Tijuana Toads

Opening Card
Toro and Pancho
Portrayed by Don Diamond
Tom Holland
Information
Species Toads
Gender Male

The Tijuana Toads are the main characters in a series of 17 theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie-Freleng and released through United Artists.

Plot

The series was about two toads, Toro and Pancho, who live in the Mexican city of Tijuana. Throughout the cartoon they try to eat their prey, but always get outsmarted. They would sometimes themselves be targeted by a bird, Crazylegs Crane, and would in turn always outsmart him.

The series introduced two characters who later got their own series. The Blue Racer first appeared in "Snake in the Gracias" before getting his own series in 1972. Crazylegs Crane also spun off to his own series for television in 1978 on ABC. Both characters were voiced by Larry D. Mann, except in "Flight to the Finish" where Bob Holt voiced Crazylegs Crane.[1][2]

Toro was voiced by actor Don Diamond and Pancho voiced by Tom Holland. Crazylegs Crane was voiced by Larry D. Mann. Directorial duties were split between Hawley Pratt, Art Davis, Grant Simmons, and Gerry Chiniquy.[1]

When series began airing in 1976 as part of The Pink Panther Show, NBC redubbed Tijuana Toads and renamed it Texas Toads to make the series less offensive.[1] A laugh track was added to the new soundtrack, and the toads were given the new names of Fatso and Banjo.[1] Producer David H. DePatie later commented on the process:

"When they (Tijuana Toads) went on television, we had to completely change them around and the series became known as the Texas Toads, and we had to redo all of the tracks that had any type of ethnic content and it really watered down the series down. We all thought it was a hell of a lot more funny when it was the Tijuana Toads, but at the time we had to do it in order to bring the thing on television."[3]

Filmography

№ Title Directed by: Story: Released: Synopsis:
1 Tijuana Toads Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn August 6, 1969
2 A Pair of Greenbacks Art Davis John W. Dunn December 16, 1969
3 Go for Croak Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn December 25, 1969
4 The Froggy Froggy Duo Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn March 15, 1970
5 Hop and Chop Grant Simmons Dale Hale June 17, 1970
6 Never on Thirsty Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn August 5, 1970
7 A Dopey Hacienda Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn December 6, 1970
8 Snake in the Gracias Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn January 24, 1971
9 Two Jumps and a Chump Gerry Chiniquy John W. Dunn March 28, 1971
10 Mud Squad Art Davis John W. Dunn April 28, 1971
11 The Egg and Ay-Yi-Yi! Gerry Chiniquy Dale Hale June 6, 1971
12 Fastest Tongue in the West Gerry Chiniquy Larz Bourne June 20, 1971
13 A Leap in the Deep Hawley Pratt John W. Dunn June 20, 1971
14 Croakus Pocus Art Davis John W. Dunn December 26, 1971
15 Serape Happy Gerry Chiniquy John W. Dunn December 26, 1971
16 Frog Jog Gerry Chiniquy John W. Dunn April 23, 1972
17 Flight to the Finish Art Davis John W. Dunn April 30, 1972

Remade and reused scenes and plots

"A Pair of Greenbacks" reused some scenes based on "Mouse and Garden" and "Two Crows from Tacos".
"Go for Croak" reused the nitroglycerin drinking trick from "Mouse Mazurka".
"Never on Thirsty" reused from scenes from "The Honeymousers".

Revivals

The characters were resurrected for the 1993 TV series The Pink Panther. As the case when the original shorts were shown on TV, they were rebranded as the Texas Toads. The toads were redesigned as western sheriffs with oversized cowboy hats replacing their sombreros.[1][4]

Home video release

VHS

In 1987, Go for Croak was released on VHS as part of Cartoon Festival.

DVD

In 2016, Kino International released the complete series with the original soundtrack, digitally remastered from the original negatives and in the original ratio.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Beck, Jerry (2006). Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town. New York, New York: Dorling Kindersley, Ltd. p. 614. ISBN 0-7864-2256-4.
  2. ↑ Television Cartoon Shows: The shows, M-Z. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. 2005. p. 614. ISBN 0-7566-1033-8.
  3. ↑ David H. DePatie interview, December 2010
  4. ↑ The Texas Toads (Spanish dubbed version)
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