Taz-Mania
Series, 1991, The '90s, Set in Tasmania
Taz-Mania is #5 of 18 in release order and #5 of 18 in chronological order in the Looney Tunes.
The story
The wildest teenager south of the Equator, Taz lives to party. With his insatiable appetite, he tends to eat everything in sight. The oldest child in a family of five, Taz works at a rather bizarre coastal resort, the Hotel Tasmania, as a bellhop, busboy to earn party money.
Taz-Mania recap
The Tasmanian Devil, who in the classic shorts was a spinning, grunting eating machine, gets his own sitcom in a version of Tasmania where the sky is always yellow. Taz still spins, eats everything and barely talks, but now he has a family: his calm father Hugh, his mother Jean, his teenage sister Molly and his little brother Jake. Taz has a job as a bellhop at a hotel. The supporting cast is full of Australian animals and oddballs: the scheming Digeri Dingo; the Platypus Brothers, a pair of bickering handymen; Francis X. Bushlad; Buddy Boar; Wendal T. Wolf; and Bull Gator and his sidekick Axl, a pair of hunters forever trying to catch Taz. The humour is fast and silly, with fourth-wall jokes and occasional musical numbers. Jim Cummings voiced Taz. The show ran on Fox Kids from 1991 to 1995, for 65 episodes over four seasons.
Taz-Mania ending explained
Taz-Mania ended without a finale. The last episode, "One Saturday in Taz-Mania", aired on May 22, 1995: Taz tries to have a lazy Saturday and keeps getting interrupted by Jake, while the Platypus Brothers review their favourite films. The show was not renewed after four seasons. Taz carried on in later Looney Tunes projects, including Space Jam (1996), but the Taz-Mania family was not revisited.
Where to watch Taz-Mania
Taz-Mania isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 6.7/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after Tiny Toon Adventures, before The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries.
- Chronological order: after Tiny Toon Adventures, before The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries.
What to watch before Taz-Mania
In release order, the essentials before Taz-Mania (1991) are Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (1930), The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (1968), The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979), and Tiny Toon Adventures (1990).
Cast
- Jim Cummings as Taz / Bushwhacker Bob (voice)
- Maurice LaMarche as Hugh / Daniel Platypus (voice)
- Miriam Flynn as Jean (voice)
- Kellie Martin as Molly (voice)
- Debi Derryberry as Jake (voice)
- Dan Castellaneta as Mr. Thickly (voice)
- John Astin as Bull Gator (voice)
- Rob Paulsen as Axl Gator / Francis X. Bushlad / Timothy Platypus (voice)
- Rosalyn Landor as Mum / Constance Koala (voice)
- Stan Freberg
- Arleen Sorkin as Veronica (voice)
Created by Tom Ruegger, Jean MacCurdy.