I was randomly re-watching BONKERS this week. Coincidentally, that show turned 30 this year... Now that's *bonkers*!
For the uninitiated, it's a Disney TV Animation-made series that had the usual 65-episode run. It was a WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT-inspired show made at a time when Roger Rabbit's future was up in the air, and this series - inspired by ROGER RABBIT'S core premise of cartoon characters living in our world and being the actors of their animated pictures - just so happened to be in development. Seemed to be the perfect "that'll do" situation! Its production history, so complicated it scrambles my brain, but fascinatingly so, like any troubled production. The entire show, including an episode that was held from TV for years due to depictions of bombings (in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11), is available to view on Disney+.
The show itself is every bit as puzzling as its production history, no matter which batch of episodes it is or who animated on them. It feels like it's a weird outsider-artist's attempt at a wacky, spontaneous Tex Avery-inspired cartoon, but it frequently misses the rhythm even though it's earnestly trying with everything it has got... That is all juxtaposed with this very high-grade art direction and animation (for a 1993-era animated TV series, that is), particularly the episodes made at Disney TV Animation Japan. It's like I'm watching some badass '80s anime take on L.A., but with these silly-looking 'toons. A hell of a contrast! But the show's weird attempts at zany humor are all the more questionable because this is a DISNEY SHOW, you would think they could pull this off. I know it's popular opinion that Disney animation, all throughout history, was never "funny"... Though I beg to differ. Disney TVA, from my perspective, tended to be more "fun adventure" than wacky comedy. Not in the wheelhouse of, say, ANIMANIACS or REN & STIMPY. Bonkers D. Bobcat himself actually started appearing on one of Disney's attempts at a wacky show, RAW TOONAGE, a year earlier. There was also this show called THE SCHNOOKUMS & MEAT FUNNY CARTOON SHOW, which fits this bill, too. The respective executions of these shows apparently left a bit to be desired.
I first saw BONKERS when its re-runs aired on Toon Disney, a long-defunct channel, in the late '90s and early '00s. That was the way I, a 1992 baby, could see all of those early-era Disney TVA cartoons and many of the ones that were part of the legendary syndicated "Disney Afternoon" block. I saw almost all of 'em, from DUCKTALES to TALESPIN to TIMON & PUMBAA. That was a brief period of time though, when my grandmother had a cable package that included Toon Disney. Later on, she didn't, and neither did I at my house... So I went a good many years without seeing those shows again, the only one I had pieces of on VHS was NEW ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH.
I'll tell you what *weirdly* filled the void for me...
Yeah, you heard that right... SONIC ADVENTURE. And by that, I mean the original version released for the Sega Dreamcast in North America in 1999, which I got sometime in - I wanna say - spring 2000? Easter present, maybe?
Now, my grandmother still had Toon Disney when I had SONIC ADVENTURE... Because at the time, Toon Disney was airing... ADVENTURES OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG! That's right, the DiC cartoon from 1993. The wacky one. I sometimes caught it in passing, but I really wanted to see it now that I was playing SONIC ADVENTURE religiously circa mid 2000... But it was never on when I was over there, I had only caught a commercial or two. I remember catching one during an airing of BONKERS, and it was like "The SONIC show... Whoooooaaa." My 7 1/2-year old brain on a high of some sorts, 'cuz that's just how my weird-ass autie brain works you get the gist?
Anyways, when I no longer could watch Toon Disney, I had SONIC ADVENTURE...
Here are the weird connections I made between SONIC ADVENTURE and Disney TV Animation's output circa 1987-1995:
Anthro animals, check. Goofy villain, check. Sonic's design channels Felix the Cat and early Mickey, very much Western "funny animal" in spirit. Coincidentally, FELIX THE CAT: THE MOVIE was airing on Disney Channel and Toon Disney around this time, I remember seeing commercials for it at the time... And remembered seeing scenes of him running around some palm trees, a jungle-like setting... and I thought it looked kinda Sonic-y and kinda cool. Moving on: Tails' bi-plane, the "Tornado". TALESPIN vibes. Has two tails, 'tis his nickname... What else, Station Square, a city with both humans and cartoon animals, reminding me of not only BONKERS, but also Duckberg. The "At Dawn" section of the "Speed Highway" level in particular had those vibes, for me... And then you have the Mystic Ruins, the spacious jungle hub world with the temple. Disney had a couple of "jungle" shows at the time, outside of the JUNGLE BOOK-inspired TALESPIN, you also had JUNGLE CUBS (basically MUPPET BABIES by way of JUNGLE BOOK), MARSUPILAMI (a very bizarre adaptation of the Franco-Belgian comic of the same name), and the aforementioned TIMON & PUMBAA spin-off.
So yeah, SONIC ADVENTURE and certain Disney TV Animation shows were kinda "linked" in my brain circa 2000-ish. It's a thing my brain does, it makes these weird connections or associations with disparate media. Like, I'll be hyperfixating on three or four separate things in a period of time (say, September-November 2005)... And because of that, they're all linked in my head. I'll think of one of those things, and I'll think of the three, if that makes sense.
In fall 2002, for my birthday, I received a DK book called DISNEY: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL GUIDE. It had a two-page spread dedicated to the DTVA stuff, and lo and behold, BONKERS was on there... and it all came back... And for whatever reason, I built up BONKERS in my head as this amazingly funny thing. It was even in the name, and at the time, I was developing a cartoony slapsticky idea of my own... Which totally morphed and mutated over two decades into the behemoth beast that it is now... Partially thanks to BONKERS, a show that's considered one of the worst of the Disney Afternoon and that whole era of DTVA... I simply had to see this show again, and all the other Disney TV Animation cartoons that weren't being shown on any other channel.
And I eventually caught a few of the Bonks on Toon Disney somewhere's else in mid-2003, and remember thinking "Yeah, it's as cool as I thought!" But then many, many moons later - with much more knowledge under my belt, a lot more context, a lot more animation history, etc. - I gave it a proper revisit. This was probably right around the time it came to Disney+, and after hearing other outlets either fairly criticize or outright trash the show. I mean, ANIMANIACS - probably fueled by Steven Spielberg's beef with Disney/Eisner at time, which affected ROGER RABBIT plans going forward - was roasting BONKERS. And what I saw was a show that was certainly a mess... I mean, when your plug is pulled halfway through production and your show is straight-up rebooted w/ an all-new supporting cast and main character redesign- it's a miracle the show even got made, finished, and was somewhat watchable. I have a soft spot for it, really. There's a kernel of a really cool, wacky, ROGER RABBIT-lite there... and under different circumstances, it could've really stuck the landing... But it meant a little something to me, and that's all that matters.