Bonkers was a Disney Afternoon cartoon about a zany bobcat as he and his human coworker act as cops attempting to solve crimes within the ever-bizarre world of Toontown, a place primarily based upon the early Disney cartoons.
Characters
- Bonkers D. Bobcat (voiced by Jim Cummings) is an overly energetic and hyperactive cartoon bobcat that works in the Toon Division of the Hollywood PD. Once a big name cartoon star for Wackytoons Studios, he was fired due to his show being bumped out of first place in the ratings. He was introduced to law enforcement when he unknowingly saved cartoon celebrity Donald Duck from a park mugger (mostly due to the help of officer Lucky Piquel) and was given full credit for the mugger's capture.
- Detective Lucky Piquel (voiced by Cummings) is Bonkers' partner from the "Lucky Episodes". He is a slovenly, morbidly obese, streetwise mustachioed man. He is balding, but wears a toupee. Lucky is a serious, hard-boiled detective whose by-the-book nature is at odds with Bonkers' decidedly more maniacal approach to crime solving.Chief Kanifky usually mistakes his last name for Pickle. In the first several episodes in which he appeared, he defeated the villain by falling on them or otherwise crushing them beneath his massive girth. Though he often was able to get to the core of the cartoon universe by finally embracing it, with Bonkers' help. He is the father of Marilyn and husband to Dilandra or who he normally calls "Dil" or "Dyl". It was revealed in Once In A Blue Toon that his middle name is Shirley, and that he has a 53 inch waistline. He drives a rather torn-down patrol car through the series.
- Marilyn Piquel (voiced by Sherry Lynn) is Lucky's child genius daughter. She is an aspiring artist as well as script/story writing and has deep connection to toons such as Bonkers, with her favorite toon being TV star Skunky Skunk. She is more than capable of taking care of herself and aids her father in a number of his cases often being the words of wisdom or source of knowledge to Lucky. Although looking like her mom Dilandra "Dil"/"Dyl" (aside from her big round glasses and freckled face), she also shares her father's hair color
- Leonard Kanifky (voiced by Earl Boen) is the absent-minded Chief of Police and is the boss of Lucky and Bonkers (after Bonkers is reassigned).
Premise
The premise of the series was that Bonkers D. Bobcat, an anthropomorphic bobcat who was a popular cartoon star (he appeared in Disney's Raw Toonage shorts in the fictional world of Bonkers as well) had washed out of show business and became a cop. He was made the junior partner of Detective Lucky Piquel, a grim and ill-tempered human who hates toons. Throughout the series, the pair work together to solve crimes in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, California region. Bonkers repeatedly tried to win Piquel's praise, but usually just ended up ruining missions with his antics.
After several years of working with Bonkers, Piquel was given an FBI job in Washington, D.C., and with great glee was finally able to leave Bonkers, but finally realized that after all the time spent hating working with Bonkers he had grown to love him. At the end of the "Lucky" episodes, Bonkers was given a new partner, the attractive Sergeant Miranda Wright. Although also human, she was far more patient and tolerant of his antics than was Piquel. With Miranda, Bonkers was more the brunt of the slapstick.
Video Games
- A video game was released to the SNES and another for the Genesis.
Trivia
- This series may have been one of the influences for the Toontown part of Disneyland, alongside the original Disney cartoons and the animated/live action hybrid film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
- Popular internet reviewer Nostalgia Critic dedicated one of his episodes to the Disney Afternoon block. In the review, he criticized Bonkers for not making sense and being a ripoff of Roger Rabbit.