The Wuzzles

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The Wuzzles
The Wuzzles.PNG
Created by Fred Wolf
Voices of
Narrated by Stan Freberg
Opening theme"The Wuzzles" performed by Stephen Geyer
Ending theme"The Wuzzles" (instrumental)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Running time22–26 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseSeptember 14 (1985-09-14) 
December 7, 1985 (1985-12-07)

The Wuzzles is an American short-lived animated television series created by Fred Wolf and produced by Disney Television Animation (then known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group) in their first of two productions. The series was broadcast from September 14 to December 7, 1985, on CBS. [2] An idea pitched by Michael Eisner for his new Disney television animation studio, the premise is that the main characters are hybrids of two different animals. [3] The series ran for one season of 13 episodes. [4]

Contents

Premise

The Wuzzles features a variety of short, rounded animal characters. [5] Each is a roughly even, and colorful, mix of two different animal species (as the theme song mentions, "livin' with a split personality"), and all the characters sport wings on their backs, although only Bumblelion and Butterbear are seemingly capable of flight. All of the Wuzzles live on the Isle of Wuz. Double species are not limited to the Wuzzles themselves. From the appleberries they eat to the telephonograph in the home, or a luxury home called a castlescraper, nearly everything on Wuz is mixed together in the same way that the Wuzzles are. The characters in the show were marketed extensively — featured in children's books, as poseable figures and plush toys (similar to Care Bears), and in a board game.

Disney premiered two animated series on the same day in the same time slot, 8:30 AM ET, in the United States, with the other being Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears on NBC, [6] and both series were successful during their first seasons. However, The Wuzzles ended production after its initial run. CBS canceled the show, and ABC picked it up and showed reruns during the 1986–1987 season; they aired it at 8:00 AM so that the two Disney shows would not be in competition with one another.

The series was a bigger success in the United Kingdom, where the first episode aired as a theatrical featurette in 1986 alongside a re-release of Disney's Bambi . In the United Kingdom, The Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears were originally screened on the same channel (ITV) in 1985/1986; therefore, both series enjoyed high popularity. Reruns of the show were aired on both the Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Songwriter Stephen Geyer composed the theme song and performed the lead vocal.

Characters

Antagonists

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"Bulls of a Feather"Carole Beers Mark Evanier September 14, 1985 (1985-09-14)
Eleroo adopts a Baby Brahman Bullfinch (part Brahman cattle, part finch) and is reluctant to part with it, especially when the other Wuzzles wish to return it to its original mother. Meanwhile, Crocosaurus plans to get wealthy with the baby Brahman bullfinch.
2"Hooray for Hollywuz"Carole BeersKen Koonce & David WeimersSeptember 21, 1985 (1985-09-21)
Hoppo attempts to reach her dream of becoming a star in Hollywuz.
3"In the Money"Carole BeersKen Koonce, Bob Rosenfarb & David WeimersSeptember 28, 1985 (1985-09-28)
Bumblelion finds money on the ground (which was stolen from the bank) and becomes rich, which puts a crimp in his friendship with the other Wuzzles.
4"Crock Around the Clock"Carole BeersKen Koonce & David WeimersOctober 5, 1985 (1985-10-05)
The stormy weather gets bad in Wuz, and with Crocosaurus's house destroyed, he takes up residence with Butterbear, conning her out of her food supply.
5"Moosel's Monster" Fred Wolf Ted PerryOctober 12, 1985 (1985-10-12)
Moosel's imagination goes out of control when he accuses everything of being either a monster or an omen, and believes that a real and friendly monster is all in his head.
6"Klutz on the Clutch"Fred WolfKen Koonce & David WeimersOctober 19, 1985 (1985-10-19)
The Wuzzle 500 road race has accelerated Rhinokey's crazy driving around town, leading to not only the trophy being lost, but him being one traffic ticket away from being banned. Crocasaurus schemes to ensure this to clinch the prize, which has been replaced with Eleroo's great-grandfather's trophy for Rhinokey to win. But when Rhinokey narrowly avoids hitting Bumblelion to avoid Crocosaurus' trap, he swears off driving from guilt. Hoppo lobbies to sing the island's national anthem.
7"Bumblelion and the Terrified Forest"Fred WolfKen Koonce & David WeimersOctober 26, 1985 (1985-10-26)
Bumblelion and Hoppo go deep into the Terrified Forest to rescue Butterbear from an evil witch.
8"Eleroo's Wishday"Fred WolfMark EvanierNovember 2, 1985 (1985-11-02)
Eleroo wishes to fly using the wishing well.
9"Ghostrustlers"Fred WolfKen Koonce & David WeimersNovember 9, 1985 (1985-11-09)
With a plague in Wuz Town, the Wuzzles move to a ghost town that really is inhabited by ghosts.
10"A Pest of a Pet"Fred WolfMark EvanierNovember 16, 1985 (1985-11-16)
The Wuzzles get revenge on Rhinokey for playing jokes on them by playing a joke on him that makes him depart from Wuz.
11"The Main Course"Fred WolfKen Koonce & David WeimerNovember 23, 1985 (1985-11-23)
After being attacked by Pirats (part parrot, part rat), the Wuzzles sail to an island where Hoppo is mistaken for a god by a tribe of Pigmice (part pig, part mouse) who intend to throw her into a volcano as a sacrifice.
12"Class Dismissed"Fred WolfKen Koonce & David WeimersNovember 30, 1985 (1985-11-30)
When Butterbear is hired to make invitations to a ball, the other Wuzzles decide to get invited by bettering their class. Also, Crocosaurus makes a bet with Butterbear about turning Brat into a sensible and polite Wuzzle.
13"What's Up, Stox?"Fred WolfKen Koonce & David WeimersDecember 7, 1985 (1985-12-07)
After visiting the new neighbor, zillionaire Tycoon (part tiger, part raccoon), the Wuzzles are given a money tree which they obsess over. Crocosaurus, however, plans to steal it for himself.

Voices

Additional voices

Legacy

Butterbear and Rhinokey appeared in the DuckTales episode "The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker!" Unlike their original TV series' appearances, their designs are more realistic and animalistic and Rhinokey resembles a gorilla instead of a monkey. [7] Additionally, they were created by a relic called the Stone of What Was, which bears Bumblelion's likeness and fuses any two animals that touch it into one chimeric monstrosity. [8]

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References

  1. "Team Disney-flying High In Burbank – Page 4 – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. September 22, 1996. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  2. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 708–709. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  3. "'Whats' Wuzn'T 'Wuzzles', Federal Judge Determines – New York Times". New York Times. September 19, 1987. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  4. "The Wuzzles Episode Guide (1985)". BCDB. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rovin, Jeff (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals. Prentice Hall Press. p. 290. ISBN   0-13-275561-0 . Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  6. "Disney Enters Saturday's Cartoon Fray". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  7. "'DuckTales' surprises Comic-Con with 'Rescue Rangers', Lin-Manuel Miranda". EW.com.
  8. "The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker!". DuckTales. Season 3. Episode 67. 2021-03-01.