TVSquad

Perhaps some of you are already aware of the existence of this particular gem, but I was surprised to find online a banned episode of Tiny Toon Adventures from the early 90's. In it, Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck and Hamton Pig find a bottle of beer that never goes empty, then proceed to get drunk, steal a cop car, cause general chaos and collectively die by driving said car over a cliff.

I can understand why Warner Brothers and Steven Spielberg may have wanted to stop this one from the airwaves. Despite dying at the end, I think it more highlights the positive values of being drunk, such as the ability to completely break any law you wish without fear of consequences (much as when your favorite sports team wins some sort of championship). Plus, I very much want to find that particular bottle of beer.

You can judge it for yourselves. Video is after the jump.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 3, Vol. 4
• Beverly Hills, 90210 - Season 5
• Centennial - Complete Mini-Series
• Dark Shadows - The Beginning, Vol. 5
• Freakazoid - Season 1
• Girlfriends - Season 4
• The Hills - Season 3
• Inu Yasha - Season 5
• Law and Order: SVU - Season 7
• Masters of Horror - Season 2 (Collectible Skull Set)
• Naruto The Movie 2 - Legend of the Stone of Gelel
• Robin of Sherwood - Complete Collection
• Stargate SG-1 - Continuum
• Tiny Toon Adventures - Season 1, Vol. 1
• Two Fat Ladies - Two Fat Ladies
• Witchblade - Complete Series
• The Wizards of Waverly Place - Wizard School

TV Shows on DVD points to this survey being conducted by Warner Classic Animation asking potential buyers which series they'd like to see on DVD. Some of the titles listed include Tiny Toon Adventures, Freakazoid, Pac Man, Plastic Man, The Jetsons ('80s version) and Johnny Quest ('80s version).

Which series fans choose will no doubt come down to how old you are. In that case, I'd love to see Tiny Toons and Freakazoid both released on DVD. Despite some purists who felt the shows were too gimmicky and weren't made in the same spirit as the classic Warner Bros cartoons they claimed to emulate, I still found them enjoyable as a youngster, and I think little kids who missed out on those shows would love them. I'll admit that nothing can compare to the old Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, but I'd also be lying if I said Tiny Toons didn't provide me with a lot of laughs throughout junior high.

Anyway, head on over and take the survey. You'll get a nice five dollar coupon for your effort, too. No kidding.

Maurice LaMarche is a voice actor who has done more cartoons than you can shake a stick at. Just to reference a few, he played Dizzy Devil on Tiny Toons, The Brain on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain, and most recently did the voice of Kif and Calculon (among others) on Futurama. The Canadian-born LaMarche started out doing stand-up comedy and eventually moved to voice acting. Quick Stop Entertainment has a really long interview with the man, so if you're into voice acting, and every single thing Maurice has ever done in his life, you should check it out. Also, if you want to read about someone from Canada bashing the country he came from, it's good for that as well.

[via Mark Evanier]

Paul Dini, a writer who has worked on several animated series, most notably Tiny Toons and Batman: The Animated Series, has a new online interview show on IGN Filmforce featuring himself and a sock monkey named Rashy. The series is called "Monkey Talk" and in the first episode Dini and Rashy interview Mark Hamill, who worked with Dini when he played The Joker on Batman: TAS. The picture quality is extremely poor, but it's worth a few laughs anyway, especially when Rashy the sock monkey pops up to ask Hamill questions about movies he wasn't actually in.

Paul Dini is best known for writing for such animated series as Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Batman: the Animated Series, Krypto the Superdog, He-Man, and many, many others. George Lucas also selected him to pen episodes for his Star Wars cartoons Ewoks and Droids. There's a lot of us who grew up with Dini's work but know very little about him. Since he's one of those "behind the scenes" types you don't hear a lot about him, but the man has quite a hefty and impressive resume. He also has his own Live Journal that is quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed his attempt at trying to get into Mensa. Referring to the corpulent proctor as "Sans-A-Belt" was pure genius.

When a character is created for an animated series, it usually goes through several changes. Like any work of art, it takes several drafts before something is created that really works. In animation this is especially true, since the character most not only look good, but also be drawn in a way that allows optimum movement and flexibility. Sometimes characters actually change right before our eyes. The Bugs Bunny we recognize today looks nothing like he did when the character that would eventually evolve into him first appeared in the late 1930s. When Porky Pig first appeared in 1935's "I Haven't Got A Hat" he was positively gargantuan and rather grotesque compared to his thinner future self.

Animator Jeff Pidgeon wrote on his blog about working on Tiny Toons and coming up with the design of Hampton Pig. Apparently no one could come up with a design that executive producer Steven Spielberg liked, so a contest was held and Pidgeon's design found favor with Spielberg. However, his fellow animators didn't like the design because Hampton's body was too squat and difficult to pose and animate.