Honourable Mentions: Tiny Toon Adventures – Stuff that goes Bump in the Night

This was a season 1 episode of the Tiny Toon Adventures, which first aired in 1990 and was directed by Art Leonardi. The Tiny Toons were, like many cartoons from the period, baby/child versions of the original cartoons. To be fair the Steven Spielberg production actually created new characters – though they were so close to the original as not to really make much difference.

However, I need to state, for the record, that I hate it when cartoons introduce child/baby equivalents. It is a cutification that is unnecessary and alienates the original audience – or at least I believe it does.

This was actually in portmanteau form with the wrap around involving Buster Bunny (Charles Adler) and Babs Bunny (Tress MacNeille) scaring each other in costume. On a couple of occasions this was in vampire guise. The first story involved a bunny ghost and the last a mosquito (which, aside from bloodsucking, I didn’t see the point of in a horror montage). The central section was called “Fang you very Much” and involved our vampire. Like Bugs Bunny in Transylvania 6-5000, this is too short to warrant actual review.

We are in the most terrifying place known to toons, the home of Elmyra Duff (Cree Summer). The episode begins with an escape from her home… of animals… pets on the run who clearly have suffered from too much Elmyra style loving. Not to worry, she has joined the Acme Pet of the Month Club and they arrive with the latest pet… a bat.

Once the bat is in the house it transforms, however, into a vampire. Now, whilst the artwork is vastly superior I couldn’t help but be reminded of the vampire in Transylvania 6-5000. Elmyra never sees the vampire in human form, only bat form but, for him, she is just his type – O-Positive. Obviously the attempt to bite her keeps failing, to slapstick results.

Of course we are in the cartoon world of the Loony Toons and thus slapstick is the order of the day and (generally) non-lethal. It is a world were an anvil on the head is not the end, as it were. Thus when she decides the bat is looking pale and straps it to the couch in the sun room, you know the exposure won’t be the end. The bat melts but, down in the cellar, the remains reform into our vampire.

By the end she manages to – whilst playing hockey with the bat – whack it right across town. Luckily for the vampire, he lands in the blood bank of the local hospital. Elmyra won’t be alone for long, however, as the Acme pet of the month van arrives with a crated up werewolf… and there you have it. A short slapstick cartoon with a vampiric theme. Nothing of real substance, though the animation is lovely (Tiny Toon adventures used a considerably higher cel count than most TV animations).

The imdb page is here.