'Tiny Toon Adventures' is one of those shows that has gotten better with each re-watch, and this is coming from someone who has always had a big soft spot for it (do slightly prefer similar shows 'Animaniacs' and 'Pinky and the Brain' though). It has plenty for both children and adults, especially young adults with the humour being more familiar and funnier to them, and it has a ball with its clever concept and its writing and characters.
Which is apparent in "Fox Trot", another episode made up of three segments. Those segments being called "My Brilliant Revenge", "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Phone Call from the 405". There are a few examples of segment structured episodes where all the segments featured are equal in quality, but in most the quality is uneven. Mostly very good to brilliant, but there are a fair share of bland segments along the way. "Fox Trot" is a case of two brilliant segments (plus a fun wraparound story) and one bland one.
"Can't Buy Me Love" is the bland one in my view, a shame because the title is great and attention grabbing. Well animated and voiced, but needed more energy and tension between Elmyra and Rhoda, it could have been a lot sharper and funnier in the writing and it lacks charm. Elmyra doesn't have much personality here, and Rhoda is pretty much a character who has all of Elmyra's character flaws but multiplied (meaning that she is very annoying).
"My Brilliant Revenge" is however a lot of fun, witty and nostalgic. Carried significantly by Plucky and Hamton as characters (Plucky has always been the stronger character but Hamton has always contrasted beautifully with him) and their Daffy/Porky-like dynamic.
Best of all is "Phone Call from the 405". It is the funniest, the wittiest and the wackiest in energy segment of the three. Buster and Babs are two of the show's best characters, and their strong personalities are put to perfect use and their chemistry sizzles. What makes this segment stand out is the laughs made at Steven Spielberg's expense, ones that are hilarious and not mean-spirited. The wraparound story is slight but very well paced and entertaining, repetition not creeping in.
All three segments are extremely well animated, especially "Phone Call from the 405". It is crisp, with bright colourful backgrounds, beautiful colours and well drawn characters. The reactions are also very imaginatively visually. The music is as good as the old Looney Tunes cartoons (prime-Looney Tunes, not most of the 60s ones) in being characterful and adding to the action, if not quite enhancing it in the same way. It always helps to have a memorable theme tune, and the one for 'Tiny Toon Adventures' is suitably hip and very catchy.
Writing here is wonderfully wacky and razor sharp in wit, as well as being smart and spot on in comic timing. The references are both inspired and cleverly inserted, none feeling random or misplaced. Most of the characters are handled beautifully and faithfully, the only ones to not do much for me being Elmyra and especially Rhoda. The voice acting is uniformly excellent, as one would expect from a voice cast as high calibre as this one.
Overall, very well done and would have been fabulous if one segment was as good as the rest of the episode. 8/10.
