TV Show Info:
Writers: Various
Directors: Various
Cast: Tress MacNeille, Charles Adler, Joe Alaskey, Frank Welker, Don Messick, Cree Summer, Danny Cooksey, Kath Soucie, Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen, Candi Milo
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Warner Home Video

Release Info:
Original Air Dates: September 14, 1990-December 6, 1992
Box Set Season Air Dates: September 14, 1990-November 9, 1990
DVD Box Set Release Date: July 15, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $30.99, Wal-Mart for $30.86
Episodes: The first 35 episodes from Season One

They’re Tiny, They’re Toony,
They’re All a Little Loony,
And in this Cartoon-y,
They’re Invading your TV!

I was born in 1980. You have to know that I grew up with this show. It first aired when I was nine years old. The semi-sarcastic wit that made Looney Tunes a household name for generations before my own is ever present in this series. Why shouldn’t it be? Tiny Toon Adventures is a hilarious adaptation of that original formula. With some of the biggest names in voice talent, a production staff that includes the best from Warner Bros. Animation and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, and a show that even happens to carry Spielberg’s name (it was known as Steven Spielberg presents Tiny Toon Adventures in a formal setting) you’d be an idiot not to expect one entertaining cartoon.

What I liked the most about Tiny Toon Adventures was the repartee between the characters and the inclusion of the audience as an active member of the show, with characters actually talking to the screen. All of the characters have similarities to the original Looney Tunes regulars, yet the Tiny Toon cast all have their own distinct personalities and quirks. Sure, some of them are annoying, but together, they make up an ensemble that works as well together as the original Looney Tunes.

The creators of Tiny Toon Adventures were smart. Not only did they play off the most famous group of cartoon characters to ever exist (the Looney Tunes), the show actually contained frequent cameos by these characters. One of the main focal points of the series is when the characters on Tiny Toon Adventures attend school at ACME Looniversity, where their teachers are Looney Tunes greats such as Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and even Sylvester.

Tiny Toon Adventures always made the perfect thirty minutes of fun spent right after school was let out. I remember rushing home, making sure all my homework was done in time and turning on Tiny Toon Adventures. For those thirty minutes, I could sit back and enjoy before going outside to play or heading to after school, evening activities. The show has enjoyed a healthy syndication run on various networks including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. While Tiny Toon Adventures isn’t currently airing on any television station now, I have no doubt that it will once again run, making a new generation fans of this show that so many of us who grew up in the 80s and early 90s love.

Still, Tiny Toon Adventures wasn’t just able to air. It had its critics and while I found the accusations unfounded (merely because the show is supposed to be an adaption of the original Looney Tunes), the primary complaint was that Tiny Toon Adventures was a ‘bastardized’ version of Looney Tunes. The point of the show (at least from my standpoint) was that these characters made up the new generation, so they were modeled after the Looney Tunes stars. There is a connection between nearly every character from the new generation to the old. That’s the entire purpose of the show. The old generation is training the new generation, and their adventures are played out on screen. Apparently, the critics just didn’t get the memo that explained this.

The Tiny Toon Adventures: Season 1, Vol. 1 box set is a four disc set. This includes the first 35 episodes of the first season. I love cartoons. Many cartoons have huge seasons. Traditional television shows are lucky to have around 25 episodes. Not cartoons. Tiny Toon Adventures boasts a 65-episode first season and it’s no wonder Warner Home Video split this first season up into two volumes. This is already four discs in length and well worth the price you’ll pay for the amount of 30-minute episodes you receive in this box set (over 1000 minutes of Tiny Toon Adventures fun)!

The Tiny Toon Adventures Plot
This is the first time that Tiny Toon Adventures has been released on DVD. The show centers on a cast of characters that are all a reflection of the famed Looney Tunes characters. The entire purpose of the show is that the Tiny Toons are the new cartoon characters for a new generation. They are being trained by the veterans from Looney Tunes in how to be entertaining. With plenty of comedy sprinkled throughout, the show starts off with the making of a cartoon. The characters go through the cartoon-making process in order to explain exactly what the show is going to be about.

The entire idea that cartoons are explaining the elements of a good “comedic” cartoon is humorous in and of itself. Every good cartoon needs a nice setting, funny protagonists, an antagonistic “bad guy” and good writers. Of course, the Tiny Toons can’t help making fun of the writers on a consistent basis. The show is played off as if these characters are the ones helping to write the scripts and come up with the various ideas.

