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Tijuana Toads is a series of 17 theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie–Freleng and released through United Artists.[1]
The series concerns two toads, El Toro and Pancho, who live in the Mexican city of Tijuana. Throughout the cartoon they try to eat their prey, but always get outsmarted.[2] They would sometimes themselves be targeted by a bird, Crazylegs Crane, and would in turn always outsmart him.
The series introduced two characters who later got their own series. The Blue Racer first appeared in "Snake in the Gracias" (1971) before getting his own series in 1972. Crazylegs Crane first appeared in "Go for Croack" (1969), and also spun off to his own series for television in 1978 on ABC. Both characters were voiced by Larry D. Mann, except in "Flight to the Finish" where Bob Holt voiced Crazylegs Crane.[3][4]
El Toro was voiced by actor Don Diamond and Pancho voiced by Tom Holland. Crazylegs Crane was voiced by Larry D. Mann. Directorial duties were split between Hawley Pratt, Art Davis, Grant Simmons, and Gerry Chiniquy.[3]
When the series began airing in 1976 as part of The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show, it was re-dubbed and renamed Texas Toads to make the series less offensive.[3] A laugh track was added to the new soundtrack, and the toads were given the new names of Fatso and Banjo.[3] Producer David H. DePatie later commented on the process:
"When they (Tijuana Toads) went on television, we had to completely change them around and the series became known as the Texas Toads, and we had to redo all of the tracks that had any type of ethnic content and it really watered down the series. We all thought it was a hell of a lot more funny when it was the Tijuana Toads, but at the time we had to do it in order to bring the thing on television".[5]
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| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tijuana Toads (TV title: "Tall in the Grass") | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | August 6, 1969 |
| 2 | A Pair of Greenbacks | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | December 16, 1969 |
| 3 | Go for Croak | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | December 25, 1969 |
| 4 | The Froggy Froggy Duo | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | March 15, 1970 |
| 5 | Hop and Chop | Grant Simmons | Dale Hale | June 17, 1970 |
| 6 | Never on Thirsty | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | August 5, 1970 |
| 7 | A Dopey Hacienda | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | December 6, 1970 |
| 8 | Snake in the Gracias | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | January 24, 1971 |
| 9 | Two Jumps and a Chump | Gerry Chiniquy | John W. Dunn | March 28, 1971 |
| 10 | Mud Squad | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | April 28, 1971 |
| 11 | The Egg and Ay-Yi-Yi! | Gerry Chiniquy | Dale Hale | June 6, 1971 |
| 12 | Fastest Tongue in the West | Gerry Chiniquy | Larz Bourne | June 20, 1971 |
| 13 | A Leap in the Deep | Hawley Pratt | John W. Dunn | June 20, 1971 |
| 14 | Croakus Pocus | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | December 26, 1971 |
| 15 | Serape Happy | Gerry Chiniquy | John W. Dunn | December 26, 1971 |
| 16 | Frog Jog | Gerry Chiniquy | John W. Dunn | April 23, 1972 |
| 17 | Flight to the Finish | Art Davis | John W. Dunn | April 30, 1972 |
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Tijuana Toads shorts aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
- Tijuana Toads (first Episode, a.k.a. Tall in the Grass) reused scenes based from Tree for Two, Dr. Jerkyll's Hyde, and Two Crows from Tacos.
- A Pair of Greenbacks reused some scenes based on Mouse and Garden and Two Crows from Tacos.
- Go for Croak reused the drinking of nitroglycerin trick from Mouse Mazurka.
- Never on Thirsty reused scenes from The Honey-mousers.
The characters were resurrected for the 1993 TV series The Pink Panther. As the case when the original shorts were shown on TV, they were rebranded as the Texas Toads. The toads were redesigned as western sheriffs with oversized cowboy hats replacing their sombreros.[3][6]
VHS
In 1987, Go for Croak was released on VHS as part of Cartoon Festival.
DVD and Blu-ray
In 2016, Kino Lorber released the complete series with the original soundtrack, digitally remastered from the original negatives and in the original ratio.
A restaurant dubbed under the name Pancho i Toro - Pizza & Grill Sesvete is located in Sesvete, Croatia.[7]
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