"Here in the land of Wuz, they're havin' twice the fun
Cuz every single thing is really two-in-one!
A little bit of this, a little bit of that
And when you add it up, you get a lotta laughs!
Ooh, they've got originality,
Livin' with a split personality!"
Cuz every single thing is really two-in-one!
A little bit of this, a little bit of that
And when you add it up, you get a lotta laughs!
Ooh, they've got originality,
Livin' with a split personality!"
— The show's Expository Theme Song
In 1985, Walt Disney Productions made its first foray into TV animation with the Saturday-Morning Cartoon The Wuzzles, their very first original animated series, which was produced in collaboration with Hasbro.
Set on the fantastical island of Wuz, the show follows the misadventures of a cast of colorful cast of Mix-and-Match Critters, including...
- Bumblelion (lion/bumblebee)
- Butterbear (bear/butterfly)
- Eleroo (elephant/kangaroo)
- Rhinokey (rhino/monkey)
- Hoppopotamus (hippo/rabbit)
- Moosel (moose/seal)
- Tycoon (tiger/raccoon)
- Crocosaurus/Crock (crocodile/dinosaur)
- Brat (wild boar/dragon)
- Flizard (frog/lizard...with a few monkey parts?)
Like many other shows of the 1980s, the show was created as a tie-in to a toy line, in this case a series of stuffed animals, each of which came with it's own picture book that helped set up the world of the series. And like all great 80’s cartoons and toys, both featured colorful characters and settings, had something of a a sci-fi/fantasy theme, and made you wonder what kinds of legal or illegal drugs the people who came up with it were taking at the time (the plush line actually outlived the cartoon, and included several more characters who never got a chance to be written in as a result
).
The show ran for only one season, making it Disney's shortest-running of their many shows from the late 80s (not counting the unsuccessful pilot special, Fluppy Dogs). Reruns would air on the Disney Channel and Toon Disney until the early 2000s. During it's original run, Disney released some episodes as theatrical shorts with their features in some European theaters.
Compare to Nelvana's Spliced, another short-lived animated series starring Mix-and-Match Critters.
This show has examples of:
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Said Mix-and-Match Critters are often bright shades of nonsense, such as purple or pink.
- Animal Gender-Bender: Eleroo, who is a male, and has a pouch.
- Appropriate Animal Attire: Though the main characters were naked most of the time, they would occasionally wear clothes.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: One episode revolves entirely around the rest of the gang mocking Moosel for being afraid of monsters. This is after it's been established that things like Sharkasaurus (half great white shark, half Tyrannosaurus rex) exist.
- Big Eater: Eleroo and Hoppopotamus.
- Bittersweet Ending: "What's Up, Stox?" Crocosaurus makes off with the money tree, ruining Tycoon's dream of becoming a zillionaire and leaving the others unable to purchase the costumes they wanted. However, they make do with homemade costumes of their own and welcome Tycoon into their friend group.
- Breakingthe Fourth Wall: The line of storybooks based on the show had this trope as its bread and butter: the book would begin with the reader reading about another kid reading the exact same book they were, which would proceed until things got completely out of hand in the story, then the kid reading the book in the book would wish to be transported to Wuzz. Once there, they would use their knowledge of the story to help the Wuzzles figure out a solution to their problem.
- Call of the Wild Blue Yonder: In episode "Eleroo's Wishday", Eleroo wishes that he could fly, but when Crock and his cronies threaten the other Wuzzles, Eleroo uses his final wish to sacrifice his newfound abilities of flight and to save his friends.
- Carrying a Cake: Subverted in the episode discussed in the above link.
- Cartoon Creature: Brat. Unlike all of the other characters, he doesn't seem to be a hybrid of any real animals so much as an "ugly hairy thing".
- Dinosaurs Are Dragons:
Word of God is annoyingly inconsistent as to whether Crock is half-crocodile, half-dragon or half-crocodile, half-tyrannosaur... or if he's a hybrid at all. The show, however, does call him a Crocosaurus. - Double Standard: Eleroo is a Big Eater and as heavy as Hoppopotamus but he's never the butt of as many fat jokes as her.
- Dumb Dinos: Crocosaurus is lazy and ignorant, befitting the old dinosaur stereotypes from before the 1960s.
- Fat and Skinny: Hoppopotamus and Butterbear.
- Fat Comic Relief: Hoppopotamus. Also Eleroo to a lesser extent.
- Harmless Villain: Crock, whose villainy is limited to conning and stealing.
