I Am Weasel is an American animated television series, created by David Feiss and broadcast on the Cartoon Network. Its basic premise is a somewhat twisted take on the classic nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel; in fact, the theme song of the series, sung by April March, is based on the well-known musical version of the rhyme.
I Am Weasel was originally a part of the Cow and Chicken show, often airing as the middle of three segments, in between two Cow and Chicken segments. ("The Ugliest Weenie", a two-part Cow and Chicken story, even made reference to the I Am Weasel cartoon interrupting the storyline.) Eventually, I Am Weasel was spin-off into its own series, airing between 2000 and 2008, with both new episodes and the episodes that had aired on Cow and Chicken included in that series (much like how Pinky and the Brain was spun off from Animaniacs or how Evil Con Carne came from Grim and Evil). When aired on Boomerang in 2007 through 2014, only seasons 1-4 aired with Cow and Chicken segments, completely omitting season 5.
Characters
The series usually consists of two anthropomorphic animal characters: I.M. Weasel and I.R. Baboon. Both characters' species are as suggested by their names.
I Am Weasel
I Am Weasel is highly intelligent, and is skilled in most if not all known professions, anything from electronics and engineering to medicine and philosophy; he is also incredibly charming and well-versed in the social graces, and will often have characters such as Loulabelle at his side. Weasel's only real flaw is a secret desire to suck the yolk from eggs (though such behavior is actually a characteristic of the mongoose family). He is usually the only successful character in a given episode. The standard image of Weasel wears no clothing, though he will often don outfits appropriate to his activities (such as a lab coat when working as a doctor or scientist). Weasel will usually call I.R. "Mr. Baboon" instead of "Baboon"; however, in "I.R. Gentlemans," he called I.R. "Monsieur Baboon" and "I.R." in "The Hole". In "Happy Baboon Holidays" Weasel hurt I.R.'s feelings when he took I.R.'s family into his house to thaw out after they got left out in the cold. He is prone to declaring "I Am Weasel!" before leaping into a situation.
Voiced by: Michael Dorn
I.R. Baboon
In contrast, I.R. Baboon is considered dim-witted and slovenly, uses incorrect grammar when he speaks (for example, I.R. stands for "I are"), and is very envious of Weasel's success. He is often shown doing the opposite of what would be considered sensible, and sometimes displays obsessive-compulsive behavior (as in the episode, The Hole, when he was determined to plug up the largest hole in the world). I.R. Baboon has few skills (either social or practical), but was discovered unexpectedly to be a virtuoso on the theremin (apart from the fact that the theremin is faulty and causes earthquakes when it is played). Baboon wears only a T-shirt with a handwritten, upside-down "I. Я." (as suggested in the opening video); his protruding bright red buttocks are often highlighted (as in the episode I Am Terraformer when he wore a spacesuit and there were two separate bubbles on the helmet for his buttocks), and serves as a focus of others' ridicule. He attempts to outdo Weasel at everything, and when he believes he has succeeded, he performs a routine victory dance, placing his hands on his hips and jumping around in a circle while repeatedly chanting a declaration of his success. His antics and victory dances are often accompanied by off-screen frantic monkey noise. In some of the episodes, Weasel and Baboon are actually friends and work together. In the first season he spoke with a French accent, but later on changed his accent.
Voiced by: Charlie Adler
The Red Guy
As in Cow and Chicken, The Red Guy plays a devil-like character and Weasel and Baboon's arch-friend/nemesis, but I Am Weasel also grants him a new catch phrase: "Hello!! It's me!", usually followed by his identity in that particular episode. He didn't make his I Am Weasel debut until Series 2, in the episode, "I.R. Mommy." Red almost always confuses weasel for a squirrel or chipmunk. Red's dad is introduced in a particular episode.
Voiced by: Charlie Adler
Minor and One-off characters
- Loulabelle - Weasel's assistant, who usually dresses as a nurse. Her debut was in the Series 2 episode, "I.R. Mommy." Voiced by: Susan Blakeslee (season 2), Teresa Ganzel (season 3 with her character appearance extremely downsized). She was dropped from the show after "Time Weasel" since Cartoon Network declared her a blond stereotype.
- Cow and Chicken characters - Besides the Red Guy, some other characters from Cow & Chicken have made their appearances in I am Weasel since Series 2. These include Cow (and Supercow), Chicken, Flem, Earl, Mom, Dad and Teacher.
