Taz-Mania

Taz-Mania
Genre	Animated comedy
Created by	Art Vitello
Developed by	Jean MacCurdy Tom Ruegger
Presented by	Warner Bros. Animation
Voices of	Jim Cummings Maurice LaMarche Miriam Flynn Debi Derryberry Kellie Martin Rob Paulsen
Theme music composer	Richard Stone
Opening theme	"Come to Taz-Mania" by Jess Harnell and Jim Cummings
Ending theme	"Come to Taz-Mania" (Instrumental)
Composer(s)	Richard Stone Mark Watters Don Davis Steve Bernstein John Given Carl Johnson Harvey Cohen Jerry Grant
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	65 (102 segments)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jean MacCurdy Tom Ruegger
Producer(s)	Art Vitello
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Warner Bros. Animation
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	Fox (Fox Kids)
Original release	September 7, 1991 – May 22, 1995

Taz-Mania is an American cartoon sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991 to 1995, broadcast in the United States on Fox. The show follows the adventures of the Looney Tunes character Taz (The Tasmanian Devil) in the fictional land of Tazmania (based on Tasmania).^[1]

Similar to other Warner Brothers cartoons of its time, such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania frequently broke the fourth wall, and often made jokes showing that Taz could actually speak perfectly normally when he wanted to. The intro indicates that, in this rendering of Tasmania, "the sky's always yellow, rain or shine". The title song is performed by Jess Harnell and Jim Cummings.

Characters

The Tazmanian Devil family

• Taz (Jim Cummings) – He is the central character of the series and appears in every episode. Taz is ill-tempered, frequently hungry, and has a very big dislike of water, though is less ferocious and (at times) more thoughtful than his original incarnation. He works as a bellhop at the Hotel Tazmania.
• Jean Tazmanian Devil (Miriam Flynn) – Taz's dedicated, doting mother. Many episodes circle around her speaking on the phone and running through a long list of chores she's created for herself.
• Hugh Tazmanian Devil (Maurice LaMarche) – Taz's easy-going father, whose voice and mannerisms are a parody of Bing Crosby. Hugh likes orange juice (a reference to Crosby being a famous pitch-man for orange juice), golfing, and bowling, and will often overexplain things to the point where he'll say "blah-blah-blah, yackity schmackity" to speed things up.
• Molly Tazmanian Devil (Kellie Martin) – Taz's 13-year-old sister. Despite being more refined than her brother, she often shares his vicious nature, though in a more sibling-rivalry sense.
• Jake Tazmanian Devil (Debi Derryberry) – Taz's little brother, who often looks up to and idolizes Taz.
• Dog the Turtle (Frank Welker) – Taz's pet turtle, who acts like a dog.
• Drew Tazmanian Devil (Maurice LaMarche) – Taz's uncle, who talks and acts like Bob Hope as a reference to Hugh's parody of Bing Crosby. Like Hugh, Drew enjoys golf, bowling, and heading out on road trips (often dragging Taz along) in spoofs of Hope and Crosby's Road to... film series of the 1940s and 1950s.

Hotel Tazmania staff

• Bushwhacker Bob (Jim Cummings) – Taz's loud, grouchy and incompetent boss. Owner of the Hotel Tazmania, he is largely self-centered and thinks very highly of himself, despite rarely doing any actual work and preferring to leave any and all tasks to his staff. His demeanor is a send up of Basil Fawlty, just as all the hotel segments were direct spoofs of the British sitcom Fawlty Towers.
• Mum (Rosalyn Landor) – Bushwhacker Bob's mother, who is much calmer and wiser than her son. Despite her son owning the Hotel Tazmania, Mum is the true backbone of the establishment. She is often quick to criticize her son, much to Bob's chagrin, despite her accusations typically being true.
• Constance Koala (Rosalyn Landor) – An enormous but gentle spirited koala who is the maid at the Hotel Taz-mania. She is quite fond of singing and dancing, despite her dancing often causing unintentional destruction.
• Mr. Thickley (Dan Castellaneta) – A multitalented and upbeat wallaby who works at the Hotel Tazmania, although his exact job title is unspecified. He considers himself a jack-of-all-trades always preempting the activities he does with Taz with an exclamation that he's "an expert." He enjoys doing favors for Taz but his incompetence usually results in mayhem. He also hosts Taz-manian Theater.

