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L - R: Daniel Platypus, Bushwacker Bob, Mum, Taz, and Timothy Platypus

"He put the Taz in Taz-Mania
Down in Taz-Mania
Come to Taz-Mania
We mean you!
Wa waee weda whe spzzz!"

Welcome to a land that's way under down under, the sky is always yellow in the rain or shine!

This 65-Episode Cartoon series focuses on the vicious, carnivorous Looney Tunes Anti-Villain, the Tasmanian Devil aka "Taz". Only now he's not any of the three (unless he's trying to eat the Kiwi, but we'll get back to that); instead, it just shows Taz in his native Tazmania. Taz spends time with his family, hangs with his pals, collects bottle caps, works at his job as a bellhop and tries to eat the kiwi. Sure, it may sound boring, but no matter what Taz does, hilarity ensues.

     Also featured: 

  • Jean - Taz's socially active homemaker mother, who is very friendly and kind.
  • Hugh - Taz's laid-back Bing Crosby-ish dad whose advice always seems to end in "Blah, Blah, Blah Yakety Schmackity". This possibly symbolises how nobody listens to him, or to Taz's wild manner of speaking.
  • Molly - Taz's sister who is embarrassed by Taz's behavior and constantly threatens him with baths ("Taz hate water").
  • Jake - Taz's neurotic little brother.
  • Dog - Taz's pet turtle who acts like a dog.
  • Drew - Taz's equally laid-back uncle, who appears only in the "Road To Tazmania" episodes (playing the role of Bob Hope in a homage to the Hope-Crosby "Road to ..." series).
  • Digeri Dingo - An egotistical bottlecap collector who sometimes cons Taz out of his. His ego often leads to his downfall. A notorious Fourth-Wall Observer with a ton of deadpan snark in his system.
  • Wendal T. Wolf - A neurotic Tasmanian wolf who believes himself to be Last of His Kind, and who pathetically tries to force Taz to befriend/protect him.
  • Francis X. Bushlad - The son of the chief of the mudpeople, who hunts Taz to complete his passage into manhood but acts like an Ivy League rich kid.
  • Bushwacker Bob - The irritable owner of the hotel Taz works at, who thinks Taz is a slacker and a screw up.
  • And his mother called Mum - Bob's mother, treats Bob's workers (including Taz) with kindness while criticizing and insulting her son.
  • Constance - A heavy-set koala maid for Bob's hotel who has a crush on Taz.
  • Mr. Thickly - A wallaby tour guide for Bob's hotel who doesn't really know anything.
  • Bull Gator & Axl - Two hunters who want to capture Taz and send him to a zoo, for all the zoo-going children of the world. They usually fail because Axl "does something stupid", that tends to result in a knock upside the head for Axl, and/or the both of them getting mauled by Taz.
  • Buddy Boar - Taz's best friend who acts like a Hollywood agent. By season 2, he's Put on a Bus, making minor cameo appearances afterward.
  • The Platypus Brothers - Timothy and Daniel, two genius inventors who use Taz as their guinea pig.
  • The Kiwi - A tiny yellow bird that Taz can't seem to eat, because it easily outwits him. It makes the Road Runner look like a snail.
  • The Bushrats - Rats that attack people and speak in subtitles.
  • Willie Wombat - A character added to the show later, who is good-natured, says hello to everything and everyone and complains about his role on the show which is a Bugs Bunny Expy.

Have we left anyone out? Oh yeah. Don't forget Taz.

So as not to create an entire family of Tazes, despite being the eldest child of three, Taz himself is portrayed as being somewhat backwards, with his family being (relatively) civilised and fully capable of speaking English. However, they too are also fully capable of causing carnage, though they have more self-control. His parents are especially patient and understanding with him... like they would be if he was... you know... special.

As with many 90's cartoons, it got a few Video Games. The Sega Genesis game was a fairly standard side-scrolling platformer while the game for the SNES was an obstacle/racing game where Taz ran down the street trying to catch and eat Kiwis and other birds.


This show contains examples of:

  • 555: In "Pledge Pledge", Mr. Thickly runs a fundraiser where he asks viewers to call "555-tazz" to make donations. They don't receive any donations. It's revealed in the end that 555-tazz is Digeri Dingo's phone number and he's been keeping the donations for himself.
  • Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Mr. Thickly wears an outback hat, Axl wears a jungle explorer's hat and bandana, Bull wears an outback hat, bandana, vest and gloves, and Constance wears a maid's hat and apron, and black pumps.
  • Accidental Astronaut: In the episode "Astro-Taz", Taz finds himself onboard a combat spaceship intended to handle an incoming meteorite shower. After accidentally launching it, he believes himself to be in a video game, to which the ground crew just says "Sure, let's go with it," and makes him destroy the meteoroids anyway.
  • Accidentally Broke the MacGuffin: Taz does this to the golf trophy at the end of "Return of the Road to Taz-Mania Strikes Back".
