Elephant Issues is the third episode of the second season of Tiny Toon Adventures, and the 68th episode overall.
Wraparounds
The episode begins with Gogo Dodo finishing a cartoon of him in Wackyland. He reveals that he likes to take a break from his usual wackiness occasionally to ponder today's relevant issues. An Elephant mishears him and brings him a box of elephant tissues.
In the second act, Gogo decides to talk about getting along with different people, which he describes as one of the more pressing issues of life. The Elephant brings him issues of Life Magazine, with Gogo on the cover. Gogo introduces the next cartoon.
In the third act, Gogo asks the viewers, "If all your friends did something foolish, would you join in?", and tells the viewers not to give into peer pressure, as proven by ignoring various dares from the Elephant. That is, until the Elephant dares Gogo to run through the lion pit dressed in cold cuts while yelling, "Lunchtime!". Not even Gogo is able to resist that dare!
Episode Segments
Why Dizzy Can't Read
Bugs Bunny assigns his students to re-enact scenes from the classic Looney Tunes shorts. He assigns Buster and Dizzy to re-enact a scene from the cartoon Devil May Hare, with Buster as Bugs and Dizzy as Taz. Unfortunately, Dizzy has trouble reading his lines. The other students laugh at him and he runs away, claiming to hate the class and school. As Dizzy leaves, Bugs asks, "Eh, do I get my check now? My scene's over." On their way home, Buster and Babs stop by Dizzy's cave, where they find out he is addicted to watching television, as he has multiple TV sets out. One of the shows Dizzy watches is an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures inlvolving Plucky in a turkish prison. Babs trashes the biggest TV, as she hates the way she was drawn in that episode. She also hates the way she was drawn in this episode. Buster and Babs try to talk to Dizzy, but he is addicted and doesn't listen to them. One of Dizzy's TVs turns into a monster that demands him to watch TV and not read books. Buster unplugs the TV monster, whose last words were, "NOOOO! But "Cosby"'s on next...!" Babs imitates Bill Cosby, telling Dizzy that if he is watching TV while walking down the street, he will ignore street signs and wander into danger. Dizzy sneaks a wrist TV from his cookie jar, and Buster and Babs decide to give up on him. Buster tosses a book of Fairy Tales at Dizzy, which knocks him dizzy. In Dizzy's fantasy sequence, he is in various nursery rhymes, and tries to eat the food from there. Dizzy's Wrist TV turns into a monster and demands that he watch TV instead of reading books, but Dizzy tells the Wrist TV Monster that he would rather read about food like gingerbread men, and smacks it. The next day, Buster and Babs go to Acme Looniversity, and they have given up on Dizzy. Suddenly, they hear Dizzy reading The Gingerbread Man to some of the other toons. Dizzy thanks the bunnies, as he likes reading now.
C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice
Foghorn Leghorn is teaching his students to dissect jokes, when a new student arrives. His name is C.L.I.D.E. (Standing for Cybernetic Laser Ionized Digital Entity), and he tells the students that he is enrolled in Acme Looniversity. Although his robotic appearance and tendency to speak in game show metaphors (usually calling everyone Dave) make him strange, he is welcomed by all except Montana Max, who discriminates against him. During lunchtime, the special is Green Eggs and Spam, and Plucky says that the cafeteria must be using the Dr. Seuss cookbook again. C.L.I.D.E. is having oil and metal bolts. Plucky says that they look a lot better than the green slop he's eating. When C.L.I.D.E. tries to sit down, Monty gets in the way. He pushes one of C.L.I.D.E.'s buttons and C.L.I.D.E. malfunctions. At first, he finds this funny, but then his shirt gets stained. As the other students leave, Buster sticks by C.L.I.D.E. and asks how he feels about Acme Looniversity. C.L.I.D.E. tells him that he doesn't want to be a robot, and that he wants to be popular. Meanwhile, to get revenge on C.L.I.D.E. for staining his shirt, Monty tries to get rid of him using a large robot called S.N.I.D.E. (standing for Super New Improved Droid Eradicator). He programs S.N.I.D.E. to attack the nearest geek, but as a result, gets attacked himself. C.L.I.D.E. decides to put popularity aside to rescue Monty, and becomes the hero of Acme Looniversity. After being saved, Monty is very grateful and no longer biased towards C.L.I.D.E., but C.L.I.D.E., aware that Monty was trying to get rid of him, transforms into an anvil and flattens him. Buster says, "I think this new kid's gonna fit in fine!" and eats a carrot.
