Recap / Tiny Toon Adventures S 1 E 1 The Looney Beginning

The first episode of the first season of Tiny Toon Adventures.

The episode begins with Daffy Duck pitching a new movie idea to Warner Bros., but is rejected and forced out of the studio. Not long after, the outside of Bugs Bunny's mansion is shown, where Bugs Bunny is sitting by his pool, and talking lovingly to his Shloskar award. Bugs then notices the viewers and welcomes them to the show. He tells them that he agreed to narrate the origin of Tiny Toon Adventures for Warner Bros. under the condition that he be paid in advance. After being paid in a dump truck filled with carrots and carrot products, Bugs begins narrating the story.

Late one night at Warner Bros., Bugs was hanging around in a framed picture, while the artists were coming up with new television show ideas. A local Animator's boss rejects the pilot for The Montana Max Show and demands a new hit show by 9:00 AM. The Animator begins work, but doesn't have any creative ideas. Bugs suggests to the animator to have a rabbit as the main protagonist, so the Animator goes with that idea. After rejecting a sweet-talking baby rabbit and a Rambo-esque muscular rabbit, the Animator meets in the middle and creates a teenage boy rabbit. After being given a splash of color and a red shirt, the Boy Rabbit asks for a best friend, so the Animator creates a Girl Rabbit, much to the Boy Rabbit's annoyance. However, the Boy Rabbit's mind is quickly changed by the girl rabbit's many impressions. The Boy Rabbit asks the Animator what the names of him and the Girl Rabbit are, so the Animator names them "Buster Bunny" and "Babs Bunny", respectively. Buster and Babs like these names so much, they thank the Animator by jumping off their paper and kissing them. Unfortunately, this only prompts the Animator to toss their paper in the wastebasket and give up, knowing he'll never meet the 9:00 AM deadline. After Buster and Babs escape from the wastebasket, they decide to make the show themselves for everyone who likes toons. Bugs likes their idea, but Babs tells Buster that coming up with a hit cartoon show will take dozens of highly paid executives years. Buster then tells Babs that they can do it about as long as the next commercial break, to which she agrees.

In the second act, Bugs tells the viewers that Warner Bros. needed a new hit cartoon show by 9:00 AM, and the fate of the project rested in the hands of Buster and Babs. Buster tells Babs that over the course of the commercial break, he made a list of things needed for a hit show; appealing stars (themselves), an exciting locale, wacky but lovable neighbors, archenemies, and stories. Babs asks Buster what their location will be, and Buster uses a pair of scissors to create a map of Acme Acres. After creating Acme Acres, Babs asks Buster what's next on their list, and Buster tells her, "Wacky but lovable neighbors". The two bunnies then hop into the map and land conveniently near a sign that says, AUDITION TODAY FOR WACKY BUT LOVABLE NEIGHBORS.

During the audition, Buster and Babs select sidekicks and friends in the forms of Hamton J. Pig (as the show's straight man), Furrball and Sweetie Bird (to give the show more heart), and Gogo Dodo (whom they promptly send to Wackyland). When they need a few more characters, Plucky Duck comes in, insisting they can't do their show without him. After demonstrating his talents to the two rabbits, they tell him he's in. Plucky asks them what his part is, and Buster tells him he's their sidekick. Plucky is outraged, insisting that he is no sidekick, and Hamton's more qualified to be a sidekick than he is.

Buster then decides he and Babs need villains for their show, so they go back to the Animator's office and find a box with signs that say, DANGER, STAY OUT! and GO AWAY on it. Buster pushes the box off the shelf, opening it and releasing all of the villains inside, many of whom they would encounter later in the series. After the scarier villains leave, Buster looks inside the box and laughs. He tells Babs to check out the leftovers, which consist of Dizzy Devil and Elmyra Duff, the former of whom is running for his life from the latter. They jump into the map of Acme Acres, and Buster tells Babs they will be pushovers. Out from the bottom of the box in a burst of flames comes an angry rich kid. Babs asks who he is, and he tells her his name is Montana Max. He then tells her that he was promised his very own show by the Animator who drew him. He asks Babs where he went, and Babs points to the map of Acme Acres, telling Monty that's where the Animator is. An angry Monty jumps into the map of Acme Acres, and Buster decides that all they need now for their series are stories.

Hamton writes down the scripts for the series, each one jam-packed with comedy. Buster now has everything on the list, and is ready to start the new show, when Monty and Arnold the Pit Bull overhear from behind the bushes. They jump out, and Monty tells the rabbits that he's taking over their series. He knocks them out of the map with a golf club, and begins to wreak havoc on Acme Acres and everyone living in it. The two rabbits are now frustrated, since Monty took over their show, and without the scripts, they're doomed.

