“We’re tiny. We’re toony. We’re a little bit loony. And in this cartoony we’re invading your TV. We’re comic dispensers. We crack up all the censors. On Tiny Toon Adventures, get a dose of comedy. So, here’s Acme Acres, it’s a whole wide world apart. Our home sweet home, it stands alone, a cartoon work of art. The scripts were rejected, expect the unexpected on Tiny Toon Adventures it’s about to start.”
What do you get when you cross Steven Spielberg with the tradition of Loony Tunes? You get Tiny Toon Adventures. Spielberg produced this 1990’s television cartoon show for the WB Network. Set in Acme Acres, this cartoon was intended as a Next Generation of Loony Tunes characters and stories.
“They’re furry. They’re funny. They’re Babs and Buster Bunny. Montana Max has money. Elmyra is a pain. Here’s Hamton and Plucky. Dizzy Devil’s yucky. Furball’s unlucky and Gogo is insane. At Acme Lonniversity we earn our Toon’s degree. The teaching staff’s been getting laughs since 1933.”
The new characters were really younger versions of the characters we’ve come to love for generations. They attend the Looniversity, where classes are taught by the original Loony characters. Buster and Babs were male and female versions of Bugs. Hamton was the new Porky Pig. Montana Max was the Yosemite Sam clone. Plucky Duck was Daffy. Elmyra was a female version of a young Elmer Fudd. And, Dizzy Devil was a young Taz. They shared many of the characteristics of their older counterparts and obviously the same relationships. The most obvious and fan favorite was Plucky, who was a green egomaniac like his role model, Daffy. It was all a nice touch. The old relationships got a fresh perspective, but that familiarity remained. The stories were more modern tales, but retained the slapstick morality humor that has been the stalwart of these cartoons since the 1930’s. With Mel Blanc long gone, none of the voices really capture that old magic. His son Noel provides some, but no longer all of the voices.
Normally I complain about these split season sets, like Paramount is fond of releasing. Here having a split set is easier to take. The first season contained more than 60 cartoons, so you get a healthy 30 cartoons here spread over 4 discs. The episodes are both charming and funny. They were appealing to new kids, who might not have yet been introduced to Bugs and the gang. They also are enough like what we all remember that we can appreciate them as adults. It’s one of the better cartoon sets and series out there for the whole family. The animation is pretty good for television. The stories are amusing. The first one in the set happens to be the best. It provides a story that teaches the hand drawn animation process as well. Of course, in today’s CG animation world, it might appear less appropriate, but it’s clever and fun all the same.
Video
Each episode is presented in its original full frame broadcast aspect ratio. The colors are actually pretty good here. Lines are well defined, and the animation appears pretty smooth. The prints are in good shape. There is a hint of compression trouble, but with so many cartoons on each disc, that’s what you get.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 tracks do exactly what it was originally intended to do. It delivers dialog and some mid-range music. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to distract.
Special Features
Nothing
Final Thoughts:
I missed these things when they were on television. There’s always so much to watch that kid’s cartoons tend to be low on my list of priorities. I still wouldn’t have taken the television time to watch them. This is perfect DVD material, however. It’s great to just pop one in whenever you want. At 20 minutes apiece, you can’t beat them for filler or when you’ve got just a half hour to kill. So, pick ‘em up, and “Come and join the fun”.