One Beer
Buster asks Plucky and Hamton what they'd like to drink. They notice a bottle of beer in the fridge, and Buster thinks they should drink it. Hamton says it's not like Buster to do that, but Buster tells them that today they're going to show the viewers the evils of alcohol. At the park, Buster opens the beer bottle and dares Plucky and Hamton to drink it. Since Hamton claims darers always go first, he makes Buster take the first sip. After taking the first sip, Buster immediately gets drunk. Hamton and Plucky also take sips and get drunk. In their drunk stage, they burp rythmically and dress like Larry, Darryl, and Darryl, respectively. At Acme Looniversity, they see Babs, Shirley, and Fifi. They are aware they have been drinking and are driven away by their bad breaths and drunkedness. Still drunk, Buster, Plucky and Hamton go do a donut shop and Plucky notices a police car with the keys still in the ignition. They decide to steal the car and go for a joyride. They take the police car to the top of of a mountain, where there is a DANGER ROAD OUT AHEAD sign. They crash through the sign, fall off the mountain and land in a graveyard, where they die and their souls go to heaven. As the cartoon ends, Buster, Plucky, and Hamton take off their angel costumes and hope the kids got the message that drinking is uncool. Buster asks Plucky and Hamton, "Do we get to do a funny episode tomorrow?" and Hamton replies with, "I hope so.".
Cast
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Charlie Adler | Buster Bunny, C.L.I.D.E. |
| Tress MacNeille | Babs Bunny, TV Monster |
| Joe Alaskey | Plucky Duck |
| Don Messick | Hamton J. Pig |
| Frank Welker | Gogo Dodo, The Elephant |
| Maurice LaMarche | Dizzy Devil, Byron Vaughns, Belching Sounds |
| Jeff Bergman | Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, TV Announcer |
| Gail Matthius | Shirley the Loon |
| Kath Soucie | Fifi La Fume, Nursery Rhyme Voice #1 |
| Cree Summer | Nursery Rhyme Voice #2 |
| Danny Cooksey | Montana Max |
Quotes
- Gogo: "Today we take a Tiny Toon look at burning issues in a fruitless attempt to win another emmy."
- Elephant: "Burning Tissues coming up."
- Babs: "Didn't this same plot line happen to Tootie on The Facts of Life?"
- Buster: "Rope it in, Babs."
- Babs (After destroying a TV that was showing a rerun of Tiny Toon Adventures): "I hate the way they drew me in that episode. I hate the way they drew me in this episode, too."
- TV Monster: "Watch TV, Dizzy. Don't read boring stupid books. TV is good for you."
- Hamton: "But Buster, this isn't like you!"
- Buster: "I know, but in this episode, we're showing the evils of alcohol."
- Buster: "Are we wasted or what?"
- Plucky: "Well, lookie here. How's about we go for a lit (Hic) a little ride?"
- Hamton: "You mean steal a car, risk going to jail? sounds like fun!"
- Buster: "So Plucky, how does it feel to be D.W.I.?"
- Plucky: "D.W.I.? What's that?"
- Buster: "D.W.I.; Driving While Intoxicated."
- Plucky: "Oh, that's ridiculous, I don't know how to drive!"
Allusions
- In the episode segment, "Why Dizzy Can't Read", Bugs directs the Acme Loo students in a reenactment of the cartoon Devil May Hare, which marked the debut of the Tasmanian Devil.
- The episode segment title Why Dizzy Can't Read is a reference to the 1955 book Why Johnny Can't Read by Rudolf Flesch.
- The second episode segment, C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice, was named after the 1813 Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice.
- In the episode segment, C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice, C.L.I.D.E. speaks like HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and refers to famous game shows.
- In the episode segment, C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice, there are several references to the classic 1960 Dr. Seuss book, Green Eggs and Ham. The lunch is Green Eggs and Spam, and Plucky mentions that the cafeteria must be using the Dr. Seuss cookbook again.
- When Buster, Plucky, and Hamton are drunk during the episode segment, One Beer, they take on the clothing and appearances of Larry, Darryl, and Darryle, from the 1982-1990 television series, Newhart.
Trivia
- This episode was banned from future Fox Kids airings due to the third episode segment, One Beer, which which involved alcohol throughout the episode and depicted Plucky,Buster, and Hamton getting drunk. The other two shorts did not help contribute to the ban, as the first was about Dizzy's addiction to TV and the second was about Monty's discrimination against C.L.I.D.E.. Despite this, the episode was eventually included in the Volume 3 DVD set and later aired in reruns on the Hub Network.
- Several characters from this episode appear in the Buster's Hidden Treasure video game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The TV Monster who has a siren-like effect appears as an enemy in the factory levels, and S.N.I.D.E. appears as the final boss of the game, controlled by Monty.
- This was the last episode to feature Jeff Bergman as Bugs Bunny. Greg Burson voiced Bugs starting with Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian.
- In One Beer, if you look closely before Buster opens the refrigerator, there is already a bottle of beer in the door that disappears once Buster opens it.
- In the episode segment, One Beer, when Buster grabs a bottle out of the fridge, his eyes become far apart for a split second.
- In the episode segment, Why Dizzy Can't Read, when Babs attempts to convince Dizzy to read, she imitates Bill Cosby, an advocate for preventing illiteracy.
- All of the belching made by Buster, Plucky and Hamton in One Beer are done by Maurice LaMarche, who would later serve as Wakko's "stunt burper" on Animaniacs.
Transcript
- To read the transcript for this episode, click here.
Gallery
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Home Video Releases