  • Acid-Trip Dimension: In "Taz in Keeweeland", the Kee-wee creates a vortex that sucks them through to Keeweeland, a strange place reminiscent of Wackyland but populated by Kee-Wees.
  • Adaptation Distillation: There were a few video games made based on the show for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, SNES and Game Boy. Only Taz primarily starred in them (indeed the Genesis/Mega Drive version is the only time Taz's family gets screen time on any of these video games, and only for the opening cutscene. Most of the other characters/enemies were generic alligators, carnivorous plants, rock monsters and others, culminating in a final boss battle with a gigantic seagull).
    • Francis also appeared as a recurring enemy in the SNES version and a boss in the Genesis game. Axl and Bull were a stage's bosses in their truck on the Genesis/Mega Drive version. Francis and Bull were also bosses on the Master System version as well.
      • The Bushrats also appear as enemies in a few stages, especially in the Master System and Game Gear versions.
    • The SNES version focused on Taz's efforts to catch and eat the Kiwi on a busy highway. Some characters from the show would appear as obstacles, and occasionally Digeri Dingo would hand Taz a power-up. At the end of each level when the sufficient amount of Kiwi were "collected", Taz would drift off to sleep and open his mouth, at which point all the "collected" Kiwi (as well as any eaten bird, Bushrat, and whatever food powerup Digeri handed to him for some reason) would escape from his mouth unharmed.
  • All Animals Are Dogs: Dog, who is a turtle. Who thinks he is a dog.
  • All Cloth Unravels: In "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty", Kitty unravels a comforter off the bed and Taz has to knit it back together.
  • All Just a Dream: In "Taz and the Pterodactyl," Taz meets and befriends a huge pterodactyl that carries him around the landscape... or he just imagined it while playing with his pterodactyl kite. You decide.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Italian version has a different opening theme. The Korean version also has a different opening theme too.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The Kiwi is bright yellow and the Platypus Brothers are orange. No members of Taz's family are black like real Tasmanian devils, but are instead red or orange.
  • And You Thought It Was a Game: The premise of the trio of "Road to Taz-Mania" episodes: Hugh and Drew go on what they think is a mundane road trip with Taz, only to be unaware that spies are trying to thwart them for various reasons. Taz is the only one who knows something is amiss but they don't pay him any mind when he tries to tell them.
  • Animated Actors: In "But Is It Taz?", Taz gets fed up, rips up his contract and storms off the set.
    • "The amazing shrinking Taz and co." squeezes this trope for all it's worth. We see the "actors" between scenes, being interviewed and commenting on their job; Bull Gator is implied to be somewhat jealous of Taz ("Mister Merchandised Character") and Taz's dad keeps walking on the set to get a role despite not being the episode's script.
  • Animation Bump: Any time Jon McClenahan and Startoons worked on the show, including the intro.
  • Annoying Patient: In "Nursemaid Taz", Digeri Dingo fakes a broken leg so he can get Taz's family to wait on him. They soon start killing him with kindness, force-feeding him soup and piling pillows on him till he nearly goes insane.
  • Anti-Villain: Bull Gator and Axl just want to please zoo-going children of the world. And get money for doing so.
  • Anvil on Head: There is an short segment where the Tazmanian Comedy Institute researches the optimal heaviness of an x-ton weight by dropping several weights on Bush Rats and gauging the reaction of the audience. The audience is silent for the 5, 10, and even 15.99999999 ton weights (though they "briefly crack smiles, and then fall into a deep depression".), but laugh hysterically when the 16 ton weight drops.
  • Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: The Platypus Brothers in "Never Cry Taz":
    Timothy: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
    Daniel: Not unless you've got the theme from Hello, Dolly! running through your head.
  • Art Shift: When Molly is narrating her script idea in "The Taz Story Primer", the story is depicted as animated doodle.
  • Asteroids Monster: When Taz blows up the eponymous thing in "The Thing That Ate the Outback", he finds himself facing an army of miniature things; each one as ravenous as the original.
  • Banana Peel: In "Tazmanian Lullaby", Francis manages to calm Taz down by playing various musical instruents, but with each new instrument he tries, the screen keeps shaking. The camera then focuses on Francis to reveal that he slipped on the same banana peel three times.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Daniel and Timothy Platypus.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: When Constance finds out her favorite wrestler isn't just putting on an act, and is really and truly beating seven kinds of snot out of Taz, she takes exception to his behavior and thoroughly kicks his ass.
  • Big Guy, Little Guy: Axl and Bull Gator. bull, who is the brains of the outfit, is half the size of Axl.
  • Blah, Blah, Blah: All of Hugh's explanations start off detailed before degenerating into "blah, blah, blah" as he realises no one is listening, ending with "Yakety Schmackity".
  • Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: In "Francis Takes a Stand", Francis switches Taz's lemonade recipe with a recipe for a Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce. Naturally, Francis ends up drinking more of the stuff than Taz does.
