Bucky O'Hare (a.k.a Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars), was a cartoon series loosely based on the Bucky O'Hare comics of the mid-80's, with various alterations to some characters and plot points. The series itself was a collection of 13 episodes that ran for about 20 minutes and was a somewhat continuous story, with it starting on the Toad invasion of Warren (Bucky's homeworld) and ending with them resolving the ark. Not every episode was a part of it and a some did have more character focus episodes, which naturally brings us to the characters.
Bucky O'Hare, famous greet rabbit hero and captain of the small spaceship Righteous Indignation. He's smart and courageous, but sort of has to be as he deal with the idiocy that is the board members the United Animal Security Council (seriously, he draws their attention to the Toad threat and their solution is to grant his request for a fleet......consisting of one new ship). He is very much the heroic space captain, cloak included, but doesn't have the over inflated ego of some. He knows his crew well and trusts them, working together as a team, knowing he can't fight alone. Then again, he does choose to go in alone a number of times, so I can never tell if the plain is brilliant or suicidal. Guess that's the only choices you can make leading a small crew against an entire Empire.
Jenny is a Cat and First Mate on the ship. She possesses something equivalent to magic, something she learned from being part of a sacred Sisterhood. Such powers she keeps hidden from her crew mates, though Willy does learn about them and keeps her secret. Jenny gave Willy a communication stone, which she uses to call him when the crew needs his assistance. Next is Dead-Eye Duck, a four armed black Duck who is also a former pirate, possibly explaining the eye patch. He is the ships gunner and is always wanting to shoot Toads, so tends to be a little trigger happy in wanting to get into the action.
Then there is the one-eyed android called Blinky. Blinky is good at pointing out problems and cleaning after baboons, but tends to work more as an assistant then anything else. Bruce is the original engineer on the ship, but in the cartoon an accident with the Photon Accelerator sends him to another dimension. In the second episode we are introduced to his brother Brusier, who is a marine and is more brawn then brains. Both are Betelgeusian Berserker Baboon, creatures whom Toads are terrified of.
Finally there's Willy DuWitt. He's a human boy genius who invents his own Photon Accelerator and uses it to travel to the Aniverse (short for animal universe my guess is). Here he splits his life between living on Earth and working as the ships engineer. While Bucky is the main character, Willy is the focus character, with the show having a focus on him, mostly I guess as a means for kids to insert themselves in the situation. Willy's problem is that he is technically smart, but a little lost in the real world around him (pointed out to him by Susie, a girl who he's friends with at school).
The Villains themselves tend to be rather incompetent, if a little silly at times. Then again, what does one expect when they use a lazy amphibian race as their soldiers. The main villain KOMPLEX is a computer program that was designed to make the Toads lifestyle easier, but evolved into a universe dominating system. Brainwashing the populous through Toad T.V, he turned them into soldiers and had his armies begin their galactic conquest. Being an A.I however, means he has to rely on his minions to accomplish his goals.
The head Toad in charge of this is simply called Toad Air Marshall. He considers Bucky to be his Arch-Rival and tends to make mistakes when going overboard to destroy his hated foe. He has an obsession for medals, but is still as cowardly as everyone else. He also tends to be followed by his own dimwitted sidekicks of Frix and Frax, who would prefer to just watch Toad T.V. and do little else.
A more competent minion of KOMPLEX is one Toad Borg, who was once a Toad soldier who is now a cybernetic monstrosity. He tends to have better plans and better combat skills, but tends to let his anger get the best of him. Finally there is Al Negator, who is an Alligator mercenary. He tends to show up from time to time as someone in payed employment of the Toads.
Now at this point I probably talk about the quality of the animation, but given most of the videos I have found tend to be in low VHS quality, it can be difficult at times to tell. That said, it does look colourful and certainly the designs are look great (yes, they are based on the original comic, but a number of cast were specially created for the show and they are designed to match the same universe). The music is great, matching the scenes and helping to get into those moments of action which is great as there are a good number of action scenes. I also love the voice cast for a number of characters as it not only sounds great, but no one ever really comes off as sounding annoying. This is a great boon to the show, as there is no real character that I can think of that I didn't enjoy watching and given how some of them sound, that is something I consider a real plus.
There are a couple of things about this universe that I question. Most obvious one is that of the Righteous Indignation. I mean, just look at it. How does a ship that small be so effective? Where do they store all the supplies that they need in space? Where do they even sleep? This ship alone has taken on the Toad might and still come out the other side and if it is that good, why doesn't the United Animal Security Council just build a fleet of them? Cheap is what they are. Gotta wonder why Bucky even tries to save their behinds. And how do Toad bubbles work? Do they have homing beacons to alert other ships of their location? How does this all work? This is what happens when you think too deeply on an animated space adventure.
What does confuse me more is the fact that this series only got 13 episodes. I don't understand it as having gone back and watched them all again, I can honestly say I absolutely enjoyed it. Given the type of shows that were around in the late 80's/early 90's, the fact that this show has so few episodes seems a real shame. The theme song alone is well remembered and well loved and even to this day there is a strong fan base for this series. Heck, there are functioning websites that are still running that are dedicated to the series. There is even a push to see the revival of the characters and series, though like with most attempts to revive shows, they don't always go the way we'd like. Still, after re-watching the series again, I would love to see it brought back in some form or another. I know that they are bringing out the characters in figures, with the first wave already out. You can check them out at Boss Fight.
Overall, it was an absolute blast to watch this again. I do highly recommend this as something to sit down and watch. At 13 episodes, you can find play lists on Youtube, so you can probably watch the whole thing in one sitting (a day to sit back for fun and adventure). Personally, I'd love to see a DVD box set on this one, so if by chance its popularity takes the jump it needs, then perhaps we may eventually see one. Until then, I shall keep my imagination open to what adventures lay beyond in the Aniverse.
Also, that theme song. It is so damn addictive.
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