Tijuana Toads is a series of 17 theatrical cartoons produced byDePatie–Freleng and released throughUnited Artists.[1]
The series concerns two toads, El Toro and Pancho, who live in the Mexican city ofTijuana. Throughout the cartoon they try to eat their prey, but always get outsmarted.[2] They would sometimes themselves be targeted by a bird,Crazylegs Crane, and would in turn always outsmart him.
The series introduced two characters who later got their own series.The Blue Racer first appeared in "Snake in the Gracias" (1971) before getting his own series in 1972.Crazylegs Crane first appeared in "Go for Croack" (1969), and also spun off to his own series for television in 1978 onABC. Both characters were voiced byLarry D. Mann, except in "Flight to the Finish" whereBob Holt voiced Crazylegs Crane.[3][4]
El Toro was voiced by actorDon Diamond and Pancho voiced by Tom Holland. Crazylegs Crane was voiced byLarry D. Mann. Directorial duties were split betweenHawley Pratt,Art Davis, Grant Simmons, andGerry Chiniquy.[3]
When the series began airing in 1976 as part ofThe Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show, it was re-dubbed and renamedTexas Toads to make the series less offensive.[3] A laugh track was added to the new soundtrack, and the toads were given the new names of Fatso and Banjo.[3] ProducerDavid H. DePatie later commented on the process:
"When they (Tijuana Toads) went on television, we had to completely change them around and the series became known as the Texas Toads, and we had to redo all of the tracks that had any type of ethnic content and it really watered down the series. We all thought it was a hell of a lot more funny when it was the Tijuana Toads, but at the time we had to do it in order to bring the thing on television".[5]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tijuana Toads (TV title: "Tall in the Grass") | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | August 6, 1969 (1969-8-6) |
| 2 | A Pair of Greenbacks | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | December 16, 1969 (1969-12-16) |
| 3 | Go for Croak | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | December 25, 1969 (1969-12-25) |
| 4 | The Froggy Froggy Duo | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | March 15, 1970 (1970-3-15) |
| 5 | Hop and Chop | Grant Simmons | Dale Hale | June 17, 1970 (1970-6-17) |
| 6 | Never on Thirsty | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | August 5, 1970 (1970-8-5) |
| 7 | A Dopey Hacienda | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | December 6, 1970 (1970-12-6) |
| 8 | Snake in the Gracias | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | January 24, 1971 (1971-1-24) |
| 9 | Two Jumps and a Chump | Gerry Chiniquy | John W. Dunn | March 28, 1971 (1971-3-28) |
| 10 | Mud Squad | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | April 28, 1971 (1971-4-28) |
| 11 | The Egg and Ay-Yi-Yi! | Gerry Chiniquy | Dale Hale | June 6, 1971 (1971-6-6) |
| 12 | Fastest Tongue in the West | Gerry Chiniquy | Larz Bourne | June 20, 1971 (1971-6-20) |
| 13 | A Leap in the Deep | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | June 20, 1971 (1971-6-20) |
| 14 | Croakus Pocus | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | December 26, 1971 (1971-12-26) |
| 15 | Serape Happy | Gerry Chiniquy | John W. Dunn | December 26, 1971 (1971-12-26) |
| 16 | Frog Jog | Gerry Chiniquy | John W. Dunn | April 23, 1972 (1972-4-23) |
| 17 | Flight to the Finish | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | April 30, 1972 (1972-4-30) |
Tijuana Toads shorts aired onCartoon Network andBoomerang.
The characters were resurrected for the 1993 TV seriesThe Pink Panther. As the case when the original shorts were shown on TV, they were rebranded as the Texas Toads. The toads were redesigned as western sheriffs with oversized cowboy hats replacing their sombreros.[3][6]
In 1987,Go for Croak was released on VHS as part ofCartoon Festival.
In 2016,Kino Lorber released the complete series with the original soundtrack, digitally remastered from the original negatives and in the original ratio.
A restaurant dubbed under the namePancho i Toro - Pizza & Grill Sesvete is located inSesvete, Croatia.[7]