Taz-Mania Explained

Genre:Animated sitcom
Developer:Jean MacCurdy
Tom Ruegger
Voices:Jim Cummings
John Astin
Dan Castellaneta
Debi Derryberry
Miriam Flynn
Maurice LaMarche
Rosalyn Landor
Kellie Martin
Rob Paulsen
Philip Proctor
Theme Music Composer:Richard Stone
Opentheme:"Come to Taz-Mania" by Jess Harnell and Jim Cummings
Endtheme:"Come to Taz-Mania" (Instrumental)
Composer:J. Eric Schmidt
Richard Stone
Mark Watters
Don Davis
Steve Bernstein
John Given
Carl Johnson
Harvey Cohen
Jerry Grant
Country:United States
Language:English
Num Seasons:4
Num Episodes:65 (121 segments)
Producer:Art Vitello
Executive Producer:Jean MacCurdy
Tom Ruegger
Runtime:30 minutes
Company:Warner Bros. Animation
Network:Fox Kids

Taz-Mania is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991 to 1995, broadcast in the United States on Fox Kids where it stars the Tasmanian Devil.[1]

Similar to other Warner Bros. cartoons of its time, such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures (both of which were created by Taz-Mania co-developer Tom Ruegger), Taz-Mania frequently broke the fourth wall, and often made jokes showing that Taz could actually speak perfectly normally when he wanted to.[2] The title song is performed by Jess Harnell and Jim Cummings.

Premise

The show follows the adventures of the Looney Tunes character Taz the Tasmanian Devil in the fictional land of Tazmania (based on Tasmania).[3] The intro indicates that in this rendering of Tasmania "the sky's always yellow, rain or shine".

Characters

Tazmanian Devil family

Hotel Tazmania staff

Outback characters

Looney Tunes characters

Episodes

Episodes are copyright 1991 (1–15), 1992 (16–47), or 1993 (48–65); note that this does not always correspond with when they originally aired. The series premiered on September 7, 1991, and ended on May 22, 1995.

Season 4 (1994–95)

Video games

See main article: Taz-Mania (video game) and Taz in Escape from Mars.

Five video games based on the show were made, two by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear, and three by Sunsoft: one for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and two for the Game Boy.

Home media

Three VHS tapes were released in 1993. After the show ceased running on Fox Kids, it was rerun on TNT, for a short time on TBS in 1996–1997 (before and after the Time Warner/Turner merger) as part of their Disaster Area block, and has also been rerun on Cartoon Network, making it the first Warner Bros. Animation series to air on that network.

A DVD containing the first four episodes of the series was released in Europe in April 2010, whilst later released in the UK in 2011 under the title "Taz and Friends" as part of the Kids' WB "Big Faces" series.

A DVD containing the 5 to 8 episodes of the series was released in Europe in July 2019, whilst later released in the UK in 2019 under the title "Taz and Friends, Volume 2" as part of the Cartoon Network "Big Faces" series.

On May 14, 2013, Warner Home Video released Taz Mania – Season 1, Part 1: Taz on the Loose on DVD in Region 1 for the first time.[5] Season 1, Part 2 was released on August 6, 2013.[6] On June 19, 2020, the third season was announced for a DVD release on August 25 under the company's Warner Archive Collection division.[7]

+Taz-Mania home video releasesSeason Episodes Release dates
Region 1
1199113 May 14, 2013
2199213August 6, 2013

Other appearances

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Perlmutter . David . The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1538103739 . 627.
  2. Book: Hyatt . Wesley . The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television . 1997 . Watson-Guptill Publications . 978-0823083152 . March 22, 2020. 423.
  3. News: Trusdell. Brian. Focus : Warner's Toon Factory for the '90s. May 10, 2011. The Los Angeles Times. May 28, 1995. USA.
  4. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 829–830.
  5. Web site: Taz-Mania DVD news: Announcement for Taz-Mania - Season 1, Part 1: Taz On The Loose - TVShowsOnDVD.com. tvshowsondvd.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130120232831/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Taz-Mania-Season-1-Part-1/17968. January 20, 2013.
  6. Web site: Taz-Mania DVD news: Announcement for Taz-Mania - Season 1, Pt 2: Who Let the Taz Out?! - TVShowsOnDVD.com. tvshowsondvd.com. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130504004012/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Taz-Mania-Season-1-Part-2/18390. May 4, 2013.
  7. Web site: TV Shows On DVD. https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/116070036062/10158223814391063 . 2022-02-26 . limited. www.facebook.com.