adventures movie was released direct-to-video in 1991, entitled Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation.[6] This special was re-edited for syndication and airs as part of the original series. Other features released for Tiny Toon Adventures include Spring Break Special, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special, and Night Ghoulery. Spring Break Special was shown on FOX during primetime on March 27, 1994. Christmas Special aired on December 6, 1992.

[edit] Spin-offs

Main articles: The Plucky Duck Show and Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain

In 1992, The Plucky Duck Show was produced as a spin-off of Tiny Toon Adventures that starred Plucky Duck. Except for the premiere (The Return of Batduck), the show was entirely made up of recycled Plucky-centric episodes from the Tiny Toons.[7] After one thirteen-episode season, the show was canceled.

In 1998, another spin-off was produced, Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain. This short-lived series starred Elmyra alongside Animaniacs stars Pinky and the Brain. The series was a significant re-tooling of the 1995 spin-off Pinky and the Brain which contradicted several elements of Elmyra's life on Tiny Toons; in the series, Elmyra had not attended Acme Looniversity or come in contact with any of the Tiny Toons cast. This series was also canceled after thirteen episodes.


[edit] Response

[edit] Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards
Won award for Outstanding Animated Program (presented to Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, Ken Boyer, Art Leonardi, Art Vitello, Paul Dini, and Sherri Stoner) (1991)[8]
Nominated for Outstanding Animated Program (Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, Sherri Stoner, Rich Arons, and Art Leonardi) (1992)[8]
Won award for Outstanding Animated Program (presented to Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, Sherri Stoner, Rich Arons, Byron Vaughns, Ken Boyer, Alfred Gimeno, and David West) (1993)[8]
Young Artist Awards
Won award for Best New Cartoon Series (1989-1990)[9]
Nominated for Outstanding Young Voice-Over in an Animated Series or Special (Whitby Hertford) (1991-1992)[10]
Environmental Media Awards
Won EMA Award for Children's Animated series (for the episode Whales Tales) (1991)[8]

[edit] Criticism

Tiny Toons has been heavily criticized by cartoonist and creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show John Kricfalusi. In a 1994 issue of Animation Magazine, Kricfalusi wrote a column about the series, calling it nothing more than "Superbastardization" of the original Looney Tunes characters, using "parasitism and other bad writing tricks until the premise becomes so twisted that it is beyond any coherent statement".[11] Kricfalusi also criticized the improper use of the characters in the series, saying that "[e]very character is a 'comedy relief' character, even the ones who were originally straight-man characters[...] Glue an exceptionally unirreverent live-action director's name [Steven Spielberg] to it, then plug these stolen bastardization personalities into situations not suited for them. For example - into stolen movie plots. Then commit every single other bad writing crime known to man".[11]

Tiny Toons director Jon McClenahan said that the people at Warner Bros. ignored Kricfalusi's criticism: "Nobody except John K's fans cared what John K thought. The thing about John K is, he's a really really talented guy who is also pretty good at hurling criticisms at others but unfortunately won't collaborate with anyone(...) Very few people at WB were Kricsfalusi worshippers. Certainly none of the decision-makers".[12]

[edit] Merchandise

[edit] Toys

Toys included plush dolls and plastic figures.

[edit] Print

Among the same time that Tiny Toon Adventures premiered, a quarterly children's magazine based on the series was published for five issues. Also, various storybooks were published by the Little Golden Book company, including a few episode adaptations and some original stories (Lost in the Fun House and Happy Birthday, Babs!). Tiny Toon Adventures did not spin off its own comic book. However, the characters did make occasional cameo appearances in the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain comic books.

[edit] Video games

Main article: List of Tiny Toon Adventures video games

Since its debut, numerous video games based on Tiny Toons have been released. Many companies have held the development and publishing rights for the games, including Konami (during the 90s), Atari, NewKidCo, Conspiracy Games, Warthog, Terraglyph Interactive Studios, and Treasure.

[edit] VHS

In the early 90s, Warner Bros. had released several Tiny Toons videos:

Tiny Toon Adventures Music TV

  • Tiny Toon Fiendishly Funny Adventures

[edit] DVD

Warner Home Video will release Season 1, Volume 1 of Tiny Toon Adventures on July 29, 2008 on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. This 4-disc set will feature the first 35 episodes of Season 1.[13]

DVD name Ep # Release date Additional information
Volume 1 35 July 29 2008[13] This four disc box set contains the first 35 episodes from season one.
Volume 2 30 TBA This four disc box set contains 30 episodes from season one.
Volume 3 13 TBA This Two disc box set contains all 13 episodes from season two.
Volume 4 20 TBA This Two disc box set contains all 20 episodes from season three.