In the third act, as Bugs is being massaged by a purple girl rabbit, he tells the viewers that since time was running out for Buster and Babs and Acme Acres was in ruins, he decided to help them in their time of need. Buster and Babs explain the situation to Bugs, who creates Acme Looniversity in the middle of the map and leads them there.

Buster and Babs land outside Acme Looniversity, where what looks like a plush green carpet is. However, that carpet turns out to be a flattened Plucky, who decides he'd rather be a sidekick at this point. Buster asks him what happened, and Plucky explains that Monty flattened him with a steamroller. Buster, Babs, and Plucky all enter Acme Looniversity, where Bugs explains in song, that at Acme Loo, he and his Looney Tunes co-stars will teach them cartoon comedy and how to deal with their adversaries. After the song ends, Bugs tells Buster and Babs that they'll be fine as long as they remember three things; their adversaries have tapioca for brains, always eat their carrots, and villains always fall for cheesy disguises. Bugs then tells them that they'll find Monty at the big mansion at the end of the woods. Buster and Babs then thank Bugs and set off.

When Buster and Babs reach the outside of Monty's Mansion, Monty locks the scripts in his safe. Buster and Babs, disguised as Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, respectively, ring Monty's doorbell. Monty falls for the disguises and lets them in, admitting that Sam and Elmer are his heroes. Buster and Babs congratulate Monty on getting rid of them, and ask him how he did it while demonstrating various dangerous ways on him of what he could have done, such as dropping a bowling ball on his foot and hitting him with a giant fly swatter. Monty admits to them that all he did was steal their scripts, pointing to them in the open safe. Buster and Babs take the scripts back and are about to leave, when Monty sees their tails through their disguises and a Raiders of the Lost Ark-esque chase ensues, with Buster and Babs dodging many of Monty's booby traps, including giant snapping teeth, cannons that shoot bags of money, and a giant gold coin with Monty's face on it, which flattens Monty instead.

The two bunnies come through in the end, saving both their show and the Animator's job. The next morning, the Animator returns to his office and notices the scripts on his desk. His Boss tells the him that the network loves the new show, and gives him a raise. The Animator asks Buster and Babs how they can repay them, and Buster asks him if he and Babs can get a "Created By" credit. The Animator refuses, prompting Buster and Babs to jump off their paper and attack him. Bugs tells the viewers that Buster and Babs are learning as the episode ends, and as the credits roll, Buster and Babs do receive their "Created By" credit.

This episode provides examples of:

