Before the marketing campaign for Guardians of the Galaxy turned Rocket Raccoon into a household name, there was a little show called Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace.
It would be a lie to say that the first time I came across Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace I was instantly in love.
I mean, it looked like Star Wars and Flash Gordon, two things young Chris absolutely adored.
It had space ships.
And lasers.
That alone was enough to get my attention.
But the… people… piloting those space ships and firing those lasers were… anthropomorphic animals.
It was simultaneously the coolest and strangest damn things I found in long, long time (“long, long time,” of course, being relative to a child).
Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace sees the titular rabbit and a cadre of other mammals (and occasional marsupial) warring with the fascist Toad Empire in a winner-takes-all intergalactic battle royal.
Oh, and just to be clear, that’s not the weirdest part of the set-up. See, this war between amphibian and mammal is just affecting some dystopian Chuck Jones-esque world.
Yes, the captain of the Righteous Indignation (second coolest space ship name ever), Bucky O’Hare zips all over space thwarting Nazi toads, and yes, most of his crew is composed of animals like ducks, pandas and mice, we shouldn’t forget Willy.
Willy. The human boy. From “our” universe.
Yes, sir, that’s right. Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace is set in a universe parallel to our own called aniverse (get it?) where every living thing appears to be a humanoid version of critters found right here on Earth.
It turns out that young Willy is a smart kid and has found a way into the aniverse (get it?). When he’s not in school and doing kid stuff, he’s over in the aniverse (get it?) working as the engineer of the Righteous Indignation.
Seriously, how cool is that kid?
Not only does he get to live out every 12-year-old’s fantasy of taking part in intergalactic warfare against space Nazis, but he also gets to hang with space faring violence-addicted animals? Hell, I’m still jealous. I WANT TO FIGHT SPACE NAZIS WITH ANTHROPOMORPHIC ANIMALS, GODDAMNIT!
As cool as the concept for the show was, the best part really was actually the opening sequence and song. It rocked. Hard. Harder than most other show openings ever would or could. There’s also a certain tongue-in-cheek tone to it that, while managing to keep sounding badass and dire, acknowledges that, yes, what you’re about to see might be a little silly, but no worries, it’s still plenty violent. To me, the intro to Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace is up there with the likes of The Transformers and G.I. Joe.
Heh. Speaking of G.I. Joe, Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace was actually based on a comic created by none other than Larry Hama, Mr. G.I. Joe himself.
That’s right, the comic book writer who made Duke, Scarlet, Cobra Commander and Snake-Eyes a household names is the mind behind Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace. That, my friends, is pedigree.
As cool as I thought Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace was, I was never able to watch it regularly as my parents always seemed to magically have something for me to do when it aired. Looking back, I think they were just avoiding the inevitable demand a young Chris would have for Bucky O’Hare merch.
As a father-to-be who’s already seeing his disposable income shrinking every day, I can respect mom and dad for that.
Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace only lasted a mere 13 episodes and, looking back, I do wonder why it didn’t become a thing. I mean, it really and truly did have it all.
Space ships? Check.
Violence? Check.
Cool characters? Check.
Audience? Well, not so much.
Who knows? Maybe once Rocket Raccoon takes his place as a pop culture icon, Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace will finally get pulled from the cultural dustbin and get the chance he always deserved.
It could happen.
