Home Entertainment
October 24, 2001
Warner Bros. Online, www.warnerbros.com, Launches "Chuck Jones' Timber Wolf"
(October 24, 2001 – Burbank, CA) - Today, Warner Bros. Online premieres the first of 13 installments of "Chuck Jones' Timber Wolf," featuring animation legend Chuck Jones' first original animated characters created for Warner Bros. in more than four decades, at www.warnerbros.com.
To hear the series' title character, Thomas T. (that's short for Timber) Wolf, tell it, he has it all--looks, brains and a savoir-faire not usually associated with forest-dwelling animals. In each three-to-five minute episode, Thomas and his cohorts slip, skip and stumble through adventures and eventual predicaments, including Earl the Squirrel's insistence on collecting a $100 bounty for Thomas' tail, a herd of sheep that becomes a little too amorous toward Thomas and Thomas' misadventures in babysitting. And, among all of this bucolic bliss, there's just one catch, involving the utterance of "Timber" and a slew of falling trees...
"It's a great honor that Warner Bros. Online has been entrusted not only with Chuck's first new Warner Bros. character in 40 years, but also to serve as the outlet to continue the tradition of Warner Bros. animated properties through this new series," said Jim Noonan, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Warner Bros. Online. "We're all very excited about this property and are sure that it will be a big hit with classic animation fans around the world, as well as those just looking for high-quality, original online entertainment."
Visitors to the "Timber Wolf" site (www.warnerbros.com) are able to view a new flash animated cartoon each week for 13 weeks, and explore fun and interactive elements, including sneak-peeks at Thomas' future shenanigans. In-depth looks at the "Timber Wolf" cast of characters and creators with exclusive downloadable pictures are available, and previous “Timber Wolf” episodes will be archived for up to two weeks on the site.
Jones, who created “Timber Wolf,” helped bring to life scores of animated characters during the Golden Age of animation, including some of Warner Bros.' most famous Looney Tunes characters - Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Pepe Le Pew, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig. He has been actively involved with animation for more than 60 years, has won four Academy Awards, is the recipient of the Director's Guild of America's Honorary Life Membership and is the only director to have two animated shorts in the United States National Film Registry ("What's Opera Doc?" and "Duck Amuck").
“Timber Wolf” was created by Jones, then developed by Executive Producer, Co-Writer and Supervising Director Stephen Fossati, producers Philip Vaughn and Jeff DeGrandis and director Steven Dovas in the spirit of Warner Bros.' classic Looney Tunes shorts, with the same Jones attention to character, humor and believability.
“I created Thomas (Timber Wolf) years ago, but he was in hibernation and it took a man like Stephen to uncover him sleeping soundly in a hospitable, hollow tree,” recalls Jones.
"It is a great privilege to have had the opportunity to help bring these stories and these great new Chuck Jones characters to life and to have worked with so many talented, enthusiastic and dedicated people in doing so,” said Fossati.
Joining Jones and Fossati in this venture are two of animation's preeminent voice artists, Joe Alaskey (Sylvester and Tweety in "The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries") as Thomas T. Wolf and Emmy Award-winning actress Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson in "The Simpsons") as Earl Squirrel. The theme song was composed and performed by Grammy Award-winning musical group Riders In The Sky. The Flash animation is provided by Atomic Cartoons. # # #