Friday, December 12, 2014

Rein-Toon-Ation: Police Academy (1988)

The success of the Police Academy movie series gave rise to an animated daily series that lasted 2 years (1988-90). Perhaps the reason it failed to catch on might be that Ruby-Spears & Warner Bros. couldn't convince the movie cast (i.e. Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow, et al) to contribute to the cartoon, which was set between the 4th & 5th films in the series. Aside from veterans Howard Morris & Frank Welker, the cast for the cartoon was made up largely of unknowns. Ironically, Winslow got his start in cartoons (Space Stars) 7 years earlier, and would've had the easiest job reprising as Larvell Jones.

Today, the series sits in WB's vaults after having been released on DVD, and at no time do I recall it airing on either Cartoon Network or Boomerang. To help refresh your memory, here's the episode, "The Good, The Bad, & The Bogus":



Rating: C.

3 comments:

magicdog said...

I remember this series and unfortunately, so much potential went untapped - I think that's due to the big screen counterpart's raunchiness, which of course had to be toned down for Saturday morning TV.

I agree if several original cast members could have reprised their roles, it would have added much to the series. At least Michael Winslow should have been there as Officer Jones.

Guttenberg by then had left the film series and was going into more mature films, so he seemed eager to leave his Officer Mahoney character behind.

Zed in this series was virtually unrecognizable - and the voice didn't suit him either. The K9 crew was pretty funny though - especially officer Chili Pepper!

Goldstar said...

The opening theme song for 'Police Academy: The Series' was performed by The Fat Boys, who appeared in one episode of the show in animated form, playing themselves.

Naturally, because this was a kids' cartoon, many of the extremes from the movies had to be toned down. Tackleberry, for example, was more of a stoic, unflappable tough as nails officer instead of the barely controllable gun nut that he was in the films. Also, he had to utilize more cartoony objects, such as spring boxing gloves and cream pies, for ammo.

hobbyfan said...

The series was, as noted, a weekday show, not SatAM, but your point is taken, Magicdog. If they had gotten Bobcat Goldthwait, Tim Kazurinsky, Winslow, et al, maybe it goes to a 2nd season. Wikipedia let an idiot claim it was 2 seasons, when most of us know that back then, 65 episodes (13 weeks) equaled a season for a weekday show back then.

Goldstar: I forgot to mention the Fat Boys' recording the theme song. Thanks.