The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald

Last updated
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald
Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald.png
Genre
Starring
Opening theme
  • "McDonaldland is Changing" by Pinky Villandry (ep. 1–3)
  • "The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald" by David Hussey (as Ronald McDonald) (ep. 4-6)
Composers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
Running time40 minutes
Production company Klasky Csupo
Original release
ReleaseOctober 9, 1998 (1998-10-09) 
January 30, 2003 (2003-01-30)

The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald is an American animated mini-series of retail direct-to-video episodes produced by Klasky Csupo in association with the McDonald's Corporation, centering on McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald and the gang in McDonaldland. [1] A total of six 40-minute episodes were produced and released on VHS with five of them being available exclusively in participating McDonald's restaurants from October 9, 1998 to January 30, 2003.

Contents

Production

Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh (best known as members of the band Devo and composers of the music for Rugrats , another Klasky Csupo series) composed the score of the series while John Holmquist (who has also directed some Rugrats episodes) directed the first episode of the series. The artistic style of the series has a similar look to Rugrats , Aaahh!!! Real Monsters , The Wild Thornberrys , and Rocket Power . The background music was recycled from later episodes of Nickelodeon's Rugrats .

In a format similar to both The New 3 Stooges , The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and Back to the Future: The Animated Series , each episode starts and ends with a live-action segment.

By various accounts, the episodes turned out to be rather popular, to which individual McDonald's locations frequently ran out of VHS tapes, which were sold individually for $3.49 and could be bought with a small vanilla ice cream cone or Diet Coke. Klasky Csupo also sold them through their online gift shop, which was shut down in fall 2005.

A Happy Meal featuring Lego vehicles to build was released at the restaurant chain in 1999, a year after the series originally premiered. The front of each vehicle had an image of one of the McDonaldland characters in the Klasky Csupo style, as depicted in the series.

Cast

Main

Voice talent on the series includes K-C veterans Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, and Charlie Adler. The role of Ronald McDonald is credited as "Himself."

Guest cast

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Scared Silly" John Holmquist Andrew McElfresh & Michael BloomOctober 9, 1998 (1998-10-09)

Ronald and his friends go on a camping trip in the Far-Flung Forest, where Ronald discovers an old house which he assumes is haunted by a ghost called the Far-Flung Phantom. Due to a sudden storm, the campers are forced to stay in the old house, where a Phantom head leads them through a challenging game that will help them to escape, if they cooperate. Along the way, the Fry Kids and McNuggets get caught in traps and are separated from the group and the rest face off against the Phantom head in a challenge of riddles. Tika, Hamburglar, and Birdie fail each riddle and are swept into traps, leaving only Ronald, Grimace, and Sundae to solve the final one, which they do. The holographic head turns out to be a child named Franklin programming the game, with help from Tika and the McNuggets in a lab room. After Ronald gets a "You Win" out of Franklin, Dr. Quizzical returns to catch his son in the act and reveals that Franklin has done something like this before. Franklin apologizes to the gang for his actions and is allowed to join in their camping trip, becoming their new friend in the process.

Note: The only appearance of the Fry Kids in the series. This also marked the debut of Klasky Csupo's Splaat logo.
2"The Legend of Grimace Island" Jim Duffy Mark Zaslove & Eryk CasemiroJanuary 22, 1999 (1999-01-22)

Ronald and the gang go out on a journey to Grimace Island (where Grimace's species is originated) after Grimace receives a letter supposedly by the island's residents asking for help. Unbeknownst to everyone, the letter was actually written by pirate captain One-Eyed Sally and her first mate Blather in a scheme by the two to follow the gang to the island in order to seize the Grimaces' legendary treasure for themselves.

Note: Franklin is present in this episode.
3"The Visitors from Outer Space"Jeff ScottDavid RegalApril 23, 1999 (1999-04-23)

Hamburglar tricks the gang into believing that aliens have come to Earth so that he can steal McDonaldland's hamburgers without interference from them, which costs him their trust in him when they find out. Later, Hamburglar gets abducted by real aliens after foolishly accepting an offer to go on vacation with them, not realizing until too late that the vacation lasts thousands of Earth years. Despite being angry at him for his lie and prank, Ronald and his friends go on a mission in outer space to rescue Hamburglar.

