Tiny Toon Adventures: Season 1 Volume 1 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, The Tasmanian Devil, Porky Pig…all names that every single person is familiar with. You could be someone that hates cartoons and never even watched them as a child, but you still can’t deny the fact that you know who the Looney Tunes characters are. Their catchphrases, iconic looks, and overall humor have entertained and amused millions of people for decades and will continue to do so for years to come. But what would they all be like as little kids? Hey, it’s been done with Disney characters and the Muppets so why not see the Looney Tunes as children. Well, almost.

Acme Acres is home to numerous cartoon characters that we all know and love. Bugs and Daffy. Porky and Petunia. Taz and Tweety. Sylvester and Elmer Fudd. They’re all there, and they’re joined by a bunch of kids attending Acme Looniversity. The Looniversity is also where most of our beloved characters have jobs now as teachers and coaches. They aren’t who the focus is on though as the kids attending the school are the main attractions. There’s Babs and Buster Bunny who are our stars and have traits very similar to Bugs himself. Plucky Duck is a younger version of Daffy. Hamton will remind you of Porky, Elmyra is a little girl that could be Elmer Fudd’s offspring, and Dizzy Devil looks to be a direct descendent of Taz. There’s also Furrball (Sylvester), Calamity Coyote (Wile. E Coyote), Sweety Bird (Tweety), Little Beeper (Road Runner), Montana Max (Yosemite Sam), and a host of others that complete the entire young Looniverse.

Now what you must realize is that even though they aren’t supposed to be the younger versions of our famed Looney Tunes characters; you can’t help but notice that they are. Not only do they mirror them in appearance, but also in personality. And just because they’re smaller doesn’t mean the laughs are any littler. Tiny Toon Adventures is a series that is just as much fun now as it was when it first appeared on the air back in the early nineties. Some of their adventures and excursions get them in trouble in school or even out in the wilderness and in their homes. Every single character has just as much charisma as their older counterparts.

This first volume includes thirty-five of the first episodes which do a great job of introducing us to the different characters in Acme Acres. It doesn’t take long to get acclimated to everyone, but it does take a little bit of time getting used to saying Buster and Furrball instead of Bugs and Sylvester for instance. Still there are slight differences while watching this series as opposed to the old Looney Tunes. Instead of short little cartoons, this series had half hour episodes. Rather then have one or two characters in each cartoon, you’ll usually find the entire gang or at least most of them in each episode. It might sound like overkill, but it’s really not and you soon learn who the stars are (Babs, Buster, Plucky, Hamton) and which ones are secondary characters (Max, Elmyra, Dizzy, etc…).

Tiny Toons would carry on for only four years, but it lasted a lot longer in reruns. There are even some channels still carrying the old episodes to this very day. Not to mention the fantastic and multiple spin-offs that generated from this series alone. Plucky found himself going solo in The Plucky Duck Show, but it didn’t prove to very successful. Elmyra jumped into the fray with Pinky and the Brain from The Animaniacs in a brand new series which paid no attention to Tiny Toons at all. In fact it acted as if it never existed and Elmyra never even went to Acme Looniversity. It wasn’t too great either and also found itself lasting a single season. Although those spin-offs may not have generated much popularity with characters from the series, Tiny Toons will forever stand the test of time. The younger stars in the show may not ever be as famous as their golden oldie teachers, but they’re still a lot of looney fun.

Episodes

Disc One:

The Looney Beginning
A Quack In The Quarks
The Wheel O’ Comedy
Text Stressed
The Buster Bunny Bunch
Her Wacky Highness
Hollywood Plucky
Journey To The Center Of Acme Acres

Disc Two:

It’s Buster Bunny Time
Stuff That Goes Bump In The Night
Looking Out For The Little Guy
Starting From Scratch
Citizen Max
Hare Raising Night
Furrball Follies
The Acme Acres Zone

Disc Three:

Life In The Nineties
Rock n’ Roar
Prom-ise Her Anything
Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow
Cinemaniacs
You Asked For It Part 1
Gang Busters
Wake Up Call Of The Wild

Disc Four:

Buster And Wolverine
You Asked For it Part 2
Europe In 30 Minutes
Wacko World Of Sports
Psychic Funomenon Day
The Wide World Of Elmyra
Rainy Daze
Fields Of Honey
Sawdust And Toonsil
Spring In Acme Acres
A Ditch In Time

The episodes are shown in Full Screen format and really are holding up well for cartoons that are close to twenty years old. Everything is bright and vibrant with barely any hint of discoloration or fading.

The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound which is unexpected for a cartoon series. Nonetheless, everything sounds great and can be heard clearly without any buzz or interference.

From Looney Tunes To Tiny Toons – A Wacky Evolution! – This is a nice look with archive footage, old photographs, and tons of other stuff on the Tiny Toons and how they have evolved from the original Looney Tunes from the golden age. One of the best parts here are some sketches with the characters from both Toon/Tune eras and their counterparts. Some really good information is given here in this twenty-five minute feature.

TrailersAnimaniacs & Pinky And The Brain Volume 3, Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Hour Season 1, Volume 1, Popeye And Friends, Lego Batman, and Popeye The Sailor 1933 – 1940 Volume 2


Ok, so let’s just get one fact out the way right away. The special features aren’t much of anything, and well I didn’t really expect them to be. Maybe a comparison between the Tiny Toons and the Looney Tunes characters they represent would have been nice, but not necessary. Tiny Toons is an awesome animated series that can be viewed by any age group and enjoyed over and over again. Their humor is simply hilarious and the episodes are just a lot of fun for all. As much as you may love Looney Tunes; you’re going to love their smaller versions just as much. And with a whopping thirty-five episodes included in this one volume alone, you’re more then getting your money’s worth. Remember, they’re Tiny Toon Adventures come and join the fun…and now my review is done!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………




Warner Home Video presents Tiny Toon Adventures: Season 1Volume 1. Created by: Tom Ruegger. Starring (voices): Charlie Adler, John Kassir, Frank Welker, Danny Cooksey, Maurice LaMarche, and many more. Running time: 767 minutes on 4 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: July 29, 2008. Available at Amazon.com