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September 9, 2008

Review by KC Carlson

Did the world really need a cartoon version of Murder, She Wrote? Probably not, but that didn’t stop The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries from becoming a hit, despite its odd origins. The show originally aired on Kids’ WB from 1995 to 2001, for a total of 53 episodes (13 of them on this first season set). The series starred the famous cat-and-bird team, as well as Granny and Hector the bulldog (slightly redesigned here to look more like the more familiar Marc Anthony.)

The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries cover

The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
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The episodes themselves are wildly schizophrenic. Granny is left to solve the mystery of the week, while Tweety, Sylvester, and Hector largely fall back into the classic cat-eats-bird and dog-pummels-cat formula of the original cartoons. The real fun is in the details, however, as in typical Warner fashion, each cartoon is highly pop-culture savvy, with various episodes based loosely on such classics as The Man Who Knew Too Much, It’s A Wonderful Life, and The Love Boat (captained by a crazed James T. Kirk-like figure). I’m not mystery-savvy enough to catch all the references to classic whodunnits, but even I can recognize The Maltese Falcon and a locked room mystery with the likes of Miss Marbles, Charlie Smith (Charlie Chan), Lojack (Kojak), Sherlock Holmes (he’s public domain!), and, for some reason, Elmer Fudd playing a Sam Spade type. And Granny has mysteries revealed about her own past sprinkled throughout the episodes. Besides being a master detective, Granny is an Olympic-level diver, has a brother we never knew about, and apparently was romanced in the past by Elmer Fudd. What a wevolting welationship!

The sewies is a weal… ahem, real feast for the Warner cartoon aficionado, as there are guest appearances by mousies Hubie and Bertie, inept criminals Rocky and Mugsy, and Gossamer, the giant orange shag rug of a monster that wears tennis shoes. Even more obscure than that are appearances by Nasty Canasta; Red, the loudmouthed character from Little Red Riding Rabbit; and even the Mynah Bird from the little-seen Inky series of cartoons. And every so often there is an odd cameo — like Michigan J. Frog on the cover of Amphibian Monthly magazine. Plus, super-obscure 1960s Warner character Cool Cat makes some sort of an appearance in the background of most episodes (in paintings, on a band-aid, or walking through a scene).

There is also the occasional shout-out to an Animation Great. When Granny is introduced to a character named Dawes the Butler, she responds “your voice sounds awfully familiar.” “I do a little voice over work when I’m not buttling,” he responds, in a voice not unlike that of Yogi Bear — referring, of course to voice actor Daws Butler, the voice of Yogi Bear, as well as Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, and many, many others. Another classic animation voice, June Foray, appears in every episode of the series as Granny, continuing the role from many classic Tweety and Sylvester cartoons. And the entire first season is dedicated to Isadore “Friz” Freleng, the legendary Warners director who was behind the vast majority of the Tweety and Sylvester cartoons and who had passed away shortly before the series began airing.

The show looks pretty good for cheaply produced TV animation, but the frantic pace and admittedly funny violence of the original shorts have been watered down for the Saturday morning crowd. (Sylvester routinely receives his beatings from Hector off-screen.) The lack of subplots tends to drag out the episode-length cartoons, a problem fixed in the rest of the series, as beginning in the second season there are two cartoons per episode. All in all, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries is a better show than I realized — great fun for the little ones and lots of enjoyment for the adult Warner fan who loves their shows packed with Warner cameos, trivia, and ephemera. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the studio.)

9 Responses

Adam writes:

September 9, 2008 at 9:31 AM

When this show was on the air, it never really clicked with me. It just felt like it didn’t stack up to the other WB Kids shows like Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, and Freakazoid. Even so, I’ll be picking up this DVD as I’m sure I’ll have a different appreciation for it now.

Justin writes:

September 9, 2008 at 9:46 AM

Hmmm, how compelling. I was not even aware of all that KC brought up. I had seen the show in passing a few times, it never grabbed. I was probably too old and too turned off by the concept. (Which is strange considering the precedent of a van of mystery solving youths and their perceptive pooch.) This is on my list now, thank you for that.

Johanna writes:

September 9, 2008 at 10:55 AM

This is definitely much more old school than those you mention. I hope you enjoy it!

Franklin writes:

September 9, 2008 at 3:32 PM

Actually, this series was not cheaply made. Notice that each episode was scored by a full symphony orchestra, for instance. And it was all drawn by hand, and painted on cels, making it a true museum piece at this point.

odessa steps magazine writes:

September 9, 2008 at 5:16 PM

I have nothing personal against this show, but it was the show given by Kids WB honcho Jamie Kellner the prime 11:30 AM timeslot during their HORRIBLE “Big Kids Go First” programming schedule. This saw Freakazoid related to either 7 or 8 AM, where its natural audience (overeducated slackers in college) would never see it.

KC writes:

September 9, 2008 at 8:17 PM

Which is probably why I never saw it in the first place.

Yeah, it’s not in the same league as those shows you mention, but it was kinda nice to find out that it wasn’t as horrible as I was led to believe – just “different.”

KC writes:

September 9, 2008 at 8:52 PM

Franklin,

You’re right. The music on most of the WB cartoons of this era is always a high point. Thanks for pointing that out!

Bill D. writes:

September 10, 2008 at 4:26 PM

You know, I never paid much attention to this when it was on, but you certainly have me curious to check it out now.

James C. writes:

September 10, 2008 at 10:36 PM

Actually, there’s a heck of a lot of onscreen cartoon violence, more than I remembered and far more than would be allowed on a network today. Though this show was usually given short shrift by the rabid Animaniacs and Freakazoid fans, it remains the first and best attempt by the WB to do a high quality young kids show, in the years before their budgets got slashed to nothing. Compare “The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries” production value and music scoring to the likes of “Baby Looney Tunes” and there is none.