Chucklewood Critters

Chucklewood Critters is an American line of television specials and an animated TV series created by former Hanna-Barbera animators, Bill Hutten and Tony Love, which centered on two woodland animals: Buttons, a young bear cub, and Rusty, a fox cub. It started as a Christmas special in 1983 called The Christmas Tree Train, followed by eight more holiday/seasonal specials. In 1997 it was developed into a series entitled The New Chucklewood Critters, which ran for two seasons.[1]

Characters

Specials

Title Year
"The Christmas Tree Train"1983
"Which Witch Is Which?"1984
"The Turkey Caper"1985
"A Chucklewood Easter"1986
"The Adventure Machine"1991
"What's Up Mom?"1992
"Honeybunch"1992
"Twas the Day Before Christmas"1993
"School Daze"1994

Series

The New Chucklewood Critters
Genre Animation
Created by
  • Bill Hutten
  • Tony Love
Written by John Bates
Directed by Bill Hutten
Voices of
Composer(s)
  • Carol Anderson
  • Richard Friedman
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 26
Production
Executive producer(s) Bill Hutten
Running time 24 min
Production company(s) Encore Enterprises
Distributor Daro Film Distribution
Release
Original release January 6, 1998 (1998-01-06) – July 22, 1999 (1999-07-22)

All the episodes in this series were directed by Bill Hutten and written by John Bates.[2]

Season 1 (1998)

Nº Ep Title Air date
11"Mudcats Galore"January 6, 1998 (1998-01-06)
The cubs learn about the endangered mudcats and decide to help them, but don't know what they look like and accidentally mistake them for a couple of wild pigs.
22"Chucklewood Cousins"January 13, 1998 (1998-01-13)
Buttons' Uncle Woodrow, Aunt Francine, and Cousin Bruce visit Chucklewood. However, when Bruce shows off in front of Rusty and the girl cubs, Buttons loses his confidence. How can he get his confidence back?
33"The Salmon Are Running"January 20, 1998 (1998-01-20)
Buttons is caught in a dilemma; he has to choose to either go fishing with his father or go to Bearbette's birthday party. The cubs come up with a way for Buttons to do both.
44"The Big One"January 27, 1998 (1998-01-27)
Earthquakes are mysteriously occurring in Chucklewood Forest, and Buttons and Rusty meet a young elephant and his mother, who were responsible for the tremors.
55"No Cave Like Home"February 3, 1998 (1998-02-03)
All the critters are forced to evacuate Chucklewood when they hear explosions from a mountain, which they think is a volcano.
66"Mother Nature's Missing"February 10, 1998 (1998-02-10)
A barrel of chemicals falls into the Chucklewood creek and Mother Nature becomes affected by it, which causes strange things to occur around the forest, like a rainbow at nighttime. The cubs set off to find a flower called the Shepherd's Goblet which will save Mother Nature and restore the natural balance in Chucklewood.
77"An Eye for a Tooth"February 17, 1998 (1998-02-17)
There's a rumor of food shortage in the forest, and the cubs meet a traveling trader named Claude; they exchange Abner's tools for a barrel of food, but it was full of straw. The cubs go on a search to get the tools back, and the search leads them from one critter to another who have used the tools.
88"The Mystery of the Sneaky Snacker"February 24, 1998 (1998-02-24)
The Critters celebrate Chucklewood's birthday. When a bobcat named Jonah comes to Chucklewood, food starts mysteriously disappearing, and Jonah is accused of stealing and eating it. Buttons and Rusty set a trap to catch the real thief.
99"Anything You Can Do...?"March 3, 1998 (1998-03-03)
While the mothers are visiting Grandma Bear's, the fathers are in charge of doing chores and cooking dinner. Meanwhile, the bear cubs have an argument about whether boy cubs or girl cubs are better, Freddie decides to have a contest.
1010"Raging Rivers"March 10, 1998 (1998-03-10)
Jonesy reminds the critters that the Critter vet is coming to do some sort of inoculation. Meanwhile, the cubs set off for adventure, water rafting and camping, and are caught in the rapids. They reach a cave and meet a critter named Selma, who ran away from something scary.
1111"Scenter of Attention"March 17, 1998 (1998-03-17)
When Rocky Ridge, which was on the other side of a ravine from Chucklewood, catches on fire, a skunk named Eugene escapes it and meets the critters. However, they find his scent a little disturbing.
1212"Timeout"March 24, 1998 (1998-03-24)
Buttons and Rusty enter a cave which leads them to an underground world, and there they meet a young dinosaur named Bubbles.
1313"Family Feud"March 31, 1998 (1998-03-31)
Buttons and Rusty's folks are into serious arguments. They must think of a plan to stop the feud between their folks before it ruins their friendship.

