Tiny Toon Adventures (partially found retakes of animated series; 1990-1995)

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Tiny toons logo.jpg

The show's logo.

Status: Partially Found

Tiny Toon Adventures is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992, about a group of young cartoon characters who attend Acme Looniversity to become the next generation of characters from the Looney Tunes series.[1]

The shows episodes were outsourced to a wide range of animation studios, such as Animation Korea Movie Productions (AKOM), Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS) Entertainment, Wang Film Productions, StarToons, Kennedy Cartoons, Freelance Animators New Zealand, and Encore Cartoons.[2] This led to noticeable animation quality differences between episodes and many errors. While many errors were fixed during subsequent Fox airings, they resurfaced in the master tapes that were sent to Nickelodeon in 1995. This has caused the Fox retakes to fall into obscurity, and it is unknown if master tapes containing the retakes still exist.

Known Retakes

The most drastic changes were shown during the season 1 episode "Looniversity Daze". The episode was originally done by the obscure studio Encore Cartoons. However, as the animation from the original airing was considered poor quality, animator Jon McClenahan from Kennedy Cartoons was tasked with redoing certain scenes. However, only some of his scenes were featured in the master tapes that were sent to Nickelodeon. McClenahan's animation is described as smoother, better quality, and more in tune with the show's atmosphere. The loss of the retakes also creates a sound error in the episode. In the retakes, Hamton would shake Buster and slap him in the face during "The Learning Principal" segment. The DVD version shows the original error in which Hamton stands still while the audio from the slap is played.

Other differences between the original versions and the retakes are more minor, such as the episode "Best 'O Plucky Duck Day" having different title cards. Another example was the episode "K-Acme TV". The original airing contained an out-of-place still shot of Elmyra. This shot was intended to show a video screen with Buster's Easter question. This was fixed in a retake, but the retake has not resurfaced.

Status

Neither Fox nor Nickelodeon have offered an official explanation for the loss of the retakes. Fan speculation is that the master tapes that contained the fixed version were improperly stored, leaving the tapes with the original errors as the only version is in watchable condition. Others speculate that there could be copyright issues with one version over the other due to the multitude of animation studios involved in the production.

Videos

Comparison between the DVD release containing Encore Cartoon's work and surviving footage of the Jon McClenahan retake for the episode "Looniversity Daze".

References

  1. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 853–856. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20121105141556/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-07-05/features/9203010023_1_animation-studios-hanna-barbera-studios-hollywood-cartoon

External Links