Recap / Tiny Toon Adventures S 1 E 24 Buster And The Wolverine

The twenty-fourth episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, but the seventh in production.

The episode begins in a proscenium theatre called the ACME Acres Cereal Bowl, where what looks like the shadow of a beautiful lady is shown, but it is revealed to belong to Elmyra, who acts as the conductor and narrator of this episode. She welcomes the viewers to the show and tells them that today they're presenting a musical adventure in the form of Buster and the Wolverine. Some horns play, blowing Elmyra's wig off of her head. She puts her wig back on and says, "lovely, isn't it?". She then tells the viewers that each character in the episode is represented by a different instrument. Buster is represented by the trumpet, Babs is represented by the harp (though she'd much rather play an electric guitar), Furrball is represented by the violin, Sweetie is represented by the flute, Hamton is represented by the tuba, and last and debatably least, Plucky is represented by the bicycle horn. Plucky is outraged when he hears this, and kicks the bike horn, which bounces off a tree and lands in his mouth. He swallows it, and it honks inside his stomach. Plucky dances as the bike horn honks inside his stomach. Unfortunately, the audience dislikes his dancing and tosses a tomato at him. An angry Plucky walks away, wanting to get on with the show.

One winter morning at ACME Looniversity, Buster, Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball and Sweetie are practicing their instruments, when suddenly, in comes the drums, representing the wolverine, the terror of ACME Acres. The wolverine emerges, growls, and chases after Buster and his friends. The wolverine then stops to pull out his drum set (revealing his name, Mean Gene Wolverine) and play it. After playing the drums, Gene continues chasing Buster and his friends all the way to ACME Looniversity. They run past Shirley, Gogo, and Montana Max, who are confused as to what's going on. Gene scares Shirley, Monty, and Gogo, and swats at Gogo, causing him to split into five miniature clones of himself, who run away in fear. Buster and his friends reach a dead end, where Gene has cornered them, but just before he can attack them, the Mynah Bird comes out of a locker and walks past them. Buster then tells the viewers that the Mynah Bird is a new transfer student. Sweetie then points her flute at Gene, who laughs at first, but then Sweetie pulls a sword and points it at him, giving Buster, Babs, Plucky, Hamton, and Furrball enough time to escape. Gene then reaches into a door that says, CARTOON PROPS and pulls out a magnet, which he uses to attract Hamton's tuba, with Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball and Sweetie trying to hold him back. Hamton loses his grip on his tuba, and it lands on Gene's face. Hamton then gets his tuba back from Gene, and he, Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie all run away. Gene chases them all the way to Buster's burrow, where Buster smashes his face with cymbals.Inside Buster's burrow, Buster tells Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie that they have to do something about the wolverine.

Hamton tells Buster that Gene is vicious, rotten, and nasty, and Babs adds that it's the third time this week that Gene has wrecked their band practice. Plucky suggests drawing straws, with the loser having to capture the Wolverine. Buster, Babs, Furrball, and Sweetie all take their straws, but when Hamton picks his, it is exaggeratingly long, and has a sign at the end of it that says, TOUGH LUCK CHUM!. Hamton nervously decides that it's up to him to catch Gene. Buster and Babs tell Hamton that he's brave and to go out and show the wolverine who's boss. Plucky assures Hamton that he, Buster, Babs, Furrball, and Sweetie are with him 100%, but Furrball and Sweetie play a sad tune on their instruments, and Buster and Babs break out the tissues, worrying about what'll happen to Hamton.

Hamton goes outside, carrying his tube and a net, while looking for Gene. Just then, a loud drum beat is heard, and Hamton worries that it's his heart beating in fear. Unfortunately for him, the wolverine is right behind him, and he stuffs an apple in Hamton's mouth. Hamton runs away, but Gene catches him on a plate with parsley, and then takes him back to his cave, ready to eat him.In the second act, Elmyra puts on a shadow puppet show, then turns to face the viewers. She welcomes them back to the show, and tells them that Hamton is now in danger. In Gene's cave, Gene continues trying to eat Hamton, when Hamton comes across a broom. He offers to clean Gene's cave if the wolverine spares his life. Gene gives Hamton a growl of refusal, causing Hamton to sweep up a dust storm that causes the wolverine to sneeze. Gene then looks outside his window and sees Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie playing their instruments as they look for Hamton. Buster worries about Hamton due to his long absence, and hopes that he's okay. Babs suggests letting Hamton know they're okay, and they, along with Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie, play their instruments again. Gene plugs his ears, then turns to face Hamton, who tells them that Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie are his friends, and are probably looking for him. He tries to leave, but the wolverine holds him back by his tail and picks him up. Gene then thinks that catching Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie will give him a much bigger feast than Hamton alone, so he chains Hamton to a ball and runs outside to catch Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie. Hamton comes across a broom, and decides to clean Gene's cave to help pass the time.

Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie continue playing their instruments as they look for Hamton. Buster reminds Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie to signal him if they see any sign of Hamton. Sweetie looks in a tree, then behind a bush. She sees something in the bush, and screams to signal Buster, Babs, Plucky, and Furrball. They rush to her, and Buster asks her what she found. Sweetie points at what she found in the bush, and Buster and Babs find out that it's Hamton's tuba instruction book, which is badly torn. They think that Hamton has been eaten by the wolverine, so Buster plays a sad song on his trumpet as Babs, who is now dressed in funeral-appropriate attire, picks up Hamton's tuba instruction book, grieving over Hamton. Buster then takes the book from her and vows that they will avenge Hamton by hunting the wolverine down and making him pay. Buster asks Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie if they're with him, and they're all reluctant to answer yes. Buster asks them again, and they all answer yes. Buster then tells them to play their instruments loud and strong as they look for hamton, and they all do so. Unfortunately, they all fall of a cliff and land in a lake, except for Sweetie, who can fly.

Meanwhile, Gene makes fake tracks in the snow to throw Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie off of his trail. When Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie reach the tracks, Buster decides they should split up, and tells Babs, Plucky, Furrball, and Sweetie to signal if they see the wolverine. Plucky asks Buster how he's supposed to do that, since his bicycle horn is still in his stomach. He then tells the animators to give him a new instrument, as he'll take anything. A pipe organ then falls on him, knocking his bicycle horn out of his stomach, and he demands something lighter. Plucky is then given a set of bagpipes, and Buster asks him if he's satisfied. Plucky replies with a Scottish accent that he is satisfied, and is eager to find the wolverine and try out his bagpipes. Sure enough, Plucky and Gene meet face to face. Gene roars at Plucky, causing him to run away in fear. Plucky then stops, remembering that music is said to soothe a savage beast, and says, "One toot on this musical vacuum cleaner, and Wolvie will be eating out of my hands!". Gene then snatches Plucky's bagpipes and eats them, which isn't what Plucky meant. The wolverine then snatches Plucky and pulls him away.

Babs reads from a book on disgusting animals, which tells her that the only two things that attract a wolverine are food and another wolverine, and since she has no plans of becoming wolverine food, she decides to disguise her self as a female wolverine. This attracts Gene, who presents her with a box of chocolates, which is revealed to have mice inside, one of which resembles Kirk Douglas, who yells, "Help! In the name of humanity!". As Gene tries to kiss Babs, she hits him on the head with her electric guitar, but the wolverine's head is so strong, the guitar is smashed. Gene then kisses Babs, removing her disguise and exposing her for the rabbit whom she is. Gene then snatches Babs and pulls her away.

As Furrball and Sweetie look for Gene, Sweetie tells Furrball that the wolverine is lurking in the woods, and is a hideous, drooling, monster. A beast who lives only to feed off the weak and the helpless, and his one thought is to eat. This tempts Furrball to try to eat Sweetie, and he tries to pounce at her, but she flies out of the way just in time. She then whacks Furrball with his violin, telling him to relax and look at the stars spinning around his head. She then hears Gene growling, and thinks she didn't relax Furrball enough. The wolverine then roars at Sweetie, and pounces at her, but she flies away just in time, and he gets his head stuck in a tree stump. Gene then tosses the tree stump at Sweetie, knocking her out. He catches her; afterwards, Furrball, in a rare speaking appearance, grieves that Sweetie is now gone, and that he wanted to eat her. Gene then snatches Furrball.

At Gene's cave, Babs and Plucky find Hamton is still alive and cleaning, much to Plucky's ire. Hamton tells Plucky that he finds cleaning very theraputic in stressful situations. The wolverine then walks in, carrying Furrball and Sweetie, and Hamton asks him if he remembers what he's forgetting. Gene then wipes his feet, and Hamton tells him that a clean cave is a happy cave. Babs then walks up to Furrball and asks him where Buster is. Furrball shrugs his shoulders to indicate he doesn't know. Babs is relieved that Buster hasn't been caught yet, and there's still hope, as right now, Buster is mounting a daring attack and streaking to save her, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie. Unfortunately for her, Buster is following the Mynah Bird, trying to learn his dance step. Buster then hears Babs scream, and tells the viewers that it's now his time to be heroic, and he runs towards Gene's cave as Gene prepares to eat Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie.