This four disc set contains 35 episodes. The discs are split up in the following way:

Note: Not all of the episodes appear in the order in which they originally aired.

DISC ONE

1.1 “The Looney Beginning” – After an animator fails to get a show going and is told a new idea better be ready by the next morning or he’s fired, the Tiny Toons rally together to create the story (and everything else) for the show that is to become Tiny Toon Adventures

1.2 “A Quack in the Quarks” – Tiny Toons meets Star Wars as Plucky convinces a group of Acme Looniversity students, who are actually aliens from another planet, that he is the greatest specimen on Earth. Little does he know this means he has to take on the evil Duck Vader.

1.3 “The Wheel O’ Comedy” – Buster is supposed to have his own episode, but the Wheel o’ Comedy replaces him with some pretty funny alternative cartoons. In one of them, Elmyra thinks Dizzy Devil is a puppy, so she adopts him. The other two comedic shorts feature Furrball with 3D glasses and Montana Max buys his win over Babs in a game show. That is, until Buster finds out

1.4 “Test Stress” – With Acme Looniversity exams everyone is busy. Plucky has Shirley channel Einstein in preparation for his Math test. Fowlmouth tries to get a date with Shirley. Sylvester tells Furrball he must catch a mouse (for his exam). Unfortunately, he must catch the adorable Lil’ Sneezer.

1.5 “The Buster Bunny Bunch” – Buster tries to impress Babs by getting “buff”. Dizzy can’t stand bugs. When Shirley sees him squishing them, she tells him he could be a bug in his next life, which makes Dizzy really think before squishing. All of the Acme Looniversity students try to get back at Babs after she hurts their feelings by doing impressions of them.

1.6 “Her Wacky Highness” – After running away from Acme Acres, Babs becomes the Queen of Gogo’s Wackyland, but being the queen isn’t all it’s cracked up to be!

1.7 “Hollywood Plucky” – When Plucky and Hamton travel to Hollywood, the two end up becoming a waiter and valet. Plucky attempts to get a producer, Cooper Deville, to read his script for “The Plucky Duck Story”.

1.8 “Journey to the Center of Acme Acres” – Earthquakes destroy the homes of both Plucky and Hamton. When Buster investigates, he discovers that the Earthquakes don’t have a traditional source.

DISC TWO

1.9 “It’s Buster Bunny Time” – Run like the Howdy Doody show, the peanut gallery is provided by little girls that all act like Elmyra. In the actual episodes, Elmyra promises to pay Calamity Coyote allowance money if he can catch Buster to be her pet, Buster and Babs take an unauthorized tour of Montana Max’s mansion, and Plucky gets chased by anvils dropping out of the sky.

1.10 “Stuff That Goes Bump in the Night” – Three stories about spooky things. The story begins with Montana Max moving in on Buster’s land. When Buster won’t leave, Montana drops his house on him, only to have Buster’s ghost haunting Max. Elmyra adopts a pet bat that is actually a vampire. Hamton, on the other hand, ends up getting attacked by a mosquito.

1.11 “Looking Out for the Little Guy” – Lil Sneezer becomes Elmyra’s pet though she might be having second thoughts about cute, cuddly things. Plucky must stop Montana Max from taking the swamp’s water supply. A basset hound protects some chicks with no mother from Furrball.

1.12 “Starting From Scratch” – A flea parodies the classic movie “An American Tail”.

1.13 “Citizen Max” – The episode is a parody of Citizen Kane with Max rigging a school election and Hamton playing the role of a reporter.

1.14 “Hare Raising Night” – Buster must trick Plucky, Hamton and Babs (by telling them they are going to the Emmys) into helping him defeat Dr. Gene Splicer.

1.15 “Furrball Follies” – A series of cartoons about the adorable Sylvester-esque Tiny Toon, Furrball. In this episode Furrball goes to live with a couple who hate cats and think he’s a dog, due to poor vision. Next, Furrball is run over by a line painting truck (the ones that draw lines on the roads), so he now looks like a skunk with a stripe down his back attracting Fifi in the process. Finally, Mary Melody has decided to adopt Furrball, but she must keep sending him on trips to keep him from eating Sweetie.

1.16 “The Acme Acres Zone” – Montana Max has become a bunny. He’s upset, but Babs, Buster and Elmyra all seem happy with the change. Plucky tricks Hamton into skinny-dipping in Montana Max’s pool, with disastrous results. In the meantime, Babs loses her sense of humor, literally.

