Babs and Buster Bunny
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| Babs and Buster Bunny | |
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| Promotional images of Babs and Buster Bunny | |
| First appearance | Regulars on Tiny Toon Adventures since the series premiere "The Looney Beginning" (1990). |
| Voiced by | Tress MacNeille (Babs) Charlie Adler (Buster,[1] first through third seasons) |
Babs and Buster Bunny are cartoon characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures.[2] They are the stars of the show—they both appear in the Tiny Toons logo, and the show usually begins and ends with gags performed by them. Buster is voiced by Charlie Adler. Babs is voiced by Tress MacNeille. Buster is a young, blue and white male rabbit with a red, long-sleeved shirt and white gloves. Babs is a young, pink and white female rabbit with a yellow blouse and purple skirt, and purple (sometimes blue) bowed ribbons near the tips of her ears and occasionally wears white gloves. They attend Acme Looniversity and live in Acme Acres.
Babs and Buster are based on Bugs Bunny, who seems to be a mentor and favorite teacher to them both, although in the episode Fields Of Honey, Babs searches for a female mentor, someone to be her true one and only mentor (as she believes Bugs to be more of Buster's mentor as they seem to have more in common and are both male). She finds one in the forgotten character Honey from the old Bosko and Honey cartoons. However, both Buster and Babs take after different aspects of Bugs. Babs seems to be based on the more frenetic and random Bugs who did many sporadic costume changes and voices, while Buster is closer to the more unruffled and cool Bugs. Babs seems to be mostly based on Bugs's old sweetheart Honey Bunny.
They were both like Bugs Bunny in their theatrical mannerisms, their general confidence in themselves, and in their ability to work well with other headline characters. They were unlike him in their naïveté, due to their young age. Also, they tend to seek adventure, rather than wait for it to be thrust upon them, are more inclined to help others (usually those close to them) and they seem to be aware that an audience is watching.
Their names reflect an old naming convention in cartoons. As frequently mentioned during their introduction, they have "no relation" to each other nor to Bugs Bunny. Although they claim "no relation", their interaction does, in numerous ways, resemble a brother-sister act. Babs and Buster are both about 14 years old, since Babs gives this as her age in "The Looney Beginning." Like the other Tiny Toons characters, they attend Acme Looniversity where the instructors include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, as well as many other classic Warner Bros. cartoon stars. Their best friends are Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Shirley the Loon, Dizzy Devil, Fifi La Fume, Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper, Fowlmouth, Gogo Dodo, and Furrball. Their rivals are Montana Max, Elmyra Duff, Perfecto Prep alumni and Arnold the Pit Bull.
Buster and Babs, together, have two end tags:
- 1. Buster: "Say good night, Babs."
- Babs: "Good night, Babs!"[3]
- 2. Both: "ALOHA!" (in reference to Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian)
During introductions, the duo will claim "no relation", and Babs will often interject in Buster's speeches, usually in a less than flattering way, in order to annoy him.
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[edit] Babs Bunny
| Barbara Ann "Babs" Bunny | |
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Promotional Image of Babs Bunny |
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| Voiced by | Tress MacNeille |
| Eye Color | Blue (Actually Brown) Probably as a joke. Only known mention is on The Acme Bowl. |
| Information | |
| Species | Rabbit |
| Age Friends Hangs Out With |
14 Nearly Every Character Fifi Le Fume, Shirley the Loon, Mary Melody |
| Annoyances Enemies |
Plucky Duck, Elmyra Duff Buster Bunny (Occasionally) Montana Max, Elmyra Duff, Arnold the Pit Bull, Gene Splicer |
| Mentor | Honey, Bugs Bunny |
| Catch Phrases | "I just can't help myself!" "It's a (Girl / Rabbit) Thing." |
Barbara Ann "Babs" Bunny (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is the lavender pink female rabbit. She is a clown who will do nearly anything for a laugh. She is good at improvisational comedy, and is a comedic impressionist in the vein of Robin Williams. Babs has impersonated or parodied many different actors and fictional characters, including Joan Rivers, Jessica Rabbit, Mae West, Elmer Fudd, Pete Puma, Groucho Marx and Madonna. In "Born To Be Riled", her friends became annoyed with her accurate but unflattering impersonations of them and they retaliated by impersonating her in turn. Like Buster, Babs is usually willing to go out of her way for her friends, such as when she sabotaged a troupe of swan ballet dancers who were trying to thwart Shirley's debut. She often does quick costume changes, usually achieved by quickly spinning around in a circle. Babs also can speak in a deep, sultry voice, often used to seduce Buster. She distinctly hates being called "Barbara Ann", preferring just "Babs" instead. Her nickname probably originated from her intials B.A.B. with an "s" added on as a means of simplifying her name or the name probably was a fill-in of her nickname.
