The Wuzzles

Disney's Wuzzles is an American animated television series created for Saturday morning television, and was first broadcast on September 14, 1985 on CBS. An idea of Michael Eisner for his new Disney television animation studio, the Wuzzles are crossbred animals which sport a combined appearance of the two parent species. Only 13 episodes of Wuzzles were produced, making it one of the shortest running animated series produced by Disney.^[1] A second season was planned to be made, but the future episodes were never made due to the death of Bill Scott (the voice of Moosel). Scott's death, however, did not stop a second season of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (which also starred Bill Scott) which premiered the same day as Wuzzles. One season later, Wuzzles moved to ABC (which was eventually sold to Disney) for reruns, and disappeared from network television after that.

Premise

Wuzzles features a variety of short, rounded animal characters (each called a Wuzzle, which means to mix up). Each is a roughly even, and colorful, mix of two different animal species (as the theme song mentions, "...livin' with a split personality"), and all the characters sport wings on their backs, although only Bumblelion and Butterbear are seemingly capable of flight. All of the Wuzzles live on the Isle of Wuz. Double species are not limited to the Wuzzles themselves. From the appleberries they eat to the telephonograph in the home, or a luxury home called a castlescraper, nearly everything on Wuz is mixed together in the same way the Wuzzles are. The characters in the show were marketed extensively. The characters were featured in children's books, as poseable figures and plush toys (similar to Care Bears), and in a board game. Disney premiered two animated series on the same day, Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, but on different networks. The Wuzzles was on CBS, and Gummi Bears was on NBC. Although Gummi Bears was a successful series, Wuzzles was not, at least in the US. However, it does have a fan base today. It was a much bigger success in the United Kingdom where the pilot episode aired as a theatrical featurette in 1986. In the United Kingdom, Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears were originally screened on the same channel (ITV) in 1985/1986, therefore both series enjoyed high popularity, and Wuzzles was also repeated on the Children's BBC in 1987. Reruns of the show were aired on both Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Lead vocal on the theme song for Wuzzles is performed by songwriter Stephen Geyer.

Characters

• Bumblelion (voiced by Brian Cummings): Half bumblebee and half lion, Bumblelion is mostly lion in appearance.. He is a short, squat orange furred creature with a pink mane, fuzzy antennae, a lion's tail, small insect wings, and horizontal brown stripes up his tummy. He lives in a beehive, likes sports, is courageous, and has a crush on Butterbear. He is said to be the sort who "...rush in where angels fear to tread". He and Eleroo are best friends.
• Butterbear (voiced by Kathleen Helppie): Half bear and half butterfly, Butterbear is mostly bear in appearance. She has yellow fur with a white tummy, larger wings than the other Wuzzles, and short antennae with flowers on their ends. She is a keen gardener who is gentle and patient despite the crazy adventures of her friends.
• Eleroo (voiced by Henry Gibson): Half elephant and half kangaroo. One of the larger Wuzzles, Eleroo is purple, with the body shape and tail of a kangaroo and an elephant's trunk and ears. He has a horizontally striped pouch (despite the fact that pouches are found only on female kangaroos). Eleroo has trouble remembering what he stores in his pouch. He is sweet, but accident/disaster prone. He and Bumblelion are best friends.
• Moosel (voiced by Bill Scott): Half moose and half seal. Moosel is a small Wuzzle. He has antlers and flippers. Moosel has a vivid imagination, which makes him believe in monsters. He and Rhinokey are best friends.
• Hoppopotamus (voiced by Jo Anne Worley): Half rabbit, half hippopotamus. She is called Hoppo by her friends. Hoppo is a Wuzzle who is a hippopotamus with a rabbit's ears, buck teeth and a fluffy tail. She has blue fur with a purple tummy, and she loves to sing and act. Hoppo is a pushy demanding diva, but she can be sweet. However, when toughness is called for (particularly in dealing with the regular villain, Croc), she is the toughest Wuzzle of all. Hoppo has a crush on Bumblelion, but Bumblelion has his heart set on Butterbear.
• Rhinokey (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer): Half rhinoceros and half monkey. Rhinokey is a Wuzzle who has a rhino-like snout with a horizontal-stripped horn, pink fur, and rhino-like legs. He is in a posture that is very much like that of a monkey's. Rhinokey is a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky prankster. He loves to play practical jokes. He can be obnoxious, but he loves his friends. Rhinokey is Moosel's best friend.
• Tycoon (voiced by Gregg Berger): Half Tiger and half Raccoon. Tycoon is the rich kid of Wuz. He owns a money tree. He shows the other Wuzzles that he got his wealth from smart investing and saving his money, and teaches the Wuzzles about fiscal responsibility.
• Crock (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer): Half crocodile, half dinosaur, and the main villain of the show. Crock is bad-tempered, lazy, vile, ignorant, a bully, and does anything to get what he wants. He always wants the best of what the Wuzzles have, but does not want to apply the effort to acquire it himself.
  • Brat (voiced by Bill Scott): Half wild boar, half dragon, and Crock's chief sidekick. Brat sputters, raspberries, cries, laughs, yells, growls, and grunts in his speech, but Crock understands what he is saying. Like Crock, he is very lazy and has a strong dislike towards the Wuzzles coupled with a desire to have the best of what they have without applying any effort towards acquiring it. As his name implies, Brat is very bad tempered and is often shown throwing tantrums when he does not get his own way. He is also greatly lacking in intelligence, and his incompetence often sees himself and Crock falling victim to their own devices, which in turn occasionally sees the two of them falling out.
  • Frizard (voiced by Brian Cummings): Half frog, half lizard, and Crock's other sidekick. Frizard is not particularly intelligent, but he means well and is more amiable in his manner than either Crock or Brat, and relatively more tolerant of the Wuzzles, but nevertheless very loyal to Crock; on occasions where Crock and Brat fall out, it is often left to Frizard to try and patch things up between them. His character essentially emphasises tolerance of others who one is not particularly close to, while staying loyal to one's friends regardless of whether their plans are morally right or not. Frizard does not appear in every episode, only making sporadic appearances throughout the series.
• Narrator (voiced by Stan Freberg): The narrator of the series, who would often be heard at intervals and broke the fourth wall, telling the audience points where he considered trouble ahead for the Wuzzles or explaining a certain facet of the island of Wuz. The narrator is possibly a Wuzzle himself.

