I have such fond memories of this cartoon, though it didn't actually start until I was already a teenager... but that's besides the point.

Bonkers is a spinoff of the CBS series Raw Toonage, which was a pretty good cartoon itself. All 11 Bonkers shorts from Raw Toonage have made it over, into 4 half hour episodes of Bonkers (plus one new short, "Pedal to the Metal," for a total of 12). The shorts are very reminiscent of Looney Tunes shorts. The situations varied widely, from Bonkers' quest to finding a spatula, to Bonkers' rescuing an injured skier, and Bonkers' finding a turkey to be a guest at the first Thanksgiving. The humor isn't Looney Tunes standards, but in all honesty, it is pretty good still, especially when compared to the dribble cartoons they make today!

Those were only 4 episodes, out of the 65 total. The other 61 episodes concentrated on Bonkers' second job, after being fired from Wacky Toons' due to low ratings. That job, of course, wound up being a police officer in Hollywood, and he was partnered up with human Lucky Piquel (and later, Miranda Wright).

Bonkers himself is a nut. He tries as hard as he can to drive Lucky, his partner, batty, though it's not usually intentional. He just can't seem to control himself.

There are 42 Lucky Piquel episodes. Lucky Piquel himself, a human cop, just promoted to detective, has to put up with the wild and crazy Bonkers. Yep, another Odd Couple spoof, but it's pulled off well here. Lucky himself is a bit of a grouch, who has little patience for Bonkers' craziness, but he does like Bonkers, deep down. Lucky is hardly a bad guy--he has a wife and a daughter, who he cares for deeply.

Bonkers' best friend in these episodes is Fall Apart Rabbit, a cartoon character, ex-stunt double, who can literally fall apart. He can remove his ears, nose, legs, arms, and tail from his body, though usually accidentally. Fall Apart is a lovable idiot, who always means well... but again, he's probably too stupid to do otherwise!

Then there's Chief Kanifki, the guy who hired Bonkers in the first place, and assigned him partners with Lucky. He's also an idiot, though not so much as Fall Apart. He's hardly lovable, though, and pretty much downright mean at times to poor Lucky (rarely mean to Bonkers though). He's very critical over Lucky, and expects perfection from him. Basically, he's a jerk, like anyone's boss... but what can you do about it?

Some of the best episodes of the Lucky era include an episode where Lucky and Bonkers are to apprehend a mad bomber... who is actually a cartoon bomb. They don't know too much about bombs, so they get a bomb expert to help--none other than Fall Apart Rabbit! Another good episode has the Three Big Pigs framing the Mean Old Wolf for blowing down houses in their new subdivision. The reason--they need someone to frame for their shoddy work, someone to accuse of blowing down their fall apart houses... so who better to accuse than a wolf!

In a very poorly done send off to get rid of Lucky Piquel, Lucky gets a job on the FBI in Washington D.C., and Fall Apart goes with him (no idea why Lucky let Fall Apart join him). Why was it done? They already had the Miranda episodes made... in fact, they're actually older than the Lucky episodes. Most of the Miranda episodes are, unfortunately, forever lost. I'm not sure how many there were originally, but only 19 remain.

In my opinion, the Miranda Wright episodes are better than the Lucky Piquel episodes. They have funnier moments, and also more serious moments, and better animation to boot. Miranda Wright herself is much calmer than Bonkers' previous partner Lucky, but she does have a temper... she just has better control over it. But again, when she does get mad, she gets really mad... and as she gets mad much less often than Lucky, Bonkers will actually feel guilty too.

Ooh, yes. Bonkers isn't the same lunatic he was in the Lucky Piquel episodes either. Yes, he's still a crazy lunatic, but he shows much more emotion in the Miranda episodes, he seems better developed in these episodes... rather than just a mindless lunatic, a sincere lunatic with a heart... rarely seen in the Lucky episodes. Also, Bonkers has much better self-control too... he never intentionally bothers Miranda, like he did with Lucky.

Fall Apart is gone, Jitters A. Dog is in! Jitters is Bonkers best friend in the Miranda episodes... at least in Bonkers' eyes, but that feeling is hardly mutual. Jitters just wants to be left alone, as Bonkers always winds up injuring him somehow when he's around. Jitters is an extreme pessimist, who's most positive look on life is that he's "positive" he's doomed. You do have to feel sorry for the poor dog, though... he is usually right when he has a bad feeling about something.

Chief Kanifki is still around, but has a much smaller role in the Miranda episodes. Sargent Francis Grating is in the main "boss" role now, and is overseer to Miranda and Bonkers. He's not the idiot that Chief Kanifki is, but he's hardly likable. Unlike Chief Kanifki, who mostly scolded Lucky and admired Bonkers, Sargent Grating can tolerate Miranda (hardly admires her), but absolutely despises Bonkers! Yes, he hates him... I can honestly say, having seen every episode, that he does not like Bonkers AT ALL! Grating does not like the idea of a toon on the police force--he finds it completely inappropriate. No matter how good a job Bonkers does, he will only see Bonkers' crazy side, and will only look at anything Bonkers' does wrong.

One of the great "more serious" Miranda episodes has her sister coming to visit her... and she doesn't care much for her sister, who is more successful than Miranda could ever hope to be. She is here for a news story though--about Bonkers, and it doesn't put him in a very good light... it basically shows how dangerous he is to be around, and Bonkers almost resigns, for Miranda's safety. It takes a sudden fire rescue to get Bonkers to believe in himself again, and for Miranda's sister and Miranda to really like one another. Another great, though less serious, episode, has a fight for the legendary circle beanie, which can allow the user to fly. Three major villains are after this hat, two of them for the money to sell the hat to the third, and one of them, an elephant, who wants the hat himself, as he is jealous of Dumbo. Hilarity ensues from this, which is a sort of Casablanca parody. And of course, Jitters new fear of flying hats is priceless!

I loved this cartoon when I was younger... I have not seen it in a good while, though, as we do not have Toon Disney here, which I understand is the only channel it comes on. It might not be for everyone, but I'm sure kids should enjoy it, as well as older people who still like children's cartoons, such as myself. Give it a shot, watch it--and hope you get a Miranda episode!

Recommended: Yes

Type of Program: Cartoon or Animated
Program Quality: Entertaining, but not intellectually or emotionally engaging
Best Suited For: Kids to Teens