View source for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (found animated TV series based on comedy film starring Jim Carrey; 1995-2000)

{{InfoboxFound
|title=<center>Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (animated series)</center>
|image=Ace_Venture_Cartoon_Title.jpg
|imagecaption=Title screen from the animated series.
|status=<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>
}}
'''''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''''' is an animated television series based on the 1994 film of the same name. The series was produced by Morgan Creek Productions and Nelvana for Warner Bros. Television. It aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997 on CBS. A third season and reruns of the previous episodes aired on Nickelodeon from 1999 to 2000.<ref>[http://www.saturdaymorningsforever.com/2014/11/ace-ventura-pet-detective.html A blogpost on the animated adaptation of ''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''.] Retrieved 14 Nov '20</ref>

==Design==
Following the two original ''Ace Ventura'' movies, the titular character, voiced by Canadian actor Michael Daingerfield (credited as Michael Hall), is a goofy private investigator with a predilection for animals of all species.

Many of the characters from the original movie were retained, though not voiced by their original actors. While the original movies already had a strongly cartoonish comedic aesthetic, they were eclipsed by the slapstick and garish humor of the cartoon. Seth MacFarlane was among the writers over the course of the show's run.

The show was rife with toilet humor and anachronisms (one episode centered around the Egyptian Mau, claiming it to be an extinct breed of cat, when, in fact, they are not), displaying similar humor to his later series. 

==Original Airing==
The show ran on CBS for two seasons, with the third season airing on Nickelodeon when that channel acquired the show to broadcast reruns.

Despite running in a time slot after ''The Mask'' (another popular cartoon based on a Jim Carrey film) and a crossover with that show (in that series' finale, ''"The Aceman Cometh"''), the series failed to gain a large audience.

Ultimately, both ''The Mask'' and ''Ace Ventura'' were cancelled, and a new and completely different season of the series ran on Nickelodeon.

==Availability==
There are 7 VHS volumes released encompassing the entire first season. A three-episode DVD of the animated series was bundled with the two original ''Ace Ventura'' movies. These episodes included ''The Rein-Deer Hunter'', ''Natural Born Koalas'', and ''Dragon Guy''. ''Dragon Guy'' is the only commercially available official English release of an episode outside of season 1. This was also the only DVD release of this show.

==Episode List==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! style="background-color:green" | #
! style="background-color:green" | Release Date
! style="background-color:green" | Episode Title
! style="background-color:green" | Status
|-
|1||Dec 9th, 1995||The Reindeer Hunter||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-Animated/dp/B000LZ3BXW<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|2||Jan 20th, 1996||Bowling for Bear||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-VHS/dp/B00004CTXL<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|3||Jan 27th, 1996||Pet Food||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-VHS/dp/B00004CU56<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|4||Feb 3rd, 1996||The Parrot Who Knew Too Much||[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-Monkey/dp/B00004CTIV<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|5||Feb 10th, 1996||French Dip||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-VHS/dp/B00004CTXL<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|6||Feb 17th, 1996||Natural Born Koalas||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-Animated/dp/B000LZ3BXW<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|7||Feb 24th, 1996||The Hounds of D'Urbervilles||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Basic-Stink-T-VHS/dp/0790731835<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|8||Mar 2nd, 1996||Remembrance of Trunks Past||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-VHS/dp/B00004CTXM<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|9||Mar 9th, 1996||Night of the Gorilla||[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-Monkey/dp/B00004CTIV<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|10||Mar 30th, 1996||Day of the Groundhog||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-VHS/dp/B00004CU56<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|11||April 6th, 1996||The Big Stink||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Basic-Stink-T-VHS/dp/0790731835<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|12||April 20th, 1996||The Gator Gal||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Pet-Detective-VHS/dp/B00004CTXM<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|-
|13||April 27th, 1996||The Bull Market||[https://www.amazon.com/Ace-Ventura-Bull-Stops-Here/dp/0790731843<span style="color:green;">'''Found''']
|}
==Missing Episodes Recovered==
Season 2's 10th episode, "Robo West," is confirmed to be in the Getty images archives from a 1997 BBC recording. <ref> https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/lckq756j-news-footage/BBC_LCKQ756J The episode Robo West </ref>

Season 1's 11th episode, "The Big Stink," was discovered to be on Myspleen on April 16th, 2016 by Reddit user [https://www.reddit.com/user/Newclearfallout Newclearfallout]. An LMW contributor by the name of "THGhost" has uploaded it to YouTube.<ref>[https://youtu.be/HGuNNX3wY7c The Big Stink (full episode).] Retrieved 16 Apr '16</ref>

On May 24th, 2018, a man by the name of Dan Vzare emailed The Lost Cartoons Archive with 2 additional episodes from season 3 that he'd found on his hard drive; "Circus Ace" and "The Cat Who Paints." Much like "Robo West," there was previously zero traces of these episodes online. Not even on Wikipedia's list of episodes for the show until Dan added them himself. He found the episodes years ago from a now-defunct torrent site. The two episodes can also be watched on The Lost Cartoons Archive's YouTube channel (now removed due to copyright).<ref>[https://youtu.be/Smpd_E_lK-k Circus Ace (full episode).] Retrieved 05 Jun '18</ref><ref>[https://youtu.be/S9nb9dQ8crs The Cat Who Paints (full episode.)] Retrieved 05 Jun '18</ref>

On April 9th, 2019, LMW user "Book333" found the episode "Robo West" on the 16th page of a Google search. On May 7th, 2019, a Snahp.it user by the name of "StarkSkywalker" shared some German downloads of the entire series from Amazon, including "Robo West." This appears to be the same copy that Book333 found. StarkSkywalker soon contacted an associate of The Lost Cartoons Archive, and it has been uploaded HERE (removed due to copyright).

In October 2021, the entire series was made available on the US streaming service Tubi, including "The Big Stink" and "Robo West" in English. While the show would be pulled at the start of 2022, it would be readded to Tubi in August 2023, along with being available free to stream on Amazon Prime and YouTube.

Between July 2021 and July 2022, Morgan Creek uploaded the [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBOJdFh_6hbaMVE7xr1cQwJRPGa9m51q first season]] to their YouTube channel, with "The Reindeer Hunter" being uploaded to their defunct Family Entertainment channel. These uploads use the same prints as when Tubi hosted the series.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Found media]]
[[Category:Found animation]]
[[Category:Found TV]]