Her mother (also voiced by Tress MacNeille), was heard but only shown from the waist down (similar to the appearance of Nanny in the animated series Muppet Babies and the characters of Mum and Dad from Cow and Chicken). She has a father (also seen only from the waist down), who appeared in one episode as a monstrously large fellow who intimidated Buster when he dated Babs. However, in another episode ('Love Disconnection') where he drops Babs and her friends off at a party, Babs' father is portrayed differently as a goofy and clueless man who appears way out of touch with his daughter. Although Babs has been seen with dozens of brothers and sisters, only one has ever been named: 'Mortimer'.
In "Fields of Honey", Babs searched for a female mentor, as nearly all prominent classic Looney Tunes characters are male. She eventually found one: Honey, a forgotten character from the old Bosko cartoons. However it should be noted that in the 1996 movie Space Jam Bugs Bunny got a female counterpart, Lola Bunny. The relation between Bugs and Lola is very similar to Buster and Babs, so even though Babs Bunny was created long before Lola, Lola Bunny can be considered Babs' adult counterpart.
Her official outfit includes a yellow blouse and a purple skirt, with matching bows on the tips of her rabbit ears, and her body is pink and white. Unlike Bugs and Buster, she doesn't wear white gloves most of the time, but for some of her disguises such as her parts of The Vanderbunnys, SuperBabs, Strange tales of Weird Science and The Acme Acres Zone and a few others which you catch when looking, she does wear white gloves often as syncronicity with her counterpart Buster. Like Buster, Babs also has large white oval shape on her forward body, seen usually when she isn't in her usual outfit and she also has a small pink and white fluff tail.
Her catchphrase is "I just can't help myself!" which is endemic to her frequent inability to exercise self control, ultimately leading into trouble for herself and often Buster and/or anybody else around her as well.
Her friends names are Fifi La Fume and Shirley the Loon along which completes Acme Loonerversity's trio of cheerleaders for most of The Acme Bowl until all three abruptly join the football team.
[edit] Buster Bunny
| Buster Bunny | |
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Promotional Image of Buster Bunny |
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| Voiced by | Charlie Adler [1] (first through third seasons) John Kassir [1] (partial third season) |
| Information | |
| Species | Rabbit |
| Age | 14 |
| Friends Hangs With |
Nearly Every Character Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig |
| Annoyances Enemies |
Plucky Duck, Arnold the Pit Bull Babs Bunny (Occasionally) Montana Max, Elmyra Duff, Arnold the Pit Bull, Gene Splicer |
| Mentor | Bugs Bunny |
Buster Bunny (voiced by Charlie Adler) is the leader of the Tiny Toons gang, a street-smart, blue and white male rabbit who has to deal with the challenges of a tough school curriculum, the machinations of former friend, present-day rich kid and local bully Montana Max and the advances of crazed and ditzy animal lover Elmyra Duff. Like Babs, he will do anything for a laugh, though he is marginally more sane and calm than his female counterpart.
Buster's parents, like many of the main characters on the show, have never been seen on screen. It is known that Buster does live with his mother however, because in Tiny Toons commercials, she has been referenced and has even been spoken to on the phone, mostly as a way to tell Buster that she was on her way home when he was having a party.
Buster has an extreme fondness for Bugs to the point of often imitating his mentor, such as using Bugs' slap dance technique from Bully For Bugs (though with considerably less success). Although cool and collected for the most part, there are instances where other characters will get the better of Buster, or some unfortunate mishap will befall him, unlike his mentor Bugs, who for the most part was always on top of his game.
It is shown in "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian" that Buster doesn't like riding on airplanes because he gets motion sickness. There he tried to persuade the script writers to make a rewrite regarding his dislike of air travel. Because they refused, he had no choice but to accept it.
Buster has parodied and portrayed many different characters and actors, from Superman (which he is a bunny version called Superbun) to Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers.
Buster's outfit is just a red shirt and white gloves, which brings up the question when he asked his creator in "The Looney Beginning" for some clothes "for the censors" even though he's completely pantless. His body is light blue and white.
