Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (TV series)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Title card
Genre Animated
Comedy
Voices of Michael Daingerfield
Theme music composer Jim Curiale
Tim Torrance
Country of origin United States
Canada
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 39 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) James G. Robinson
Gary Barber
Toper Taylor
Patrick Loubert
Michael Hirsh
Producer(s) Eleanor Kearney
Running time 22–24 minutes
Production company(s) Morgan Creek Productions
Nelvana
Distributor Warner Bros. Television
Broadcast
Original channel CBS (1995–1997)
Nickelodeon (1999–2000)
Original run December 9, 1995 – January 30, 2000
Chronology
Preceded by Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is an animated television series based on the film of the same name. The series was produced by Morgan Creek Productions and Nelvana for Warner Bros. Television. It aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997 on CBS. A third season and reruns of previous episodes aired on Nickelodeon from 1999 to 2000.

Overview

The series is a sequel of the Ace Ventura movies. The titular character, voiced by Canadian actor Michael Daingerfield (credited as Michael Hall), is a goofy private investigator with a predilection for animals of all species.

The show ran on CBS for two seasons, with a third season airing on Nickelodeon when that channel acquired the show to broadcast reruns. Many of the characters from the movie were retained, though not voiced by their original actors. While the original movies already had a strongly cartoonish comedic aesthetic, they were eclipsed by the slapstick and garish humor of the cartoon. A young Seth MacFarlane (who would later be known for Family Guy, its spin-off The Cleveland Show, and American Dad!) was among the many writers over the course of the show's run.

The show was rife with toilet humor and anachronisms (one episode centered around the Egyptian Mau, claiming it to be an extinct breed of cat, when, in fact, they are not), displaying similar humor to his later series. Despite running in a time slot after The Mask (another popular Jim Carrey-based cartoon) and a well-advertised crossover with that show (in that series' finale, "The Aceman Cometh"), the series failed to gain a large audience. Ultimately, both The Mask and Ace Ventura were cancelled. A new and completely different season of the series ran on Nickelodeon.

A computer game, Ace Ventura, was based on the show.

Cast

Crossover

In The Mask‍ '​s final episode "The Aceman Cometh", the Mask teamed up with Ace Ventura. At the time of the original airing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was running in the adjoining time slot in CBS's Saturday morning lineup. During the crossover Stanley/Mask and Ace keep their own respective animation style while within the other's show.

Milo, Stanley's dog, has his brain switched with that of a scientist and is then dognapped. Stanley in turn hires Ace Ventura to help get him back. Upon the end of the episode, Spike, Ace's pet monkey, steals the mask. Stanley travels to Florida to get the mask back. The crossover is concluded in the Ace Ventura episode "Have Mask, Will Travel".

DVD release

A three-episode DVD of the show was bundled with the two Ace Ventura movies. The back of the package has a mistake in the description of the pilot episode "The Reindeer Hunter," stating that Santa's main reindeer, Rudolph, has been kidnapped when in truth, Rudolph is not in the episode at all, rather it was the rest of his reindeer that had been kidnapped. This was also the only DVD release of this show.

External links