Outback characters

• Digeri Dingo (Rob Paulsen) – A self-serving dingo who pretends to be Taz's friend so he can avoid dangerous situations and discomfort at Taz's expense. Both he and Taz share a mutual love for bottle-cap collecting. A scavenger, treasure hunter and chronic collector, he often takes advantage of Taz's strength and rabid nature to hunt rare treasures. Typically when he gets what he wants, he still berates Taz for bringing it back in a tarnished condition.
• Wendal T. Wolf (Jim Cummings) – A neurotic thylacine who is desperate for any type of friendship. When not being hunted by Taz, he usually drives him crazy in his efforts to befriend him. His personality closely resembles that of Woody Allen.
• Francis X. Bushlad (Rob Paulsen) – A white-skinned, red-haired aboriginal boy who unsuccessfully hunts Taz as a rite of manhood. Despite their tribal society, he and his entire tribe behave and speak like highly intelligent, aristocratic businessmen. (His own father is a send-up of Thurston P. Howell.) His name recalls silent movie star Francis X. Bushman

Minor characters

• Bull Gator and Axl (John Astin, Rob Paulsen) – A pair of alligators who unsuccessfully try to trap Taz for the enjoyment of zoo-going children all over the world (as a rather weak pretense to the massive financial gain the endeavor will grant them). Bull is the leader of the duo, always acting in a confident and cheery attitude even while reprimanding Axl. Axl is Bull's hunter in training, constantly naive though often subject to Bull's "corrections." (Typically in the form of a mallet smashing.) They vaguely resemble Laurel and Hardy.
• Buddy Boar (Jim Cummings) – Full name Hamilton Butkus Boar, he fancies himself a yuppie, is often seen talking on his cell phone, and claims to be "Taz's best friend". Though Buddy tends to take advantage of Taz at times, he does not seem to treat him nearly as bad as Digeri Dingo does. He was established early in the show but was seemingly ill-received, reflected in several fourth-wall breaking moments by the show's characters. As such, Buddy's appearances were uncommon. His later appearances suggest he was promoted to the show's producer after he was considered to be an unlikable character on the show proper, and he later attempts to direct an episode featuring Bull and Axl with catastrophic results.
• Daniel and Timothy the Platypus Brothers (Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen) – Twin brothers (Timothy wears glasses) whose love for do-it-yourself projects usually end up causing trouble for Taz. They closely resemble Daffy Duck, in appearance and manner of speech. A pair of episodes deal with their obsession with the prime-time cartoon "The McKimsons," a The Simpsons parody featuring a character who constantly shouts "No way, I'm out of here, Man!"
• The Keewee – Although somewhat resembling a kiwi, this silent bird can run as fast as the Road Runner, often being chased down by Taz in search of his lunch in the same nature of Wile E. Coyote.
• The Bushrats (head Bushrat: Phil Proctor) – A group of rats in tribal costume. They speak in an odd mix of real and nonsense languages that are appended by mismatched, humorous subtitles. Their favorite phrase is "Spanfirkel!", which is similar to the German word "Spanferkel" that translates to "small, young pig, which still gets suckled".
• Willie Wombat (Maurice LaMarche) – Originally cast in a Bugs Bunny-like role against Taz, Willie resents this typecasting and greatly admires Taz and his career. His determination to remain pacifistic and polite usually reverts to frustration and rage by the end of his episodes. Ironically, his friendly nature was previously used by Bugs in 1980's "Spaced Out Bunny."

