The Looney Beginning

The Looney Beginning was the first episode of the first season of Tiny Toon Adventures. It aired Friday March 2, 1990 and was writen by Paul Dini, Sherri Stoner. Despite being the premise episode, it was ironically the 48th episode produced.

Plot Summary
Bugs Bunny has been hired by Warner Bros. to introduce us to Tiny Toon Adventures, which he explains by way of a flashback. The story begins when a cartoonist (played by an uncredited Steven Spielberg), after a failed pitch to the network about a TV series starring a rich brat named Montana Max, is ordered by his boss to come up with something better by tomorrow morning, or else he will be fired. Bugs Bunny (who is watching this from his picture frame on the wall), advises the cartoonist to start with rabbits, eventually creating Babs and Buster Bunny. When the bunnies surprise him by leaping out of the drawing and kissing him, the cartoonist throws the bunnies in the trash can and leaves.

Buster and Babs decide to make the series themselves. After Buster creates the series location, Acme Acres, they audition for "wacky but lovable neighbors". Following the introductions of Hampton J. Pig and Gogo Dodo, Buster and Babs meet Plucky Duck, who has a large resume of talent, but he becomes exasperated when the bunnies decide to cast him as their sidekick. Afterwards, the bunnies look for villains by opening a box where these antagonists have been kept, all of whom show up in later episodes; Dizzy Devil and Elmyra Duff are introduced at this point. The last one out of the box is the infamous Montana Max, whom the animator had pitched his very own show to, but was rejected because of his brattiness.

After unleashing their arch enemies, the bunnies have Hampton write the scripts. Just then, Max boots the bunnies out of the cartoon and takes over the show, renaming it "The Montana Max Show". Buster and Babs are unable to fight off against Max's takeover, so Bugs comes in to help. He draws up the schoolhouse Acme Looniversity and, after an introductory song, gives his new students a few tips about being cartoon characters, one of which is "Villains always fall for cheesy disguises." With that in mind, Buster and Babs pay a visit to Monty's mansion, disguised as his personal heroes, Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, and retrieve their scripts. Upon realizing he's been tricked, Max executes a set of booby traps. However, the bunnies manage to dodge them, and Monty is squished by his own rolling coin.

The next morning, the cartoonist returns to find the new show, Tiny Toon Adventures, all planned out for him. He pitches the series to the network, and they love it. Getting a raise for making this new series, the animator offers to give Buster and Babs anything they want. They requested a "Created by", which he rejects (although after beating up the cartoonist, he apparently agrees to it, as shown by the episode's gag credit).

Cast

 * Babs Bunny
 * Bugs Bunny
 * Buster Bunny
 * Calamity Coyote
 * Daffy Duck
 * Dizzy Devil
 * Elmyra Duff
 * Fifi Le Fume
 * Furrball
 * Hamton J. Pig
 * Gogo Dodo
 * Li'l Sneezer
 * Little Beeper
 * Montana Max
 * Plucky Duck
 * Porky Pig
 * Shirley the Loon
 * Sweetie Bird
 * Taz
 * Wile E. Coyote