Chip N Dale's Rescue Rangers debuted on The Disney Channel (and then in Syndication) in 1989, but the characters started appearing in magazines in 1988. I saved this page from a September 1988 issue of Cabletime magazine. The Rangers look a bit different here, especially Gadget the mouse and Zipper the Fly.
Gadget originally had more mouse-like proportions, looking more like Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers. And Zipper looks a bit more like Evinrude the Dragonfly from the same film.
The original pitch for Rescue Rangers did not star Chip N Dale. There were other mouse characters, including a prototype Monterey Jack and Gadget.
Early promotional artwork like this also appeared in The Disney Channel Magazine prior to the sneak preview of the series.
When The Disney Channel started airing the show again as part of "The Block Party" circa 1995, the Channel's website posted publicity artwork featuring the early designs.
When Rescue Rangers is inevitably rebooted like DuckTales, it will be interesting to see what form the characters take.
Disney's 1985 CBS Saturday Morning series "The Wuzzles" may have only lasted one season, but it is far from forgotten. In fact, the characters continue to appear on TV and in the movies. You just may not have noticed.
The Wuzzles was one of the first shows created by Walt Disney Television Animation, and it was better than it needed to be. The series was based on a toy line that Disney developed with the Hasbro toy company.
The Wuzzles lived in the land of Wuz and were two animals in one. "They got originality, living with a split personality." The fun, nonsensical, fantasy stories were narrated by Stan Freberg.
The main Wuzzles included Bumblelion (bee/lion, voiced by Brian Cummings---another lion named Lionel, voiced by Jim Cummings, appeared on the Dumbo's Circus TV show in 1985), Butterbear (butterfly/bear, voiced by Kathleen Helppie---who later became a producer at Warner Brothers named Kathleen Helppie-Shipley), Hoppopotamus (rabbit/hippo, voiced by Joanne Worley), Rhinokey (rhino/monkey, voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), Eleroo (elephant/rabbit, voiced by Henry Gibson) and Moosel (moose/seal, voiced by Bill Scott).
Visitors to Disneyland in the Eighties could meet The Wuzzles in person and see them in parades. At some point, The Wuzzles characters were evicted from Disneyland, and found themselves available for rent. The Wuzzles have been seen in a number of non-Disney commercials, movies and TV shows, including the Fox series "Grounded For Life" starring Donal Logue and Megyn Price.
Bumblelion can be seen in T-Mobile's 2012 "Bring The Game To You With T-Mobile TV" commercial.
Bumblelion has had a bit of cosmetic work (sometimes his antennae have been removed) and costume changes over the years for his different roles in commercials, TV shows and films.
I also remember seeing a Rhinokey plush toy on at least one episode of the TV show "Roseanne."
The story and voice work for the TV show was done in California, but the actual animation production for The Wuzzles was handled by TMS Entertainment (Tokyo Movie Shinsha) in Japan. TMS is well-known in the animation industry, and later worked on shows like "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Animaniacs!" for Warner Brothers.
I thought the villains (Croc, Flizzard and Brat) were the best characters in the Wuzzles universe. I don't think they appeared on any merchandise. Maybe because they were a little scary. That's why I liked them so much.
The artwork in this comic book story is really impressive, and unfortunately, sort of uncredited. Note that even in the land of Wuz, there are dog-faced "background characters" so often used in Disney comics.
The Wuzzles debuted on CBS in the Fall of 1985. Their competition on NBC was Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. The Gummi Bears won that fight, and The Wuzzles were done. Or so we thought.
The Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks recently returned to movie theaters. A Fraggle Rock movie has been in the works for years, and ALF and Don Johnson never really left. Maybe someday we'll see a return of Disney's Gummi Bears.
The Wuzzles have successfully infiltrated movies and TV shows made by rival studios and in multiple commercials that you only subliminally noticed. You thought The Wuzzles were cute and innocent. You were wrong! I bet the Wuzzles are plotting their return to TV and the big screen right now.
How would you like a job at Walt Disney Animation in Australia? Well, before you grab a vegemite sandwich, some treats to feed the kangaroos, and your resume and hop a plane to Sydney, you should know that this Disney facility closed down in 2006. It's a real shame, too, because they created some top-notch animation over the years.
Disney's Australian animation studio had its origins as Hanna Barbera Australia, which opened in 1972. The Hanna Barbera studio produced numerous episodes of TV shows like "CBS Storybreak" and "Teen Wolf."
Disney took over Hanna Barbera Australia in 1989. The Australia studio created the animation for many Disney TV Animated series, including Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers, and Quack Pack. Walt Disney Animation Australia had its own exuberant style, and had a knack for animating some fantastic facial expressions.
The studio also worked on direct-to-video projects and some Disney TV theatrical releases (they animated the concert sequence in "A Goofy Movie"), and gradually they started to channel Walt Disney Feature Animation's style. This was especially the case with "The Lion King 1 1/2" from 2004 which blended pretty seamlessly with Disney Feature's "The Lion King" from 1994.
The last project Disney Animation Australia worked on was "Cinderella III: A Twist in Time."
Disney had set up satellite studios around the world to handle animation production. Disney Feature Animation and Disney Television Animation were two different divisions. Disney Feature had its studio in California and one at Walt Disney World in Florida. Disney Television Animation in California had Disney animation studios in Japan, Australia, France and Canada. Additionally, Disney subcontracted animation to many other animation studios around the world (this is why you may notice a different "look" to many episodes of Disney TV shows). Walt Disney Animation France later became part of Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Eventually, Disney shut down its studios in Florida, Japan, France, Canada, and Australia. Hand drawn animation was no longer the focus, with Disney Feature Animation in California becoming a CGI animation house.
Hand-drawn animation made by various studios today is largely outsourced to companies in other countries. These days, more and more CGI animation is also being outsourced, too.
Disney had other satellite studios that never took off.
When Icelandic singer Bjork became a media sensation with her famous swan dress, Disney developed a "DuckTales" spin-off called "SwanSongs," and launched Walt Disney Animation Iceland to produce the show.
This animated series featured Scrooge McDuck's niece, Swan (voiced by Bjork) and followed her adventures as a singer on a world tour. Each episode would feature a song written by Bjork.
A studio was established in Reykjavik, to allow Bjork the ability to have some creative control. However, as she became more popular, her touring schedule did not allow enough time in Iceland, and the "SwanSongs" project and studio were quickly shut down.
Then there was Walt Disney Animation Antarctica.
When it was discovered that penguins excelled in the performing arts, the decision was made to start up a studio in Antarctica. Penguins were cheap labor (most would take a job just for the halibut). Penguins proved to be very difficult to train, were not skilled animators, and made a mess of things. The Penguins were, however, excellent dancers.
*For those that don't realize this, please note that the Iceland and Antarctica studios were not real. I had fun making them up, though.
.jpg)
