If there is one thing that I miss most about growing up in the 80s, it would have to be watching Saturday morning cartoons! There was nothing like pouring yourself a bowl of your favorite cereal and getting up early to watch great cartoon shows. So why can't we relive a little of that now? Thanks to Youtube, we can watch full episodes of those great 80s animated shows (some of which are not yet available on DVD.) So, come rediscover your forgotten Saturday morning cartoons with RD80s Saturday Morning Cartoon Fix! This week's feature cartoon is the Wuzzles!
The Wuzzles was a short-lived cartoon that was originally broadcast in the fall of 1985. Disney CEO Michael Eisner came up with the idea for the show and used the Disney television animation studio to bring them to life. But even with one of the animation superpowers behind them, The Wuzzles never achieved much success. The show would last just 13 episodes over one season. After its initial run, The Wuzzles moved from CBS to ABC for reruns and later onto the Disney channel. The failure of the show was overshadowed by the overwhelming success of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears which debuted the same year.
The Wuzzles had all the ingredients for success including the Disney brand and a familiar voice singing the theme song. It was performed by Stephen Geyer who is known for the Harcastle & McCormick theme "Drive" and the #1 hit "Believe It Or Not" from Greatest American Hero.
The Wuzzles theme
The main premise of the show revolved around characters who were a made up of two totally different animal species. The Isle of Wuz where they lived also had mash-up buildings like "castlescrapers" and food like "appleberries." The main characters included Bumblelion, Butterbear, Eleroo, Moosel, Hoppopotamus, and Rhinokey. The main villains of the show were Crock, Brat, and Frizard. Disney marketed The Wuzzles using figures, plush toys, children's books, and a board game. A second season of The Wuzzles was planned but never produced following the death of Bill Scott, who voiced the Moosel character. Disney marched on, recasting Scott's character Gruffi Gummi on the Gummi Bears and decided against a new season of The Wuzzles. Disney has never officially released the show onto DVD, however all 13 episodes are available on YouTube. I've queued up the very first episode below, along with a classic Pac-Man cereal commercial from 1985. Enjoy!
Episode 1 - "Bulls of a Feather"
1985 Pac-man cereal commercial
Rediscover more of your Saturday morning cartoon favorites:
Follow RD80s on Social Media