- Admiral Bullets - Admiral Bullets is a superior in the Navy, who often relies on Weasel. He made appearances in the episodes, "This Bridge, Not Weasel Bridge", "I.R. On Sun", and "I.R. Mommy". He reappeared with dark tone skin in season 3’s "He Said, He Said" before Cartoon Network retire him from the show completely for being a lesser character.
- Baby Grampa - In the episode, "I.R. Mommy," I.R. adopts a child, which he affectionally names "Grampa," after his grandfather. By the end of the episode, he is seen as a grown man donning a t-shirt similar to I.R's, in the way that his name is handwriten upside down.
- Jolly Roger - Jolly Roger is an obese guy in a short-sized sailor suit as he debuted in the episode "Unsinkable I.R.". He appeared officially in season 5.
Availability
As of 2021, there are no official release of the entire series on DVD in North America. However, some of the segments are available on the Cartoon Network holiday DVDs in the 2000s. Season 1 made its DVD debut in Australia in 2011. The first two seasons are available on DVD in the Middle East in the early 2010s.
In the United Kingdom, bootlegged DVD copies of the entire show were sold on the DVDRare website since 2009, as some episodes are in high-pitched PAL format and some are in regular NTSC format.
The series was entirely released on HBO Max in Latin America on March 2022
Trivia
- There was a small case of censorship in the episode "I.R. Mommy", in which the letter "N", present on an American football helmet used by I.R. Baboon (a reference to the Nebraska Cornhuskers), had to be digitally removed in 1999 after Cartoon Network was sued by the University of Nebraska, who alleged the reference was derogatory for their institution. No other episode suffered censorship so far.[1][2]
- There is a turnaround in season 5. Notably I.M. Weasel has always been loved by people over I.R. Baboon during the first four seasons. But in season 5, people are showing more favor in Baboon than Weasel. Perhaps this was due to the audiences’ favorable interest in Baboon as he appears to be very humorous compared to Weasel.
See also
| 1957 | Ruff and Reddy |
| 1958 | The Huckleberry Hound Show • Yogi Bear • Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks |
| 1959 | The Quick Draw McGraw Show • Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy • Snooper and Blabber |
| 1980 | Drak Pack • The Flintstone Comedy Show • The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang • The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show |
| 1981 | Laverne & Shirley in the Army • Space Stars • Teen Force • The Kwicky Koala Show • Trollkins • The Smurfs |
| 1982 | The Flintstone Funnies • Mork and Mindy: The Animated Series • The Little Rascals • Pac-Man • Jokebook • Shirt Tales • The Gary Coleman Show |
| 1983 | The Dukes • Monchhichis • The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show • The Biskitts • Lucky Luke |
| 1984 | Snorks • Challenge of the GoBots |
| 1985 | Paw Paws • Yogi's Treasure Hunt • Galtar and the Golden Lance • The Berenstain Bears • The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo • The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible |
| 1986 | The New Adventures of Jonny Quest • Pound Puppies • The Flintstone Kids • Foofur • Wildfire |
| 1987 | Sky Commanders • Popeye and Son |
| 1988 | A Pup Named Scooby-Doo • The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley • The New Yogi Bear Show • Fantastic Max |
| 1989 | The Further Adventures of SuperTed • Paddington Bear |
| 1990 | The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda • Tom & Jerry Kids • Wake, Rattle, and Roll • Rick Moranis in Gravedale High • Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone |
| 1991 | The Pirates of Dark Water • Yo Yogi! |
| 1992 | Fish Police • Capitol Critters • The Addams Family |
| 1993 | Droopy, Master Detective • The New Adventures of Captain Planet • 2 Stupid Dogs • SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron |
| 1995 | Dumb and Dumber • What a Cartoon! |
| 1996 | Cave Kids: Pebbles & Bamm Bamm • The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest • Dexter's Laboratory |
| 1997 | Johnny Bravo • Cow & Chicken • I Am Weasel |
| 1998 | The Powerpuff Girls |
| 1993 | The Moxy Show |
| 1994 | Space Ghost Coast to Coast |
| 1995 | What a Cartoon! |
| 1996 | Dexter's Laboratory • Big Bag |
| 1997 | Johnny Bravo • Cow and Chicken • I Am Weasel |
| 1998 | The Powerpuff Girls |
| 1999 | Ed, Edd n Eddy • Mike, Lu & Og • Courage the Cowardly Dog |
References
- ↑ Collioud, Luz. "¡Recordamos Soy la Comadreja!". VIX (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 10,2017.
- ↑ "Platypus Comix Interviews David Feiss". Platypus Comix. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
External links
- I Am Weasel at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- I Am Weasel music composer Bill Fulton