Looney Tunes characters

• Bugs Bunny - (voiced by Greg Burson) In "A Devil of a Job," Bugs appears as a Deus Ex Machina, driving a souped-up Jeep out of a tar pit, saving Taz, and then asking. "Is this the Left turn at Albuquerque?" In Willie Wombat's debut episode, Willie phoned Bugs for advice about how to handle Taz.
• Daffy Duck - (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) Is seen riding along with Bugs in the jeep in "A Devil of a Job."
• Yosemite Sam - (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) After Willie phoned Bugs for advice, Taz phoned Sam. He's never actually seen. He expresses surprise that Taz has his own show by asking "Ain't you retired yet?"
• Sam Sheepdog - (voiced by Jim Cummings) In one episode Taz, working as a temp agent for carnivorous predators, substitutes for Ralph Wolf and attempts to steal sheep from Sam's pen. (There was a bit of character confusion here, as at one point Sam suggests "I thought I was a bit too hard on That Coyote last week.")
• Foghorn Leghorn - (voiced by Jeff Bergman) Because of his name, Bushwacker Bob mistook Foghorn for a hotel critic.
• Marvin the Martian - (voiced by Rob Paulsen) Once came to Earth on vacation, glad his plans to destroy it failed. His attempts at relaxation are thwarted by Taz's noisy behavior, cajoling him into wanting to destroy the Earth again, and his actions indeed cause the Earth to explode due to a temporal anomaly.
• Road Runner - He made a cameo appearance in the show and is caught by Taz. Taz is then about to eat him, but lets the bird go after Axl and Bull try to kidnap Taz.

Episodes

Episodes are copyright 1991 (1-14), 1992 (15-47), or 1993 (48-65); note that this does not always correspond with when they originally aired.

