Furrball
Encyclopedia
Furrball is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros.
animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures
. He is one of the main characters on the show.
with a hole on his right ear and a bandage
on his tail. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres.
Furrball's mentor and favorite teacher at school is Sylvester the Cat, although the two's similarities only seemed to include their appetites. Several of Furrball's traits and appearances in fact relate him to another feline Looney Tunes character Penelope Pussycat
.
, (in spite of the latter, he was absent from the spin-off Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain
). In contrast to most of the other characters, he did not speak and was portrayed as a typical pet character (such as in the Porky Pig
and Sylvester
cartoons, in which Sylvester appears in to have a rare non-speaking role).
Furrball spent much of his time trying unsuccessfully to eat Sweetie Pie
, a pink canary; and Li'l Sneezer, a baby mouse with many allergies and hurricane-force sneezes. However, there has been one occasion where Furrball got the last laugh on Sweetie when he had Arnold the Pit Bull to be hypnotized to chase her after recovering from the hypnosis she put him under.
As the intro suggests, Furrball is prone to misfortune ("unlucky" in the intro) and dealing with his main enemy, Spiky the bulldog
. Furrball has also proven to be one of the most versatile characters on the entire show. Some of his many misadventures included getting a pair of malfunctioning 3-D glasses glued to his head, being hypnotized into trying to eat Arnold the Pit Bull for supper, becoming the host of a family of singing Italian fleas, being the love-interest of an amorous Fifi Le Fume
after involuntarily winding up with a white stripe down his back, and being chased by the temporarily transformed Sweetie, a large, carnivorous, evil-eyed, feathered Mr. Hyde-Frankenstein
monster who wants to eat Furrball in a manner similar to one their mentors went through in the classic Looney Tunes short Hyde and Go Tweet
.
Furrball also had a bad encounter with Byron Basset, who prevented Furrball from trying to eat some baby birds that he was protecting. Usually, though, the two of them are seen as living peacefully together, not paying much attention to each other and minding their own business.
Although several appearances compared him to Sylvester, there were a few cartoons that cast him in a more sympathetic light. In these appearances, Furrball is an abandoned alley cat, constantly looking for a home. The shorts would depict his misadventures in this goal, such as being mistaken for a dog by a blind couple; situations that were humorous, but also gathered pity for the character. He was a lonely cat against the world, but never gave up hope, much like legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin
.
Furrball's end tag credit is him roaring at the screen like a lion
, before covering his mouth and letting out an apologetic mew.
. However, it is revealed that he speaks in three episodes. In the episode Duck Trek (in which Furrball played a spoof of Star Trek
's Leonard McCoy
), he was voiced by Rob Paulsen
(actually, he was lip-synching). In the episode Buster and the Wolverine (a spoof of the classic musical children's story, Peter and the Wolf
), it is revealed that Furrball is voiced by his regular voice actor, Frank Welker
. In the episode Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow, he speaks precisely one word ("Years!", referring to how long he had been held captive by Elmyra; of course, he was exaggerating), with his voice again being provided by Welker. At the end of one episode after he and Dizzy Devil exposed the Perfecto Prep students' cheating at a baseball game, they both said at a victory party this one line: "We love Baseball". Through the majority of the show, Furrball was in fact a mute
.
in the segment "Home on De-Nile", where he is offered as one of the cats to Cleopatra.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
. He is one of the main characters on the show.
Description
Furrball is a young, blue male catCat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
with a hole on his right ear and a bandage
Bandage
A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to the body; they can also be used to restrict a part of the body. During heavy bleeding or following a poisonous bite it is important to slow the flow of blood,...
on his tail. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres.
Furrball's mentor and favorite teacher at school is Sylvester the Cat, although the two's similarities only seemed to include their appetites. Several of Furrball's traits and appearances in fact relate him to another feline Looney Tunes character Penelope Pussycat
Penelope Pussycat
Penelope Pussycat is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic cat featured in the Warner Bros. classic Looney Tunes animated shorts. Though typically a non-speaker, her "meows" and "purrs" were most often provided by Mel Blanc using a feminine voice. In the 1959 short "Really Scent", she was...
.
Biography and Personality
Furrball is usually depicted as living in a cardboard box in a back alley or as an unwilling pet of ElmyraElmyra Duff
Elmyra Jessica Duff is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. She is one of the main characters from the show. Elmyra is voiced by Cree Summer in all of her appearances...
, (in spite of the latter, he was absent from the spin-off Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain
Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain
Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain is the retooling of the American animated television series Pinky and the Brain , with the title characters being joined by Elmyra Duff from their other show Tiny Toon Adventures...
