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

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This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its lack of clarity, organization and references.



Tiny toons logo.jpg

The show's logo.

Status: Partially Found

Sometimes, when an animated TV show is being produced, animation errors are found too late to be fixed before the intended air date. These errors are commonly caused by translation mistakes when the animation work is outsourced to foreign countries. While retakes are generally ordered to fix the errors, they may not arrive in time, and the studio is stuck with the error-riddled version for an episode's original airing. If the fixed version is available for subsequent airings, this can lead to confusion, as the subsequent airings will differ from the original airing.

This confusion is made worse when the studio neglects to update their master tapes with the animation fixes, and then these outdated tapes are used to produce home media releases. This results in errors resurfacing that had been previously fixed. A particularly infamous example was seen on DVD releases of Captain N: The Game Master. The season 1 episode 'Howl's Bayou' had been aired in an unfinished state, with a background missing from one scene. This had been fixed in later television airings, but the DVD release was taken from a master tape containing the unfinished version.

However, this problem can also occur when a show moves from one network to another if the master tapes that are sent still contain the early mistakes. This was a constant problem when Tiny Toon Adventures was pulled from Fox and moved over to Nickelodeon in 1995. Tiny Toon Adventures 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. This lead 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. This has caused the Fox retakes to fall into obscurity, and it is unknown if master tapes containing the retakes still exist.

Known Tiny Toon Adventures 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.

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 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".