Tiny Toons - Definition and Overview

Tiny 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.

The animation studio was reinstated by Warner Bros. following the sensational success of the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which featured prominent appearances by many of the classic Warner Bros. cartoon stars including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and many others. The studio worked with Steven Spielberg to produce a new generation of cartoon stars for the 1990s, influenced by the classic Warner Bros. cartoons of old (and which Spielberg had long considered a major influence on his own career).

Characters

The 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, Calamity Coyote, and Dizzy Devil (modeled respectively after Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Pepe Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, and The Tasmanian Devil), 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 and Merrie Melodies cartoon, "Porky in Wackyland." 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, Byron Basset, Concord Condor (modeled respectively 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.

Reputation and legacy

Though 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 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.

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 Batman: The Animated Series.

One feature-length Tiny Toon Adventures "movie" was released direct-to-video in 1991, entitled . 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

• 1991
  • Daytime Emmy Awards, USA: Outstanding Animated Program (Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, Ken Boyer, Art Leonardi, Art Vitello, Paul Dini, Sherri Stoner) - winner
  • Environmental Media Awards, USA: EMA Award Children's Animated – winner (for episode Whales Tales)
  • Young Artist Awards, USA: Best New Cartoon Series - winner
• 1992
  • Daytime Emmy Awards, USA: Outstanding Animated Program (Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, Sherri Stoner, Rich Arons, Art Leonardi) - nominated
• 1993
  • Daytime Emmy Awards, USA: Outstanding Animated Program (Steven Spielberg, Tom Ruegger, Sherri Stoner, Rich Arons, Byron Vaughns, Ken Boyer, Alfred Gimeno, David West) - winner
  • Young Artist Awards, USA: Outstanding Young Voice-Over in an Animated Series or Special (Whitby Hertford) - nominated

Voice actors and their characters

Episodes

Season 1

1. The Looney Beginning
2. A Quack in the Quarks
3. The Wheel O' Comedy
4. Test Stress
5. The Buster Bunny Bunch
6. Her Wacky Highness
7. Journey to the Center of Acme Acres
8. Stuff that Goes Bump in the Night
9. It's Buster Bunny Time
10. Looking Out for the Little Guy
11. Starting from Scratch
12. Hare Raising Night
13. Furrball Follies
14. The Acme Acres Zone
15. Life in the 1990's
16. Rock 'N' Roar
17. Promise Her Anything
18. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
19. Cinemaniacs!
20. You Asked For It
21. Gang Busters
22. Citizen Max
23. Wake Up Call of the Wild
24. Buster and the Wolverine
25. You Asked For It, Part II
26. Hollywood Plucky
27. Europe in 30 Minutes
28. The Wacko World of Sports
29. Rainy Daze
30. Fields of Honey
31. Sawdust and Toonsil
32. Spring in Acme Acres
33. Psychic Fun-Omenon Day
34. The Wide World of Elmyra
35. A Ditch in Time
36. Animaniacs!
37. Career Oppor-Toon-ities
38. Strange Tales of Weird Science
39. Inside Plucky Duck
40. The Acme Bowl
41. Dating, Acme Acres Style
42. Looniversity Daze
43. Best O' Plucky Duck Day
44. Hero Hamton
45. Whale's Tales
46. Ask Mr. Popular
47. Son of Looniversity Daze
48. Mr. Popular Rules of Cool
49. Fairy Tales for the 90's

Season 2

1. Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?
2. Tiny Toons Music Television
3. The Return to the Acme Acres Zone
4. The Acme Home Shopping Show
5. Weirdest Story Ever Told
6. Viewer Mail Day
7. Son of the Wacko World of Sports
8. Pollution Solution
9. You Asked For It Again
10. Brave Tales of Real Rabbits
11. How Sweetie It Is
12. New Character Day
13. Hero Hamton
14. No Toon Is An Island
15. K-ACME TV
16. High Toon
17. Pledge Week
18. Going Places
19. Elephant Issues
20. Hog-Wild Hamton
21. Playtime Toons
22. Toon Physics
23. Acme Cable TV
24. Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian
25. Henny Youngman Day
26. Love Disconnection
27. Kon Ducki
28. Sepulveda Boulevard
29. Take Elmyra Please
30. Thirteensomething
31. New Class Day
32. Fox Trot
33. What Makes Toon Tick
34. Flea For Your Life
35. The Return of Batduck
36. Toons Take Over
37. Toons from the Crypt
38. Two-Tone Town
39. Buster's Directorial Debut
40. Washingtoon
41. Toon TV
42. Grandma's Dead
43. Music Day
44. The Horror or Slumber Party Mountain
45. Sport Shorts
46. Weekday Afternoon Live
47. A Cat's Eye View
48. Best of Buster Day
49. It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special

Movie: How I Spent My Vacation (direct-to-video movie)

Total Episodes: 99

The video games

Since 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

• Tiny Toon Adventures (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Warner_Bros_/Television/Tiny_Toon_Adventures/index.html) at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Tiny Toon Adventures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098929/) at the Internet Movie Database
• alt.tv.tiny-toon Frequently Asked Questions (http://kumo.swcp.com/synth/tta-faq.html) Tiny Toons FAQ
• Tiny Toon Image Gallery Plus (http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/wax/329/) Site featuring TTA images both offical and fan-made
• Project T.U.T.T.A.W. (http://www.geocities.com/tta_dude/enter.html) #1 major source for all things Tiny Toons