Note: Ronald and Sundae go down the ball pit slide for the last time as this is the last episode to have the original introduction and closing. It's also the last episode where Sundae appears in the live-action segments. Prior to this episode, there was a Rugrats episode with the same title.
4"Birthday World" Anthony Bell David Regal
Additional Material by: Emily Kapnek & Eryk Casemiro
March 30, 2001 (2001-03-30)

Hamburglar is upset that he forgot Ronald's birthday and does not have a present for him until an evil mad scientist named Professor Thaddeus J. Pinchworm gives him tickets to a fake amusement park called Birthday World. During their visit, Ronald and his friends quickly become disappointed to find that most of the park's rides are broken and/or malfunctioning; they then ride a roller coaster which turns them into toddlers and babies with a ray. The gang then discovers that they were test subjects for Pinchworm's evil scheme to use a bigger version of the ray to de-age the world's population in order to achieve world domination. Despite the fact that the ray's effects have left their abilities limited, Ronald and his friends set out to stop Pinchworm's scheme and restore themselves to their regular ages.

Note: A new opening sequence was made for this episode and the next two. As a result, Sundae no longer appears in the live-action segments but is heard once offscreen. This is Tika's last appearance.
5"Have Time, Will Travel"Anthony BellEmily Kapnek
Additional Material by: Eryk Casemiro & David Regal
October 19, 2001 (2001-10-19)

While helping Franklin clean up his father's lab, Ronald and his pals stumble across a time machine in which Hamburglar dreams up a crazy scheme to use the time machine to get out of cleaning and they end up getting lost in time. Their time travel adventures take them to prehistoric times, where the time machine is nearly digested by a Tyrannosaurus and they meet their cavemen ancestors, medieval times, where they entertain the spoiled young King Murray with in order to save a captured Birdie, the Wild West, where they discover Hamburglar's ancestor Henry H. Burglar II (whom the residents mistake Hamburglar for) and the disco era of the 1970s, where they briefly encounter Mayor McCheese.

Note: The only episode where the McNuggets are absent. This is also Franklin's last appearance.
6"The Monster O' McDonaldland Loch"Anthony BellBarbara Herndon & Jill Gorey
Additional Material by: Eryk Casemiro & David Regal
January 30, 2003 (2003-01-30)

The gang travels to a Scottish expedition known as McDonaldland Loch where Sundae's cousin Scotty lives. They also come across a plot by a mad scientist named Stiles and his assistant Pip's attempt to build a replica of the Loch Ness Monster in order to make money from the discovery. Birdie befriends the real Loch Ness Monster, who is named Simon and wants his existence to be kept a secret. Despite not being good at keeping secrets, Birdie agrees to, but this becomes difficult when Stiles and Pip's scheme goes awry, putting everyone in danger.

Note: This episode was the rarest of all six, as it was only released online on the Klasky Csupo website on January 30, 2003 as opposed to McDonald's stores. The episode was titled "The Legend of McDonaldland Loch" on most websites. It was also Christine Cavanaugh's final acting role, released approximately two years after her retirement. This episode was unheard of by the general public due to its limited release and was completely lost media until December 2014 when an anonymous 4chan user claimed to have a copy of it, a VHS rip was posted on YouTube the following year. [2]

Crew

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDonaldland</span> Fast food-themed media franchise and fictional world

McDonaldland is a McDonald's media franchise and the fictional fantasy world inhabited by Ronald McDonald and his friends. Starting with the creation of Ronald McDonald in 1963, it is primarily developed and published by McDonald's. Initial attempts to expand the McDonaldland universe by marketing agency Needham, Harper & Steers were seemingly retconned due to legal issues, but ongoing aspects were expanded in McDonald's projects in collaboration with Data East, Virgin Interactive, Treasure, SEGA, and Klasky Csupo.

