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Encyclopedia :
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Tiny Toon Adventures |
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Tiny Toon AdventuresTiny Toon Adventures is an animated television series created by the Warner Bros animation studio. It was the result of the first collaboration between Steven Spielberg and the newly reborn Warner Bros. Animation studio. The first season aired in 1990, the second season in 1991 and the third and final season was aired in 1992. __TOC__ The idea for the show was that of Terry Semel, then president of Warner Bros. In the mid-80s, he saw how successful and popular younger versions of famous characters like Ultraman Kids, Muppet Babies and Flintstones Kids were, and thought of doing a kids version of Looney Tunes. Originally, the characters were going to be the offspring of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies gang or Bugs Bunny and co. themselves as children (an idea which perhaps ended up becoming Baby Looney Tunes). It wasn't until Steven Spielberg and his hugely successful production company Amblin Entertainment (makers of hits like Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, The Back to the Future Trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and more) got involved that characters became spiritual, not literal, descendents of Warner's famous Toon stars and they (the kid characters) would be the proteges of the Golden Age WB animated cartoon film stars. Early on, the characters were intended to be used in a theatrical feature film, but in December of 1988 it was officially decided that the Tiny Toons would instead be used in an animated cartoon TV series. CharactersThe series premiered in 1990, and it was an instant hit. It revolved around a group of young cartoon characters training at Acme Looniversity to be the next generation of Looney Tunes characters. As a result most of the characters were designed to resemble younger versions of classic Warner Bros' most popular cartoon stars. Characters include: Buster Bunny and Babs Bunny (no relation), as well as Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Furrball, Sweetie Pie, Fifi La Fume, Shirley the Loon (a.ka. Shirley McClune), Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper and Dizzy Devil (modeled respectively after Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Pepe Le Pew, Miss Prissy, Wile E. Coyote, the Road-Runner and The Tasmanian Devil/Taz), rich brat Montana Max, and crazed dippy animal-lover Elmyra Duff (modeled respectively after Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd). Somewhat obscure compared to the others, Li'l Sneezer was a revival of Sniffles and the character of Gogo Dodo was based on the original Dodo from an older Looney Tunes cartoon, "Porky in Wackyland" that was released in theaters in 1938 and was directed by Bob Clampett. Minor original characters included a family of fleas who lived on Furrball, a trio of singing girl roaches (modelled after The Roches, an actual girl group), Barky Marky (based on Marc Anthony from several Chuck Jones-directed short subjects), Byron Basset, Concord Condor (modeled after Beaky Buzzard), Arnold the pit bull (who was modeled after Arnold Schwarzenegger), in Foghorn Leghorn's image is Fowlmouth, a young chicken who cussed like a drunken sailor; and the two Ralphs. One was a fat security guard who later migrated to Animaniacs. The other was a slobbish Ralph Bakshi caricature. Most of the series's original characters attended Acme Looniversity, a university/high school in the fictional city of Acme Acres (where most of the Tiny Toons and Looney Tunes characters lived in this series), whose faculty primarily consisted of the mainstays of the classic Warner cartoons. In the series' internal continuity, 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, Daffy Duck taught Puns and Catchphrases, Yosemite Sam taught both Firearms and Anvilology (the study of falling anvils for comic effect, later referenced in the "Anvilania" episode of Animaniacs), and Elmer Fudd taught Booby Traps. 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 the late Mel Blanc); the principal was later revealed to be Bugs Bunny in disguise. Wile E. Coyote was the dean. The show's characters were developed by Jean MacCurdy, Dan Romanelli, Paul Dini, Tom Ruegger, Sherri Stoner, and Wayne Katz; named by Jim Reardon, Tom Minton, Eddie Fitzgerald, and others; and designed by Dan Haskett, Karen Haskett, Ken Boyer and Alfred Gimeno. Reputation and legacyThough the characters were cute and colorful, the show had an edginess that made it quite unlike many other cartoons of the day. It often contained "gross out" humor dealing with bodily functions as well as sophisticated 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"/Michael Bolton, etc).
Critics of the series considered the Tiny Toons characters to be little more than knock-offs of the original Termite Terrace creations, but the series' writers proved that new life could be breathed into the old formula of producing "kiddie versions of adult cartoon stars" (a formula that had been worn dry by Hanna-Barbera). The characters were given distinct personalities of their own, especially Babs Bunny. An early controversy of Tiny Toons was that, in order to have 65 episodes made for the first season, Warner and Amblin had to have several different animation houses each do their share of episodes (a process that Warner and Disney and other studios have done before and since with their TV cartoon series), and some animation studios had poor animation. Kennedy Cartoons is considered by both the fandom and the cast and crew of the show to be the worst animation house that worked on Tiny Toons. Warner stopped outsourcing to Kennedy after the first season. A major controversy of Tiny Toons (and of its follow-ups like Animaniacs), was that it used scripts more importantly than storyboards. The classic Warner, Disney, etc. classic cartoons from Hollywood's Golden Age used storyboards only, and when scripts started being in the animation industry in the late 1960s, many animation vetrans felt the script-driven cartoons were inferior to storyboard-driven cartoons. During production of the 3rd season, Charlie Adler (voice of Buster Bunny) and Joe Alasky (voice of Plucky Duck) had a big fight with the producers, because Adler and Alasky were outraged that they, the main stars of Tiny Toons, weren't given any roles on Warner's then-in-the-works followup to Tiny Toons: Animaniacs. The fact that bit players in Tiny Toons like Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche were given starring roles in Animaniacs infuriated Adler and Alasky even further. As a result, in a few episodes and specials of Tiny Toons, Charlie Adler was replaced as the voice of Buster by John Kassir (the voice of the Crypt Keeper on Tales from the Crypt) A number of episodes of the show relied heavily on the plots of the original Warner Bros cartoons, and they had varying degrees of success. Several homages to the original cartoons were hugely successful ("The Anvil Chorus," "Fields of Honey"), though quite a few episodes of the show seemed little more than re-treads of the original routines from the classic Looney Tunes. Still, this was enough to win the show a wide following, and attract an adult audience as well (especially among college students). The success of Tiny Toon Adventures inspired Warner Bros. to make further investments in high-quality animation for television, leading to the creation of Animaniacs and the smash hit . One feature-length Tiny Toon Adventures "movie" was released direct-to-video in 1991, entitled Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation. This heavily gag-laden feature is considered by fans to be the crown jewel of the show. Its psychotic, chainsaw-wielding villain, "Mr. Hitcher", even appeared in several other shorts, including one with Plucky remembering himself as a baby. 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. In 1992, The Plucky Duck Show was produced as a spin-off of Tiny Toon Adventures, concentrating attention on the daffy young star. Although there was some original material, most of the episodes were repackaged Tiny Toon Adventures shorts. After only one thirteen-episode season, the show was cancelled. In 1998, another spin-off was produced, this one starring Elmyra alongside Animaniacs stars Pinky and the Brain, and was titled Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain. Unfortunately, it wasn't as popular as its predecessors and was also cancelled after thirteen episodes. Tiny Toon Adventures can currently be seen on Nicktoons TV. Awards
Season 2(1991-1992)
Total Episodes: 99 The video gamesSince the creation of Tiny Toon Adventures, there have been a multitude of video games based on the series. During the '90s, Konami held the license to develop and publish Tiny Toon Adventures games. Several other companies have since held such a license, including Atari, NewKidCo, Warthog, and Treasure. A list of the Tiny Toon Adventures Video Games. External links
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