1 9 9 2 – 1 9 9 4 (USA)
12 x 30 minute episodes (Raw Toonage)
14 x 30 minute episodes (Marsupilami)
65 x 30 minute episodes (Bonkers)
Marsupilami, a character created in a 1950s Belgian comic strip, went from being a supporting character to a star after the first season of this CBS cartoon series from Walt Disney TV Animation.
From 1992 to 1993, the series was titled Raw Toonage and had various Disney characters hosting an anthology. In addition to a segment spoofing TV shows and commercials, called “Totally Tasteless Videos,” the show had two main components:
The aforementioned Marsupilami was a spotted “wacky jungle critter,” identified as a ‘Houbster’ but resembling a cheetah, who used his 25-foot tail to get himself out of jams or simply to entertain himself.
His pal was Maurice, a purple ape, who, unlike Marsupilami, did not talk.
Their recurring opponent was Norman, a rough-hewn, burly blue-collar type, and the episodes took place in an unspecified jungle.
Marsupilami’s happy exclamation was “Houba!” (pronounced “hoo-bah”).
The other original segment was “He’s Bonkers,” featuring recently-fired cartoon star Bonkers D. Bobcat trying to adjust from his former pampered life to that of a delivery boy.
That character starred in his own syndicated daily cartoon in 1993, simply titled Bonkers.
Episodes followed Bobcat’s career after he was forced out of WW Wacky Studios in Toon Town, fighting crime with 12-year veteran Hollywood Police Department patrolman Lucky Piquel – a partnership that began when Bonkers inadvertently helped the latter save Donald Duck’s life.
Guest spots by Donald and other famous Disney characters, plus Bonkers’s wacky demeanour, gave the cartoon the same flavour as the hit 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Jim Cummings voiced both Bonkers and the fat, perturbed Piquel, who resembled Oliver Hardy, while Earl Been voiced their Chief Kennifkey.
When the CBS series became simply Marsupilami in the fall of 1993, new segments featuring Sebastian the Crab from The Little Mermaid replaced the Bonkers featurettes.
Sebastian, voiced by Samuel E. Wright, played the concierge at an underwater hotel, joined by Chef Louie, voiced by Rene Auberjonois.
Marsupilami continued, as merrily madcap as ever, in roughly five-minute shorts.
Voices
Jim Cummings
Steve Mackall
Frank Welker
Jeff Bennett
Roger Bumpass
Terry McGovern
Marcia Wallace
Rene Auberjonois
Dan Castellaneta
Tress MacNeille
Danny Mann
Samuel E Wright
The aforementioned Marsupilami was a spotted “wacky jungle critter,” identified as a ‘Houbster’ but resembling a cheetah, who used his 25-foot tail to get himself out of jams or simply to entertain himself.
Guest spots by Donald and other famous Disney characters, plus Bonkers’s wacky demeanour, gave the cartoon the same flavour as the hit 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