In the third act, Buster tells the viewers that there's no time for a plot recap, as Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie are in trouble, and he's rushing to their rescue. Buster runs to Gene's cave as fast as he can, but he is too late, as the wolverine has already eaten Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie. Buster decides to play a sad song for his friends on his trumpet. As he does so, his friends play their instruments to signal him that they're all right. Buster is relieved to find that his friends are still alive, as the wolverine swallowed them whole. Buster then disguises himself as a doctor and looks inside Gene's mouth. He asks his friends if they're okay, and Babs tells him that aside from being a little cramped, she, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie are fine. Buster then dodges Gene as he tries to swat at him and leads his friends to the door to his cave. As Buster speeds up the tempo, the wolverine is having a hard time keeping Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie down. He falls over, and Buster tells him he has the cure. He pulls out a mallet and tells Gene that the procedure is completely painless, as he, Buster, won't feel a thing. He then hits Gene with his mallet, causing Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie to be regurgitated and fly into the snow. They poke their heads out of it, and watch the Mynah Bird walk by. Plucky then says, "So that's what was jabbing me in the back!".

Back at Gene's cave, Buster bills Gene as he tells him stay off meat and to sleep until April. Unfortunately for Buster, the wolverine eats the bill and chases him around a tree. Atop the tree, Babs tells Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie that they could lure the wolverine away if they still had their instruments. Plucky agrees, and asks the animators for a new instrument, since they've been giving him lousy ones throughout the episode, and he deserves a break. Just then, an ACME charged music synthesizer with digital sound and laser effects appears from the sky, much to Plucky's relief. Gene is about to eat Buster, when Plucky starts up the ACME music synthesizer, which fires a laser at the wolverine, causing him to lose his grip on Buster, giving Buster the chance to escape. Plucky continues playing the ACME music synthesizer, which continues zapping Gene, and decides to speed up the tempo. Unfortunately, the ACME music synthesizer suddenly shuts off, and Plucky wonders what's wrong. Buster then points out that the wolverine has cut the power. Gene then chases after them, Babs, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie.

Elmyra tells the viewers that the wolverine chased Buster, Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie through the forest, right back to ACME ACRES, and all the way up to the ACME Acres Cereal Bowl. Buster, Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie all run past the audience, with Gene chasing them. They run past Elmyra, causing her wig to fall off her head again. The wolverine knocks Elmyra down, and Buster comes across a lever. He pulls it, and the curtains open, revealing a circus background behind them. Babs then dresses like a clown and traps Gene in a bass drum. Unfortunately, he escapes from the drum and runs past Elmyra, knocking her down again. As Gene continues to chase Babs, Hamton and Furrball trip him with a rope, causing him to land in one of the orchestra's tubas, which launches him into a cannon that Buster fires. He lands in a cannon that Plucky fires, which launches him back into Buster's cannon. As Buster fires his cannon again, Gene holds up a white flag, indicating that he has given up, and Hamton brings in a pipe organ. Gene crashes into it, and the pieces of the pipe organ form a cage that traps him.

Elmyra tells the viewers that the heroes have captured the wolverine and saved ACME Acres. She then tells the viewers she hoped they enjoyed the show, and a vaudeville hook pulls her away. Buster, Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, Sweetie, and the Mynah Bird all dance and play their instruments as the screen irises out. Elmyra then appears and says, "So, good evening, friends!" as the episode ends.

This episode provides examples of:

