Marsupilami (1993 TV series)

Did You Know?

• Three VHS and Betamax compilations, each containing five Marsupilami shorts, were released in North America by Walt Disney Home Video.
• Five VHS and Betamax cassettes collecting the entire production of Marsupilami shorts were released in Europe, Australia and New Zealand by Walt Disney Home Video.
• These episodes were only released on magnetic formats in the 1990s and went out-of-print after 1999.

Segments

The main segment, Marsupilami, follows the adventures of Marsupilami (voiced by Steve Mackall) and his friends Maurice the Gorilla (voiced by Jim Cummings) and Stewart the Elephant (voiced by Dan Castellaneta). In some episodes, Marsupilami evades Eduardo the Jaguar (voiced by Steve Landesberg) or outwits a human named Norman (voiced by Jim Cummings). One-off characters include three baby monkeys (all voiced by Jim Thurman) and their clown owner, Norman's Aunt Bethie (voiced by June Foray), Leonardo the Lion (voiced by Jim Cummings), and Cropsy, a myth that proved real. Flounder and Scuttle have moved on, and Sebastian has new adventures, sometimes outwitting Chef Louie (voiced by René Auberjonois). The segment shows Sebastian and Louie having moved away from the coastal area, though deliberate anachronisms include modern-day locations and objects for comedy. Shnookums and Meat, a segment that later spun off into its own show, involves a cat named Shnookums (voiced by Jason Marsden) and a dog named Meat (voiced by Frank Welker) who do not get along. Their unseen owners, Husband and Wife (voiced by Steve Mackall and Tress MacNeille), are viewed only from the neck down and refer to their home as their 'domicile' before leaving the pets in charge.

Production

The 1993 Marsupilami television series ran for a single season of 13 episodes, concluding on December 11, 1993. The Disney Channel aired reruns from October 1994 to June 1995, followed by Toon Disney. Each episode combined a new Marsupilami segment with a segment featuring either Sebastian the Crab or Shnookums and Meat, plus an older Marsupilami short from Raw Toonage. Three Raw Toonage shorts—"Wanna Be Ruler," "The Young and the Nestless," and "Hot Spots"—were omitted from this series but appear on PAL video releases. Unlike the original comic by Franquin, where the Marsupilami could only mimic sounds and came from South America, Disney’s version gave the creature the ability to speak. The comic also never included gorillas or elephants in its habitat, as those animals are African, not South American. In September 1997, U.S. District Senior Judge Edward Rafeedie ordered Disney to pay Marsu B.V. nearly $10.4 million for breaking its promise to produce 13 half-hour episodes, with the lawsuit alleging Disney prioritized other franchises like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. By March 1999, Disney still owed $9.3 million.