  • Born in the Theatre: "Retakes Not Included" starts with Bull and Axl running off the edge of the animation and finding themselves standing on a blank page. This is the first of Bull's many complaints about the shoddy production values of this particular episode. At the end of the episode, the traditional 'end-of-reel' markings flash up the screen while the characters continue to bicker.
  • Bowled Over: In "Yet Another Road To Taz-Mania", Taz and a group of spies get trapped in a pin-setter, set up on the bowling alley, and knocked down by a bowling ball.
  • Bowling for Ratings: "Yet Another Road to Taz-Mania". Once more, Taz is stuck on a road trip with Hugh and Uncle Drew. This time, they are going bowling, and the spies are after their new bowling ball.
  • Bridge Logic: In "The Bushrats Must Be Crazy", a lightning bolt drops a conveniently placed tree across a chasm to allow the Bushrats to continue their search for the Great Duck. Subverted immediately afterwards as a second lightning bolt strikes the log while they are halfway across.
  • Cargo Cult: In "The Bushrats Must Be Crazy", the Bushrats start worshiping Jake's rubber duck.
  • Cats Are Mean: In "Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty" part one and two, Molly adopts a psychotic stray cat.
  • Caught in a Snare: During the start of "Hypnotazed", Bull Gator & Axl get trapped in a snare they set for Taz; then Taz trips another nearby snare on purpose just so he can get close enough to make hilarity ensue.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Played with in an episode where a large weight dangles precariously above the characters throughout. Later it's revealed that it was All Just a Dream of Francis Bushlad's. Bushlad berates the writers for the lame ending and for not using the weight. The writers retaliate by dropping it on him repeatedly.
  • Christmas Episode: "No Time for Christmas". With everybody in Tazmania getting ready for Christmas, Taz makes a trip across the outback to deliver gifts to his friends.
  • Clip Show: "The Platypi Psonic Psensation Psimulator". The Platypus Brothers use their new invention to probe Taz's memories for "unused" episode segments.
  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Standard attire for the spies in "The Road to Tazmania" episodes.
  • Cool Uncle: Drew is adored by Taz and his siblings. Maybe because he's a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Bob Hope.
  • Crowded-Cast Shot: In the Christmas episode, Taz's father narrates the closing of the story mentioning the heartwarming arrival of "all our friends who were sadly cut for screentime" before they arrive en masse for a "heartwarming cast shot."
  • Determinator: Francis X. Bushlad never gives up when it comes to trying to capture Taz so that he can pass his manhood ritual and take his father's place as Chief of the Mudpeople.
  • DIY Dentistry: When Taz has a sore tooth, the Platypus Brothers try variations. First the doorknob, then tying it to their truck, and eventually a giant rock off thrown off a precipice. Nothing works until they shoot Taz with a cannon - and they get the wrong tooth!
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Taz's family in one episode treats his love of comics like it's a drug addiction. (Though the short also shows their own fixations).
  • A Dog Named "Cat": Taz has a pet turtle named Dog.
  • Doom It Yourself: The entire plot of "Home Despair" as Taz attempts to repair a hole in the wall before his parents get home.
  • Dream Sequence: A surprisingly emotionally one in "Comic Madness". Taz dreams of being an expy of Superman. His parents are kidnapped by the super villain Bad Guy (who resembles an expy of Darth Vader), who forces Taz to choose between saving his parents, or preventing the villain from burning all of Taz's comics. Taz does the right thing, but then the reveal happens that underneath the helmet is Taz's younger brother who says Taz loved those comics more than him, this causes Taz-Man to fall, and shocks Taz awake.
  • Driving a Desk: In "To Catch a Taz" (an homage to Alfred Hitchcock films, especially North By Northwest), this is revealed to be happening during a chase scene when Wendal gets out of his car (which is on rollers) and casually walks up to Taz as the scenery continues to race by in the background.
  • Education Through Pyrotechnics: In "The Thing That Ate the Outback", Taz creates the eponymous thing with a mail-order chemistry kit.
  • Ejection Seat: One gets installed in the family minivan (without the Devil's knowledge) in "Yet Another Road to Tazmania". Taz is accidentally ejected from the car while Hugh is trying to turn on the air conditioning.
  • Epic Fail: One episode started with Taz breaking character and explaining that he was tired and going to take a nap now. Francis X. Bushlad spends the rest of the episode trying to catch him, and does an even worse job of it than usual. Even though Taz is asleep the whole time.
  • Epileptic Flashing Lights: The intro (at least the long version, as there is a shorter version that takes out the offending parts).
  • Escalating War: "War and Pieces" consists entirely of an escalating war between Taz and Molly that begins when Molly's loud music causes Taz to drop his sandwich, and he retaliates by eating her CDs.