• Affectionate Parody: Of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. As in the original version, there is a little bird (Sweetie in this case), a duck (Plucky), and a cat (Furrball). Sweetie, like the little bird in the original version, is represented by the flute. Gene swallows Buster's friends whole (in the original version, the wolf swallows the duck whole). However, in the original version, the duck is represented by the oboe and the cat is represented by the clarinet. Plucky is represented by a bike horn, then bagpipes, and then a synthesizer. Furrball is represented by the violin (this instrument represents Peter in the original Peter and the Wolf). The drums represent Gene (in the original Peter and the Wolf, the kettledrums, or timpani, represent the hunters' guns). Buster is represented by the trumpet (in the original version, this instrument represents the hunters).
• Animation Bump: Some of Glen Kennedy's animation, along with all of Jon Mcclenahan's work here, and a few other bits by other animators such as John Williamson (who animated Gene playing his drum set).
• Brick Joke: Plucky kicks his bicycle horn into a tree, which bounces off it and lands in his stomach. He later gets it out when a pipe organ falls on him, per his request for another instrument.
• The Cameo: The Mynah Bird, along with his trademark walk accompanied by Mendelssohn's Fingals Cave Overture, from the Inki series of shorts appears in this episode as a transfer student.
• Credits Gag: Wolverine Trainer...the Tazmanian Devil.
• Declarative Finger: This signature Kennedy Cartoons trope appears quite a bit throughout the episode.
• Deranged Animation: Being an early Kennedy Cartoons episode, this happens from time to time, most notably with some bits animated by David Feiss (somewhat resembling his famous creation Cow and Chicken).
• The Door Slams You: Happens to Gene when Buster, Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie escape from him at ACME Looniversity.
• Drawing Straws: Plucky suggests this to decide who gets to capture the wolverine. Hamton gets an incredibly long straw with a sign that says "Tough Luck Chum!" at the end of it.
• Everybody Do the Endless Loop: Some of Glen Kennedy's signature kick-dance cycles (ala A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) appear in this episode, including characters dancing for no reason (like when Buster is randomly dancing when we first see the Looniversity band rehearsing.)
• Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: Plucky uses a set of bagpipes to signal to his friends that he found Gene, and even considers using them to calm The Wolverine down. Unfortunately, the wolverine eats them.
• Human Cannonball: The Wolverine becomes this near the end of the episode, courtesy of Buster and Plucky.
• If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: When Hamton is sent to catch the wolverine, Plucky asks him if he can have his stereo.
• Impact Silhouette: Gene leaves one in the front doors of ACME Looniversity when he chases Buster and his friends. Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie also leave these in the snow when they get regurgitated by the wolverine.
• Latex Perfection / Spotting the Thread: Babs uses a rubber mask to disguise herself as a female wolverine to trick the real one, and even though her true bunny ears and body are still visible, it manages to fool Gene until the mask comes off.
• Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Plucky tries to do this with his bagpipes to calm Gene down. Unfortunately, the wolverine snatches his bagpipes and eats them before he gets the chance.
• Produce Pelting: Plucky gets a tomato tossed at him when he dances with his bicycle horn in his stomach.
• Rebus Bubble: Gene realizes that Hamton plus the rest of his friends equals him with a big stomach, prompting him to capture the others.
• Selective Magnetism: Gene uses a magnet to pull Hamton in by his tuba.
• Shout-Out:
  • The scene at the beginning of the episode where Elmyra comes up on stage as a silhouette that looks nothing like her references the opening scene from A Corny Concerto, where Elmer Fudd comes up on stage in a similar matter. Her hair coming loose is also similar to Fudd struggling with his loose shirtfront.
  • The scene where Buster launches the rest of the gang out of Gene and into a snow bank (where they make a pattern in the snow) bears reference to a scene in Fresh Hare, where Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (chasing Bugs) run into a snow bank multiple times and make a similar pattern in the snow.
  • After Hamton draws his straw, Buster tells him, "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din."
• Someone's Touching My Butt: After Buster forces Gene to spit up his friends and they land in a snowbank, they see that the Mynah Bird had been sent flying with them, leading Plucky to realize what was jabbing his back while in Gene's stomach.
• Stock Footage: The same walk cycle of Buster, Babs, Plucky, Furrball and Sweetie playing their instruments in the woods (animated by David Feiss) is reused quite a few times throughout the episode.
• Suddenly Voiced: Furrball has a rare speaking appearance in this episode when Wolverine catches Sweetie. Considering that this episode was early in the production order, it thus can be seen as testing whether he should have a voice or not. The writers quickly decided Furrball worked better as a normal cat who just meows. Here, he is voiced by the same person doing his meows, Frank Welker.
• Swallowed Whole: Babs, Plucky, Hamton, Furrball, and Sweetie get swallowed whole by The Wolverine in the third act, and Buster helps them escape.
• Tempting Fate: When Plucky decides to use his bagpipes to calm Gene down, he says, "One toot on this musical vacuum cleaner, and Wolvie will be eating out of my hands!". The wolverine then snatches Plucky's bagpipes and eats them, and Plucky says, "Somehow, that's not quite what I meant.".
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Plucky, having been the Butt-Monkey for much of the episode, asks the powers that be for a break. He gets it in the form an ACME charged synthesizer with digital sound and laser effects, which temporarily proves very effective as a weapon against the Wolverine.
• Vaudeville Hook: One pulls Babs away when she plays her electric guitar, and another pulls Elmyra away at the end of the episode.
• Vocal Evolution: Charlie Adler's voice for Buster is notably higher in this episode, almost sounding as if it were pitch-shifted slightly.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Babs says those words when she thinks Hamton got eaten by the Wolverine.
• You Are Too Late: This is initially what Buster thinks when he sees Gene stuffed with his friends. Fortunately, he learns that the wolverine had swallowed them whole and that they were still alive in his stomach.
• You Won't Feel a Thing!: Subverted; Buster tells Gene, "I won't feel a thing!" before hitting him with a mallet.