Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Toons After Dark: I Am Weasel (1997)

Amidst the stupidity of Cow & Chicken was a backup feature that was actually better than the lead, enough to earn its own series. But, since this is Cartoon Network we're dealing with, I Am Weasel didn't fare quite as well on its own.

I. M. Weasel (Michael Dorn, ex-Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine) is not your ordinary, stereotypical weasel. He's a philanthropic do-gooder, apparently college educated, and a hero to the masses. I. R. Baboon (Charlie Adler) is, well, dumber than a bag of hammers, yet jealous of Weasel's success. So, each of the shorts depicts Baboon trying to one-up Weasel, and, more often than not, failing in epic style.

When Weasel was granted his own series, creator David Feiss proved to be just as dim as Baboon by inserting the Red Guy (Adler), his personifcation of the Devil, as an unnecessary agent provocateur. The Red Guy was the square peg that didn't belong in the round hole of this show, and all by himself is the reason I Am Weasel ended up a failure.

Unfortunately, none of the shorts are available on YouTube. We just have the intro:




Ok, so Weasel was meant to be a funny animal MacGyver. Then Feiss screwed up. And he hasn't had a hit since.

Rating: B-.

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

I had wondered why the Red Guy suddenly began turning up in the I.M. Weasel shorts. I guess he was either popular with fans or perhaps David Feiss just really liked the character; either way, he was the textbook example of a 'third wheel' that simply had no place on 'I.M. Weasel'.

hobbyfan said...

Red Guy wasn't popular with me, let me tell ya. He was about as annoying as those telemarketers who call and hang up, just tricking you into answering the phone.