The Wacky World of Tex Avery


The Wacky World of Tex Avery is a 1997 French–Canadian–American animated comedy television series created by Robby London and co-produced by DIC Productions L.P., Les Studios Tex SARL, Milimetros, M6 Métropole Télévision and Telcima SA.
Both the series and the titular character were named after Tex Avery, a cartoonist who is known for his work at Warner Bros. and MGM. The creator describes the show as "homage to the brilliant, hilarious and groundbreaking animator Tex Avery and the wonderful squash-and-stretch cartoons of his era". The series was first broadcast on French channel M6 on September 3, 1997, followed on by its broadcast in the United States on September 29, through syndication where it mainly aired on Fox and UPN stations at the time.

Segments

The cartoom contains the following short series:

Tex Avery

The cartoon centers a goat-riding cowboy named Tex Avery who saves the day and his girl Chastity Knott from his outlaw nemesis Sagebrush Sid. Based on Bob Clampett's "Red Hot Ryder" from "Buckaroo Bugs". The theme song is "Home on the Range". 33 segments

Pompeii Pete

Pete is a short bumbling Roman centurion from Pompeii who was buried in lava from the Volcanic eruption and 2,000 years later manages to break free from his preserved state to live in the modern world. His over-interpretive behavior annoys a man named Dan. He was rumored to be based on Shorty from the Famous Studios era of Popeye the Sailor. The theme song is "Tarantella Napoletana". 29 segments

Einstone

The cartoon stars the brilliant caveman Ughbert Einstone who is the world's first inventor. He tries to teach the other cave people how to be civilized with his inventions. A play on the name Albert Einstein. Loosely based on Tex Avery's "The First Bad Man", with Einstone's face possibly inspired by that of Little Miss Muffet from A Gander at Mother Goose. The theme song is "If You're Happy and You Know It". 26 segments

Genghis and Khannie

Genghis the lion is a warlord who leads his barbarian army across the world to conquer in the name of his Emperor and meets a female panda cub named Khannie who tends to ruin his conquering plans through her innocent behaviour. A play on the name Genghis Khan. Genghis is based on the lion from "Slap Happy Lion" with his voice modeled after Sean Connery and Khannie's mannerisms were influenced from Shirley Temple, though she was said to be a stand-in for Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toon Adventures, because of both characters being voiced by Cree Summer. 27 segments

Freddy the Fly

A playful, obnoxious, and uncultural fly named Freddy bugs an obese, lazy & exceedingly short-tempered billionaire named Amanda Banshee, whose continuous excessive attempts to get rid of him often involve the most extreme of ways. Freddy is loosely based on both one of Tex Avery's earlier characters, Homer the Homeless Flea from "What Price Fleadom" and comedian Red Skelton's character, Freddy the Freeloader. Freddy and Banshee each have their own themes; Beethoven for Freddy and Vivaldi for Banshee. 26 segments

Maurice & Mooch

Maurice the Chicken outwits Mooch the Fox who constantly tries to make a hunger out of him. Maurice is based on the canary character from "King-Size Canary", and acts rather like the pig boy in "One Ham's Family". Its theme is Home Sweet Home. 27 segments

Power Pooch

A normal dog gained superpowers after licking a superhero's shoe and became a superhero himself, albeit an incompetent one. Along with his blue cat sidekick Little Buddy, Power Pooch fights the crime in his town which usually involved him fighting Dr. Hydrant and his bone-shaped henchman Boney. Based on W. Watts Biggers and Joe Harris' Underdog. 27 segments

Cast

In October 1995, DIC Productions L.P. announced they would be opening an animation office in France in partnership with Hampster Productions, and that their first project would be called Tex Avery Theater. DIC also announced that they had acquired the rights to use Avery's name and likeness through his estate in order to produce the series. The package of 195 7-minute cartoons would have been made available starting in October 1996. In March 1997, the studio was opened up and was named Les Studios Tex, which DIC was a shareholder in. with DIC confirming they would be launching the show as The Wacky World of Tex Avery in syndication in the Fall of that year. A logo of the studio that appears after the end credits of Archie's Weird Mysteries, shows an prototype design of Tex Avery that was scrapped, with a blue arc hat, while riding a horse.

Home Media releases and current-day syndication

France

In July 2003, TF1 Video through the TF! Video label released a 2-DVD boxset of the series, which contained 48 cartoons. Another boxset was released in January 2004, containing 64 cartoons.
In April 2011, AV Video released a boxset containing the first 24 episodes, with 72 cartoons all on the 3 DVDs.

United States

In 2003, Sterling Entertainment released three VHSs/DVDs of the series titled Power Pooch to the Rescue, Pompeii Pete in the 21st Century and Tex Rides Again, each containing nine cartoons from their respective segments. On the DVD versions, three bonus cartoons are featured with other characters from the show, like Freddy the Fly. The Tex Avery and Pompeii Pete DVDs were re-released in 2007 by NCircle Entertainment.
On February 19, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment released The Wacky World of Tex Avery- Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The four-disc set features the first 40 episodes of the series. It is unknown whether the rest of the episodes will be released on another DVD, as this DVD is currently out-of-print.
The show was originally available on Hulu, but has since been taken down, and is now only on Tubi and Vudu.

Current-day syndication

After the show's run on M6 in France, the show re-aired on Télétoon In March 2002, and on Canal+ Family and Gulli in 2008 and 2010, respectively.
In 2010, the program re-aired in the United States for the first time in a decade, where is was a part of the weekday morning Cookie Jar Toons programming block on the digital subchannel This TV. The show was removed from the lineup on September 26, 2011. Most episodes of the show were also available on Hulu and Jaroo.com. These prints replace the DIC logo with the Cookie Jar logo.
In Canada, the series aired on YTV and Canal Famille. In the United Kingdom, the series originally aired on Disney Channel and on GMTV/Disney's Diggit strand on ITV, and later re-aired on Pop.

Episodes

Reception

The Wacky World of Tex Avery has been critically panned for its animation and humor. David Perlmutter in his book Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows described the show as an "insult" to the titular cartoonist, writing that " lacked the masterful way Avery himself employed and often transcended the limits of his material."

In other languages