Tiny Toon Adventures

Tiny Toon Adventures (a.k.a. Tiny Toons) is an animated 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.

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 by imitators, and often appeared under parody names ("Tom Snooze" instead of Tom Cruise, "Michael Molten-Lava"/Michael Bolton, etc).

Related Topics:
Parody - Tom Cruise - Michael Bolton

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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.

Related Topics:
Termite Terrace - "kiddie versions of adult cartoon stars" - Hanna-Barbera

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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). The many animation studios to work on Tiny Toons were Tokyo Movie Shinsa (usually regarded as the best), Wang Film Productions, AKOM, Freelance Animators New Zealand, Encore Cartoons, StarToons, and Kennedy Cartoons, 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.

Related Topics:
Tokyo Movie Shinsa - Wang Film Productions - AKOM - Freelance Animators New Zealand - Encore Cartoons - StarToons - Kennedy Cartoons

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A major controversy of Tiny Toons (and of its follow-ups like Animaniacs), was that it used scripts more dominantly than storyboards. The classic cartoons from Warner, Disney, and so on from Hollywood's Golden Age used storyboards only; when scripts emerged in the animation industry in the late 1960s, many animation veterans felt the script-driven cartoons were inferior to storyboard-driven cartoons.

Related Topics:
Animaniacs - Storyboard - Hollywood's - 1960s

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During production of the 3rd season, Charlie Adler (voice of Buster Bunny) and Joe Alaskey (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 (famous for being voice of the Crypt Keeper on Tales from the Crypt).

Related Topics:
Charlie Adler - Buster Bunny - Joe Alaskey - Plucky Duck - Rob Paulsen - Maurice LaMarche - John Kassir - Crypt Keeper - Tales from the Crypt

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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 TV, leading to the creation of Animaniacs and the smash hit '.

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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.

Related Topics:
Movie - Direct-to-video - 1991

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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.

Related Topics:
Fox - March 27 - 1994 - December 6 - 1992

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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.

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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.

Related Topics:
1998 - Elmyra - Pinky and the Brain

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