<i>Rugrats</i> 1991–2004 American animated television series

Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on a group of toddlers, most prominently—Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil and their day-to-day lives, usually involving life experiences that become much greater adventures in the imaginations of the main characters.

Klasky-Csupo, Inc., is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó in a spare room of their apartment and grew to 550 artists, creative workers and staff in an animation facility in Hollywood.

<i>Aaahh!!! Real Monsters</i> American animated television series

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is an American animated television series developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon, and the fifth Nicktoon after Doug, Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats, and Rocko's Modern Life. The show focuses on three young monsters—Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm—who attend a school for monsters under a city dump and learn to frighten humans. Many of the episodes revolve around their zany hijinks after making it to the surface in order to perform "scares" as class assignments.

<i>Santo Bugito</i> American TV series or program

Santo Bugito is an American animated television series produced and developed by Klasky-Csupo for CBS and created by Arlene Klasky. It ran for thirteen episodes and revolved around the goings on in a fictional community of insects. The show was advertised as the first Tex-Mex cartoon.

<i>Rugrats Go Wild</i> 2003 American film directed by Norton Virgien and John Eng

Rugrats Go Wild is a 2003 American animated crossover adventure film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. It is the final installment of both the Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys film series and the sequel to both the films Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000) and The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002). Christine Cavanaugh, the original voice of Chuckie Finster, was replaced by Nancy Cartwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Adler</span> American voice actor and director

Charles Michael Adler is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures, the Bigheads on Rocko's Modern Life, Ickis on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Doctor Doom, Wrecker, Sabertooth and others in The Super Hero Squad Show, MODOK in various Marvel media, Cobra Commander in GI Joe: Resolute and Renegades, Starscream in the Transformers films, Mr. Whiskers in Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Cow, Chicken and the Red Guy in Cow and Chicken, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head in Earthworm Jim, I.R. Baboon in I Am Weasel and T-Bone in SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron.

<i>The Rugrats Movie</i> 1998 film by Igor Kovalyov and Norton Virgien

The Rugrats Movie is a 1998 American animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series, Rugrats. It was directed by Igor Kovalyov and Norton Virgien and was written by David N. Weiss & J. David Stem. The film features the voices of E. G. Daily, Tara Charendoff, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Cheryl Chase, Cree Summer, Jack Riley, Melanie Chartoff, Michael Bell and Joe Alaskey, along with guest stars David Spade, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Busta Rhymes, and Tim Curry. The film takes place between the events of the series' fifth and sixth seasons. The Rugrats Movie is the first feature film based on a Nicktoon and the first installment in the Rugrats film series.

<i>Rugrats in Paris: The Movie</i> 2000 film directed by Stig Bergqvist and Paul Demeyer

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is a 2000 animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rugrats. It is the second installment in the Rugrats film series and the sequel to The Rugrats Movie (1998). This film marks the first appearance of Kimi Watanabe and her mother, Kira. The film also marks the appearance of the first significant villains in the Rugrats franchise, the child-hating Coco LaBouche and her accomplice, Jean-Claude. The events of the film take place before the series' seventh season.

Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian animator, writer, director, producer and graphic designer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo, which has produced shows like Rugrats, Duckman, Stressed Eric, Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlene Klasky</span> American animator and co-founder of Klasky-Csupo

Arlene Phyllis Klasky is an American animator, graphic designer, producer and co-founder of Klasky Csupo with Gábor Csupó. In 1999, she was named one of the "Top 25 Women in Animation" by Animation Magazine. She is most known for her work with Nickelodeon in the 1990s and 2000s. She, along with her ex-husband Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain, co-created the animated series Rocket Power and the series Rugrats as well as the 2021 revival series of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reptar on Ice</span> 10th episode of the 2nd season of Rugrats

"Reptar on Ice" is the first segment of the 10th episode of the second season of the animated television series Rugrats and the first segment of the 23rd episode overall. The episode was written by Peter Gaffney and directed by Howard E. Baker. The episode originally aired on the television network Nickelodeon on November 15, 1992. "Reptar on Ice" followed the infant main characters, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil going to an ice show with their parents that follows the love story of the babies' favorite monster, Reptar. There, the babies attempt to return a lizard to the actor, assuming it is his child.

Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and The Fry Kids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Rugrats Passover</span> 23rd episode of the 3rd season of Rugrats

"A Rugrats Passover" is the 23rd episode of the third season of the American animated television series Rugrats. It first aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 13, 1995. The episode follows series regulars Grandpa Boris and the babies as they become trapped in the attic on Passover; to pass the time, Boris tells the Jewish story of the Exodus. During the episode, the babies themselves reenact the story, with Tommy portraying Moses, while his cousin Angelica represents the Pharaoh of Egypt.

At the Movies (<i>Rugrats</i>) 3rd episode of the 1st season of Rugrats

"At the Movies" is the first segment of the third episode of the animated television series Rugrats. It originally aired on the television network Nickelodeon on August 25, 1991, during the series' first season. In the episode, The Rugrats go to a movie theatre to see The Dummi Bears and the Land Without Smiles, but Tommy is infatuated with seeing a monster movie, Reptar!. He and the babies sneak out of the theater room to catch a showing of Reptar! while leaving a wake of accidental mayhem and destruction as they do.

"Runaway Reptar" is a TV movie initially released as the 18th and 19th episodes of the sixth season of the animated television series Rugrats. It originally aired on the television network Nickelodeon on November 27, 1999. The plot follows the babies watching a Reptar movie and imagining themselves as part of the story. It was directed by John Holmquist and Jim Duffy, and was the first two-part episode in the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Duffy (animator)</span> American animator

Jim Duffy was an American animator whose credits included more than twenty years at Klasky Csupo creating productions for Nickelodeon, as well as earlier stints as an animator for Hanna Barbera, TVC Animation in London, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, and others. Duffy received two Primetime Emmy Awards for the 2000s animated show, As Told by Ginger, as well as several other nominations for his work on Rugrats. Duffy also won three Daytime Emmy Awards during his tenure at Klasky Csupo, and received additional nominations for his work on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Duffy was also a director, writer, designer and storyboard artist for live action television commercials, PSAs, and corporate productions, including a series of safety videos for the National Coal Board. He divided his professional time between Los Angeles and London. His shortform animated films were screened at film festivals worldwide.

Igor Adolfovich Kovalyov is a Russian animator, director and educator, co-founder of Pilot — the first private animation studio in the Soviet Union Ukraine. From 1991 to 2005 he worked at Klasky Csupo where he co-created Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and co-directed The Rugrats Movie. He currently serves as a creative producer at Soyuzmultfilm. Kovalyov is also known for his auteur films for which received multiple international awards, including three Grand Prizes at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

<i>Rugrats</i> (2021 TV series) 2021 reboot of the 1991–2004 US animated series

Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain. It has been described as a reboot of the original TV series of the same name that ran from 1991 to 2004. The series premiered on May 27, 2021, on Paramount+; it is the second Nickelodeon-based series created for the streaming service. As with previous incarnations of the franchise, the series is produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Animation Studio.

Rugrats: A Live Adventure was a live musical show that toured across the United States and United Kingdom. It was based on the animated television series Rugrats, which aired on Nickelodeon. The live show was conceived in 1994, and debuted in the U.S. on February 6, 1998, with a two-year, 50-city tour. The U.K. tour debuted on October 28, 1999. The show was produced by Nickelodeon and Pace Variety Entertainment. The main cast from the television series reprised their roles through audio recordings, and members of the creative team were also involved, including series creators Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó, and composer Mark Mothersbaugh.

References

  1. Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 48. ISBN   978-0-547-75033-0 . Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  2. https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Wacky_Adventures_of_Ronald_McDonald_%22The_Legend_of_McDonaldland_Loch%22_(found_episode_of_animated_series%3B_2003)