No.	Title	Director(s)	Writer(s)	Production Code	Original airdate
1	"The Dog the Turtle Story"	Douglas McCarthy	Bill Kopp	406-401	September 7, 1991
Taz rescues a turtle, which acts like a dog, from a trap and adopts him as a pet, but then he and him visit his outback family and they all rescue Taz from Bull Gator and Axl.
2	"Like Father, Like Son; Frights of Passage"	Keith Baxter	Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello, Keith Baxter, Bill Kopp	406-402	September 14, 1991
Hugh takes Taz out for a father-son bonding experience./Francis X. Bushlad of the Mudpeople sets out to hunt a Tasmanian Devil as his proof of manhood.
3	"War & Pieces; Airbourne Airhead"	Lenord Robinson	Mark Saraceni	406-403	September 21, 1991
Taz and his younger siblings Molly and Jake are left to run the house while their parents visit Grandma./With help from the Platypus Brothers Daniel and Timothy, Taz attempts to climb Pointy Peak and obtain giant bird eggs with which to make a Taz-sized omelet.
4	"It's No Picnic; Kee-Wee ala King"	Greg Duffell, Gary Hartle	Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello, Henry T. Gilroy	406-404	September 28, 1991
The Tasmanian Devil family head out on a picnic, unaware that Bull Gator and Axl are looking to capture all of them./Taz and Buddy Boar go hunting for a Kee-Wee Bird, which quickly turns into disaster for the pair.
5	"A Devil of a Job"	Douglas McCarthy	Gordon Kent	406-405	October 5, 1991
Taz gets a job at the Hotel Tazmania to earn the money for a motorcycle.
6	"Battling Bushrats; Devil in the Deep Blue Sea"	Keith Baxter	Bill Kopp, Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello	406-406	October 12, 1991
Taz must protect his mom's turkey dinner from both the Bushrats and an army of ants./Despite his hatred of water, Taz is manipulated by Digeri Dingo to scuba-dive into the ocean and find a sunken treasure.
7	"Woeful Wolf"	Lenord Robinson	Gordon Kent	406-407	October 19, 1991
The neurotic Wendal T. Wolf looks to Taz for friendship, but Taz just finds him as an annoying and needy pest.
8	"Devil with the Violet Dress On; Kidnapped Koala"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Mark Saraceni	406-408	October 26, 1991
Jean insists on spending the day with her son Taz, for better or for worse./Bull Gator and Axl attempts to capture Constance Koala.
9	"Mishap in the Mist; Toothache Taz"	Keith Baxter, Douglas McCarthy	Bill Kopp, Art Vitello	406-409	November 2, 1991
A woman studies the Tasmanian Devil family in its natural habitat./Taz gets a toothache and turns to the Platypus Brothers for help, but their cures end up being worse than the toothache by itself.
10	"Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty; Enter the Devil"	Keith Baxter, Art Vitello	Chris Otsuki, Keith Baxter, Art Vitello	406-410	November 9, 1991
Molly gets a cute cat for a pet, but this new addition to the family quickly becomes Taz's worst nightmare that he tries to get rid of./Mr. Thickley trains Taz to be a kung-fu master.
11	"Bewitched Bob"	Lenord Robinson	Gordon Kent	406-411	November 16, 1991
A new visitor to the Hotel Tazmania has Bushwhacker Bob wrapped around her finger.
12	"Instant Replay; Taz and the Pterodactyl"	Jon McClenahan	Henry T. Gilroy, Art Vitello, Chris Otsuki	406-412	November 23, 1991
Bull Gator and Axl film their exploits in order to learn the best way to capture Taz./Taz meets a living Pterodactyl and is taken on a flight across the Outback.
13	"Pup Goes the Wendal; I'm Okay, You're Taz"	Douglas McCarthy	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello, Mark Saraceni	406-413	November 30, 1991
Wendal Wolf kicks Dog the Turtle out of Taz's house and inserts himself as the new family pet./Buddy Boar tries to improve Taz's personality.
14	"Comic Madness; Blunders Never Cease"	Keith Baxter	Henry Gilroy; Art Vitello; Bill Kopp	406-414	December 7, 1991
The family is worried that Taz is spending too much time with his comic books./Francis resorts to taking tribal potions in his quest to capture Taz.
15	"Amazing Shrinking Taz & Co."	Keith Baxter	Bill Kopp, Art Vitello	406-418	September 5, 1992
The latest invention of the Platypus Brothers shrinks Taz, Bull Gator, and Axl to microscopic size.
16	"Oh, Brother; Taz-Babies"	Lenord Robinson	Henry Gilroy, Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello	406-419	September 12, 1992
A giant gorilla is goaded by his little brother to attack Jake, but Taz does not take his attacks lightly./Taz-Mania is presented to the network vice-president, who has his own ideas on what Taz's show should be like.
17	"Jake's Big Date; Taz Live"	Douglas McCarthy	Henry Gilroy, Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello	406-421	September 19, 1992
Jake is set up on a play-date with his friend Heather./When Hotel Tazmania is unable to deliver with its scheduled comedy act, Taz and his friends stall for time with their own acts.