  • Evil Poacher: Bull Gator and Axl, for a sufficiently low value of 'evil'. They are trying to capture Taz and take him to a zoo for the children.
  • Expy: The Kiwi to the Roadrunner. Both are birds who run at high speeds and are chased by a predator who never catches them.
  • Executive Meddling: Done in-universe in the episode "Taz Babies." The Vice President of the network makes changes to the show, including truncating scenes of witty dialogue, making Bull Gator the main character, changing Axl into a dog, and eventually turning it into a Spinoff Babies show before deciding to just cancel it entirely.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Although Taz has shown that he will eat absolutely anything, this trope is pushed to its most extreme point in this show, with him eating sheep, pets, TNT, fridges and other characters, often without chewing.
  • Face on a Milk Carton: Happens to the Platypus Brothers when they get lost searching for Taz in their attic in "Never Cry Taz".
  • Falling into the Cockpit: This is how Taz ends up piloting a space shuttle to save the Earth from a meteor swarm in "Astro-Taz". Of course, he thinks it's just a video game.
  • "Far Side" Island: Taz and Wendal are stranded on one in "Taz-Manian Theatre".
  • Felony Misdemeanor: In "The Origin of the Beginning of the Incredible Taz-Man", Mr. Thickly attempts to persuade Taz to make the mailman his arch-enemy for the heinous crime of delivering junk mail to Taz's family.
  • Finger in a Barrel: A variant in the opening credits sequence; During the line "Francis X. Bushlad is never uncouth", Francis walks up to Digeri Dingo and is about to shoot an arrow at him from his bow. Digeri sticks his finger on Francis' arrow, resulting in Francis being launched backwards when he fires his bow.
  • Fire-Breathing Diner: Happens in "Francis takes a Stand" when Francis switches Taz's lemonade recipe for a hot sauce recipe. Taz's resulting fire breath scorches Francis like a flamethrower. When Francis tries to turn the tables on Taz and takes a swig of the lemonade/hot sauce, his fire breath acts like a jet engine and propels him into a cliff.
  • Flea Episode: In "A Flea For Me", when Taz eats out of the garbage can, he picks up a flea, which makes him itch. Taz tries to keep Jean from finding out, as she would give him a bath if she knew, and since Taz hates water, he Hates Baths. At the end of the episode, the Flea now makes Jean itch.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: One short has Molly adopt a kitten that acts like a sweet little puddytat around her, but is really a psychotic malicious monster.
  • For Inconvenience, Press "1": Taz gets caught in a loop of these in "Taz in Keeweeland". They always end with him being instructed to press the 'pound' key, at which point the Keewee pops out of the handset and pounds him on the head with a mallet.
  • Fourth-Wall Observer:
  • Taz can sense incoming flashbacks. He's not fond of them.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: Taz and Molly swap bodies in "The Outer Taz-Manian Zone".
  • Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Hugh, Jean and Molly are all fully clothed.
  • Furry Confusion: Sapient animals exist in this world alongside humans. But there are also zoos where they are kept, and two hunters responsible for capturing animals for the zoo are anthropomorphic alligators.
  • Genre Savvy: Just about any character, due to there being No Fourth Wall, though notably Willie Wombat, who is all too aware that he's going through the motions of a predator-chases-prey cartoon, and grows increasingly resentful about it as the series goes on.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: In "Just Be Cuz", Francis uses his younger cousin Edgar for bait so that he can capture Taz and pass his manhood ritual. Francis' shoulder devil, who wears a black business suit, congratulates him on his success, while his shoulder angel, who wears a blue business suit, protests and convinces him to save Edgar from Taz.
  • G-Rated Mental Illness: The whole concept of Taz. Taz's family is perfectly articulate and self-controlled. They can spin, but don't do so randomly. Even his littlest brother. Despite being the oldest of three, Taz... has decidedly less smarts and self-control. While a majority of Looney Tunes are mentally handicapped in some way, it is this comparison to other perfecly capable characters that makes it appear heavier and more grounded in reality. Ah, the joys of strongly insinuating that a popular children's cartoon character has a visible learning disability, possibly Down's Syndrome or a form of autism...
  • Green Gators: Axl Gator has green skin, but his underside is yellow.
  • Had the Silly Thing in Reverse: Happens at the end of "Bird-Brained Beast" when the Platypus Brothers back their truck over Taz as they are leaving.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Jake wears and shirt and shoes but no pants, and all Buddy Boar wears is a jacket.
  • Hammerspace: Taz-Mania used many of the tropes from the Looney Tunes shorts, so Hammerspace was well and truly in effect. In "A Flea for Me", for example, the flea pulls a complete oil well out from under his coat.
  • Hand-or-Object Underwear: In "Kee-Wee Cornered", after Taz accidentally rips his own tail off, he covers his butt with a hat.
  • Headphones Equal Isolation: Molly wears headphones near constantly and misses things like her brother screaming for help because he's Caught in a Snare.
