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Silver Anniversary: "Tiny Toon Adventures"

Greetings Toonsters!  

"Tiny Toon Adventures" premiered on Friday night, September 14, 1990 -- 25 years ago today!

It began its daily weekday run on the following Monday, September 17th.

Thanks to all who made "Tiny Toons" happen.  

There's a book in this adventure.  Until then, enjoy a few visual memories...

"Tiny Toon Adventures" pep rally, Warner Bros. lot, 1990.  

"Tiny Toon Adventures" at the Rose Bowl parade, 1992 (above).  And below, a pre-internet visit to the bizarre.   

  

"Animaniacs" Recording Session: April 11, 1995

I doodled the faces of Yakko, Wakko and Dot during the voice recording (and singing) session for "The Big Wrap Party" segment of Animaniacs at Monterey Post in Burbank, California, back on April 11, 1995.  Hard to believe it was 20 years ago!   

I tend to draw during almost every recording session, so these sketches aren't unusual.  What's unique about this set of doodles is that I had everyone at the session sign it.  

So, scattered around these notepad drawings of Yakko, Wakko and Dot are the signatures of just a few of the people who gave voice and sound to the "Animaniacs" series:  engineers Harry Andronis and Patrick Rodman; recording assistant Kelly Foley; casting director Leslie Lamers;  voice director Andrea Romano;  series composer and music director Richard Stone; and the voices of Yakko, Wakko and Dot, namely Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell and Tress MacNeille.  What a group!  I feel very fortunate to have worked with these great talents, and so glad to continue working with Rob, Jess and Tress, among others, on Disney's "The 7D." 

"THE 7D": The Voice Actors, Part 4

Here's Kevin Michael Ricardson (the voice of Happy) with The 7D series' casting director, Abigail (Abbie) D'Andrea.

Among other casting coups for the show, Abbie booked Jimmy Weldon, the voice of "Yakky Doodle" from The Yogi Bear Show (1961), to voice the role of Whoopty Doopty Schmoodily Duck in the upcoming 7D episode entitled "Bing Bong Beans."   Jimmy, pictured below, turned 90 last December and is going stronger than ever!

   

Abbie also brought in two of our very favorite voice stars to perform in various 7D episodes:  Tress MacNeille (Duck Tales, The Simpsons, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs) and Rob Paulsen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain).  

These are just a few of the great casting choices made by Abbie during the first season of  The 7D.  

The People Who Made "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" -- Part Four

Above, left to right:  Colin Wells, who provides the voice of Colin, the kid who tells us about Randy Beaman on Animaniacs; the Executive Producer of Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, and Pinky & the Brain, Steven Spielberg;  and Nate Ruegger, the voice of Baby Plucky on Tiny Toons, Skippy Squirrel on Animaniacs, and Froggo on Histeria!   (Photo circa 1994)

On the right, Paul Strickland, Tiny Toon Adventures' Production Manager, with his wife Robin Carmichael Strickland, on the left.  Paul, Robin and I worked together at Hanna-Barbera in the 80's.  (Circa 1993)

Above, our fearless Executive Producer, Steven Spielberg, center, at one of our yearly wrap parties.  Behind him, standing, is Luke Ruegger, the voice of "The Flame," Bumpo the bassett and "The Brave Little Trailer" on Animaniacs and the voice of Big Fat Baby and Billy the Kid on Histeria!  Flanking Steven are two of Luke's closest childhood pals, Wesley and Ryan Hasting. (Circa 1995)

From 1996:  Charles Visser went from storyboard artist to series director on Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain.  Today, along with Alfred Gimeno and Jeff Gordon, Charles is a director of Disney's  new animated series, The 7D.

 
Visiting the Animanics/Pinky and the Brain/Histeria composers at the Warner Bros. Studio Clint Eastwood Sound Stage.  Left to right:  that's me next to series composer The Great Stonini, Richard Stone, and two of his closest and most talented musical collaborators, composers Julie and Steve Bernstein.  

