Television series
The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show
|
---|
|
Genre
| Cartoon
Comedy
Slapstick
|
---|
Created by
| Bill Kopp
|
---|
Written by
| Bill Kopp
|
---|
Directed by
| Jeff DeGrandis
|
---|
Voices of
| |
---|
Narrated by
| Jim Cummings
(
Pith Possum
and
Tex Tinstar
segments)
|
---|
Theme music composer
| John Jorgenson
|
---|
Composers
| |
---|
Country of origin
| United States
|
---|
Original language
| English
|
---|
No.
of episodes
| 13 (39 segments)
|
---|
|
Producers
|
- Bill Kopp
- Jeff DeGrandis
(co-producer)
|
---|
Running time
| 23 minutes (8 minutes;
Shnookums and Meat
and
Pith Possum
segments) (4 minutes;
Tex Tinstar
)
|
---|
Production company
| Walt Disney Television Animation
|
---|
|
Network
| Syndication
|
---|
Release
| January 2
(
1995-01-02
)
?
March 27, 1995
(
1995-03-27
)
|
---|
|
|
The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show
is a half-hour American animated
comedy
television series produced by
Walt Disney Television Animation
and aired in 1995
[1]
as a spin-off of the show
Marsupilami
, a spin-off itself of
Raw Toonage
. The show represents Disney's attempt to do a more "edgy" cartoon in the vein of
Nickelodeon
's
The Ren & Stimpy Show
and
Rocko's Modern Life
.
[2]
Unlike other
Disney Afternoon
cartoons,
Shnookums & Meat
only aired once a week, usually Mondays. Only thirteen episodes were produced.
[3]
Premise
[
edit
]
This animated series follows three segment series.
Shnookums & Meat
[
edit
]
This segment involves a cat named Shnookums (voiced by
Jason Marsden
) and a dog named Meat (voiced by
Frank Welker
) who do not get along very well. Their owners are
unseen
stock characters
only viewed from the neck down and named (appropriately enough) Husband & Wife (voiced by
Steve Mackall
and
Tress MacNeille
). Husband is always referring to their home as their "
domicile
" before the two leave their pets in charge while they are away.
Pith Possum: Super Dynamic Possum of Tomorrow
[
edit
]
A spoof of the
Batman
comics, with the
superhero
Pith Possum (voiced by
Jeff Bennett
) and his sidekick Obediah the Wonder Raccoon (voiced by
Patric Zimmerman
) fighting crime in Possum City when called by the gorilla Commissioner Stress (voiced by
Brad Garrett
) and the monkey Lieutenant Tension (voiced by
Jess Harnell
). Pith Possum's true identity is lowly tabloid copyboy Peter Possum. Pith Possum fights various enemies with his recurring one being a mad
lumberjack
named Dr. Paul Bunion (voiced by
Jim Cummings
). Pith Possum (even when in his true identity) also has developed a crush on a female human reporter named Doris Deer (voiced by
April Winchell
) who mostly loves Pith Possum more than his true identity. It was stated in the first episode that Pith Possum was an ordinary lab opossum until he gained ultra opossum-like abilities upon an experiment gone wrong. The titles of the episodes are completely unrelated to their contents but rather (usually) over the top titles always using the word 'dark' or 'darkness' and often with the words 'black' and 'night' (e.g., "The Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black", "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness", "Return of the Dark Mask of Phantom Blackness", etc.).
Jim Cummings
provided the narration in most episodes.
Tex Tinstar: The Best in the West
[
edit
]
A parody of
Wild West
serials involving the
cowboy
Tex Tinstar (voiced by
Jeff Bennett
), his horse Here Boy, and Tex's friends Smelly Deputy Chafe (voiced by
Charlie Adler
), Percy Lacedaisy (voiced by
Corey Burton
), and Floyd the Insane
Rattlesnake
(voiced by
Jess Harnell
) who always get into trouble when pursuing a group of
outlaws
called the Wrong Riders consisting of Wrongo (voiced by
Brad Garrett
), Ian (voiced by
Corey Burton
in a homage to
Paul Frees
' character Inspector Fenwick from
Dudley Do-Right
), and Clem. The end of each episode ends in a cliffhanger for next week (not unlike old western serials or
Rocky and Bullwinkle
).
