New Looney Tunes (originally titledWabbit: A Looney Tunes Production in the United States, andBugs! in some markets for its first season) is an Americananimated television series fromWarner Bros. Animation based on the characters fromLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies.[3] The series debuted on September 21, 2015, onCartoon Network,[4][5] and continued with new episodes beginning on October 5, 2015, onBoomerang. Partway through the first season, new episodes would premiere on Boomerang'svideo on demand service before airing on television.[6][7][8]
On November 24, 2017, the Boomerang streaming service announced thatNew Looney Tunes would continue into 2017,[9] with the third season being the show's last. The final episodes were released on January 30, 2020. The series was followed by the more traditionally formattedLooney Tunes Cartoons on May 27, 2020, which is streaming onHBO Max.
Promotional poster for "Wabbit" featuring Squeaks and Bugs, as drawn in a promotional still. (Early press kits give Squeaks a different appearance, alongside Bugs.)[10]
AfterThe Looney Tunes Show ended production in 2013, concepts for a new show featuring the Looney Tunes began to be discussed. At the time, the idea of a reboot focused mainly onBugs Bunny emerged, and in March 2014, it was announced that the reboot would be known asWabbit orBugs! depending in the region.[11]Sam Register, promoted to president of Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series a month prior, became supervising producer for the series.[12] The animation was done byYearim andRough Draft Studios fromSouth Korea (the latter only working on the first season) and Snipple Animation from thePhilippines.
The aim of the reboot was for its cartoons to match the tone of the Looney Tunes shorts in their earlier days. This led to the characters returning to their slapstick comedy roots,[13] but with producers seeking to avoid their clichés, such as theanvil gag. The show's production team placed their emphasis on writing original stories, as well as devising "modern heavy objects to cause pain", according to producer Erik Kuska, with each episode featuring a few shorts in which one or a number of characters became caught up in a situation that they would handle in their own personal way. Despite that, some classic objects can occasionally be seen, such as boulders or safes. Similarly, some classic expressions can be heard, such as Bugs forgetting to "make that left turn atAlbuquerque", or uttering "of course you know, this means war". The characters themselves saw some alterations to their appearances, with some also reverting to personality traits they originally had in their earliest appearances. For example,Daffy Duck was reverted to his original screwball personality from his early shorts.
The first season of the show was known asWabbit and focused on the misadventures ofBugs Bunny, with a supporting cast ofYosemite Sam,Wile E. Coyote andPorky Pig, and cameo appearances byDaffy Duck,Foghorn Leghorn,Elmer Fudd, theTasmanian Devil andMichigan J. Frog. Like his early shorts, Bugs mostly finds himself in a battle of wits with opponents either because they seek to hurt him or have done something to wreck his peaceful life. The first season saw the introduction of a few new characters to the Looney Tunes franchise,[14] many of them being new villains Bugs faces.[15]
According to Kuska, the focus on new enemies for Bugs to face off against was described as allowing him to do his "best when he's up against a really good adversary". As a result of the inclusion of new villains, Kuska felt thatElmer Fudd might not be "the man" anymore, having often been a common rival that Bugs fought with in many shorts, despite appearing later on in the series.[14]
Among the new characters introduced in this show are:
Squeaks the Squirrel – Ared squirrel who is Bugs' neighbor, whose speech initially consisted only of squeaking sounds (occasionally giving way to intelligible speech in season 3).
Bigfoot – A childlikesasquatch who tends to follow Bugs, usually calling him "lady" (or occasionally "ma'am"), much to Bugs' frustration.
The Barbarian – An unnamedbarbarian that feuds with Bugs.
Krakos – The Barbarian'spolar bear mount. His name is a play on theGreek mythical figureKratos.
Boyd – A lovesick bird.
Cal – A huge man who considers himself the best at everything.
Carl the Grim Rabbit – AGrim Reaper look-alike with rabbit ears who is trying to reap Bugs's soul.
Claudette Dupri – A female fox spy who speaks with a heavy French accent. She serves asPepé Le Pew's partner.
Dr. Clovenhoof – A sheep scientist who always bring Bugs to his Lab to show him off his new inventions.
Elliot Sampson – A bobcat scoutmaster and businessman.
Hazmats – As Bugs puts it, they are a group of "highly trained government officials" inhazmat suits that often pursue or hunt him, Squeaks, and Bigfoot, as well as Agents Dupri and Le Pew.
Horace the Horse – A uniformed horse who often works with Porky and speaks in the style ofJohn Travolta.
Ivanna – A woman who often encroaches on Bugs' territory. She hosts the show "Gettin' Fresh! with Ivanna" on "TheFood Notwork".
Jack – A "jack of all trades" who does various work. This character was dropped after only two appearances because his personality traits (including his scream) were deemed too similar toYosemite Sam.[17]
King Thes – A royal lion who tries to eat anyone.
Leslie P. Lilylegs – A mean-spirited short man who tends to desire power while working for his different bosses.
Miss Cougar – Aspinster cougar who tries to eat Bugs.
Pampreen and Paul Perdy – Leslie's two spoiled grandchildren.
Viktor – Anarcissistic man who likes tobrag about being the best in everything. He appears in "Abracawabbit" as astage magician called "Viktor Mageek", "Viktor the Science Swede" as ascientist, "Fashion Viktor" as afashion designer, among other episodes. Along with him in each of his appearances are three younggroupies who appear to idolize him, though they later start to idolize Bugs.
Winter Stag – A cryokinetic deer who can't stand hot weather and uses his cryokinetic ability to turn hot weather into cold weather. He also hates stereotyping.
Wabbit premiered on September 21, 2015, onCartoon Network and onBoomerang beginning October 5, 2015, then went on hiatus for over a year and return on April 7, 2017.[19][20][21][22] The series premiered on November 2 onBoomerang in Australia and New Zealand and onBoomerang in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[23][24] It premiered on November 6, 2015, onTeletoon in Canada[25] and debuted on December 19 onBoomerang in the Middle East and Africa.[26] In India, the series premiered onPogo TV on December 19, 2015.[27] The series premiered on January 17, 2016, onCartoon Network Arabic in the Middle East.
New episodes began being broadcast on Boomerang, starting April 7, 2017.
Season 2 premiered onBoomerang UK on September 4, 2017.
The entire first season is available onNetflix in Canada.
The show was available on the Boomerang premium subscription service until it shut down in 2024.[6] As of July 4, 2020, the show is available for streaming onMax in the United States. However, a few episodes from seasons 1 and 2 and the entire third season are not yet on the platform.
The first half of Season 1 ofWabbit was released onto DVD on April 26, 2016, in theUnited States. Despite being half of a season, the DVD is subtitled,Hare-Raising Tales. The DVD contains the first 26 episodes (52 segments) but is labeled on the side asSeason 1 – Part 1.[28][29] The DVD contains episodes 23–26 which did not air in the United States until April 7, 2017. Disregarding the show's European name,Wabbit: Season 1 – Part 1 was also released on June 15, 2016, inAustralia,[30] and on July 25, 2016, in theUnited Kingdom.[31]