• Animated Actors: Not only are Buster and Babs this, but according to this episode, they created the entire show from scratch. They even get a "Created By" credit in the closing credits.
• Animation Bump: A good bulk of the first act, animated by Glen Kennedy, with a smooth, bouncy feel to it. A few other bits also count, like John Williamson's animation of Furrball getting struck by lightning in his introduction, and Wang Film Productions's animation of the escape from Monty's mansion.
• Anti-Villain: Dizzy. Despite being seen escaping from the villains box alongside Monty and Elmyra, Dizzy is seen running for his life from the latter.
• Anvil on Head: Wile E. Coyote ends up a victim of this during Bugs' song about Acme Looniversity.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: While auditioning for the show, Plucky presents himself as a swashbuckler, a superhero, a romantic lead and a "funny duck extraordinaire".
• Blooper: When Buster creates Acme Acres, him and Babs think up a name for it even though the name is already on the map.
• Creator Cameo: The Animator is heavily implied to be Steven Spielberg.
• Credits Gag: Created By - Buster and Babs. ^note At the end of the episode, Buster asks the Animator for it, but the Animator refuses, prompting him and Babs to attack him. They somehow end up getting their wish granted.
• Deleted Scene: Several scenes were cut for syndicated reruns, and they can be seen on the Season 1, Vol. 1 DVD. Hulu has these scenes cut as well.
  • The Animator painting Mexican clothes on Buster before putting him in his red shirt.
  • Sweetie and Furrball introducing themselves during the auditions. (Sweetie's name is still listed in the closing credits).
  • Gogo saying, "You've got Parsley and Sage, but you're running out of time!" after Bugs finishes his song about Acme Looniversity.
  • Buster and Babs remembering Bugs' advice about villains always falling for cheesy disguises when they reach Monty's Mansion.
  • In addition, an unused scene from this episode features Elmyra Duff introducing herself to Buster and Babs during the audition sequence, then capturing them, dressing them in baby clothes, and feeding them mud pies, only for them to outwit her and get back to the auditions. This scene would later be used (with a rough fade-in and altered dialogue) as the opening wraparound to "Strange Tales of Weird Science".
• Forceful Kiss: Babs grabs Buster and kisses him passionately after taking on an appearance reminiscent of Jessica Rabbit.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Buster. After being painted, he asks the Animator for some clothes "for the censors", so he is given a shirt, but no pants.
• Jaw Drop: Buster's jaw drops all the way to the ground when he sees Babs in her Jessica Rabbit-esque look.
• Jerkass Has a Point: The animator's boss harshly discards the pilot for Montana Max's show, dismissing it as garbage. He isn't wrong, however, as he believes that nobody can relate to a bratty, unlikable character like Monty.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The animator's boss at the beginning rejects his idea for Monty's show and even threatens to fire him if he fails to come up with a hit show, then at the end of the episode, he praises the animator and gives him a raise when Tiny Toon Adventures becomes a hit.
• Literally Shattered Lives: Happens to Sylvester during Bugs' song about Acme Looniversity after Tweety hits him with a shovel.
• Logo Joke: When Gogo is sent to Wackyland, the classic "WB Shield" logo chases the Warner Communications "Big W" logo from The 70's with a large hammer.
• Lustful Melt: Performed by Buster when Babs kisses him during her Jessica Rabbit impression.
• Money Mauling: Near the end of the episode, Buster and Babs, respectively disguised as Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, are about to leave Montana Max's mansion with the scripts he stole from them, when Monty sees through their disguises and activates his security system. He has cannons shoot bags of money at the two rabbits, and tries to flatten them with a giant gold coin with his face on it, which the two rabbits evade, and the coin ends up flattening him instead.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Buster and Babs' Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd disguises do little to hide the fact that they're brightly-colored rabbits, but Max falls for them anyway. It isn't until he sees their long ears and short tails from behind as they're walking away with the stolen scripts that he eventually realizes he's been fooled and tries to stop them from escaping.
• Rule of Three: The Animator draws three cartoon rabbits upon getting inspiration from Bugs Bunny; an overly-cutesy baby rabbit (whom he rejects for being too cute), a Rambo-esque muscular rabbit (whom he rejects for being too violent), and Buster Bunny (whom he settles on, at least until he and Babs jump off their paper and kiss him).
• Sealed Evil in a Can: When Buster and Babs need to find villains for their series, they come across the Villains Box. Upon opening the box, it releases many of the series' villains, many of which are minor and one-shot characters, such as the Candy Bar Monster from the "Best O' Plucky Duck Day" episode segment, "Sticky Feathers Duck", The Devil from the ending to "Sawdust and Toonsil", The Metropolis Marvels from "The Acme Bowl", and Dr. Gene Splicer from "Hare Raising Night". Eventually, it gets down to Dizzy Devil, Elmyra Duff, and of course, Montana Max.
• Shout-Out:
  • At the beginning of the episode, the movie that Daffy tries to pitch to the Warner Bros. Studio is Honey, I Shrunk the Laundry.
  • The second rejected rabbit is a parody of John Rambo from the Rambo franchise.
  • Babs' impressions include Glinda the Good Witch, Dolly Parton, Jessica Rabbit, and Pee-Wee Herman.
  • When Buster and Babs escape from the wastebasket, Buster says, "Roger, rabbit!", and Babs tells him, "You got the wrong bunny."
  • Buster's original name for Acme Acres was "Green Acres".
  • The scene where Buster and Babs escape from Monty's booby traps is very similar to the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Sickeningly Sweet: In-universe, the rejected baby rabbit.
  Baby Rabbit: (laughs) Golly geewiz!! Aren't I the kyu-test thing you ever sae? Uh-huh? I'm sure am! I'll go to your house and I'll live there forever and ever and ever!! And you'll never-ever-ever get tired of me. And i'll go hippity-hop, hippity-hop right in your heart!
  Animator: Eeww, that thing will give people cavities!
  Baby Rabbit: I love everybody in all the world and I even love being crumpled up being thrown away. (Becomes muffled as animator crumples him and throws away).
• Spit Take: Acme Looniversity has a class on this, taught by Daffy Duck. Plucky ends up a victim of it.
• Squashed Flat:
  • Plucky, following Monty's takeover of Acme Acres.
  • Near the end of the episode, Monty ends up getting flattened by the giant coin he tried to flatten Buster and Babs with.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Used during the escape from Montana Max's mansion in "The Looney Beginning".
• Visual Pun:
  • Near the beginning of the episode, when Bugs gets paid in a check, he tosses it aside, and it bounces.
  • When Plucky complains about his role as a sidekick, he claims that Hamton's better suited for the role, even having all the ear marks of a sidekick. Hamton has the word, SIDEKICK written on his ear.