  • Helicopter Flyswatter: In "Taz in Keeweeland", Taz becomes a giant atop a skyscraper, swatting at the Kiwi in a biplane.
  • Hell Hotel: The motel in "A Midsummer Night's Scream" where the staff attempt to murder Taz and Bushwacker Bob.
  • Hot Sauce Drinking: In "Francis Takes a Stand", Francis swaps Taz's lemonade recipe for a hot sauce recipe, resulting in Taz drinking a pitcher of hot sauce and turning into a Fire-Breathing Diner.
  • Human Knot: Happens to Taz in one episode, caused by Rex the Wrecker.
  • I Know Mortal Kombat: In "Astro-Taz", Taz's skill at video games allows him to completely shoot out a meteor swarm that was going to destroy the Earth.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The owner and staff of the motel in "A Midsummer Night's Scream".
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: In "The Amazing Shrinking Taz & Co.", Bull and Axl use one of the Platypus Brothers' inventions to shrink Taz, only to end up shrinking themselves as well.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Bull Gator and Axl, who tend to end up injuring themselves (Bull in particular) in their constant attempts to capture Taz and sell him to a zoo.
  • Inevitable Waterfall: A standard fixture anytime a character ends up on the river. A ludicrously tall example occurs in "Doubting Dingo".
  • Inherently Funny Words: Arugula (especialy when John Astin says it). The word comes disproportionately often in the Bull Gator and Axl episodes.
  • Informed Species: Wendal T. Wolf is called a Tasmanian wolf, but lacks all the visible distinguishing features of the real animal, even its stripes. Taz is also very different from his real-life counterpart and tried to eat Wendal in one episode, while in real life the larger Tasmanian wolves preyed on the devils.
  • Inn of No Return: The motel in "A Midsummer Night's Scream" where the staff attempt to kill and eat Taz and Bushwacker Bob.
  • Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Happens to an elderly Francis X. Bushlad when it is discovered that he never completed his manhood ritual.
  • Insistent Terminology: Buddy Boar was not "fired". He was "promoted".
  • The Inspector Is Coming: In "Gone with the Windbag", the hotel staff are preparing for the visit of an especially demanding critic named F.H. Leghorn. Bushwalker Bob doesn't realize until it's too late that the guest he has been rude to, from kicking him out of his room for Foghorn to giving him a sandwich from the garbage, is the actual critic and gives him a scathing review, who seemed happy with his visit until the entire misunderstanding occurs.
  • It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Dropped into the middle of one of Wendal T Wolf's neurotic monologues: "..and then suddenly the jungle gets quiet… [insane paranoid Aside Glance] too quiet…"
  • It Was Here, I Swear!: Taz's attempts to convince Bushwacker Bob that someone is trying to murder them in "A Midsummer Night's Scream".
  • I've Got an X, and I'm Not Afraid to Use It!: In "The Pied Piper of Taz-Mania", one of Francis' fellow tribesmen mocks his musical aspirations with the words "He's got an accordion and he's not afraid to use it!".
  • Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: In "The Origin of the Beginning of the Incredible Taz-Man", Taz gets arrested for attempting to remove junk mail from someone's letterbox.
  • Molly is a bit of a brat at times, but she does love her brother. If only he didn't keep annoying her so much.
  • Jungles Sound Like Kookaburras: The kookaburra sound is heard during the intro. Coincidentally, there are wild kookaburras in Tasmania in Real Life, so Misplaced Wildlife is averted in this case.
  • Kicked Upstairs: Buddy Boar's few appearances in the second series reveal he was removed from the show and made a director.
  • "King Kong" Climb: In "Taz in Keeweeland", Taz becomes a giant atop a skyscraper, swatting at the Kiwi in a biplane.
  • Knife Outline: Happens to Taz when he walks into the bathroom of the Inn of No Return in "A Midsummer Night's Scream".
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Well-meaning and gregarious though he is, Mr. Thickly's assessment of his own expertise has absolutely no bearing on the reality of same.
  • Last of His Kind: Wendal T. Wolf, the last Tasmanian wolf alive.
  • The Last Straw: In the first appearance of the Kee-Wee, Taz and Buddy Boar end up tied to a tree dangling over the edge of a cliff. The Kee-Wee returns Buddy's lucky coin, which it had stolen earlier, and the extra weight is enough to cause the tree to snap.
  • Leitmotif: This show's theme music would later accompany Taz's cameos on Animaniacs and Histeria!
    • The Platypus Brothers are frequently accompanied by "The Barber of Seville" by Gioachino Rossini.
  • Lemonade Stand Plot: In "Francis Takes a Stand", Taz and Francis X. Bushlad set up competing lemonade stands in hopes of making big money.
  • Living in a Furniture Store: Being a parody of typical Sitcom family, the Tasmanian Devils' home is like this. The exception is Taz's room, which is literally a cave whose only furnishing is a rock that he sleeps on.