Above, four more stars from Warner Bros. Animation, circa 1997.   Top left:  Bob Doucette -- designer, artist (Animaniacs, Tiny Toons),  show creator (Detention), director and producer (Road Rovers and Histeria).  Top right:  Harry Andronis --  the brilliant and beloved recording engineer of Animaniacs, Pinky & the Brain, Batman: the Animated Series, Histeria and most other series produced by Warner Bros. Animation in the 90's.  In the center:  the one and only Tress MacNeille -- the voice of Babs Bunny, Dot Warner, Hello Nurse and countless other characters at Warner Brothers animation, at Disney, on The Simpson and everywhere in the cartoon universe.  And standing in front:  Cody Ruegger, the inspiration for all the Baby Plucky cartoons ("Water go down the hole"), the voice of The Little Bluebird on Animaniacs, and the voice of Loud Kiddington on Histeria!

Hello Nurse and Dr. Scratchansniff

As they appear in the Animaniacs full-color main model line-up, circa 1993:  Hello Nurse and Dr. Otto Scratchansniff.  

Tiny Toon Adventures on DVD: How I Spent My Vacation

Coming August 14, 2012, on DVD:  Tiny Toon Adventures' How I Spent My Vacation. 

Above:  On the left, the new artwork for the 2012 DVD cover.  To the right, the artwork on the VHS cover, when "How I Spent My Vacation" was first released in 1992 as the first direct-to-video original animated feature.  

Back then, the folks at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment were dedicated to the notion that short movie titles were the only way to go, so they insisted that we change our original title, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," to the insignificantly shorter title that omitted the word "summer."   

These are the same marketing geniuses who demanded that we change the title of the Animaniacs direct-to-video feature from "It's a Wakko Wakko Wakko Wakko Wish" to "Wakko's  Wish."  

I much prefer our original titles on both.  

As for the cover art, new and old, above  --  what can I say?   It's like the current regime at Warner Bros. isn't even trying.    

"HISTERIA!" Animating Crew Photos -- #2

Here's the second pair of "animating" crew photos from the "Histeria!" series.  Flip the two photos back and forth to create "the illusion of life" -- and to see members of the cast make funny faces.   These two photos feature some of the wonderful voice actors who performed regularly on "Histeria!"  Can you name them all? 

"Tiny Toon Adventures" Quiz #2 Answers -- The Voice Actors

Back row:   Don Messick (Hamton), Candi Milo (Sweetie), Frank Welker (Furrball), Gail Matthias (Shirley the Loon).   

Middle Row:  Maurice LaMarche (Dizzy Devil), Charlie Adler (Buster Bunny), Danny Cooksey (Montana Max), Tress MacNeille (Babs Bunny), Joe Alaskey (Plucky Duck), Kath Soucie (Fifi LaFume).    

Front Row:  Andrea Romano (voice director), Cree Summer (Elmyra, Merry Melody), Tom Ruegger.  

"While Visions of Sugar-Plums Danced in Their Heads"

Yakko's Christmas Dream...from "Animaniacs."

Animaniacs: "Little Drummer Warners"

One of my favorite shorts of the series, "Little Drummer Warners" casts Yakko, Wakko and Dot as shepherds "abiding in the field at night" in this rendition of the Christmas story that offers up a jazzy swing version of "Little Drummer Boy."  Many thanks to Richard Stone, Steve Bernstein and Julie Bernstein for making the music work so well.  This cartoon was beautifully directed by Lenord Robinson.  Earl Kress and I worked on the script, and the vocal performances by Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille and Jim Cummings, among others, are outstanding.

The Last "Pinky and the Brain" Script: "Star Warners"

Here's the cover page from the last "Pinky and the Brain" script:  "Star Warners."  You can see that it was quite the group effort.  At the recording session, I asked the cast and crew members on hand to sign my script...for posterity.

HISTERIA! -- Recording Session -- 1998

Histeria! cast members at Monterey Post in Burbank, circa 1998:  Front row:  Voice Director Leslie Lamers, Tress MacNeille, Laraine Newman.  Back Row:  Tom Ruegger, Frank Welker, Kelly Foley, Jeff Bennett, Rob Paulsen, Billy West, story editor Mark Seidenberg.

Here's a Rarity... .

"Histeria!" on the cover of Daily Variety. Unfortunately, most kids in our target audience did not subscribe to Variety.