Raw Toonage


Raw Toonage is a half-hour Disney animated cartoon series that aired on the CBS network in the fall of 1992. The show was cancelled after 12 of its originally-planned 13 episodes were broacast.
The series Bonkers and Marsupilami were spun off from this series in 1993.

Cast

Main

The idea for the show had an unusual genesis. Walt Disney Television Animation was developing a 65 episode half hour series for their Disney Afternoon block entitled He's Bonkers D. Bobcat. The premise was similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as the series dealt with the lead character's adventures post-stardom. The actual production of this series was troubled.
At the same time, Michael Eisner had purchased the rights to the popular Belgian comic strip Marsupilami. At some point, someone had the post-modern idea to actually make the cartoons that Bonkers had starred in before becoming a policeman, and the show that would become Raw Toonage was born. The additional segment, Totally Tasteless Video, was intended as a satire of popular culture. A host was added to give the show the familiar feel of the World of Disney show.
Due to the shorter production schedule, Raw Toonage, with its Bonkers shorts, was on the air before the above-mentioned half hour show, thus adding some credibility to the back story.
Raw Toonage typically opens with an introduction by a famous character from Disney, who attempts to share some of their expertise with the audience; then the show has a few of the above-mentioned shorts chained in a row, rounding out the half hour.
The premise of the Bonkers shorts is that Bonkers is a delivery person, usually assisted by Jitters A. Dog. Conflict is provided by Bonkers' unrequited love for Fawn Deer.
The Marsupilami cartoons took the look of the character from the Belgian comic, but the characterization differs significantly; the Marsupilami in this cartoon is more anthropomorphized, and speaks the language of the human characters fluently - the Marsupilami in the comics can only say variations of "houba" and mimic sounds like a parrot. The secondary characters in Disney's Marsupilami series are completely different to those of the comics; in Disney's cartoons, Marsupilami is most often opposed by the human Norman, who appears in various different roles.
Totally Tasteless Video did each show in a different style. They were story edited by Tom Minton, who later would write many Pinky and the Brain episodes at Warner Bros.. The first Totally Tasteless Video segment is a parody of movie coming attraction trailers, followed by a spoof on the TV series Doogie Howser, M.D. Other notable cartoons involve badly animated superhero, a prehistoric spoof of Magnum, P.I., an exorchicken fighting chicken ghosts that haunt a family, and a Robin Hood twist in the Jay Ward style.
Larry Latham produced and directed the Bonkers, Totally Tasteless Video, and host segments; Ed Wexler produced and directed Marsupilami. At least one of the Marsupilami cartoons was produced with the idea of a theatrical run in mind.
Music composed by Stephen James Taylor, Mark Watters, Eric Schmidt, Jerry Grant, Walter Murphy, and Craig Stuart Garfinkle.
Reruns of the show were aired on both Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Disney's Raw Toonage was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the category of outstanding writing in an animated program and Outstanding Music Direction and Composition in 1993.
Each of the Bonkers shorts were eventually included in the half-hour "Bonkers" series, while every one but three of the Marsupilami shorts were included in the half-hour "Marsupilami" series.