  • Low-Speed Chase: In "Return of the Road to Taz-Mania Strikes Back" Hugh, Drew and Taz get involved in a golf buggy chase. At one point Jean, who is on foot, overtakes them to remind them that they still need to buy orange juice.
  • Made of Explodium: In "Taz Live", the Platypus Brothers play three different musical instruments for Hotel Tasmania's talent show; electric guitars, tubas, and violins. Every time they so much as play a single note, their instruments explode.
  • Medium Awareness: Many characters are aware that they are in a cartoon. Taking to its (il)logical extreme in "Retakes Not Included", which consists largely of Bull Gator pointing out the shoddy production values and amateurish direction of this particular episode. And it's hilarious.
  • Men Can't Keep House: In "Boys Just Want To Have Fun", Jean and Molly decide to go to the mother and daughter synchronized swimming championship. While they're out, Hugh and the boys decide to have some fun and games. Predictably they make a mess of the place, until the girls return home early.
  • Mickey Mousing: As with the other early WBA comedy shows (Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, Pinky and the Brain, Histeria).
  • Mirror Character: Taz may stick out as like a caveman in a suburban family most of the time. However they can all spin like Taz, and get his father frustrated enough and suddenly he's speaking gibberish and throwing a destructive fit like his son.
  • Mirror Monologue: Willie Wombat gives himself one when he is psyching himself up to go in the boss's office and request his own series in "Willie Wombat's Last Stand".
  • Mirror Routine: A spy (who naturally looks nothing like Taz) does this to Taz in "Yet Another Road To Taz-Mania".
  • Misleading Package Size: In "Sub Commander Taz", he ordered a nuclear submarine from a comic-book ad. It was delivered in a crate that filled most of the room, but it turned out to be a toy so small it could be dropped into a water glass.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Somewhat averted. Many of the characters are creatures indigenous to Tasmania including wombats, platypi, and of course Tasmanian devils, as well as animals more common in mainland Australia like dingoes and koalas, though some are invasive/introduced species in real life such as turtles and boars.
    • Then again, the island in the series is the fictional Taz-mania, which just happens to have almost the same name.
  • Mistaken for Profound: Happens to Taz in "Ask Taz". Bushwhacker Bob has Taz scrubbing the floor at the hotel. A senator on vacation asks Bob for cruise advice and hears Taz grumbling "Taz hate water." Just then, the television reports that the cruise ship has sunk. Feeling lucky, the senator then asks Taz's advice on a flood bill. The senator takes "Taz hate water" to mean Taz approves of the bill and compliments him on his genius. Bob stirkes at this business opportunity and quickly sets up an "Ask Taz" booth. The phones ring off the hook and Taz diligently answers them "Taz hate water" while still trying to perform his regular job as bellhop. When Taz is offered a television show, Bob craves the proceeds. Taz uses this as leverage to make Bob do some work. The show is a hit, with Taz answering "Taz hate water" to every question.
  • Mistaken for Special Guest: The episode "Gone with the Windbag" shows Bushwacker Bob and Taz preparing for the arrival of a nasty critic named F.H. Leghorn. When Foghorn Leghorn shows up, they assume it's him, so they do whatever it takes to please him. Along the way they're rude to another guest at the hotel, kicking him out of his room, running over him with a bike and offering him a sandwich from the garbage while cooking constant meals for Foghorn. The guest loses his temper, revealing the he is F.H. Leghorn and will give them a scathing review.
  • Mistaken for Spies: Happens to Hugh, Drew and Taz in "Yet Another Road to Taz-Mania". Taz, Hugh, and Drew are driving to the Port Arthur Orange Juice Festival. Taz has to pee so Hugh stops at the Spy Gas station. Some spies follow him into the restroom. Meanwhile, as Hugh and Drew talk to the manager, he offers them a free orange bowling ball. When they leave, another spy arrives using the same code phrases that came up in Hugh and Drew's conversation, and the manager realizes he gave the ball to the wrong person. He sends spies to get it back.
  • Most Definitely Not a Villain: "Yet Another Road to Taz-Mania" featured two spies who dressed themselves as tourists from Cleveland. Practically every conversation they had included some mention about the place.
  • Mr. Imagination: Taz is portrayed as this in several episodes, such as "Sub Commander Taz" and "The Origin of the Beginning of the Incredible Taz-Man".
  • Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Francis discovers he has this ability in "Tazmanian Lullaby". The only downside he sees on that is Taz having more artistic sensitivity than the whole tribe together.
  • Nature Tinkling: in the episode "Merit Badgered", when Taz and Jake go hiking, Jake is forced to explain to his brother at one point that nature doesn't have toilets, and he needs to go to the bushes.
  • Never the Selves Shall Meet: Marvin the Martian's team-up with Taz. For whatever reason, hooking Taz up to some big gyroscope thing allows him to spin them through time. Marvin is always cautioning him not to meet himself, as "It results in an Earth-Shattering Kaboom." Of course, he forgets this advice. The result was somewhat similar to the ending of that Tiny Toon Adventures episode where Buster, Hamton and Plucky drank beer.