[edit] History

Main article: List of Tiny Toon Adventures episodes

[edit] Preproduction

According to writer Paul Dini, Tiny Toons originated as an idea by Terry Semel, then the president of Warner Bros., who wanted to "(...) inject new life into the Warner Bros. Animation department," and at the same time create a series with junior versions of Looney Tunes characters. Semel proposed that the new series would be a show based on Looney Tunes where the characters were either young versions of the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters or new characters as the offsprings of the original characters.[2] The idea of a series with the basis of younger versions of famous characters was common at the time; the era in which Tiny Toons was produced had such cartoons as Muppet Babies, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Flintstones Kids. Warner Bros. chose to do the same because Spielberg wanted to make a series similar to Looney Tunes, as series producer/show-runner Tom Ruegger explained: "Well, I think in Warner Bros. case, they had the opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg on a project (...) But he didn't want to just work on characters that Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson and Bob Clampett made famous and created. He wanted to be involved with the creation of some new characters". The result was a series similar to Looney Tunes without the use of the same characters.[2]

In 1987,[1] the Warner Bros. Animation studio approached Steven Spielberg to collaborate with Semel and Warner Bros. head of licensing Dan Romanelli on Semel's ideas.[2] They eventually decided that the new characters would be similar to the Looney Tunes characters with no direct relation. However, Tiny Toons did not go into production then, nor was it even planned to be made for television; the series initially was to be a theatrical feature-length film.[2][1]

In December of 1988, Tiny Toons was changed from a film to a television series, with Jean MacCurdy overseeing production of the first 65 episodes.[2] MacCurdy said that Tiny Toons was changed to a television series to "(...) reach a broader audience".[1] For the series, MacCurdy hired Tom Ruegger, who previously wrote cartoons for Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, to be a producer.[2] In January of 1989, Ruegger and writer Wayne Kaatz began developing the characters and the setting of "Acme Acres" with Spielberg.[2]

In January of 1989, Warner Bros. Animation was choosing its voice actors from over 1,200 auditions and putting together its 100-person production staff.[1] In April of 1989, full production of series episodes began with five overseas animation houses and a total budget of 25 million dollars.[1] The first 65 episodes of the series aired in syndication on 135 stations, beginning in September of 1990.[14].

[edit] Post-series syndication

Tiny Toon Adventures, along with Animaniacs, continued to rerun in syndication through the 1990s into the early-2000s after production of new episodes ceased. Tiny Toon Adventures aired in syndication on the WB’s sister network, Cartoon Network until Nickelodeon bought the rights to air the series for spring 2001.[15][16] Tiny Toon Adventures does not currently air on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, or its sister network, Nicktoons Network. The series is scheduled to re-run on Warner Bros. and AOL's new broadband internet channel Toontopia TV.When Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network aired the series they cut out the WB logo zooming out.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f SUFFERIN' SUCCOTASH! IT'S LOONEY TUNES, TAKE TWO. Entertainment Weekly (September 28, 1990).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Miller, Bob, “NEW TOONS ON THE BLOCK: They’re attending Acme Looniversity & hoping to graduate as classic cartoon characters”, Comic Scene (no. 15): 33- 39, 68 
  3. ^ a b c Paltridge, Peter (July 2006). Platypus Comix interviews......Tom Ruegger! (part II). Platypus Comix. Retrieved on 2006-08-23.
  4. ^ Credits from various Tiny Toon Adventures episodes.
  5. ^ Wood, Chris (July 25, 2007). Pierre De Celles on Animating Sonic the Hedgehog and Other Tales. Toon Zone News. Toon Zone. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
  6. ^ Lenburg, p. 336. Accesed on 2007-06-27
  7. ^ Trivia for "The Plucky Duck Show". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  8. ^ a b c d Awards for "Tiny Toon Adventures". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  9. ^ Twelfth Annual Youth in Film Awards:1989-1990. The Young Artist Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  10. ^ Fourteenth Annual Youth in Film Awards:1991-1992. The Young Artist Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  11. ^ a b Kricfalusi, John (May/June 1994), Animation Magazine 
  12. ^ Caps 2.0, A talk with Jon McClenahan, Retrojunk, <http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/871/>. Retrieved on 7 May 2008 
  13. ^ a b Lacey, Gord (2008-04-01). Tiny Toon Adventures - Tiny Toons coming in July!. TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
  14. ^ Lenburg, p. 336. Accessed on 2007-11-15
  15. ^ John Dempsey (August 30, 2000). Toon web sans synergy: WB sells to Nick: Cartoon Network turns down Spielberg-produced skeins (English). Variety.com. Reed Business Information. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
  16. ^ Warner Bros. (August 29, 2000). "Nickelodeon Acquires Exclusive Television Rights to Warner Bros. Animation's STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS PINKY & THE BRAIN". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-06-08.

[edit] Further Reading

  • Lenburg, Jeff (1999). "[TV Specials]". The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. New York, New York: Checkmark Books. 336-337. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. 
  • Lenburg, Jeff (1999). "Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures [Television Series]". The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. New York, New York: Checkmark Books. 521. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. 

[edit] External links

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