Season 2 (1999)

Nº Ep Title Air date
141"Winter Wonder"April 8, 1999 (1999-04-08)
It's winter in Chucklewood, and Buttons and Rusty go on a skiing trip which gets them lost in a sudden blizzard.
152"The Creature from Chucklewood Lake"April 15, 1999 (1999-04-15)
The cubs glimpse something in Chucklewood Lake and are convinced they have discovered a relative of the Loch Ness Monster.
163"Where Did I Come From?"April 22, 1999 (1999-04-22)
While the cubs learn about family trees and how not all families are the same, Frisky goes on a search to find her lost family and finds out she was adopted.
174"Nora Know It Owl"April 29, 1999 (1999-04-29)
Franklin's Aunt Nora arrives at Chucklewood Park, full of amazing stories, and Franklin confides to Jonesy that no one seems to need him anymore.
185"Spring Eternal"May 6, 1999 (1999-05-06)
During a dry spell at Chucklewood Park, the critters learn how to conserve water.
196"The Gram Who Came to Dinner"May 13, 1999 (1999-05-13)
Buttons' grandmother (known as "Gram") comes to Chucklewood. However, problems make everyone grumpy and impatient until she tells a story to the critters, with them as the main characters.
207"The Wishing Stone"May 20, 1999 (1999-05-20)
Exploring a new cave, Buttons and Rusty discover some old Indian artifacts; in particular, a shiny stone which they come to believe has magical powers.
218"Smile Please Lester"May 27, 1999 (1999-05-27)
The boy and girl cubs, their folks (except for the girl cubs' folks), and Franklin visit Lester in Crystal Bayou, but Lester isn't himself. After investigation it turns out he has a toothache but is too scared to visit the dentist.
229"The Lone Pony"June 3, 1999 (1999-06-03)
The cubs find a lost pony separated from his herd and Bearbette decides to look after him, but the cubs discover that wild animals are best to be kept that way.
2310"Unidentified Furry Object"June 10, 1999 (1999-06-10)
Franklin teaches the cubs about space travel and really fires their imagination when a strange new creature from a planet called Down Under appears in Chucklewood.
2411"The Treasure of Chucklewood, Part 1: The Search"July 8, 1999 (1999-07-08)
A misunderstanding causes the cubs to think that they'll be sent to a zoo because the park is closing down, and they decide to run away. The search for them involves a treasure map, three wolves, the Adventure Machine, and a man named Zachary in a house near a waterfall.
2512"The Treasure of Chucklewood, Part 2: The Rescue"July 15, 1999 (1999-07-15)
A rainstorm hits Chucklewood, and Zachary's house is washed across the river; the cubs' families and friends save them and Zachary from going over the waterfall. The treasure is found, and it takes care of the park's budget problems.
2613"Arrival of the Fittest"July 22, 1999 (1999-07-22)
As Buttons and Rusty learn about the Olympics, their cave is taken over by a family of grizzlies. The cubs compete with the grizzlies in an Olympics tournament to win their home back.

Voice cast

Additional voices

Availability

Most of the holiday specials were released on VHS videocassette, but these are now out of print. More recently, the entire series and all the specials have been made available on a four-volume DVD set but as of now, the DVD set has been discontinued by its publisher (Platinum Disc) and practically, out of print

References

  1. ↑ Chucklewood Critters at the Big Cartoon DataBase
  2. ↑ Chucklewood Critters at the Internet Movie Database

External links

Specials:

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