Bugs 'n Daffy

Warner Bros. Presents Bugs 'n Daffy, usually referred as Bugs 'n Daffy, is an American animated television series created by Darrell Van Critters and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It began production in 1993, the same year Animaniacs premiered on Fox Kids, to premiere a new series for fans of the popular Looney Tunes franchise. The series was originally meant to premiere on Cartoon Network in 1993, but the series had to take two years until the series could premiere. The series finally premiered on the new Kids' WB! network on January 13, 1995, with the first pilot episode titled The Looney Tunes Beginning premiering as a prime-time special. The series later premiered first-run original episodes in the series' first five seasons. The series was later officially licensed exclusively by Kids' WB! as one of its longest-running Cartoon Cartoons. The series' most-popular in-house animation studio, Chuck Jones Productions, ended their animation tenure on Bugs 'n Daffy after the death of Chuck Jones, in early 2002, as Chuck Jones' animation company was planning on creating 10 new Bugs 'n Daffy episodes that would be their last before they left the studio to work on more projects, more recently the new Looney Tunes cartoon, Daffy Duck for President. On Friday, February 22, 2002, Bugs 'n Daffy aired a special episode dedicated to Chuck Jones, featuring Chuck's most-memorable cartoon shorts. This series is the first predecessor of the Looney Tunes original animated series produced by Warner Bros. Animation as well as being the first to star Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, the next series is the newest animated series The Looney Tunes Show.

The Series' Premise
Bugs 'n Daffy is an animated series set in the fictional city of Looney Tunes Land, where the Looney Tunes and other WBA animation characters lived. The younger characters attended Acme Looniversity, which was introduced in episode 9, The Bugs 'n Plucky Show, a school which faculty primarily consists of the mainstays of the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, except for a few characters such as Buster Bunny and Wakko Warner, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat and Yosemite Sam. For the episodes that featured the school, the university was founded to teach cartoon characters to be funny. The school was not featured in every episode, including the first 8 Bugs 'n Daffy episodes, and the storylines were not always school-centric.

Like the original Looney Tunes cartoons, the series featured classic cartoon gags, slapstick and famous cartoon moments (i.e.: falling anvils, uses of explosives, etc.). The series was also known to parody and reference the current events of the mid-1990s and Hollywood culture. Occasionally, episodes would delve into veiled ethical and morality stories of ecology, self-esteem, school events, part-time jobs and crime stories.

Characters
Main article: List of characters of Bugs 'n Daffy

The series centers on the popular Looney Tunes characters and the Warner Bros. Animation Universe characters living in Looney Tunes Land, with the newer WBA characters attending Acme Looniversity to be the new generation of the Looney Tunes characters. Most of the characters from Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain were known to resemble the younger versions of the famous Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters by exhibiting similar traits, habits and looks.

Writers
The series and the show's characters were animated and developed by series producer James Tim Walker, division leader Jean MacCurdy, associate producer and animator Tony Cervone and story editor/writer Wayne Kaatz. Among the first writers on the series were Julie MacNally, Peter Hastings, Tom Minton and Eddie Fitzgerald. The character and scenery designs included Tony Cervone, Spike Brandt, Ken Boyer and many other artists, animators and directors.

Voicing
Voice director Andrea Romano, who also did the voice direction on ''Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid!, Road Rovers, Waynehead, Histeria! and other Looney Tunes''-related projects, auditioned 1,200 voices for the series and chose more than a dozen voice actors. The role of Bugs Bunny was given to Billy West, who also voiced Elmer Fudd and occasionally, Buster Bunny, as well as this being one of the first projects Billy West voiced Bugs, the others being Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Histeria!, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and other Looney Tunes-related projects, which West gave the role, according to producer James Tim Walker, "a great deal of energy". The role of Daffy Duck was given to Jeff Bergman. Writer Paul Dini said that Bergman was good for the role because his voice was good for both Daffy's wacky senses and newly-found egotastic characteristics. Voice actors John Kassir and Joe Alaskey voiced Buster Bunny and Plucky Duck, respectively. Jess Harnell voiced Wakko Warner and, according to Paul Dini, was good for the role because he did a good version of Wakko's Ringo Starr-like impression. Harnell was the only one to not be featured on the first Warner Bros. Animation series, Tiny Toon Adventures. Joe Alaskey voiced Sylvester, Tweety, Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck, on occasions, former Saturday Night Live cast member Gail Matthius voiced Shirley the Loon, Kath Soucie voiced Fifi La Fume, Minerva Mink and Lola Bunny, Bob Bergen provided the voices of Porky Pig and Marvin the Martian and Dee Bradley Baker voiced The Tasmanian Devil and the Road Runner as well as Daffy Duck and Buster Bunny. Other actors in this series included Maurice LaMarche as Pepe Le Pew, Dizzy Devil and The Brain, Rob Paulsen as Yakko Warner, Fowlmouth and Pinky, Candi Milo as Sweetie, Tress MacNeille as Dot Warner and Babs Bunny and Frank Welker as Gogo Dodo, Marc Anthony, Barky Marky, Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper and other supporting characters throughout the series run.