18	"A Midsummer Night's Scream; Astro Taz"	Douglas McCarthy	Mark Zaslove, Art Vitello, Mark Saraceni	406-434	September 26, 1992
Lost in the mountains, Taz and Bushwhacker Bob are forced to spend the night in a creepy motel./Taz mistakes a space shuttle for an arcade game.
19	"Tazmanian Lullaby; Deer Taz; A Taz-Manian Moment"	Keith Baxter, Art Vitello	Keith Baxter, Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello	406-437	October 3, 1992
Francis discovers Taz's love of accordion music and uses it to capture him./Taz must compete with other predators over an adorable baby deer that he can't bring himself to eat./In an "unused" scene from Ticket Taker Taz, Molly uses her paddleball to scam Taz out of the concert tickets.
20	"The Outer Taz-Manian Zone; Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, Part 2"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Gordon Kent, Art Vitello	406-422	October 10, 1992
Taz and Molly switch bodies after an argument over their personal lives./Molly's cat returns, and the feline wastes no time in terrorizing Taz out of revenge.
21	"Taz-Mania's Funniest Home Videos; Bottle Cap Blues"	Lenord Robinson	Bill Kopp, Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello	406-423	October 17, 1992
To win a trip to the Bora Bora Islands, Taz attempts to film some candid videos of his family./Taz and Dingo pursue a Kee-Wee Bird for the rare bottle cap it's carrying.
22	"Hypnotazed; Mum's n' Taz's"	Douglas McCarthy, Jon McClenahan	Henry Gilroy, Gordon Kent, Art Vitello	406-438	October 24, 1992
Bull Gator accidentally hypnotizes himself into thinking he's a Tasmanian Devil./Taz and Mum get trapped in an abandoned mine shaft.
23	"Boys Just Wanna Have Fun; Unhappy Together"	Douglas McCarthy	Mark Saraceni, Gordon Kent, Art Vitello	406-417	October 31, 1992
With Jean and Molly out at a swim meet, Hugh, Taz, and Jake have a guys' night at home./Taz's presence ends up driving a wedge between the Platypus Brothers's relationship.
24	"Food for Thought; Gone to Pieces"	Keith Baxter	Gordon Kent, Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello	406-433	November 7, 1992
Taz attempts to cross a piranha-filled lake in order to grab an egg for lunch./Taz's game of bottlecap tiddlywinks ends up breaking his mother's valuable vase. He now tries to hide the accident from Mom.
25	"Kee-Wee Cornered; But Is It Taz?"	Lenord Robinson	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello, Bill Kopp	406-439	November 14, 1992
Fed up with Taz eating all of her pet birds, Molly goes out and gets a Kee-Wee Bird./Taz quits the show out of anger for all of the abuse he takes every episode and gets a fast-food job instead.
26	"Mall Wrecked; A Dingo's Guide to Magic"	Lenord Robinson	Henry Gilroy, Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello	406-415	November 21, 1992
When the car breaks down, Taz, Jean, and Molly are left stranded in an empty mall parking lot./Dingo uses a magic kit to trick the gullible Taz out of a giant gold nugget he's found.
27	"The Man from M.A.R.S.; Friends for Strife"	Doug McCarthy	Bill Kopp, Art Vitello, Sindy McKay	406-442	November 28, 1992
After hearing a scary sci-fi program on the radio, Taz attacks a vacationing Marvin the Martian out of fear that he wants to conquer the Earth./Dingo shares with Taz all of the adventures they've shared since they first met.
28	"Wacky Wombat; Molly's Folly"	Gary Hartle	Sindy McKay, Mark Zaslove, Art Vitello	406-440	September 4, 1993
Willie Wombat is cast as Taz's foil in a semi-parody of the original Taz cartoons./Taz gets roped into taking ballet classes with Molly.
29	"A Flea for Me; A Young Taz's Fancy"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello, Keith Baxter	406-445	September 11, 1993
Taz gets an unwelcome guest in his fur: a flea, which he tries to get rid of./Taz falls for a Tasmanian She-Devil, but is unaware that it's really Francis in disguise.
30	"Never Cry Taz; Bully for Bull"	Lenord Robinson	Bill Kopp, Art Vitello	406-451	September 18, 1993
The Platypus Brothers find the entrance to a new world in their attic during Spring Cleaning./Bull Gator falls into depression over his constant failures, leaving Axl to try and cheer him up.
31	"Of Bushrats and Hugh"	Doug McCarthy	Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello	406-450	September 25, 1993
Taz and Hugh protect their precious orange tree from a hoard of hungry Bushrats.
32	"Merit Badgered"	Lenord Robinson	Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello	406-443	October 2, 1993
Taz accompanies Jake on a camping trip.
33	"Devil Indemnity"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello	406-460	October 16, 1993
Taz is at home and stuck in a full-body cast. While he struggles to answer the phone and win a TV contest, Jean fills in for his bellhop job at Hotel Tazmania and struggles with Bushwhacker Bob's abuse.
