The Wuzzles


The Wuzzles is a 1985 animated television series created for Saturday morning television, and was first broadcast on September 14, 1985 on CBS. An idea pitched by Michael Eisner for his new Disney television animation studio, the premise is that the main characters are hybrids of two different animals. The original 13 episodes ran on CBS for their first run.

Premise

The Wuzzles features a variety of short, rounded animal characters. Each is a roughly even, and colorful, mix of two different animal species, and all the characters sport wings on their backs, although only Bumblelion and Butterbear are seemingly capable of flight. All of the Wuzzles live on the Isle of Wuz. Double species are not limited to the Wuzzles themselves. From the appleberries they eat to the telephonograph in the home, or a luxury home called a castlescraper, nearly everything on Wuz is mixed together in the same way that the Wuzzles are. The characters in the show were marketed extensively — featured in children's books, as poseable figures and plush toys, and in a board game.
Disney premiered two animated series on the same day in the same time slot, 8:30 AM ET, in the United States, with the other being Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears on NBC, and both series were successful during their first seasons. However, The Wuzzles ended production after its initial run largely due to the sudden death of Bill Scott, the voice of Moosel. However, Scott was also the voice of Gruffi Gummi, Sir Tuxford, and Toadwart on Gummi Bears and Corey Burton and Carmel took over those roles. CBS canceled the show, and ABC picked it up and showed reruns during the 1986–1987 season; they aired it at 8:00 AM so that the two Disney shows would not be in competition with one another.
It was a bigger success in the United Kingdom, where the first episode aired as a theatrical featurette in 1986 alongside a re-release of Disney's Bambi. In the United Kingdom, The Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears were originally screened on the same channel in 1985/1986; therefore, both series enjoyed high popularity. Reruns of the show were aired on both The Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Songwriter Stephen Geyer performed the lead vocal and composed the theme song.

Characters

These characters appeared only as plush toys.

Legacy

Butterbear and Rhinokey will appear in a future episode of DuckTales. Unlike their original TV series' appearances, Butterbear and Rhinokey's designs are more realistic and animalistic.