DISC THREE

1.17 “Life in the 1990’s” – Hamton invites his friends (including Plucky) to a fancy restaurant, but things don’t go so well when they get there. Montana Max tries to cheat Buster out of paying for his subscription to the newspaper. Babs gets into a tiff with Roderick and Rhubella, two rude, crude toons!

1.18 “Rock ‘N Roar” – Buster’s soccer ball is mistaken for a dinosaur egg. When the egg hatches, Buster must help his new dinopet, Rover, survive in Acme Acres. Montana Max tries to both steal and destroy the dinosaur in the process.

1.19 “Prom-ise Her Anything” – With the Acme Looniversity Prom coming up, Buster is too nervous to ask Babs to go with him, because he is unable to dance. Montana Max never shows on Elmyra, but Buster and Babs finally get together to fix that.

1.20 “Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow” – Elmyra captures Buster and he breaks himself out along with all of the other animals she’s holding prisoner. Unfortunately, this comes with a price to Buster.

1.21 “Cinemaniacs” – Buster and Babs go to see a movie, but with everything playing they must move from movie to movie to see everything they want to see. Babs parodies Supergirl. Plucky plays the role of Captain Kirk. Finally, Buster parodies Indiana Jones.

1.22 “You Asked for” It – Plucky wants to let the fans vote for what character they hope to see in a Tiny Toon cartoon. To do so, he must fix the request machine in an attempt to get himself chosen. Taz gives Dizzy an assignment called “eating the bunny”, but Babs stops him from going through with it. Montana Max rents friends and a magician to celebrate his birthday. The viewers decide to be really awful to Plucky when he finally stars in his own cartoon.

1.23 “Gang Busters” – Buster is framed when Montana Max steals a Slushie machine. With Plucky as his lawyer, they both get sent to jail though they try (miserably) to escape their plight.

1.24 “Wake Up Call of the Wild” – Since Plucky is a duck he decides to migrate south for the winter, but soon realizes he’s not like the other ducks. Concord Condor makes a zoo escape and Arnold watches a show on poodles. Furrball sees his species history in Hamton’s house.

DISC FOUR – SIDE ONE

1.25 “Buster and the Wolverine” – At the concert hall, the Tiny Toons tell the story of “Peter and the Wolf” through instruments. When a Wolverine attacks, Buster must save them all before the story is ruined.

1.26 “You Asked for It, Part II” – Despite Dizzy eating the viewer request mail container, Buster and Babs are able to get letters and show cartoons viewers want to see. Dizzy moves in with Hamton, when he loses his cave home due to flooding. Plucky’s a superhero and he’s taking down Montana Max’s factory because it’s not good for the environment. Hamton’s on a diet, but with cake begging him to eat it, it’s quite hard to say no.

1.27 “Europe in 30 Minutes” – Plucky wins a European vacation so he takes Hamton, Babs and Buster with him. Visiting England they discover a kidnapping plot and Europe sure seems to have a lot of Weenie Burger stands!

1.28 “The Wacko World of Sports” – Montana Max rigs a tennis tournament so he can win, that is until the talented Bjorn Bunny shows up. It’s Acme Looniversity versus the Perfecto Prep team, which cheats at baseball. It’s the Vanderbunnies versus Rhubella and Roderick in this all sports adventure to end the episode.

1.29 “Rainy Daze” – It’s another rainy day in Acme Acres. Montana Max is shocked when his Rent-a-friend turns out to be Buster. Babs daydreams when she is home alone. When Babs and Buster try to make a tunnel to Aruba, they end up in the Arctic, where they must save a baby seal from a cartoon Zsa Zsa Gabor.

1.30 “Fields of Honey” – Babs is upset she has no Looney Tune mentor. This makes her the perfect judge between who is better, Bugs or Daffy. Watching old cartoons, she discovers the long lost WB heroine, Honey.

1.31 “Sawdust and Toonsil” – After spending a fun day at Wackyland, the toons spot a circus train. When Gogo is decidedly upset, the toons realize that many of the circus animals were kidnapped and belong in Wackyland. They have to save the animals before something bad happens to Gogo.

1.32 “Spring in Acme Acres” – Spring is here, thanks to Babs. Concord Condor has been given Cupid’s job when Cupid quits. Unfortunately, he’s not very good at it and Babs and Montana Max end up together. Elmyra goes on a psychotic spring cleaning spree. Plucky and Dizzy go head to head on a messed up game show.

