The Toontails is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series follows a trio of cartoon characters—Landin, Kicky and Licker—as they embarked on various misadventures and adventures around Toontown and Los Angeles.
Originally pitched to Warner Bros. in the late 1990s, the series was eventually picked up by Disney Channel, originally broadcast as a one-episode preview on February 5, 2000, following the premiere of The Color of Friendship, and again previewed on March 24, 2000; the series officially premiered on April 29, 2000.
The series has been a ratings success for Disney Channel, and some episodes have attracted over three million viewers; despite being aimed primarily at children, it has developed a following among teenagers and adults. The series has received worldwide critical acclaim since its premiere and had gained enormous popularity by its second season, and since 2000, becoming one of Disney Channel's most popular series of all time, garnering high ratings, and anchored Disney Channel as the network's top-rated show, establishing Landin, Kicky and Licker as a well-known mascots of Disney Channel. The show is also Disney's second longest-running animated series, behind Tyler & Marky. It has inspired three feature films: The Toontails Movie (2005), The Toontails Movie: Getting Real in Fabulous 3D! (2016) and The Toontails: The Great Toon Caper (2022). Five spin-off series, Hello, Serenity!, Life in Toontown, The Really Odd Adventures with Lana & Sarah, Toon Toon: Toontails' Academy Years and Licker's Nightly Talk Show, premiered in 2008, 2013, 2019 and 2021. As of January 2023, four additional films are planned: three character spinoff films for Disney+ and a theatrical Toontails film. The twenty season will airing in September 2024. As of November 12, 2019, all prior seasons of the show are available on Disney+.
The Toontails has won many awards including: 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, three Annie Awards, two British Academy Children's Awards, a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award, and a Kerrang! Award. The series has also been nominated for three Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Annecy Festival Awards, a TCA Award, and a Sundance Film Festival Award, among others. Since the series' premiere, it has spawned various forms of licensed merchandise, including books, video games and clothing.
Premise
Setting
The primary setting of The Toontails is Toontown, an animated metropolis/mega city adjacent to Los Angeles where all toons live.
Characters
Main
- Landin Toontail (voiced by Eric Bauza) - One of the main characters of this show. He is a very interesting black-and-white dog.
- Kicky Toontail (voiced by Jason Marsden) - One of the main characters of this show. He is the brains of the trio, but kind of stubborn cat.
- Licker Toontail (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - One of the main characters of this show. He's crazy and optimistic yet energetic and playful fox.
- Bella Toontail (voiced by TBD) - One of the main characters of this show since the sixth season.
Supporting
- Lana Hope (voiced by Ashley Johnson) - the tomboyish yet beautiful animator who created the Toontails.
- Sarah Doll (voiced by E.G. Daily from 2000 to 2005 and Kari Wahlgren afterwards) - a cutesy, but boy-crazy and kind of dumb girl who is Lana's BFF.
- Walter J. Wolf (voiced by Jim Cummings) - a unlucky yet intelligent wolf who is surprisingly friends with Landin, Kicky and Licker.
- Dr. Hairballz (also voiced by Rob Paulsen) - a psychiatrist cat who keeping an eye on the Toontails when they got problems.
- The Damsels, consisting of:
- Lindsay Damsel (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - TBD
- Marlie Damsel (voiced by Kath Soucie) - TBD
- Destiny Damsel (also voiced by Kath Soucie) - TBD
- Darry V. Owl (also voiced by Rob Paulsen) - a screwball, but sometimes greedy owl who thinks he's better than everybody, especially the Toontails.
- Danny Dog (voiced by Jess Harnell) - A blue-spotted dog who is often nervous and known for his anxious personality.
- Cherry Creampie (voiced by E.G. Daily from 2000 to 2005 and Jessica DiCicco 2005 afterwards) - a cutesy teenage toon girl who is a mascot of the dessert bakery.
- Mayor Gumbo (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) - the black-and-white dumb mayor of Toontown.
- Serenity Snow (voiced by Catherine Cavadini) - a kind, optimistic and beautiful "wannabe princess" who always idolizes Disney Princesses, as she wanted to act like them, but on her own way.
- Daniel "Danny" Tops (voiced by Quinton Flynn) - a sly, clever, smart, sarcastic, wise-cracking, arrogant, greedy, and somewhat bossy human toon con-artist who has occasionally scammed characters in exchange of getting some quick cash.