  • Obfuscating Disability: In "Nursemaid Taz", Digeri Dingo fakes having a broken leg in order to get the Tasmanian Devils to wait on him hand and foot.
  • Obligatory Joke: At the start of "Yet Another Road to Taz-Mania", Taz is set up by Hugh and Drew to do his usual gibberish grunting that he does at the end of the intro sequence. He half-heartedly does it, adding "Yeah yeah yeah."
  • Odd Name Out: Molly's favourite band is The New Chips off the Block; Donnie, Ronnie, Lonnie, Bonnie and Clyde.
  • Oil Slick: One is installed in the car in "Yet Another Road To Taz-Mania".
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Taz-Mania is often overshadowed by the 90's Warner Bros. cartoons executive produced by Steven Spielberg (Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid!) though it's still fondly remembered.
  • Pale Females, Dark Males: Averted with the Tasmanian Devils. Jean and Molly have darker fur than Hugh and Jake, although Taz is darker than all the rest of his family.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: In "Devil of a Job", after Mum informs Bob that a Tasmanian hotel should have a Tasmanian Devil employed on opening day, Bob has what he thinks is a Tasmanian Devil... Only to be a small bird in a Tasmanian Devil costume. Mum knows it's not a real Tasmanian Devil, but Bob is angry because the bird had told him he was. Justified since at this point, Bob doesn't really know what a Tasmanian Devil looks like.
  • Patter Song: Francis X. Bushlad gets brief one (set to the tune of "Modern Major General") extolling the virtues of his lemonade in "Francis Takes a Stand".
  • Pepper Sneeze: In "Food for Thought", Taz sprinkling pepper on an egg causes the alligator inside to sneeze and hatch out.
  • Plank Gag: Axl does it to Bull Gator. Bull's response is a Genre Savvy "I really should have seen that coming".
  • Police Code for Everything: In "To Catch a Taz", Wendal arrests Thickly on "a 219; a fashion faux pas".
  • Power-Up Food: In "We'll Always Have Taz-Mania", Hugh gets a Popeye-style burst of strength from orange juice, allowing him to swim up a 2000-foot waterfall pushing a boat.
  • Priceless Ming Vase:
    • The golf trophy in "Return of the Road to Taz-Mania Strikes Back".
    • In "Gone to Pieces", Taz accidentally breaks Jean's vase when he plays tiddlywinks with his bottle cap collection. After spending the entire episode trying to put the vase back together, with each attempt breaking the vase even more, Taz eventually sells his bottle cap collection to raise the money to buy a new vase. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Jean was planning to sell the vase at her next garage sale for five dollars. Taz gets upset and destroys the replacement vase when he realizes that all his efforts were for nothing.
  • Punch-Clock Hero: Sam Sheepdog appeared in one episode. Taz replaced Ralph Wolf as the Punch-Clock Villain.
  • Quicksand Sucks: In "A Devil of a Job", Bushwhacker Bob and Mr. Thickley are looking for a Tasmanian Devil to use as an attraction for their hotel. At one point in their search, they wander into a pit of quicksand, and Bob is quick to blame Thickley for leading them there. Thickley has to remind Bob not to move, as the more he moves, the faster he'll sink. Eventually, the both of them sink completely, but are rescued by a van driven by Bugs Bunny. Daffy Duck is his passenger, and tells him "I told you it was a left turn at Albuquerque!"
  • Rage Against the Director: "Retakes Not Included" largely consists of Bull Gator complaining about the direction of that particular episode.
  • Reaching Between the Lines: In "Taz in Keeweeland'', Taz's repeated pressing of the 'pound' key allows the Keewee to pop out of the handset and pound him on the head with a mallet.
  • Reading Ahead in the Script: Inverted in "Retakes Not Included". Bull and Axl realise that they have digressed too long and that the plot has moved on without them. They flip backwards through the script in order to catch up and prevent Taz from eating a cute fluffy bunny.
  • Reality-Writing Book: The script in "Retakes Not Included" appears to be this, as turning back pages allows Bull and Axl to undo events that have already happened.
  • A Real Man Is a Killer: A child-friendly parody with Francis X. Bushlad, whose father is more than willing to give a more modern and civilized initiation into manhood. He insists on forging his spirit in the tradition of his ancestors, and as such has vowed to hunt Taz.
  • Reused Character Design: The Platypus Bros. have the same facial design and lisp as Daffy Duck.
  • Rite of Passage: The Mudpeople have three options: Perform a hostile takeover of a Fortune 500 company, accumulate a portfolio of stock with a net yield of no less than 36% per annum or trap a Tasmanian Devil (Francis' choice)
  • Road Runner vs. Coyote: This trope sums up the attempts of both Francis X. Bushlad, and Bull Gator and Axl, to capture Taz, and Taz's attempts to capture the Kee-Wee.