During production of the series' 4th season, Kassir left the show after his contract expired and his voice of Buster last came in the final episode of the 3rd season, Best o' Daffy Duck Day. Kassir later went working on other projects and did land a role on the 6th season of Animaniacs, as the voice of Bugs Bunny III. He was later founded by Billy West and Dee Bradley Baker for the premiere of the 4th season. Jeff Bergman, the voice of Daffy Duck, left Bugs 'n Daffy for a short time, but returned to the show around the end of the 4th season.

Episodes
Main article: List of Bugs 'n Daffy episodes

Animation
In order to complete 65 episodes for the first season, Warner Bros. Animation contracted several different animation houses. These animation studios included Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now known as TMS Entertainment), Wang Film Productions, Chuck Jones Productions, Fil-Cartoons, Inc., AKOM, Cuckoo's Nest Studio, Film Roman, Inc., Atomic Cartoons, Encore Cartoons and StarToons. Tokyo Movie Shinsha also animated the series' opening sequence alongside Darrell Van Critters and Warner Bros. Animation. Warner Bros. Animation wasn't a big fan of Atomic Cartoons' animation techniques, inconsistent quality and episodes they animated were often subject to multiple re-takes. In other cases, the first 5th season episode, Bugs Bunny's Guide To Dating, portions of Atomic-animated episodes were re-animated by another studio.

Bugs 'n Daffy is made with a higher production value than standard television animation. It had a cel count that was more than double that of most television animation. The series had about 25,000 cels per episode than the standard 10,000 count, making it unique that the characters move more fluidly. Pierre De Celles, an animation producer, described storyboarding for the series as a "fun but big challenge because I always had a short schedule, and it's not always easy to work full blast nonstop". De Celles also pointed out that he used 6 or 8 panels per scene instead of the usual 3 or 4 since the show required "a lot more key expression, creativity and attitude poses".

Music
During the development of the series, Warner Bros. Animation appointed Richard Stone to compose the music, as well as using past music from famous Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons by Carl W. Stalling, Bill Lava and Milt Franklyn. Other music composers were Steven Bernstein, Julie Bernstein, Mark Watters, Bruce Broughton and Stephen James Taylor. One known fact is that Richard Stone, 2-Unlimited and Jermaine Dupri teamed up together to make Bugs 'n Daffy's hip-hop stylized opening for the series. In 2001, Richard Stone passed away and Space Jam music composer James Newton Howard was asked to compose the music for the series' later seasons.

Films, cartoon shorts and television specials
In 1996, Bugs 'n Daffy's first cartoon that premiered in theaters, Any Toons Necessary, was shown alongside the popular Looney Tunes movie, Space Jam. In this cartoon, Bugs and Daffy present clips from various famous Looney Tunes cartoons and ask the characters to perform them, usually involving Daffy or Plucky getting injured. The cartoon was later incorporated in episode 69 as part of the show's episode package. A feature-length movie was released direct-to-video in 1999, titled Bugs 'n Daffy's Summer Adventure. The special was split into four parts for syndication and aired as part of the original series. Other features released for Bugs 'n Daffy include Spring Break Special, It's A Wonderful Bugs 'n Daffy Christmas Special, Biggest High-Flying Adventure and Halloween Night of Frights. It's A Wonderful Bugs 'n Daffy Christmas Special aired on Kids' WB! on December 20, 1995, Spring Break Special was shown during prime-time on March 19, 1999, Halloween Night of Frights aired on October 30, 1998 and Biggest High-Flying Adventure aired on September 21, 2001.

Series spin-offs
Main articles: The Daffy Duck Show and Pinky, Plucky and the Brain

In 1996, The Daffy Duck Show was produced as a spin-off for Kids' WB!, centered around the character Daffy Duck. As with the premiere episode, Return of Duck Dodgers, the show was composed of original Daffy Duck episodes and Daffy-centric cartoons. Though originally meant to air for 26 episodes, 65 episodes were aired, as production of the series ended in 1999 when Kids' WB! acquired exclusive rights for Bugs 'n Daffy's third season.

