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How come TINY TOON ADVENTURES isn't as fondly remembered as ANIMANIACS? It was arguably more popular than any cartoon show, aside from THE SIMPSONS, when it aired. Yet it's rarely talked about today.
- The college-set reboot is amusing enough – when it’s not even more self-conscious than the original.
- Tiny Toons Looniversity Gallery
- What was the best Warner Bros. TV cartoon of the ’90s?
- Verdict
By Jesse Hassenger
Posted: Sep 4, 2023 1:00 pm
Tiny Toons Looniversity premieres September 8 on Max and September 9 on Cartoon Network.
When Tiny Toon Adventures debuted in 1990, its chief inspiration – the classic Looney Tunes shorts of the ’40s and ’50s – still occupied a prominent place in the media landscape. Repackaged compilations aired daily on Nickelodeon and TNT and weekly on ABC Saturday mornings. The characters were part of a landmark agreement with longtime studio rival Disney that set up Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig’s spotlight moments in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Plush toys adorned retail shelves (including those of the soon-to-open Warner Bros. Studio Store). A similar deluge followed the debut of Tiny Toons, a smash hit that turned out to be a surprisingly ambitious undertaking. The show was not simply Baby Looney Tunes, but a reimagining of those now-archetypes, appearing alongside the original characters, who had small roles as teachers instructing the new characters. The latter included Babs and Buster Bunny (both modeled on Bugs), Plucky Duck (a JV Daffy), and Hamton J. Pig (Porky 2.0), among many others.
The reboot’s details are half logical, half inexplicable. The characters look mostly the same (and sound similar, though many of the voice actors have been swapped out), but are now explicitly attending college, rather than a nebulous approximation of middle school – which makes their diminutive stature compared to the older characters a bit odd. (Why are the “tiny” counterparts made almost the toon equivalent of twentysomethings?) Buster (Eric Bauza) and Babs (Ashleigh Crystal Hairston) are now twin siblings, rather than shippable besties, which frees the characters from romance plots only to further entwine them with a shared familial history. The four episodes provided for review all feature a sitcom-style arrangement of connected plots and subplots, rather than the multiple, Looney Tunes-style segments that made up a typical episode of the previous series. Also, Hamton has a Southern drawl now.
Some of the character tweaks are more effective than others. Sweetie Bird (Tessa Netting), a Tweety variation in the original series, now has a more distinctly anarchic personality and a prominent role in the core group that, as before, includes Babs, Buster, Plucky (David Errigo Jr.), and Hamton (also Errigo). Formerly cocky Buster, meanwhile, has been reconfigured as more insecure and emotionally needy; multiple episodes see him turning despondent at the potential loss of a close friend: first sister Babs when they’re assigned to separate dorms, then roommate Hampton, who considers leaving Acme Looniversity for med school. It’s a repetitive move that lacks much room for comic development. But if some of the cosmetic and personality changes will inspire nitpicks from hardcore fans, there are also deep-cut Warner Bros. animation references that will delight them. One episode riffs on the obscure, little-loved character Cool Cat – created by a former Hanna-Barbera staffer in the late-’60s dog days of the Looney Tunes theatrical shorts – while also reintroducing Space Jam’s Lola Bunny. They’re brought together for an impressively manic plot about Acme Looniversity trying to maintain its lofty college ranking.
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Tiny Toons Looniversity is a worthy-enough reboot of Tiny Toon Adventures, with plenty of laughs, zippy gags, and new takes on familiar characters. But its meta-jokes about cartoon conventions lack the novelty of the original Tiny Toons, not to mention the genius of classic Looney Tunes shorts.
- Jesse Hassenger
Sep 4, 2023 · Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Tiny Toon Adventures streams with Max on Friday, September 8th and will be airing episodes weekly on Cartoon Network beginning on Saturday, September 9th. Tiny Toons...
- Nick Valdez
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Sep 13, 2023 · The result is a more layered character in Tiny Toons Looniversity, who fulfills numerous positions within the show's dynamics. Tiny Toons Looniversity is now streaming on Max, and new episodes air on Cartoon Network.
- Freelance Writer
Oct 29, 2020 · News coming directly from Amblin Entertainment revealed that the new Tiny Toons will be airing on HBO Max. Receiving a two-season, straight-to-series order right out of the gate, the show is being called Tiny Toons Looniversity.
Tiny Toon Adventures is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first animated series produced by Steven Spielberg 's Amblin Television (credited as Amblin Entertainment) in association with Warner Bros. Animation. [1]
Aug 21, 2023 · Tiny Toons Looniversity is coming soon to Cartoon Network and the Max steaming service. A soft reboot of the Tiny Toon Adventures series (1990-92), the new show finds the young characters...
