The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.
“Tiny Toon Adventures” Created by Tom Ruegger; Starring Charles Adler, Tress MacNeille, Joe Alaskey, and Don Messick. Series ran from 1990 – 1992.
“Tiny Toon Adventures” otherwise known simply as Tiny Toons was the first project that partnered Steven Spielberg with Warner Bros. and followed a younger generation of Toons attending Acme Looniversity with dreams of becoming the next wave of “Looney Tunes” characters. Most of the characters were modeled after the familiar “Looney Tunes” cast though they weren’t necessarily related. In addition the staff of the school consisted almost entirely of “Looney Tunes” alums.
Though Babs and Buster Bunny were considered the central characters of the show, it spent a lot of time telling stories involving other characters, not always centering around or even involving either of the two rabbits.
In addition to Babs and Buster the core cast of characters included Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Fifi La Fume, Dizzy Devil, Calamity Coyote, Montana Max and Elmyra Duff, two human characters that served as this generations main villains, and finally my personal favorite Gogo Dodo, among others.
The series ran for three seasons before being cancelled in favor or another Spielberg/Warner collaboration you might have heard of, “Animaniacs.” In that time they produced 98 episodes. After production halted, there were two additional specials created, rounding the number to a flat 100, as well as feature length film entitled “Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation.”
Episodes ranged from the innocent every day musings of a cartoon world to veiled messages about growing up and doing right. It’s easy to see why these collaborations were so successful and resonate with fans more than twenty years after the shows left the airwaves.
When thinking about “Tiny Toon Adventures” it didn’t seem right to watch just one, which is why today’s edition of Saturday Morning Cartoon! is a double feature. First up is “Henny Youngman Day which features three shorter clip episodes including one of my childhood favorites “The Potty Years” featuring Plucky Duck. The second episode is “Her Wacky Highness” wherein Babs runs away to Wackyland.
“Stand-Up and Deliver”
Babs decides it’s time for her to take her act on the road and gets a gig headlining an open mic night at a local club. A famous and beloved comic, Red Rad Robin Killems, arrives and steps on the stage to Babs’ horror. She freaks out because she’s terrified of having to follow him. Luckily he sees the situation he’s created and steps in to help Babs out.
“The Potty Years”
Flashback to Plucky’s early childhood, his parents are teaching him how to use the toilet, at first he’s afraid but soon he learns to enjoy using the toilet, perhaps a little too much. Wackiness ensues.
This bit was funny as a kid, enough so that it’s more vivid in my memory than almost any other segment or episode. It’s even funnier now that I’m a parent and dealt with this situation in the relatively recent past. Luckily my kid isn’t a psychotic green duck, at least as far as I know.
“Lame Joke”
In the final segment Buster, Babs, Plucky, and Hamton are all out having a picnic and telling jokes. Buster tells a “lame joke” the joke appears as a literal embodiment and succinctly dies after Buster tells it badly.
“Her Wacky Highness”
This episode isn’t segmented and tells one longer cohesive story. The episode opens with the kids in class, Elmer Fudd is teaching a lesson on cartoon physics when he’s called out of the classroom. While he’s gone Babs mimics and mocks him resulting in her being sent to the Principal for the third time this week. She is sent home from school for the rest of the day where her Mom becomes the third person to lecture her on having self-control.
Frustrated that no one appreciates her, she runs away to Wackyland, the home of Gogo Dodo residing in uncharted cartoon territory. Wackyland seemingly exists where the rules of cartoon physics are taken to their most extreme. Babs quickly gets the hang of living there and the local population take a liking to her. She is invited to a fancy Schmancy dinner at Wackyland Palace where she is made the Queen of Wackyland.
But things don’t stay great for long and she and her friends, who’ve come to rescue her, have to escape Wackyland before it’s too late.