Minor or one-shot characters

• Officer Eaglebeagle: Half beagle, half bald eagle. He is a no-nonsense cop who appears in the episodes "In the Money" and "Klutz on the Clutch", both times dealing with illegal behaviour from Rhinokey (allegedly robbing a bank and dangerous driving, respectively). His name may be a joke on the phrase 'legal eagle'.
• Mrs Pedigree (voiced by Tress MacNeille): Half swan, half ostrich. She is a rich, sophisticated Wuzzle who is highly respected in the gang's hometown. She made very brief appearances in the episodes "In the Money" and "Klutz on the Clutch" before having a major role in "Class Dismissed" when she hosted a swanky party at her estate.
• Transylvia: Half vulture, half monkey. She is the vampire-witch of the Terrified Forest. Her name is a joke on Transylvania. She looks a bit like the winged monkeys from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, travels on a flying 'boomerangstick' and is proud of the fact that people are scared of her, but seems to have self-confidence issues (until the end of the episode, anyway) and turned out to not be so scary once the gang got to know her (although she dissuaded them from telling anyone).
  • The Dingbats: Transylvia's henchmen, described as 'part dingo, part bat, and ugly all over' by the Narrator. They don't speak (apart from a few sniggers) and seem to be rather incompetent, bringing their mistress Butterbear when she told them to find butterberries.
  • The Gorantula: Half gorilla and half tarantula. Transylvia's pet, which was enlarged into an aggressive monster by a miscast spell and drove Transylvia out of her castle. The gang helped her to magically shrink it back to a more manageable size.
• Peter Parrcat: Half parrot, half cat and the owner of Parrcat Studios in Hollywuz. He spent most of :Hooray for Hollywuz: ordering his security to throw the persistent but unwanted Hoppo out of the studio. He doesn't seem to be able to say anything without squawking loudly at some point during the sentence.
  • Steven Sealberg: Half seal, half kangaroo and another Hollywuz movie director whose film making was interrupted by Hoppo. His name is a parody of movie producer Steven Spielberg.

Characters that appeared in books and as plush toys

• Piggypine: Half Pig and half Porcupine.
• Koalakeet: Half Koala and half Parakeet.
• Pandeaver: Half Panda and half Beaver.
• Woolrus: Half Lamb and half Walrus.
• Skowl: Half Skunk and half Owl.

Baby Wuzzles

These characters appeared only as plush toys

• Chipadillo: Half Chipmunk and half Armadillo.
• Foxee: Half Fox and half Zebra.
• Kittypen: Half Kitten and half Penguin.
• Moofly: Half Calf and half Dragonfly.
• Peepsqueak: Half Mouse and half Chick.
• Puppling: Half Puppy and half Duckling.

Episode list

International broadcast

• Spain
  • TVE1 (1986-1987)
• United Kingdom
  • CITV (1998–2000)
• Chile
  • Canal 13 (1992–1995)
  • RED TV (1996–2000)
• Latin America
  • Disney Channel (2000–2002)

Popular culture

• The Wuzzles are parodied in the Robot Chicken episode "Especially The Animal Keith Crofford" with Bumblelion voiced by Breckin Meyer, Butterbear voiced by Vanessa Hudgens, and Eleroo voiced by Seth Green. The three Wuzzles wonder how their parents got together given the biological impossibility of such a mating. Bumblelion envisions that his bumblebee mother and a lion had sex with each other, Eleroo envisions the same thing with an elephant and a kangaroo, and Donkeyhuman (a modified Hoppopotamus figure that's voiced by Seth Green) attempts to do the same only to be cut off by the other Wuzzles who don't want to know.

• Wuzzle "walk around" costumes that were used for Disney theme parks and parade floats have appeared in numerous movies, TV shows and music videos after being accidentally sold off.^[2]
  • The Dixie Chicks music video "Ready to Run" featured the Moosel costume.
  • The Eleroo costume appeared in the movie Old School.
  • Wuzzle costumes have also been spotted in the Fox sitcoms Grounded for Life and Malcolm in the Middle.
  • A Butterbear Costume was seen in an episode of Sonny With a Chance.

• One of the Kim Possible villains, DNAmy, is obsessed with Wuzzle-like toys called 'Cuddle Buddies' and uses genetic engineering to create hybrid animals in their likeness.

• A Bumblelion plush toy was a frequent recurring prop in Australian soap opera Neighbours during its 1986 and 1987 seasons. Lucy Robinson was often shown carrying it around.

References

1. ^ "Disney Enters Saturday's Cartoon Fray". Orlando Sentinel. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-08-29/lifestyle/0320350039_1_animation-disney-to-produce-disney-productions. Retrieved 2010-10-19. 
2. ^ http://jimhillmedia.com/Editor_In_Chief/b/jim_hill/archive/2003/09/12/324.aspx

External links

• The Wuzzles at the Internet Movie Database
• The Wuzzles at TV.com