  • Road-Sign Reversal: In "Road to Tazmania", a spy does this to send Hugh, Drew and Taz to the Spy Mart.
  • Rule of Funny: The explicit reason why the Running Gag of 16-ton weights exists. There were laboratory tests done, which revealed that only weights of exactly 16 tons, not even a milligram less, were able to make the subjects laugh.
  • Sequel Hook: In one episode, Molly brings a kitty home and the kitty torments Taz behind Molly's back. In the end, the kitty held a sign saying "I'll be back". A later episode did feature the cat returning.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Hugh and Jean at times. Taz and Drew certainly seem to think so.
  • Sticky Situation: In "Gone to Pieces", Taz's attempts to mend a broken vase end up with the vase stuck to the table, and then Taz stuck to the vase.
  • Superheroes Wear Capes: Taz-Man, Taz's make-believe superhero persona, wears a cape (of the bath towel tied round your neck variety).
  • Swallow the Key: Taz does this after he has cornered Francis X. Bushlad (who is disguised as an attractive female Tasmanian devil) in "A Young Taz's Fancy".
  • Telethon: One of the episodes revolved around one of these organized by the cast made to keep the show on the air, which raised only ten cents. It turned out that Digeri Dingo had switched the telethon's donation number so the pledgers would call his house, and he stole all of the money.
  • The Television Talks Back: In "Ticket Taker Taz", Molly's radio appears to be directly answering the questions she puts to it.
  • Theme Tune Roll Call: The theme song features a roll call so long, they almost forget to mention Taz.
  • Think of the Children!: The primary justification used by Bull and Axl for anything they do is that they are doing it "to please the zoo-going children of the world".
  • This Is My Side: In "Unhappy Together", an argument between the Platypus Brothers ends with them cutting their house in half.
  • Title Drop: Digeri Dingo does it in "Nursemaid Taz". After referring to Taz as 'nursemaid Taz', Digeri — a notorious Fourth-Wall Observerhangs a lampshade on it by turning to the camera and declaring "There! I worked the title in!".
  • Tongue on the Flagpole: Taz gets his tongue stuck to frozen dinner in "Take All of Me". Wendal's attempts to free him do not go well.
  • Too Dumb to Fool: Taz may be noisy, short-tempered, impatient and always hungry, but he manages to wear out most people's attempts to trap him, and has outwitted Bull and Axl, and Wendal, on several occasions.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Marvin The Martian. He programmed a bomb to destroy Earth before his spaceship came back to pick him up. He and Taz had to resort to Time Travel to prevent Earth's destruction.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: For Hugh, it's "a tall, cool glass of OJ". ("Yay.") This is a reference to an old Bing Crosby TV commercial for Minute Maid orange juice.
  • Tree Buchet: Francis X. Bushlad attempts to use one to catch Taz. You can probably guess how well it worked...
  • Troublemaking New Pet: In "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty", Molly adopts a cat that does bad things when she's not looking. The twist is that the cat blames them on Taz, her brother, rather than another pet.
  • Under the Mistletoe: In "No Time for Christmas", there a mistletoe scene between Bushwacker Bob and Constance Koala. Same for Mr. Thickly.
  • The Unreveal: "Road to Tazmania" ends with Hugh and Taz opening up the carton of orange juice to find out what is inside. As they do so, the episode Iris Outs. Lampshaded when Hugh irises in long enough to say, "Don't you just hate it when that happens?".
  • Volatile Tasmanian Devil: Subverted. Taz is just as angry and incoherent as before, but the rest of his family are perfectly civilized. Taz is just the Black Sheep of his family.
  • Vile Vulture: In "Mall Wrecked", a pair of vultures named Henry and Gordon harass Taz, Jean, and Molly who are stranded at the closed mall when their car broke down. Unusually, Henry and Gordon refer to themselves as predators as opposed to scavengers. Eventually, they get stripped of their feathers by an enraged Taz for attempting to eat a sleeping Molly.
  • Walk Into Camera Obstruction: "The Amazing Shrinking Taz and Co." when Taz, Bull and Axl are being chased by ants, Taz's eyes fill the screen then cuts to the same setting with the ants.
  • Walk Through the Camera: Close to the beginning of "Nursemaid Taz" with Taz's brother Jake. He and her sister are running towards the table and Jake runs into the screen and then runs out.
  • Weaponized Car: In one of the "Road to Taz-Mania..." episodes, enemy agents turn the family minivan into a weaponized spy car after Hugh, Drew and Taz are mistaken for fellow spies.
  • Weirdness Censor: The wildlife documentary host that shows up in some episodes always thinks the animals are stupid and uncivilised even though they speak English, wear clothes and have mastered the use of modern technology. Though Taz does meet her criteria, somewhat, as she tends to focus on him.

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