Tamers Abridged was a short-lived Abridged Series of Digimon Tamers, created by ThornBrain and developed by TheMidnightFrogs. It was the team's third abridged series alongside Sgt. Frog Abridged and Thorn's side series Jetters Abridged. The series can be watched here
.
Whereas SFA and Jetters played loosely with the source material and made their own stories, Tamers was a direct parody of the original more akin to most other abridged series, playing up the anime's angst and absurdity. However the series also parodied TV broadcasting, giving the show the Framing Device of a cheap, local TV station in the middle of nowhere, WTMF-49, inexplicably gaining the rights to air a Jetix programming block. The video jockeys, Vee and Jay, watch Digimon Tamers as it airs, remembering watching it as kids but finding it much more depressing and ridiculous than they remember.
The series had trouble starting: it was originally planned by Thorn in 2012, back before there were any Tamers abridged series she liked or DVDs/raws available of the show, which informed the idea of purposefully using lower-quality rips from Jetix airings. When SFA concluded that year (the first time), she and Mugiwara Yoshi decided to make Tamers their next primary project, brainstorming for the series but struggling to write a first script. The idea was shelved at the beginning of 2013 in favor of Thorn reviving SFA; that October she enlisted teammate InfamousGentleman to help her finish the first episode's script, and the series finally debuted on January 8, 2014. Only one more episode was released on August 31, 2014 before Thorn decided to focus on SFA Season 3 and its finale, after which TheMidnightFrogs quietly fell into hiatus at the end of 2016. They returned in 2020 for The Sgt Frog Abridged Movie but have also expressed interest in returning to Tamers, though some characters would have to be recast.
The episodes were taken down worldwide by Hasbro in 2018, but they were eventually reinstated through 2021.
This series provides examples of:
- The Abridged Series: Of Digimon Tamers. It's a more direct parody than is the norm for TheMidnightFrogs, who usually use the source shows to tell their own story or dip into absurdism, though they added a unique Framing Device of the TV station airing the show.
- Affectionate Parody: Alongside the obvious Abridged Series elements, the series also parodies TV broadcasting and Saturday morning cartoon blocks, such as those aired on Kids' WB! and Fox Box/4Kids TV in the 2000s. It does this most directly with Jetix, as the source video was taken from Digimon Tamers rips recorded during Jetix blocks.
- Bathos: A major element of the comedy is juxtaposing the silly with the sad, such as the serious Rika listening to the goofy "I Want To Be Your Friend" by Acorn Lane on her headphones, or playing XTC's "Stupidly Happy" over Takato sitting sadly in the rain during the credits.
- Black Comedy: The series plays up the original's darker and sadder tendencies to the point that everyone is depressed and death looms over everyone, all for laughs.
- Framing Device: Tamers is played as being aired on a cheap local TV station, WTMF-49, which also airs ridiculous shows like Epileptic Parrot Symphony. The VJs, Vee and Jay, sometimes narrate station cards or interact with each other while watching the show, emphasizing the exaggerated angst and silliness of Tamers Abridged by remembering watching Digimon Tamers as kids. There are also short parody commercials in the middle of the show, as well as post-credits microshows with Davis a'la Kids' WB! and 4Kids TV's recycling of characters from their shows for interstitials.
- Fun with Acronyms: The station designation WTMF-49 is a multi-layered joke: W meaning a station in the Eastern United States, where most of TheMidnightFrogs were located; TMF standing for TheMidnightFrogs; and 49 referencing the team's recurring joke numbers 4 and 9. "WTMF" is also considered by Thorn to stand for "what the motherfuck", owing to their penchant for absurdity, or "where the motherfuck", referring to how the station is in the middle of nowhere.
- Punny Name: The video jockeys (VJs) are named Vee and Jay.
- Shared Universe: Shares its WTMF-49 Framing Device with TheMidnightFrogs' Sonic X April Fools' Day parodies, SAHNIK and KAYAK.
- Shout-Out: The "TV Y7 FV" ratings cards are sometimes changed to song references: "TV EYE ON ME 7", "TV CASUALTY 7", and "TV AS EYES 7".
- Stylistic Suck: The series uses lower-quality rips of Digimon Tamers recorded from Jetix airings. These have ratings cards and Jetix logos hard-coded into the corners, so Thorn incorporates them into the show itself as part of its Framing Device.
