New Looney Tunes (originally titled Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production in the United States, and Bugs! in some markets for its first season) is an American animated television series from Warner Bros. Animation based on the characters from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.[3] The series debuted on September 21, 2015, on Cartoon Network,[4][5] and continued with new episodes beginning on October 5, 2015, on Boomerang. Part way through the first season, new episodes would premiere on Boomerang's video on demand service before airing on television.[6][7][8]
On November 24, 2017, the Boomerang streaming service announced that New Looney Tunes would continue into 2017,[9] with the third season being the show's last. The final episodes were released on January 30, 2020. The series was followed by the more traditionally formatted Looney Tunes Cartoons on May 27, 2020, which is streaming on HBO Max.
Production
Promotional poster for "Wabbit" featuring Squeaks and Bugs, as drawn in a promotional still. (Early press kits give Squeaks a different appearance.)[10]
After The Looney Tunes Show ended production in 2013, concepts for a new show featuring the Looney Tunes began to be discussed. At the time, the idea of a reboot focused mainly on Bugs Bunny emerged, and in March 2014, it was announced that the reboot would be known as Wabbit or Bugs! depending in the region.[11]Sam Register, promoted to president of Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series a month prior, became supervising producer for the series.[12] The animation was done by Yearim and Rough Draft Studios from South Korea (the latter only working on the first season) and Snipple Animation from the Philippines.
The aim of the reboot was for its cartoons to match the tone of the Looney Tunes shorts in their earlier days. This led to the characters returning to their slapstick comedy roots,[13] but with producers seeking to avoid their clichés, such as the anvil gag. The show's production team placed their emphasis on writing original stories, as well as devising "modern heavy objects to cause pain", according to producer Erik Kuska, with each episode featuring a few shorts in which one or a number of characters became caught up in a situation that they would handle in their own personal way. Despite that, some classic objects can occasionally be seen, such as boulders or safes. Similarly, some classic expressions can be heard, such as Bugs forgetting to "make that left turn at Albuquerque", or uttering "of course you know, this means war". The characters themselves saw some alterations to their appearances, with some also reverting to personality traits they originally had in their earliest appearances. For example, Daffy Duck was reverted to his original screwball personality from his early shorts.
The first season of the show was known as Wabbit and focused on the misadventures of Bugs Bunny, with a supporting cast of Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote and Porky Pig, and cameo appearances by Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, the Tasmanian Devil and Michigan J. Frog. Like his early shorts, Bugs mostly finds himself in a battle of wits with opponents either because they seek to hurt him or have done something to wreck his peaceful life. The first season saw the introduction of a few new characters to the Looney Tunes franchise,[14] many of them being new villains Bugs faces.[15]
Among the new characters introduced in this show are:
Squeaks the Squirrel – A red squirrel who is Bugs' neighbor and best friend (whose speech initially consisted only of squeaking sounds, occasionally giving way to intelligible speech in season 3).
Bigfoot – A childlike creature who tends to follow Bugs, usually calling him "lady" (or occasionally "ma'am"), much to Bugs' frustration.
The Barbarian – An unnamed barbarian that feuds with Bugs.
Krakos – The Barbarian's polar bear mount.
Boyd – A lovesick bird.
Cal – A huge man who considers himself the best at everything.
Carl the Grim Rabbit – A Grim Reaper look-alike with rabbit ears.
Claudette Dupri – A fox spy who speaks with an audible French accent. Pepé Le Pew has a crush on her and mostly appears by her side.
Dr. Clovenhoof – A sheep scientist.
Eagle Scout – A lonely eagle scoutmaster who is a talented rapper and longs for friends.
Elliot Sampson – A bobcat scoutmaster and businessman.
Hazmats – As Bugs puts it, they are a group of "highly trained government officials" in hazmat suits that often pursue or hunt him, Squeaks, and Bigfoot, as well as Agents Dupri and Le Pew.
Horace the Horse – A uniformed horse who often works with Porky and speaks in the style of John Travolta.
Ivanna – A woman who often encroaches on Bugs' territory and hosts the show "Gettin' Fresh! with Ivanna" on "The Food Notwork", in the episode with the same channel name.
Jack – A "jack of all trades" who does various work. This character was dropped after his first two appearances because his personality traits (including his screaming) were deemed too similar to Yosemite Sam.[16]
King Thes – A royal lion who tries to eat anyone.
Leslie P. Lilylegs – A mean-spirited short man who tends to desire power while working for his different bosses.
Miss Cougar – A spinster cougar.
Pampreen and Paul Perdy – Two spoiled brats who are related to Leslie.
Rhoda Roundhouse – A female wrestler.
Shameless O’Scanty – An unlucky leprechaun.
Sir Littlechin – A knight who often hunts mythical animals.
Slugsworthy the First – A stuck-up elephant seal.
Squint Eatswood – A grouchy beaver who hates anyone who's not a beaver.
Tad Tucker – An Australian reality television personality with a strong appetite for rabbits (especially "a family of rabbits").
Trey Hugger – An environmental activist.
Viktor – A narcissistic man who likes to brag about being the best in everything. He appears in "Abracawabbit" as a magician called "Viktor Mageek", "Viktor The Science Swede" as a science guy, "Fashion Viktor" as a fashion designer, among other episodes. Along with him in each of his appearances are three young men who appear to idolize him, though they later start to idolize Bugs.
Winter Stag – A cryokinetic deer.
According to Kuska, the focus on new enemies for Bugs to face off against was described as allowing him to do his "best when he's up against a really good adversary". As a result of the inclusion of new villains, Kuska felt that Elmer Fudd might not be "the man" anymore, having often been a common rival that Bugs fought with in many shorts, despite appearing later on in the series.[14]
Wabbit premiered on September 21, 2015, on Cartoon Network and on Boomerang beginning October 5, 2015, then went on hiatus for over a year and return on April 7, 2017.[19][20][21][22] The series premiered on November 2 on Boomerang in Australia and New Zealand and on Boomerang in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[23][24] It premiered on November 6, 2015, on Teletoon in Canada[25] and debuted on December 19 on Boomerang in the Middle East and Africa.[26] In India, the series premiered on Pogo TV on December 19, 2015.[27] The series premiered on January 17, 2016, on Cartoon Network Arabic in the Middle East.
New episodes began being broadcast on Boomerang, starting April 7, 2017.
Season 2 premiered on Boomerang UK on September 4, 2017.
The entire first season is available on Netflix in Canada.
The show was available on the Boomerang premium subscription service until it shut down in 2024.[6] As of July 4, 2020, the show is available for streaming on Max in the United States. However, a few episodes from seasons 1 and 2 and the entire third season are not yet on the platform.
The first half of Season 1 of Wabbit was released onto DVD on April 26, 2016, in the United States. Despite being half of a season, the DVD is subtitled, Hare-Raising Tales. The DVD contains the first 26 episodes (52 segments) but is labeled on the side as Season 1 – Part 1.[28][29] The DVD contains episodes 23–26 which did not air in the United States until April 7, 2017. Disregarding the show's European name, Wabbit: Season 1 – Part 1 was also released on June 15, 2016, in Australia,[30] and on July 25, 2016, in the United Kingdom.[31]
^Staff writer (July 11, 2014). "WBSDCC 2014 TV Guide Covers" (Press release). Warner Bros. Television. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
^ abSpiegel, Danny (July 22, 2014). "Coming Attractions". TV Guide (Comic-Con Special ed.). OpenGate Capital: 79.