In 2001, a spin-off entitled Pinky, Plucky and the Brain debuted on Kids' WB!. The series featured the Plucky character as well as Pinky and the Brain, two characters who were originally on Animaniacs before recieving their own series, Pinky and the Brain. Pinky, Plucky and the Brain picks up where Pinky and the Brain left off where Pinky and the Brain become Plucky's friends after Brain accidentally destroys their original home, ACME Labs, during an experiment. Pinky, Plucky and the Brain lasted three seasons as well.

Preproduction
Before Bugs 'n Daffy entered production, the series was meant to be a full-length movie by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment. The idea of a movie was switched to a popular animated series created by Darrell Van Critters and is currently known to feature Warner Bros.' biggest animated stars on one show. Executive Producer Darrell Van Critters would decide which characters would be featured on Bugs 'n Daffy, though Tiny Toons stars Hamton J. Pig, Elmyra Duff, Montana Max and Mary Melody were not featured in the series, though Monty did make a guest appearance in episode 3 which involves him helping Yosemite Sam's rival, Bugs Bunny, preventing Sam to win the game show, Win, Lose or Cartoonie!. The characters kept their designs for the series, with the Looney Tunes characters keeping their recognizable versions with a modern design.

"Kids' WB!" Era: The First 100 Episodes
Bugs 'n Daffy premiered on Kids' WB! on January 13, 1995 and was the third WBA series to have 65 episodes in its first season, the first two being Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. Bugs 'n Daffy became an instant popular cartoon series, gained fame for its name and became the #1 popular cartoon series among children ages 2-11 and children ages 6-11, even topping all competitors, including Dexter's Laboratory, which premiered in 1996. In 1996, Bugs, Daffy and the Bugs 'n Daffy cartoon gang were featured in the cartoon, Any Toons Necessary. New episodes continued to air on Kids' WB!, later passing the 65-episode marker for syndication, as well as the 100th episode as the biggest celebration for the cartoon series. Throughout its run, Bugs 'n Daffy gained one million viewers every week. Suprisingly, Bugs 'n Daffy not only gained success as the biggest TV series for kids, but for teens and adults as well. The result of more young viewers and family viewers brought in the laughs and respect for Kids' WB! for advertisers and added more satisfaction towards Bugs 'n Daffy. Quickly, orders from Kids' WB! for more Bugs 'n Daffy episodes increased and Bugs 'n Daffy made it through bigger seasons, though excluding two 9-episode seasons of the series. Currently, as of January 1, 2010, Bugs 'n Daffy is currently Kids' WB!'s longest-running original series. In 1999, the series was even popular to have segments air on The BugsNDaffy Warneroonie PinkyBrainy Big Cartoonie Show alongside Kids' WB!'s library of original cartoons.

Aftermath and syndication
Throughout Bugs 'n Daffy's run on Kids' WB!, newer WBA cartoons premiered later on throughout the 1990s, such as Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid!, Animaniacs, Road Rovers, Waynehead, Histeria!, Batman Beyond and The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Bugs 'n Daffy was also in syndication when production of new episodes continued for the next group of seasons. Cartoon Network aired the series from 1996-2004, until Nickelodeon acquired syndication rights to air the series for the summer of 2004. Though the episodes' content never changed, the opening sequence was changed to remove all references from Warner Bros., causing negative feedback from the fans. The series, as well as Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Tiny Toon Adventures, aired on Nicktoons Network from 2005-2009. Cartoon Network got the rights back to air the series for the spring of 2009, until the series was removed from the network's lineup. Bugs 'n Daffy currently airs on Kids' WB! and airs occasionally on Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Nicktoons Network. In 2005, Bugs 'n Daffy, among other Kids' WB! shows, was broadcast on AOL's broadband channel, In2TV's Toontopia TV. As of 2007, Bugs 'n Daffy is currently one of the featured shows on the channel.

Home Video
Main article: Bugs 'n Daffy in Home Video

Episodes of Bugs 'n Daffy have been released on VHS and DVD during the series run.

VHS videos were released in the United States and in the United Kingdom. All videos are currently available at Warner Bros. Studio Stores everywhere and available at online stores. The episodes featured are followed with a certain theme of the series. Each video featured four to five episodes each and accompanied by a handful of shorter skits, with a running time of 45 minutes.

Beginning on June 29, 2005, Warner Home Video began releasing DVD volume sets of Bugs 'n Daffy episodes in order of the episodes' original airdates. Volume one of Bugs 'n Daffy sold very well; over half of the product being sold in the first week made it one of the fastest-selling animation DVD sets that Warner Home Video ever put out.