DISC FOUR – SIDE TWO

1.33 “Psychic Fun-Omenon Day” – Shirley is busy predicting the future. Calamity falls from a building where his entire life flashes before him. Hamton is unable to dissect his frog. He sings, after all. With Plucky injured in the hospital, Babs gives him a pair of binoculars, which makes him go “Rear Window” on the place.

1.34 “The Wide World of Elmyra” – Elmyra is named the most dangerous creature of all. Tyrone Turtle escapes from Elmyra’s, but he has to cross the highway to get to his old home, a pond. Elmyra babysits Little Davey, who is terrified of her. A dog addicted to the game fetch is cured thanks to Elmyra.

1.35 “A Ditch in Time” – Plucky builds a time machine to go back in time and do his homework. When he returns to the past, old Plucky steals it, giving Babs and Buster a tour throughout history, and he returns with a dinosaur, in the form of Dizzy.

All of the episodes are funny. It’s hard to choose just one favorite. I have to say, for once, I love them all.

The shows feature these regular characters:

Buster Bunny: The tiny toon version of Bugs, Buster is blue and acts as the main character of the show.

Babs Bunny: Buster’s pink counterpart and the female lead.

Plucky Duck: He’s green, egomaniacal and the smaller version of Daffy. He even has a Daffy type of voice.

Hamton J. Pig: He’s OCD and the smaller, non-stuttering version of Porky.

Elmyra Duff: She loves animals and tortures them to show her love. She is the mini, female version of Elmer Fudd.

Montana Max: Obsessed with getting rid of rabbits, it’s no wonder Max is the spoiled, rich kid version of Yosemite Sam.

Fifi La Fume: A female Pepe Le Pew Tiny Toon, Fifi is Shirley’s best friend and appearances always matter.

Shirley the Loon: A water bird with psychic powers and a valley girl voice.

Furrball: He is the Tiny Toon version of Sylvester, he’s blue and he loves to hunt mice and birds.

Dizzy Devil: He sounds and looks just like his mentor, Taz.

Gogo Dodo: Owner of Wackyland, he’s based on the Yoyo Dodo character from Looney Tunes and is even related to him.

There are various other characters that make somewhat smaller appearances such as Sweetie (think Tweety), Calamity Coyote (Wile E.), Concord Condor (Beaky Buzzard), and Lil Sneezer (Sniffles).

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The episodes on the Tiny Toon Adventures: Season 1, Vol. 1 discs are presented in 1.33:1 full frame. They look as good as they did when the show first aired. Now, this means the quality is pretty good for a show made in the 1990s, if you’re look for 90s quality. This is a new era and the DVD quality just isn’t as good as it would be had the show been developed today. While colors are vibrant for the most part, there are instances of noise, dirt, blur, white washing, bleeding and occasional compression errors. This doesn’t distract so much from the show that it is unwatchable, but it is annoying knowing WB could have improved the quality to at least make the show more modernized.

The episodes all feature English Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound is dynamic enough to support all the Looney Tunes themed hi-jinks, sound effects, and music that made the show successful. There is the option of a less dynamic Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, and Dolby Digital Mono tracks in both French and Portuguese. The English track includes subtitles. The English 5.1 track is pretty good for a television show, but nothing overly special overall.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There is only one bonus and it’s the best bonus this set could offer. The featurette is entitled “From Looney Tunes to Tiny Toons – A Wacky Evolution!” I visited WB Studios when Tiny Toons was at the height of its popularity, so this bonus has a very nostalgic, happy feel to me. While there is nothing else on this disc bonus wise, I’m glad they’ve given fans of the show a brief, insiders look at the show.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
What can I say? I love Tiny Toon Adventures. I loved it when I was a kid and I still love it now. I want my kids to love Tiny Toon Adventures as much as I did. A new generation can enjoy this box set, while old fans can reminisce about how good cartoons used to be ‘back in the day’ when we were young. It’s hard not to find humor in these 35 episodes. I don’t care if you’ve never heard of Tiny Toon Adventures before you need to pick up a copy of Tiny Toon Adventures: Season 1, Vol. 1. Not only is this DVD highly recommended, but this is a must have purchase. Don’t wait. Buy a copy of this box set today. You won’t be disappointed!

Overall Rating:

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