Fievel's American Tails Explained

Director:	Larry Jacobs
Num Seasons:	1
Language:	English
Num Episodes:	13

Fievel's American Tails is an animated television series, produced by Amblin Television, Nelvana, and Universal Cartoon Studios. It aired on CBS for one season in 1992, and continued Fievel's adventures from the film .^[1] Phillip Glasser, Dom DeLuise and Cathy Cavadini were the only actors from the film to reprise their roles, as Fievel, Tiger and Tanya respectively.^[2] One character, Wylie Burp, is written off from this show in respect of James Stewart's retirement. Another character, Tony Toponi, is written off following Pat Musick's then-current parenting of her daughter Mae Whitman,^[3] as Tony could not reappear until the DTV sequels in the late 1990s. He only made cameos in Fievel Goes West owing to that respect.

The show had a focus on promoting reading, and frequently the solution to an episode's conflict was found by Fievel reading. The character also appeared in public-service messages sponsored by the nonprofit Reading Is Fundamental.^[2]

After its abandonment for over two decades, NBCUniversal regained rights to the series in 2020.

Characters

• Fievel Mousekewitz: The main protagonist, a little mouse who is always looking for adventures.
• Tanya Mousekewitz: Fievel and Yasha's older sister who has dreams of being a great singer.
• Yasha Mousekewitz: Tanya and Fievel's little sister.
• Papa Mousekewitz: Tanya, Fievel, and Yasha's father, a famous violin maker who always gives his Jewish Russian family wise advice. Papa's real name is Bernard and he is Aunt Sophie's older brother in "Aunt Sophie's Visit".
• Mama Mousekewitz: Tanya, Fievel, and Yasha's mother, a strict, practical, and realistic homemaker who tries to keep her family safe from Cat R. Waul, Chula, and Sweet William's gang.
• Tiger: The goofy cowardly Orange tabby cat who is Fievel's best friend. Tiger is a vegetarian who often eats fish. Tiger met Fievel and his family in An American Tail. He later moved out west to Green River, Utah with Fievel's family and his girlfriend Miss Kitty in .
• Cat R. Waul: The main antagonist, a gentleman-like cat who is Fievel's nemesis.
• T. R. Chula: Cat R. Waul's tarantula sidekick and a caricature of Butch Cassidy.
• Sweet William: An evil outlaw cat who is Fievel's other nemesis.
• Slim and Feloneous: Sweet William's two dim-witted alley cat sidekicks.
• Jack: One of Fievel's school mates from Australia.
• Jorge: Another one of Fievel's school mates.
• Mr. J. M. Schimmel: The prairie dog who owns the mouse-sized general store in Green River. He is also Sidney's father and is Austrian-American as revealed in "Law and Disorder".
• Clint Mousewood: One of Fievel's heroes and Tanya's one-sided crush. Appearing in "Mail Order Mayhem", he is a caricature of Clint Eastwood.
• Hambone: The dog guard on the train who appears in "The Gift".
• Sidney Schimmel: One of Fievel's more spoiled classmate, he first appears in "Law and Disorder". He is Mr. J. M. Schimmel's son.
• Sophie Mousekewitz: Tanya, Fievel, and Yasha's aunt from Russia. She visits the Mousekewitzs from "Aunt Sophie's Visit". She is also Papa's younger sister and Mama's sister-in-law.
• Dr. Travis T. Hiprocates: A traveling doctor that gave away hiccup sweets. Appearing in "A Case of the Hiccups", he is a caricature of Sigmond Freud.
• Miss Kitty: Tiger's girlfriend who appears in "Law and Disorder" and is a caricature of Dorothy Gibson.
• Mr. Ironside: The school teacher, probably a mole and British-American as revealed in "The Legend of Mouse Hollow".
• Dog: The dog who guards the jail house.
• Lorna Holcombe: A girl in Fievel's class who appears in "A Case of the Hiccups".
• Patty Paris: The baker, she is a caricature of Ona Munson's Belle Watling from Gone with the Wind.

Cast

• Phillip Glasser as Fievel
• Dom DeLuise as Tiger
• Lloyd Battista as Papa, originally voiced by Nehemiah Persoff
• Susan Silo as Mama, originally voiced by Erica Yohn
• Cathy Cavadini as Tanya and Yasha
• Dan Castellaneta as T. R. Chula, Mr. Schimmel, Slim and Felonious. T.R. Chula was voiced by Jon Lovitz in the original film role
• Gerrit Graham as Cat R. Waul. John Cleese was briefly considered to reprise his role as Cat R. Waul from the film but Graham took over the role.
• Kenneth Mars as Sweet William
• Hal Rayle as Clint Mousewood
• Arthur Burghardt as Hambone
• Cynthia Ferrer as Miss Kitty, originally voiced by Amy Irving
• Patricia Parris as Aunt Sophie
• Carlos Carrasco as Jorge
• Alex Dent as Fernando
• Danny Mann as Dog
• Lisa Picotte as Lorna Holcomb
• Paige Gosney as Sidney
• Roland Thomson as Jack

Home media

In 1993 and 1994, MCA/Universal Home Video released twelve episodes on six VHS video-cassettes, two Laserdisc volumes. These have been the only home video releases of the cartoon, at least in the United States. In the United Kingdom, 12 episodes were released on six video-cassettes in 1995, but were in a different episode order to the United States and Vol. 4 features the only episode that hasn't been released in the United States. Episodes have been released on DVD in France, Germany, and Italy. In 2020, NBCUniversal regained the long-abandoned series and streamed it on Peacock.^{[4] [5]}

References

1. Book: Perlmutter . David . The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1538103739 . 204.
2. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 328–329.
3. Web site: Mae Whitman biography. https://archive.today/20130615051623/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/198304/Mae-Whitman/biography. dead. June 15, 2013. Movies & TV Dept.. The New York Times. Matthew Tobey. June 15, 2013.
4. Web site: "Fievel's American Tails" is set to stream on Peacock later in 2020. Deadline. 14 April 2020.
5. Web site: Watch Fievel's American Tails on Peacock.

External links

• • Fievel's American Tails on Big Cartoon Database