Jim Cummings
narrated each installment in a Western accent.
Episodes
[
edit
]
Cast
[
edit
]
- Charlie Adler
as Chafe, Pearl (in "Dark Quest for Darkness")
- Jeff Bennett
as Pith Possum/Peter Possum, Tex Tinstar
- Corey Burton
as Ian, Percy Lacedaisy, Krusty Rustknuckle, Ultra Guy Man Dude (in "The Light of Darkness")
- Jim Cummings
as Narrator, Dr. Paul Bunion, Mr. Kane, Ralph Bear (in "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness"), Supper Squirrel (in "Dark of the Darker Darkness"), Caped Cod (in "The Light of Darkness")
- Brad Garrett
as Commissioner Stress, Wrongo, Super Water Buffalo (in "Son of the Cursed Black of Darkness"), Shirley Pimple (in "Bride of Darkness"),
Santa Claus
(in "Jingle Bells, Something Smells")
- Jess Harnell
as Lieutenant Tension, Floyd the Insane Rattlesnake, Polite Coyotes,
Easter Bunny
Imposter (in "Phantom Mask of the Dark Black Darkness of Black"), Al Dog (in "Return of the Night of Blacker Darkness"), Spidey (in "Bride of Darkness"), Power Weasel (in "The Light of Darkness"), Bat Guy (in "The Light of Darkness")
- Bill Kopp
as Polite Coyote
[1]
- Steve Mackall
as Husband
- Tress MacNeille
as Wife, Burglar (in "Kung-Fu Kitty"), Cat Girl (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven"), Dog Girl (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven")
- Jason Marsden
as Shnookums
- Frank Welker
as Meat, Flea (in "Bugging Out!"), Elves (in "Jingle Bells, Something Smells"), Fish Monster (in "Something's Fishy"), TV Announcer (in "Night of the Living Shnookums"), Panicking Dog (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven"), Supervisor (in "Step-Ladder to Heaven")
- April Winchell
as Doris Deer, Registration Lady (in "The Light of Darkness"), Wowee Woman (in "The Light of Darkness")
- Patric Zimmerman
as Obediah the Wonder Raccoon
Production
[
edit
]
Shnookums & Meat
was created and written by
Bill Kopp
,
[1]
[4]
who also created
Toonsylvania
and
Mad Jack the Pirate
. The show was directed by
Jeff DeGrandis
. Kopp was the voice of
Eek! The Cat
and Yuckie Duck from
The What-A-Cartoon! Show
on
Cartoon Network
.
The idea for a series starring a cat and dog was pitched to Kopp and DeGrandis by
Greg Weisman
, a development executive at Walt Disney Television Animation who was also developing
Gargoyles
at the time.
[5]
Disney previously reached out to Carbunkle Cartoons (one of the animation studios that worked on
The Ren & Stimpy Show
) to work on the show's animation, but was denied due to their unwillingness to put up less amount of money that they get from Spumco.
[6]
Segments on "Marsupilami"
[
edit
]
Shnookums & Meat
originated as a segment on Disney's 1993 series
Marsupilami
. Five episodes were shown on that series, and were later run again as part of the actual
Shnookums & Meat
series in 1995. These episodes were:
- "Kung-Fu Kitty"
- "I.Q. You, Too"
- "Night of the Living Shnookums"
- "Something's Fishy"
- "Jingle Bells, Something Smells"
Broadcast history
[
edit
]
The series aired on
The Disney Afternoon
on Mondays between January 2 and March 27, 1995, in the timeslot normally occupied by
Bonkers
. Reruns were later shown on
Toon Disney
. The Tex Tinstar segments were shown out of order on
Disney Channel UK
in 2003 to fill the then frequently gapped schedule. The show last aired on Friday, July 6, 2007, on Toon Disney during the Mega Jam block.
Following the launch of the
Disney+
video on demand streaming service in November 2019,
Shnookums and Meat
along with
Aladdin
(based on the 1992 film
of the same name
) are the only Disney Afternoon series not seen yet on the platform.