). In contrast to most of the other characters, he did not speak and was portrayed as a typical pet character (such as in the Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
and Sylvester
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
cartoons, in which Sylvester appears in to have a rare non-speaking role).
Furrball spent much of his time trying unsuccessfully to eat Sweetie Pie
Sweetie Pie
Sweetie Pie may refer to:*A term of endearment, a word or phrase used to address and/or describe a person, animal or inanimate object for which the speaker feels love or affection*Sweetie Pie , an American thriller film...
, a pink canary; and Li'l Sneezer, a baby mouse with many allergies and hurricane-force sneezes. However, there has been one occasion where Furrball got the last laugh on Sweetie when he had Arnold the Pit Bull to be hypnotized to chase her after recovering from the hypnosis she put him under.
As the intro suggests, Furrball is prone to misfortune ("unlucky" in the intro) and dealing with his main enemy, Spiky the bulldog
Bulldog
Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
. Furrball has also proven to be one of the most versatile characters on the entire show. Some of his many misadventures included getting a pair of malfunctioning 3-D glasses glued to his head, being hypnotized into trying to eat Arnold the Pit Bull for supper, becoming the host of a family of singing Italian fleas, being the love-interest of an amorous Fifi Le Fume
Fifi Le Fume
Fifi La Fume is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros.animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. She is one of the main characters on the show. Fifi is voiced by Kath Soucie. Fifi is a young, purple and white female skunk with a pink bowed ribbon in her hair. She attends Acme...
after involuntarily winding up with a white stripe down his back, and being chased by the temporarily transformed Sweetie, a large, carnivorous, evil-eyed, feathered Mr. Hyde-Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
monster who wants to eat Furrball in a manner similar to one their mentors went through in the classic Looney Tunes short Hyde and Go Tweet
Hyde and Go Tweet
Hyde and Go Tweet is a Merrie Melodies animated short starring Tweety and Sylvester. Released May 14, 1960, the cartoon is directed by Friz Freleng. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc....
.
Furrball also had a bad encounter with Byron Basset, who prevented Furrball from trying to eat some baby birds that he was protecting. Usually, though, the two of them are seen as living peacefully together, not paying much attention to each other and minding their own business.
Although several appearances compared him to Sylvester, there were a few cartoons that cast him in a more sympathetic light. In these appearances, Furrball is an abandoned alley cat, constantly looking for a home. The shorts would depict his misadventures in this goal, such as being mistaken for a dog by a blind couple; situations that were humorous, but also gathered pity for the character. He was a lonely cat against the world, but never gave up hope, much like legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
.
Furrball's end tag credit is him roaring at the screen like a lion
Leo the Lion (MGM)
Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures, featured in the studio's production logo, which was created by the Paramount Studios art director Lionel S. Reiss....
, before covering his mouth and letting out an apologetic mew.
Voice
As Furrball hardly ever spoke throughout the show, his typical cat sounds are provided by Frank WelkerFrank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
. However, it is revealed that he speaks in three episodes. In the episode Duck Trek (in which Furrball played a spoof of Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
's Leonard McCoy
Leonard McCoy
Leonard "Bones" McCoy is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek series, McCoy also appears in the animated Star Trek series, seven Star Trek movies, the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in numerous books,...
), he was voiced by Rob Paulsen
Rob Paulsen
Robert Fredrick "Rob" Paulsen III , sometimes credited as Rob Paulson, is an American voice actor, best known as the voice behind Raphael from the 1987 cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yakko Warner and Dr...
(actually, he was lip-synching). In the episode Buster and the Wolverine (a spoof of the classic musical children's story, Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf
Peter and the Wolf , Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story , spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra....
), it is revealed that Furrball is voiced by his regular voice actor, Frank Welker
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
. In the episode Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow, he speaks precisely one word ("Years!", referring to how long he had been held captive by Elmyra; of course, he was exaggerating), with his voice again being provided by Welker. At the end of one episode after he and Dizzy Devil exposed the Perfecto Prep students' cheating at a baseball game, they both said at a victory party this one line: "We love Baseball". Through the majority of the show, Furrball was in fact a mute
Mute
Mute may refer to:* Muteness, a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak* Mute, a silent letter in phonology* Mute , an upcoming sequel to the movie Moon...
.
Other Appearances
Furrball made a brief cameo appearance on AnimaniacsAnimaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
in the segment "Home on De-Nile", where he is offered as one of the cats to Cleopatra.
External links
- Tiny Toon Adventures at the Big Cartoon DataBaseBig Cartoon DataBaseThe Big Cartoon DataBase is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows and cartoon shorts....