Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

Plot

A young girl named Corey has her piggy bank stolen from her bedroom dresser by an unseen person. Papa Smurf witnesses the theft after emerging from a Smurfs comic book, and he gathers other cartoon characters in the room to help. These include Alf from a picture, Garfield as a lamp, Alvin and the Chipmunks from a record sleeve, Winnie the Pooh as a stuffed animal, Baby Kermit as an alarm clock, and Slimer, who comes through the wall.

Alf, Garfield, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore identify the thief as Michael, Corey's older brother, who keeps a box of marijuana hidden under his bed. Corey worries about how Michael has changed, noting they used to be close, but he angrily denies the problem and leaves the house. The cartoon characters decide to intervene in Michael's addiction, leaving Pooh to stay with Corey.

At an arcade, Michael smokes marijuana with his friends and a villainous anthropomorphic cloud named Smoke, who tempts him to try harder drugs. Bugs Bunny, disguised as a police officer, chases them into an alley, traps Smoke in a garbage can, and uses a time machine borrowed from Wile E. Coyote to take Michael back in time. There, it is shown that Michael's addiction began when older high school students pressured him at Corey's age. Back in the present, Michael hesitates to smoke crack before a friend steals his wallet.

He and Smoke chase the thief and fall into a sewer, where Michelangelo warns that drugs are damaging his brain. Baby Kermit, Baby Miss Piggy, and Baby Gonzo then give him a roller coaster-like tour of the human brain. At a park, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Tigger, and the other characters sing about how to refuse drugs.

Broadcast

The special aired in Australia on November 9, 1990, simultaneously on the Seven Network, Nine Network, and Network Ten, with an introduction by Prime Minister Bob Hawke. In New Zealand, it screened in December on TV One and Channel 2 simultaneously, introduced by Prime Minister Jim Bolger. Canada saw the special on CBC, CTV, Global, most English and French independent stations, and YTV shortly after the U.S. broadcast, introduced by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Mexico broadcast it on Televisa's major and independent stations, including Las Estrellas and Canal 5, on the same day as the U.S. and Canada. Japan aired it on TV Tokyo with an introduction by Emperor Akihito. Brazil broadcast it in 1994 on Rede Manchete with a Portuguese Brazilian dub by Herbert Richers Dubbing Studios. Chile aired it in September 1995 on major networks organized by the National Television Council, introduced by First Lady Marta Larraechea Bolívar.

In the United States, superstations and independent stations aired the special, some at different times; WPIX, WGN-TV, KTLA, KTVT, WOIO-TV, WKBD-TV, KHTV, WVTV, KSTW, KSHB-TV, and KWGN premiered it simultaneously with the big four networks and cable systems, while KPLR-TV aired it two hours later. WWOR-TV and WSBK-TV premiered it the following morning. Selected cable systems including BET, TNT, USA Network, Nickelodeon, and The Disney Channel also aired it.

Reception and legacy

Modern critics have described the special as a time capsule of animation history during the U.S. war on drugs, and have ridiculed it as "propaganda" and "preachy." The Smurfs creator Peyo was upset with Hanna-Barbera's use of his characters without permission and refused further collaborations. In 2015, Jim Cummings told Vice that he enjoyed the recording sessions but requested Winnie the Pooh's lines about drugs be rewritten, stating, "He's an innocent.

It makes no sense for him to even know those words." Cinema Crazed suggested that the special's staff and promoters like school teachers were caught off guard by the rising influence of Bart Simpson, who was not featured, among American youth at the time. Commentator Felix Vasquez noted the special featured a variety of trademarked characters but not others, and that Bart Simpson was considered a bad influence by teachers. By May 1990, Office of National Drug Control Policy head William Bennett publicly criticized Bart as a bad influence in reaching children about drug abuse.

Did You Know?

• The special marked the first time Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were voiced by someone other than Mel Blanc, who had died shortly before production; Warner Bros. enlisted Jeff Bergman.
• The musical number "Wonderful Ways to Say No" was written by Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman.
• The VHS edition opened with an introduction from President George H. W. Bush, First Lady Barbara Bush, and their dog Millie.