34	"Willie Wombat's Deja Boo-Boo; To Catch a Taz"	Lenord Robinson	Sindy McKay, Art Vitello, Gordon Kent	406-455	October 23, 1993
Willie Wombat tries to get roles in other cartoons, but cannot escape being typecasted as Taz's foil./Taz is framed for the consumption of a birthday cake, and Wendal T. Wolf is the police officer determined to catch him.
35	"The Thing that Ate the Outback; Because It's There"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello, Mark Zaslove	406-449	October 30, 1993
Taz creates a blob monster with his new chemistry set: one that just keeps eating and growing./Taz and Dingo attempt to climb a mountain.
36	"Antenna Dilemma; Autograph Pound"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello, Sindy McKay	406-444	November 6, 1993
Taz visits the Platypus Brothers from some TV time when a thunderstorm cuts his cable./Constance is smitten with a wrestling champion staying at the hotel, but Taz is simply terrorized.
37	"Taz and the Emu Egg; Willy Wombat's Last Stand; K-Taz Commercial"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello, Sindy McKay	406-461	November 13, 1993
Taz hunts a surprisingly-swift unhatched emu egg./Finally fed up with his typecasting, Willie Wombat takes his case to the network itself./Taz's "unique" singing talents are advertised as part of a CD collection.
38	"Doubting Dingo; Sub Commander Taz"	Gary Hartle	Henry T. Gilroy, Art Vitello, Alan Katz	406-464	November 20, 1993
Dingo suspects that Taz is plotting to get rid of him./Taz places a mail-order for a submarine, but the wait for its arrival tests his patience.
39	"Feed a Cold; Sidekick for a Day"	Doug McCarthy	Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello	406-462	November 27, 1993
Taz is sick with a cold, and his sneezes become overwhelmingly powerful. However, the Platypus Brothers suffer the abuse of his illness even more when they try to find a cure for it./Bull Gator fires Axl and hires Taz as his new sidekick.
40	"No Time for Christmas"	Doug McCarthy	Mark Zaslove, Art Vitello	406-446	December 25, 1993
With everybody in Tazmania getting ready for Christmas, Taz makes a trip across the Outback to deliver gifts to his friends.
41	"Road to Tazmania"	Gary Hartle	Mark Saraceni	406-416	September 13, 1994
Taz's Uncle Drew comes to visit, and he and Hugh take Taz along on a trip to pick up some orange juice. However, only Taz seems to notice the spies that apparently want the OJ they bought.
42	"Taz-Manian Theatre; The Bushrats Must Be Crazy"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello, Bill Kopp	406-420	September 14, 1994
Taz and Wendal are stranded on a desert island in Mr. Thickley's thrilling tale of Taz-Manian Theatre./The Bushrats embark on a journey to retrieve their idol of worship: Jake's rubber duck.
43	"Return of the Road to Taz-Mania Strikes Back"	Keith Baxter	Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello	406-426	September 15, 1994
With Taz as their caddy, Hugh and Uncle Drew head out to the golf course to play against a pair of old golfing rivals, whose own caddy is another sneaky spy that's out to get them.
44	"Taz Like Dingo"	Lenord Robinson	Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello	406-427	September 16, 1994
Digeri Dingo finds a lamp that holds a genie. With his first wish, Dingo wishes for Taz to like him, no matter what, but this turns out to be a bad idea later.
45	"The Pied Piper of Taz-Mania; The Treasure of the Burnt Sienna"	Gary Hartle	Mark Saraceni, Gordon Kent	406-428	September 19, 1994
Hotel Tazmania faces a Bushrat infestation./Bushwhacker Bob drags Taz on a treasure hunt.
46	"Not a Shadow of a Doubt; Nursemaid Taz"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello, Sindy McKay	406-429	September 20, 1994
Taz's shadow comes to life for a day./Dingo fakes a broken leg to get sympathy (and free food) from Taz and his family.
47	"Home Despair; Take All of Me"	Doug McCarthy	Bill Kopp, Gordon Kent, Mark Saraceni, Earl Kress	406-430	September 21, 1994
Taz gets the Platypus Brothers to repair the house, but they only make things worse./Wendal pesters Bull Gator and Axl into capturing him so that he can relish the zoo life.
48	"Bird-Brained Beast; Ready, Willing, Unable"	Lenord Robinson	Henry Gilroy, Bruce Morris	406-431	September 22, 1994
Taz and the Platypus Brothers hit the road to catch a Kee-Wee Bird./Unaware of their true goal to capture Taz, Mr. Thickley lends his advice to Bull Gator and Axl.
49	"We'll Always Have Taz-Mania; Moments You've Missed"	Gary Hartle	Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello, Bill Kopp, Mark Saraceni	406-432	September 23, 1994
With the TV broken, Hugh and Jean entertains the kids with the story of how they first met./Bull Gator and Axl host a show featuring "removed" segments from previous episodes.
50	"Sidekicked; Gone with the Windbag"	Douglas McCarthy	Mark Saraceni, Art Vitello, Bill Kopp, Gordon Kent	406-425	November 7, 1994
