Ox Tales is an anime series based on the Dutch comic strip "Boes" that aired from 1987 to 1988. Like a few other anime series, such as The Littl' Bits, The Noozles, and Wowser, the series was distributed by Saban Entertainment in the US.
The series follows the adventures and misadventures of Ollie, a good-natured yet simple-minded anthropomorphic ox who runs a place called the Funny Farm, which consists of just about every kind of animal that you can find in the world. Ollie is also joined in his adventures by his best friend, Jack the turtle, who often acted as the voice of reason when Ollie's hairbrained schemes always went haywire. Other characters of the series included Towilla, a sarcastic toucan who served as the Character Narrator of the series, Moe, a mole who often pops up from time to time to laugh at a comedic situation, Audrey, an ostrich who always has her head buried in the ground, Sammy, Ollie's faithful dog, and Edward, an elephant who Ollie will often use as a fire hose when the situation calls for it.
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: Happens a few times in the series. Happens to Ollie in the episode "A Cheesy Situation", after accidentally stepping on a mousetrap intended for Morris, and it happens to him again after one of his wooden shoes catches on fire in the episode "If The Clog Fits".
- Animal Gender-Bender: Audrey the ostrich is female, but has the black and white plumage of a male ostrich. In one episode, she gets a daughter who looks exactly like her as well.
- Ass Shove: Ollie's solution to Cecil's rear causing trouble is to cork it.
- Balloon Belly: Happens to Calvin the cat after drinking the water out of the goldfish bowl in an attempt to get Morris the mouse out, in the episode "A Cheesy Situation".
- Bears Are Bad News: Bruce, a bear who often makes life hard for Ollie.
- Black Comedy: The primary humor of the series is Ollie getting hurt in some way. Also, puns.
- The Boxing Episode: Out For The Count, AKA I'm The Champ, builds up to a rowdy boxing bout between Ollie and Gaylord the gorilla.
- Butt-Monkey: Everyone including Ollie especially when he makes the wrong choices and Jack because he always gets his shell destroyed.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Ollie is an ox, yet some episodes refer to him as a bull instead of an ox.
- Cats Are Mean: Calvin, though he's not so much as mean as he's just doing his job in trying to catch Morris the mouse.
- Character Narrator: Towilla the toucan narrates throughout the series.
- Deadpan Snarker: Towilla the toucan is quite snarky when it comes around the Funny Farm.
- Determinator: When faced with a near-impossible situation, nothing will stop Ollie from accomplishing the job that lies in front of him.
- Dreadful Musician: The episode "Music Madness" shows that Ollie is terrible when it comes to playing the flute, which disturbs every creature on the Funny Farm.
- Fartillery: Cecil the Skunk does what you'd expect skunks to do and uses stinky gas.
- Funny Octopus: Igor, an octopus who is able to inflate himself like a balloon, is used for jokes.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal:
- Ollie wears only a pair of red overalls and wooden clogs, though he is the only animal character to actually wear clothes, making him an Uplifted Animal as well.
- There was also a gorilla wearing briefs.
- Horsing Around: Horace the horse does not like being ridden and usually tries to knock Ollie off.
- I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: Ollie basically knows nothing about the topic of any given episode, but nonetheless assumes he'll be an Instant Expert. He isn't, and things usually go wrong.
- King of Beasts: Lenny, a lion who appears periodically throughout the series and seems to think he's a king.
- Messy Pig: Several pigs also appear in the series and are always found rolling in mud.
- Mole Miner: Moe, and other moles that appear, are always found underground and sometimes with pickaxes.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: In the English dub, Ollie's voice actually sounds something like a cross between that of Goofy, Foghorn Leghorn, and the Aardvark.
- The One Who Wears Shoes: Ollie is the only Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal in the cast and thus wears shoes. One episode is about him trying to carve new clogs.
- Only Sane Man: Jack tries to balance out Ollie's insanity and tell him when things will go wrong, but Ollie never listens.
- Ostrich Head Hiding: Audrey the Ostrich usually appears in reaction shots where she's terrified of something and then sticks her head in the sand.
- Pun: The bread and butter of the series is nonstop puns, both wordplay-based and visual (such as a hose behaving like a snake).
- Removable Shell: Jack takes his shell off before he goes to bed and to wash it.
- Rhino Rampage: Rodney, a rhino whose horn always falls off, thanks to Ollie's efforts, goes rampaging after him.
- Running Gag: Jack's shell always breaks apart when handled in a rough situation.
- She's a Man in Japan: The turtle in the original Dutch version was called Dollie. She remains female in the Italian dub of the series (where she is called Camilla), but was changed to a male in the Japanese and English versions which are the ones most other dubs were based on.
- Simpleton Voice: Ollie isn't the brightest, and he has a deep-in-the-vocal-chords Goofy-like voice to indicate this.
- Smelly Skunk: Cecil is a skunk who attacks with smelly gas.