- Walter Loop (voiced by Billy West) - Daniel's best friend as he's often forced to help him with his schemes, even if he doesn't mind being with him due to wanting to put some reason into his head.
More coming soon!
Antagonists
- Nurse Winona (also voiced by Jennifer Hale) - a beautiful but selfish and totally insane toon nurse who want to take over Toontown as she always wanted to get attention from anyone.
- Ratter R. Trat (voiced by Jeff Bennent) - a aristocratic and gentleman-like toon cat who tried to both captured mices for the cat and take control of Toontown.
- Laurene Rich (voiced by Tress MacNeille) - a greedy and powerful rich lady who wants everything that she ever wanted while trying to get rid of the Toontails.
More coming soon!
Cameos
- Main article: List of cameos in The Toontails
Coming soon!
Production
Development
Tom Ruegger first wrote the treatment and the characters for the series in 1995, during the production of the third season of his successful series Animaniacs. The series' origin was inspired by the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Ruegger began conceiving The Toontails in 1996.
Originally, the series was intended to be co-produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment for Kids' WB. However, Warner Bros. turned it down as they considered it "too extreme" to succeed and they thought the characters was too similar to the Warner siblings from Animaniacs. Spielberg had insisted that the series be produced at DreamWorks Animation, but Ruegger ultimately refused. Because of this, Spielberg was later backed out of the project and Ruegger began shopping the series somewhere else. He then tried pitching the Toontails to other studios, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios, as well as other networks, such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, GlobeBox and Fox Kids, but all of them turned it down.
A few months later, Ruegger signed an agreement with Walt Disney Television Animation and greenlit the show, after they were impressed with the idea. It was originally scheduled to be aired on ABC as part of its One Saturday Morning block for fall 1999, but since Disney Channel was very interested at the premise, it was pushed to early 2000 as its first animated original series. Production of the series began in September 1998 after Animaniacs ended its production.
Executive producers and showrunners
Coming soon!
Writing
Coming soon!
Voice actors
Coming soon!
Animation
In order to craft a set of rules alongside the models for the characters that they then used and in order to complete 21 episodes for the first season, Walt Disney Television Animation contracted Disney Animation Canada in Vancouver and Toronto; Disney Animation Japan in Tokyo; Yowza! Animation in Toronto; Toon City Animation in Manila; StarToons in Chicago; Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. in Seoul; and Disney Animation Australia in Sydney. Disney Animation Japan also animated the series' opening sequence. Eric Goldberg serves as the series' animation director and lead animator.
Given that it's animated in digital-ink-and-paint, The Toontails was made with a higher production value than other Disney animated shows, with characters often moving fluidly and not regularly standing still and speaking, as in other television cartoons.
After the closure of Disney Animation Canada in 2000, Disney Animation Japan in 2004 and StarToons in 2001 and following departures of Disney Animation Australia in 2003, Rough Draft in 2005 and Toon City in 2021, the series animation was switched to Mercury Filmworks (staring with season five), Tonic DNA (starting with half of season 10), and Snipple Animation Studios (starting with half of season 10).
Music
Coming soon!
Broadcast
- Main article: The Toontails/Broadcast
Episodes
- Main article: List of The Toontails episodes
Crossovers
Coming soon!
Ratings
Coming soon!
Reception
Critical response
Coming soon!
Awards and accolades
Coming soon!
Fandom
Coming soon!
Criticism
Coming soon!
Other media
Spin-offs
Coming soon!
Streaming
Coming soon!
Home video
- Main article: List of The Toontails home media releases
From 2001 onward, all the home media releases were distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. It appeared in either season sets or episode sets.
More coming soon!
Comic books
Coming soon!
Films
- Main article: The Toontails Movie
- Main article: The Toontails Movie: Getting Real in Fabulous 3D!
- Main article: The Toontails: The Great Toon Caper
Coming soon!
Television films
Coming soon!
Video games
- Main article: List of The Toontails video games
Coming soon!
Music
Coming soon!
Theme park attractions
Coming soon!
Shorts
Coming soon!
Merchandise
Coming soon!
Other appearances
Coming soon!
Gallery
Coming soon!
Trivia
- Many Disney characters appear as guest stars or cameos depending on the episode.
- This is the first animated Disney Channel original series, not counting the seasons 9-11 of Tyler & Marky.
More coming soon!