Reception
[
edit
]
Critical reception
[
edit
]
Reviewing the series for
The Washington Post
, Scott More found the main
Shnookums & Meat
segments to be the weakest, preferring
Tex Tinstar
and especially
Pith Possum
, singling out Jeff Bennett's voice work on both segments for praise.
[7]
Kenneth M. Chanko of the
New York Daily News
gave the series a positive review, stating that, while not up to the same standard as series like
Warner Bros. Animation's
Animaniacs
or Nickelodeon's
Rocko's Modern Life
, he considered it "a hoot and a half".
[8]
Evan Levine of the Newspaper Enterprise Association noted that his son liked it, and felt that it had good animation and clever humor, saying that "kids may enjoy the freewheeling mix of physical comedy and silliness".
[9]
As of May 1995, it was reported that
Shnookums & Meat
had a rating of 4.1/16 among kids 2?11, 4.3/18 among kids 6?11, and 1.7/13 among teenagers.
[10]
Kopp had claimed in an interview with
Animato!
that these numbers would've been enough to justify a renewal on a competing network, citing
Fox Kids
as an example.
[1]
Despite this, it was quietly cancelled after only one season; it was removed from the Disney Afternoon lineup at the start of the 1995?96 television season.
[4]
Comparisons
[
edit
]
Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of
Animation World Magazine
described
The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show
as one of two
The Ren & Stimpy Show
"clones", with the other one being
2 Stupid Dogs
.
[11]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Reboy, Judith (1995).
"Bill Kopp on The Record"
.
Animato! #33
. p. 60. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006
. Retrieved
1 May
2011
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
Erickson, Hal (2005).
Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003
(2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 738?739.
ISBN
978-1476665993
.
- ^
Perlmutter, David (2018).
The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows
. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 549?550.
ISBN
978-1538103739
.
- ^
a
b
Reboy, Judith (Summer 1996).
"Eekstravaganza Update"
.
Animato! #35
. p. 13. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006
. Retrieved
1 May
2011
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
"Search Ask Greg: Gargoyles: Station Eight"
.
www.s8.org
. Retrieved
2022-05-25
.
- ^
Gilbert, Henry; Mackey, Bob (2020-08-31).
"The Ren & Stimpy Show "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" With Thad Komorowski and Bob Jaques"
(Podcast). What a Cartoon!. Event occurs at 45:13
. Retrieved
2020-09-28
.
- ^
Moore, Scott (1995-01-08).
"
'SHNOOKUMS & MEAT FUNNY CARTOON SHOW'
"
.
Washington Post
.
ISSN
0190-8286
. Retrieved
2021-12-27
.
- ^
Kenneth M., Chanko (February 19, 1995).
"Reigning Cat & Dog"
.
New York Daily News
. p. 12
. Retrieved
January 16,
2022
.
- ^
Levine, Evan (June 25, 1995).
"
'You Can Ride' delivers horse sense"
.
Daily Chronicle
. p. 17
. Retrieved
January 17,
2022
.
- ^
David, Tobenkin (July 24, 1995).
"New blocks put squeeze on kids syndication"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting & Cable
.
- ^
"
Cartoons Aren't Real! Ren and Stimpy In Review
".
Animation World Magazine
. Issue 5.12. March 2001. Retrieved on June 3, 2010.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Main television series
| 1980s
| |
---|
1990s
| |
---|
2000s
| |
---|
2010s
| |
---|
2020s
| |
---|
|
---|
Associated
productions
[a]
| |
---|
Feature films
| Theatrical
films
| |
---|
Television
films
| |
---|
Direct-to-video
films
| |
---|
Disney+
films
| |
---|
Specials
| |
---|
|
---|
- ^
Productions listed here had Disney Television Animation's involvement go uncredited.
|
|
---|
1980s debuts
| |
---|
1990s debuts
| |
---|
2000s debuts
| |
---|
2010s debuts
| |
---|
2020s debuts
| |
---|
See also
| |
---|
The Ren & Stimpy Show
|
---|
Television series
| |
---|
Characters
| |
---|
Episodes
| Pilot episode
| |
---|
Season one
| |
---|
Season two
| |
---|
Season three
| |
---|
Season four
| |
---|
|
---|
Albums
| |
---|
Video games
|
|
---|
Other
| |
---|
|