Axl is force to hunt Taz on his own when Bull Gator leaves for the Tazmania Hula-Hooping Championship Finals./Hotel critic F.H. Leghorn has come to the Hotel Tazmania, and Bushwhacker Bob is determined to get a passing review from him.
51	"Driving Mr. Taz; Mean Bear; Taz Museum"	Lenord Robinson	Gordon Kent, Bill Kopp, Art Vitello	406-435	November 8, 1994
Taz is taken out for a driving lesson./The Bushrats call upon Taz to defeat a cruel bear./The show advertises the Boulder Museum.
52	"Ticket Taker Taz; Taz^2"	Gary Hartle	Sindy McKay, Mark Zaslove	406-436	November 14, 1994
Taz wins a pair of concert tickets, which Molly wants to relieve him of./The Platypus Brothers develop a cloning machine and use it on Taz, creating an army of Tasmanian Devils that are all hungry for platypus.
53	"Mutton for Nothing; Dr. Wendal and Mr. Taz"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello, Keith Baxter	406-441	November 15, 1994
Taz arrives at the sheep meadow to fill in for Ralph Wolf, where Sam Sheepdog performs his usual predator-pounding job on him./Wendal Wolf mistakes a gamma-radiation chamber for a tanning booth, causing him to transform into a violent monster whenever Taz gets him upset.
54	"Taz-Mania Confidential; The Platypi Psonic Psensation Psimulator"	Lenord Robinson	Alan Katz, Art Vitello, Sindy McKay	406-447	November 21, 1994
A film crew has arrived to expose every humiliating detail of the Tasmanian Devil family, even those that they make up./The Platypus Brothers use their new invention to probe Taz's memories for "unused" episode segments.
55	"The Not-So-Gladiators; One Ring Taz"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello, Sindy McKay	406-448	November 22, 1994
Taz and Jean go on "Grub Gladiators" (a food-themed spoof of American Gladiators)./Taz wants to join the circus, so Mr. Thickley "helps" him find an act.
56	"Retakes Not Included; Pledge Dredge"	Gary Hartle	Sindy McKay, Art Vitello, Gordon Kent	406-452	February 6, 1995
The latest episode is filled with animation errors, and director Buddy Boar doesn't seem to grasp the concept of retakes./Mr. Thickley hosts a telethon to raise money for the show.
57	"Bushlad's Lament; Taz-Mania Comedy Institute"	Keith Baxter	Keith Baxter	406-453	February 13, 1995
An elderly Francis, still having not achieved his manhood, is forced to pursue an equally-elderly Taz./A documentary on 16-ton weights is featured.
58	"Heartbreak Taz; Just Be 'Cuz"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Bill Kopp	406-424	February 14, 1995
Constance Koala develops a very one-sided infatuation with Taz./Francis is stuck watching his little cousin Edgar, so he takes him along on his hunt for Taz.
59	"The Taz Story Primer; Ask Taz"	Douglas McCarthy	Alan Katz, Art Vitello, Mark Zaslove	406-454	February 20, 1995
Molly is called on by the network to provide the plot for the week's episode./Everybody seems to find great wisdom in Taz's frequent line of "Taz hate water", so Bushwhacker Bob exploits it as a way to make money.
60	"It's a Taz's Life; Gee Bull!"	Gary Hartle	Gordon Kent, Art Vitello; Mark Zaslove	406-456	February 27, 1995
Taz gets chosen by a TV host to have his life examined in retrospect./Bull Gator resorts to extreme teaching methods in order to knock some sense into Axl.
61	"Taz in Keeweeland; Stuck for Bucks; A Philosophical Taz Moment"	Keith Baxter	Chris Otsuki, Art Vitello	406-457	May 1, 1995
Taz finds himself in a world filled with Kee-Wee birds, though it proves more dangerous than it looks./The need for immediate funds brings Taz into battle with his seemingly-indestructible piggy bank./Taz contemplates nature and his enslavement for food.
62	"The Origin of the Beginning of the Incredible Taz-Man; Francis Takes a Stand"	Keith Baxter	Keith Baxter, Henry T. Gilroy, Chris Otsuki	406-465	May 2, 1995
Taz takes advice from Mr. Thickley on how to become a real-life superhero./Taz and Francis set up competing lemonade stands in hopes of making big money.
63	"Yet Another Road to Taz-Mania"	Douglas McCarthy	Henry Gilroy, Art Vitello	406-458	May 8, 1995
Once more, Taz is stuck on a road trip with Hugh and Uncle Drew. This time, they're going bowling, and the spies are after their new bowling ball.
64	"Bad Luck Bottlecap; A Story with a Moral"	Lenord Robinson	Sindy McKay, Art Vitello, Alan Katz	406-459	May 15, 1995
Dingo tries to get rid of a cursed bottlecap by passing it on to Taz, but his attempts continue to backfire./An injured Taz is being nursed back to health by an overbearing (and clumsy) Scotsman.
65	"One Saturday in Taz-Mania; Platypi on Film"	Lenord Robinson	Sindy McKay, Art Vitello, Mark Zaslove	406-463	May 22, 1995
Taz's lazy Saturday is continuously interrupted by Jake./The Platypus Brothers critique their favorite movies (all of them Taz-themed parodies of famous films).

