Bonkers was a Disney cartoon series that aired from 1993 to 1995.

A conceptual spin-off of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Bonkers told the story of a world where "toons" and humans co-exist in the same universe. Unlike Roger Rabbit, however, Bonkers was 100% animated and featured no live action.

The premise of the series was that Bonkers D. Bobcat, a popular toon movie star (he appeared in shorts in the Disney Raw Toonage series) had decided to retire from show business and become a cop. Unfortunately, he was made the junior partner of Detective Lucky Piquel, a grim and ill-tempered human who hates toons. Throughout the series, the pair work together to solve crimes in the Hollywood, California region. Bonkers repeatedly tried to win Piquel's praise, but usually just ended up messing things up with his antics.

After several years of working together, Piquel was given an FBI job in Washington, DC, and with great glee was finally able to leave Bonkers. Bonkers was given a new partner, the attractive Sergeant Miranda Wright, who although also human, was far more patient and tolerant of his antics than Piquel.

The series had 65 episodes in all, and was part of The Disney Afternoon.

Interestingly, the actual episodes of Bonkers were not created in chronological order. The "Miranda" episodes were actually produced first, excluding the two-part series premire, which featured Piquel and Bonkers meeting for the first time.

It is also interesting to note that Bonkers looked different in his initial appearance: originally, in the Raw Toonage shorts, he was orange with one brown spot with his ears appearing as golf clubs, and is tail being undone. When the Lucky Piquel episodes (produced by Robert Taylor) were made, the character had a major overhaul; his ears were now skinny, the spots on his tuffs were now black (now two on each tuff), his tail was now black-striped, and Bonkers had a different uniform. The Miranda Wright-era episodes (produced by Duane Capizzi ) have his appearance in the original look from Raw Toonage. This may explain why the "Miranda" episodes were made before the new "Lucky" episodes.

The series also occasionally featured episodes that were just "cartoons" in which Bonkers was an actor, prior his police career. These were all lifted from the Raw Toonage series.

Characters

• Bonkers D. Bobcat - The toon cop.
• Lucky Piquel - Bonkers' partner from the "Lucky Episodes".
• Miranda Wright - Bonkers' partner from the "Miranda Episodes".
• Chief Leonard Kanifky - the absent-minded Chief of Police.
• Sergeant Francis Q. Grating - boss of Bonkers and Miranda.
• Fall-Apart Rabbit - a clumsy friend of Bonkers, appearing only in the "Lucky" episodes.
• Toots - Bonkers' pet horn.
• Fawn Deer - Bonkers' girlfriend. Also appeared in Raw Toonage.
• Jitters A. Dog - was Bonkers' sidekick in Raw Toonage, now Bonkers' "best friend", though Jitters himself would disagree.
• Grumbles Grizzly - was Bonkers' boss in Raw Toonage, appears occasionally in Bonkers.
• The Collector - the villain from the pilot episode ("Going Bonkers"), and therefore, the first criminal Bonkers encounters.
• Mr. Doodles - The Collector's evil henchman.
• Al Vermin - Bonkers' arch nemesis from the Miranda-era.
• Lilith DuPrave - another villain from the same season.
• Flaps the Elephant - a toon villain from the "Miranda Episodes".

Many Disney characters created prior to the show made cameo, and sometimes, unseen appearances including Goofy, Donald Duck, Darkwing Duck, Mickey Mouse, Dumbo and Marsupilami.

Video games

Two Bonkers-themed video games were produced, one for the Super Nintendo and one for the Sega Genesis. Both were called simply "Bonkers."

• Bonkers (Sega Genesis) , released December 15, 1994. Bonkers is on his first case alone, and must retrieve the Toontown treasure of the Sorcerer's Hat (from Fantasia), the Mermaid's Voice (The Little Mermaid ), and the Magic Lamp (Aladdin).
• Bonkers (SNES) , released October 1, 1995.

External links

Bonkers' episode guide