- Hollywood Density: Sometimes Hoppo would be heavier than usual when a joke called for it. At least once, she made the ground shake just by walking. Let's just say that
watching the series now, it is jarring how many jokes against fat girls there are. - Jerkass Ball: All the characters had their jerkass moments, but none more so than Rhinokey.
- Last Episode, New Character: In the finale, new Wuzzle Tycoon moves in and befriends the main characters (sans Moosel, who's inexplicably absent). While the series didn't make it to a second season, Tycoon did at least get his own storybook and plush toy.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator of each episode, who comes off having a lot of personality.
- Lessons in Sophistication: Played straight and subverted in one episode. Butterbear and Crock have a wager that she can teach his slovenly henchbeast, Brat, to be a proper gentleman for an important party and succeeds. The subversion comes when her friends (after getting scolded by Butterbear for their lack of good manners and are forced to learn classy behavior in time for the same party) go find a book on how to be more classy, Crock overhears them and thinks the book is for Butterbear in teaching Brat, and puts the title of a book on classy behavior on a book for "teaching 'bad manners'". Instead of learning how to be proper, they're taught to behave even worse.
- Love Triangle: Hoppopotomus is infatuated with Bumblelion, who is head over heels for Butterbear, who isn't really interested in anyone.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: At the end of "What's Up, Stox?" Crock is able to get away with the money tree but he tore it in half while fighting with the Wuzzles and it dropped a bunch of money while he was fleeing, so it won't last him very long.
- Merchandise-Driven: Though they're so rare it may pass others by, the series was in fact created to sell a line of stuffed toys.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The entire cast and the core concept. In fact, this isn't limited to just the creatures — the gadgets they use and food products they eat all seem to be odd combinations, some of which make no sense at all (such as a pedal bicycle with pogo stick springs instead of wheels — what do the pedals even do?)
- Mood Whiplash: The entirety of "Bumblelion and the Terrified Forest". It starts out as a lighthearted, comedic affair as Bumblelion tries and laughably fails at being a swashbuckler after watching a TV show about one, while Hoppo tries to doll herself up in hopes of getting Bumblelion to notice her. Then it does a full-fledged swing into a horror movie pastiche, as Bumblelion and Hoppo have to travel through a seriously creepy forest and then venture into an equally creepy castle being haunted by the true villain of the episode. Which is a giant "gor-rantula" and thusly takes the form of a massive ape's head scuttling around on eight hairy giant spider legs. It's a seriously creepy sight.
- No Fourth Wall: In the course of thirteen episodes, Freberg manage to address the audience or the presence of the show every single time.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Crocosaurus is referred to as simply "Croc".
- Pun-Based Creature: One episode has a character named Tycoon, who aside from being a tycoon (that is, a very rich person), is also a combination of tiger and raccoon. He also invests in stox — storks with ox horns. Another episode has the cast dealing with a Brahma bullfinch, a Brahma bull with bird wings. And "Bumblelion and the Terrified Forest" has dingbats, which are dingos with bat wings.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Pretty hard to miss this one. All three of the recurring villains are at least part reptilian (with the possible exception of Brat), in stark contrast with the main cast, who are all predominantly mammals with the occasional cute bug mixed in.
- Shout-Out: In the episode "Bumblelion and the Terrified Forest", at one point, Bumblelion and Hoppo are confronted by a swarm of piranhakeets; chirping golden-scaled flying carnivorous fish-birds based on a mashup of parakeets and piranha. A man-eating fish-bird by the same name originally appeared in a 2nd season episode of The Flintstones, and the concept would be reused decades later in The Croods.
- Soap Punishment: Crock threatens to do this to Flizard for saying that he's hungry enough to go work for food.
- Talking Animal: The Wuzzles themselves.
- Unrequited Love: Hoppopotamus, for Bumblelion; and Bumblelion, for Butterbear.
- Weird World, Weird Food: The show takes place on an island filled with Mix-and-Match Critters, and the food they eat also adheres to the show's idea of odd combinations, such as appleberries.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In "Bumblelion and the Terrified Forest", at one point Transylvia's dingbats fly off and aren't seen again.
- Whateversaurus: Crocosaurus. Further, all the monsters Moosel lives in fear of are named [something]-saurus.
- Wings Do Nothing: Discussed here. All the main Wuzzles have little fairy wings that do nothing aside from flapping rapidly when they are excited. Only Butterbear and occasionally Bumblelion can use them to hover, but they're part insect anyway, so they at least have that excuse.
- With Friends Like These...: Rhinokey is always pranking Hoppopotamus and constantly cracking jokes about her weight.
