Strange Tales of Weird Science

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Season	1
Episode	Strange Tales of Weird Science
Broadcast Information
Airdate	October 14, 1990
Credits
Written by	Eddie Fitzgerald, Earl Kress, Tom Minton
Directed by	Eddie Fitzgerald, Art Leonardi (as Alan Smithee)
Episode Guide
Previous	Career Oppor-Toon-ities
Next	Inside Plucky Duck

Strange Tales of Weird Science is the 38th aired episode and third production episode of Tiny Toon Adventures.

Wraparounds

The episode begins with Buster and Babs being late. Elmyra Duff catches them, dresses them as babies, and feeds them mud pies. To escape, they trick her into thinking she is a woodpecker.

In the second act, Buster and Babs show the viewers the Acme Schtick center, were minds are altered, including Furrball's.

Buster and Babs introduce the last episode segment, about Plucky Duck and his polluted pond.

Episode Segments

Scentimental Pig

At the Acme Chemical Plant, a scientist invents a formula that makes anything irresistably delicious. He tests it on some cat food, and the dog immediately tests it. He leaves the formula on the windowsill, as Hamton passes by. The formula lands on him, and as he passes by Granny and a baby, they follow him and try to eat him. Hamton escapes, only to have dozens of dogs chase him.

Hamton rushes back home, to find Plucky there. He tells him that everyone is trying to eat him. Plucky sniffs him and immediately wants to eat him. He tries to hide him, in various things, such as a microwave, toaster, and pot on the stove. Hamton thinks Plucky is trying to eat him, so he runs away and Plucky chases him. They run into the Acme Chemical Plant and the formula lands on Plucky. Everyone wants to eat him now, so he begs Hamton to hide him. Hamton, wanting to eat Plucky as well, puts him in a hot dog cart, a microwave, and several restaurants.

Pit Bullied

Sweetie is relaxing in her nest when Furrball tries to eat her. He chases her to a phone booth, where she sees in a phone book an advertisement for the Acme Schtick Center, which can stop bird cravings. Furrball chases her to the Acme Schtick Center, where he is tested not to eat a robot bird. He passes this test, but fails the test not to eat Sweetie. She takes him to a mind-altering machine, and changes what Furrball craves, eventually settling on pit bull.

Furrball goes to Arnold's house, where Arnold is reading a bodybuilder magazine. As he tries to eat Arnold, he is kicked out. In another attempt where Arnold is sleeping, he floats by on a balloon and sprinkles salt on him. A tree branch pops the balloon and he lands on Arnold, who tells him that if he ever sees him again, he's going to pump him up. Later, Furrball replaces Arnold's suntan lotion with hot sauce. Arnold is aware of this, and fills Furrball with it. Finally, Furrball buys an Acme portable microwave cooker, and tests it on some eggs. He sets it to Roast Pit Bull and tries to zap Arnold, who is tanning, but instead the beam reflects off the tanning bed and zaps him instead.

Arnold asks Furrball why he would want to eat a pit bull. Furrball remembers what Sweetie did to him and takes him to the Acme Schtick Center. Back at Sweetie's nest, Sweetie is relaxing, relieved that Furrball is out of the way. Suddenly, Arnold appears in a helicopter and tries to eat her, as Furrball programmed him to eat birds. Buster and Babs end the cartoon by telling the viewers that Furrball has been reprogrammed as well, as a strict vegetarian. Unfortunately, Furrball eats some leaves from a poison ivy patch.

Duck in the Muck

Plucky is enjoying a swim in his pond, when suddenly, the pond is polluted with toxic waste, which turns a frog into a 4-eyed mutant. Plucky discovers that there are toxic waste barrels at the bottom of his pond. Plucky dresses as the Toxic Revenger and follows the trail of toxic waste to the Acme Ice Cream Spoon Factory. At the factory, trees have been cut down to make one ice cream spoon apiece, and the rest of the tree makes toxic waste. Plucky confronts Montana Max, the owner of the factory, but Monty ejects him from the factory.

Later, Plucky shows Monty what his pollution has done to the animals, as a bear has a fawn's head growing out from his head. Monty once again ejects Plucky out of the factory. Plucky returns, and uses a pipe to flood Monty's office with toxic waste. This makes Monty mutate and grow a second head and a dragon tail. They chase Plucky, and knock him into the spoon machine. Plucky hides in the spoon machine and the mutated Monty chases him, eventually destroying the factory. With the factory destroyed, the forest is restored to its original beauty, but the toxic waste from the factory makes Plucky grow a second head. The 4-eyed frog presents Plucky with a trophy, and the mutated Plucky sets off into the sunset. Buster, Babs, Hamton, Furrball and Sweetie end the cartoon by clog dancing.