Video games

Five video games based on the show were made, two by Sega for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear and three by Sunsoft consisting in one for the SNES and two for the Game Boy.

Home media release

Three VHS tapes were released in 1993.

A DVD containing the first four episodes of the series was released in Europe in April 2010, whilst later released in the UK in 2011 under the title "Taz and Friends" as part of the Kids' WB "Big Faces" series.

On May 14, 2013 Warner Home Video released Taz Mania - Season 1, Part 1: Taz on the Loose on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.^[2] Season 1, Part 2 was released on August 6, 2013.^[3]

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
The Complete Season 1	13	May 14, 2013
The Complete Season 2	13	August 6, 2013
The Complete Season 3	13	TBA
The Complete Season 4	26	TBA

Other appearances

In the Duck Dodgers episode "M.M.O.R.P.D.", one of the forms that Duck Dodgers turns himself into Axl. In this brief appearance, Axl's vocal effects are reprised by Rob Paulsen. Taz himself appears with Duck Dodgers in the episode "Deathmatch Duck".

References

1. Trusdell, Brian (May 28, 1995). "Focus : Warner's Toon Factory for the '90s". The Los Angeles Times (USA). Retrieved 10 May 2011.
2. "Taz-Mania DVD news: Announcement for Taz-Mania - Season 1, Part 1: Taz On The Loose - TVShowsOnDVD.com". tvshowsondvd.com.
3. "Taz-Mania DVD news: Announcement for Taz-Mania - Season 1, Pt 2: Who Let the Taz Out?! - TVShowsOnDVD.com". tvshowsondvd.com.

External links

• Taz-Mania at the Internet Movie Database
• Taz-Mania at TV.com
• Opening theme at RetroJunk
• Show clips