1984: A Wuzzle is Born
The history of “The Wuzzles” is about as clear as mirt (mud/dirt). Partly because a show with such limited visibility gets lost in the shuffle, partly because the 80’s were a chaotic whirlwind at Disney, and partly because the Wuzzles were the first of Disney’s foray into television animation and got caught amid the novice decisions made by any pioneering efforts.
Michael Eisner was brought in as CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 1984. When Walt Disney died in 1966, the company lost its creative and business visionary. Barely surviving threats of takeovers and mostly movie flops through the 70’s, Eisner, along with Frank Wells, was chosen to give the company vision and grounding.
By late summer of 1984, Jymn Magon (record producer), Gary Krisel (head of Disney Music), and Tad Stones (animator and writer) were summoned to a meeting in Eisner’s home. There they were told about the vision of a TV animation division to be headed by Michael Webster. “Wuzzles was already in development,” recalls Magon (“Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties”, Farago.)
After describing the Wuzzles, Eisner went on the pitch his original show idea based on the candy Gummy(i) Bears. “The Wuzzles” was a co-production with Hasbro Toys and put into motion before the formalized TV division at Disney officially began. Being co-owned by Hasbro, it seems Eisner wanted Disney to create and own the content which pitted Wuzzles vs. Gumnmis from the beginning. Regardless, both shows went into full-swing development as summer faded into fall.
In a fax dated October 8, 1984, Magon sent early designs to Fred Vuono, the director of marketing at Hasbro for his approval. It was clear that Hasbro had a lot of power in making the artistic decisions. It was almost as if Hasbro hired Disney to sell toys via a cartoon platform (a trend that was all the rage in the early 80’s after the FCC changed its regulations about using cartoons to market toy lines.)
An index of Wuzzles character art was included with the fax. Photos of what exact drawings were sent on this date have not surfaced, but we can see that there were early ideas for various ages of Butterbear (3 “young” poses, 1 “mature” pose, and 7 “baby” poses), action poses for each (6 of Rhinokey, 4 of Eleroo, 6 of Bumblelion, 7 of Hoppo), and strict instructions to ignore “Moosel, the character on the far right.”
A few days later, on October 12, Vuono recieved a revised proof from Gary Krisel. “Enclosed are ink drawings of the six Wuzzles characters, reflecting our latest thinking.” Krisel went on to say something very revealing: “We feel they are all very close, fitting our animation needs as well as matching the plush toys.” It seems that Hasbro had early designs of what the plushies would look like before approaching Disney, so the animators were trying to reconcile the designs with the toys. Moosel, the character Hasbro was instructed to “ignore” the week before, was the closest at this stage to what would be his final design.
Later that same day, Krisel sent out yet another fax to Hasbro with an immediate re-design of Hoppo (particularly the hair seemed problematic.) This would not be Hoppo’s final design, but a step closer in her evolution.
Another week went by, giving the artists a chance to take a more detailed look at their characters and continue to shape them. On October 17th, another set of drawings were sent, this time with more subtle changes to the looks presented on the 12th. Butterbear got rounded wings, Bumblelion got a new hairdo and a “younger look”, Hoppo (labeled “Harpo” in a handwritten scribble on the side of the drawing) got a new hairdo similar to the agreed upon re-design from the week before, and Rhinokey was given a smaller lip, while Eleroo and Moosel remained unchanged.
By October 23, three new designs for Rhinokey, Butterbear, and Hoppo were sent to Hasbro. These were very close to final looks. Butterbear became shorter and rounder. Hoppo got her final haircut, and Rhinokey got a softer, more childish look, a smaller horn, and a more “human” face.
These were the designs that were used in a presentation to CBS in late November that year, along with designs for (King) Crock and his gang (called the Creepasaurs then), and several supporting “mixed-up” characters, such as Frabbit (frog/rabbit), Pupster (puppy/hamster), and Snorse (snake/horse), plus many others.
While the designs would continue to be tweaked, personalities and stories revised, and a show Bible rewritten, by the end of 1984 one thing was clear: the Wuzzles were born.