Cast

Voice Actors:	Character(s):
Charlie Adler	Buster Bunny, Mutant Bear
Tress MacNeille	Babs Bunny, Monty's Secretary, Granny
Joe Alaskey	Plucky Duck, Doctor
Don Messick	Hamton J. Pig, Dog
Danny Cooksey	Montana Max
Cree Summer	Elmyra Duff
Frank Welker	Furrball, Mutant Frog
Rob Paulsen	Arnold the Pit Bull, Dr. Fritz
Candi Milo	Sweetie Bird

Quotes

• Hamton (As a baby tries to eat him): "Naughty, naughty! Why, what would your grandmother say?"

Granny: "I'd say, 'let's do lunch!'"

• Arnold (Hypnotized by Furrball to eat Sweetie): "Birdies, birdies, love little birdies, got to eat birdies!"
• Monty: "I've got to make even more ice cream spoons, and bigger ones! Now get to work!" (camera pans to reveal that all the employees are stuffed animals) "Why are you just sitting there?"
• Monty (About a fawn) "Oh, isn't that cute?"

Bear (Reveals the fawn was mutated from him) "You wouldn't think it was cute if it was growing out of your noodle, bub!"

• 4-eyed frog (About Plucky's mutation): "Here, you deserve this more than I do."

Allusions

• In the opening wraparound, when Buster and Babs escape from Elmyra by telling her she's a woodpecker, Buster tells her, "See you, Woody!". Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who also created Bugs and Daffy. Woody was also originally voiced by the late Mel Blanc, who was the voice of most of the Looney Tunes up until his death.

• In the episode segment, Scentimental Pig, when Plucky is chasing Hamton, he says, "Heigh-ho, Silverware!", a reference to The Lone Ranger's catchphrase, "Heigh-ho, Silver!". The William Tell Overture, which was also used in the Lone Ranger television series, also plays during this scene.

• In the episode segment, Duck in the Muck, when Plucky gives the Mutant Frog a trophy, he refers to him as "Kermie", a reference to Miss Piggy's nickname for Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Show.

• In the episode segment, Duck in the Muck, when Plucky puts his head in the water, one of the things that pass by is the wreck of the S.S. Minnow, the very ship from Gilligan's Island.

Trivia

• The opening for this episode was originally an unused scene from The Looney Beginning, but with a rough fade-in and altered dialogue.
• Production-wise, this is Arnold's debut appearance on the show, as well as the first speaking role of Sweetie, and the debut of Plucky's superhero ego, The Toxic Revenger.
• In the episode segment, Scentimental Pig, Hamton sings "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", a song that was commonly used instrumentally in the openings to Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies shorts.
• In the episode segment, Scentimental Pig, Hamton doesn't fit in the microwave, but for some reason, he fits in the toaster.
• In the episode segment, Pit Bullied, the animals Sweetie saw while reprogramming Furrball has had a brief history of him (with the exception of the elephant). Bookworm was with him and Hamton in the Wacko World of Sports episode segment, Tennis the Menace, where they lost a game of tennis to Montana Max, Fifi had a brief romance with him in the Furrball Follies episode segment, Aroma Amore, when she thought he was a skunk, and Arnold of course, has bullied him on several occasions, including this episode.
• The episode segments, Pit Bullied and Duck in the Muck are both credited with "Alan Smithee" as the director. "Alan Smithee" is a pseudonym used in Hollywood whenever one is unsatisfied with their work and decide to disassociate oneself with a particular project. Both segments were actually directed by Art Leonardi.
• At the end of Duck in the Muck, it marks the second time Plucky grew a second head. The first time was at the end of the You Asked for It episode segment, Duck Out of Luck. However, in Duck in the Muck, this happened due to the exposure to toxic waste, whereas in Duck Out of Luck, Plucky was in the process of splitting into Buster and Babs.

Transcript

• To read the transcript of this episode, click here.

Gallery

Main article: Strange Tales of Weird Science/Gallery

Home Video Releases

Tiny Toon Adventures Season 1, Vol. 2 DVD