Like their adult counterpart, Buster (and at times along with Babs) would begin any attempts at mischief with "Of course you realize, this means war." However, in order to make the line his own, Buster would then add "Buster (and Babs) style!"
Buster's solo end tag alone (spoken without Babs) is "And that's a wrap!"
[edit] Voice Actor
Buster was the last and hardest to cast, Buster's original voice actor was Charlie Adler, who Tom Ruegger said "Sometimes he went too gravelly and over the top, but brought a great deal of energy to the role". Steven Spielberg and other producers did not want Adler, but Ruegger and (Voice Caster/Director) Andrea Romano fought for him. When Adler landed in the role he said in an interview, "This is the first time in 30 series I have been in, that I'm having the best time of my life working". During Season 3, they started production on Animaniacs, Adler was disappointed that he didn't get a recurring character on it, while minor actors on Tiny Toons were given main roles like Rob Paulsen, and Frank Welker. He and his agent started to send angry letters to Ruegger and other producers, saying that they had treated him "Shabby" and that he was going to leave the show.
When Adler dropped out they a very small handful of episodes to record, so they re-cast with John Kassir. Kassir's voice was slightly different than Adler's, Adler's voice was more gravelly and rough, where as Kassir's was more smooth. Kassir finished the last 10% of Adler's lines from "The Horror of Slumber Party Mountain". He did "The Return of Batduck", and "It's A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special" in 1993, later "Night Ghoulery", and "Tiny Toons Spring Break Special" in 1994 and 1995. For the promos on Kids WB, Buster was played by various other voice actors.
[edit] Romance
Babs is many times shown to have a crush on Buster; sometimes Buster will nervously retreat from her advances, sometimes he returns her affection, and sometimes he even goes out of his way to impress her: aside from taking her to the prom in one episode, towards the end of the series, in the episode Thirteensomething he shows that he harbors deep feelings for her, which he only realizes after she has left Acme, rescues her, and embraces a kiss from her at the end of the episode. In the episode Love Disconnection when Buster (as the host) interviews Babs about her ideal boyfriend, he slyly remarks to the viewer "as if we don't already know" (indicating that he knows Babs is attracted to him).
Early in the series, Buster is shown to be easily attracted to Babs when she does her sultry routine (such as her Jessica Rabbit impression in The Looney Beginning) or just decides to fix herself up to look nicer (her dress and what not for the prom in Prom-Ise Her Anything). In the last episode, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special, Babs states that Buster is indeed her boyfriend while she's singing with Cher, also Buster discovers that Babs' life would be trite and miserable without him, and towards the end of the episode, embraces a kiss (this time willingly of his own accord) and recognizes the value they have towards each other. Presumably after this, he would no longer retreat from her in any way at all. On another occasion, their Perfecto Prep rivals, Roderick and Rhubella Rat (also voiced by Adler and MacNeille) refer to Buster and Babs as "Mr. No Money Bunny... and his No Money Bunny Honey", indicating that others perceive Buster and Babs as a couple. In the Loony Beginging and so further on in the episodes he calls her sometimes Babsy which shows he holds a soft romantic spot just for her.
[edit] Trivia
- Buster Bunny is mentioned in a first chapter of a Junie B. Jones book Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny, along with Bugs Bunny from Looney Tunes, the Bionic Bunny from Arthur, Thumper from Bambi, the Trix rabbit, the Velveteen Rabbit, and Peter Rabbit.
- In early development, Buster would have had the catchphrase "Hello Nurse!", as sort of a follow up to his idol Bugs' famous catchphrase. This idea was dropped as they could not think of a good reason for him to say it; it later evolved into a character name on Animaniacs, as well as a cry of lust from its main characters.
- Buster appeared in a Korean commercial alongside Mario, Yoshi, Bowser, Goku and other licensed characters advertising for new games for the Hyundai Super Comboy that had been released during that time.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c T. Mike Childs, The Rocklopedia Fakebandica (Macmillan, 2004), 225.
- ^ ANDY MEISLER, "Steven Spielberg Promises: 'Th-Th-That's Not All, Folks'," The New York Times (July 8, 1990).
- ^ These lines pay homage to the classic sign-off of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as well as to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
[edit] External links
- Tiny Toon Adventures at the Internet Movie Database
- Tiny Toon Adventures at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Don Markstein's Toonopedia
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