I Am Weasel is an American animated sitcom created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network. It is the fourth of the network's Cartoon Cartoons and the final to be produced solely by Hanna-Barbera. The series centers on I.M. Weasel (voiced by Michael Dorn), a smart, noble and successful weasel, I.R. Baboon (voiced by Charlie Adler), an idiotic and arrogant baboon who is envious of Weasel and acts as both his rival and friend, and the mischievous, flamboyant Red Guy (also voiced by Adler), who returns from Cow and Chicken to antagonize the duo.
I Am Weasel originally aired as a segment of Cow and Chicken from 1997 to 1999, often airing as the third of three segments in an episode, and eventually became a spin off into its own series. A fifth season with 27 new episodes aired from June 10, 1999, to 2000 and joined the original 52 which were previously part of Cow and Chicken. The entire series includes 79 episodes overall.
Premise The series chronicles the random adventures of two animal frenemies: I.M. Weasel (Michael Dorn) and I.R. Baboon (Charlie Adler). The first one is a famous, heroic, eloquent, highly intelligent and very talented least weasel who always tries to help people out and is thus adored by everybody, constantly shouting his catchphrase "I am Weasel!" while pointing high in the air before going after help.Opening sequence of I Am Weasel The latter is his foil, an ugly and idiotic baboon who is envious of Weasel's success and constantly tries to do better than he does (also doing a victory dance to express his joy when thinking he is doing so), and failing miserably after all due to his total stupidity.
Starting from season two, the Red Guy (Charlie Adler), a main character in Cow and Chicken, also gets that role in I Am Weasel, where he is also referred to as "I.B. Red Guy", an allusion to Weasel's and Baboon's names. His addition to the series makes him gradually take the role of villain from I.R., who becomes more friendly to Weasel, despite still despising him.
As the series progresses, I.M. Weasel, initially showed as a competent protagonist, gradually loses the focus to I.R. Baboon, because people are shown to get gradually dumber, sometimes being manipulated by the Red Guy into stupidity. In the series finale, I.R. is finally presented as the true star of the show instead of him.
Supporting characters include Loulabelle (Susanne Blakeslee, Teresa Ganzel), Jolly Roger (Dee Bradley Baker) and Admiral Bullets (Jess Harnell, Michael Gough). Many characters from Cow and Chicken make cameo appearances in I Am Weasel from season two, these include: Cow, Chicken (Charlie Adler), Mom, Teacher (Candi Milo), Dad (Dee Bradley Baker), Flem (Howard Morris), and Earl (Dan Castellaneta).
Universe setting While season one does not reference Cow and Chicken, from season two, I Am Weasel usually takes place in the same universe of that show, due to Red Guy's presence and other characters from that show making occasional cameos. David Feiss, in fact, cross-populated both series as it made the work easier and he felt it was always the same universe. Despite so, I Am Weasel is occasionally presented as a TV show airing in the Cow and Chicken world, suggesting a separate continuity. The same occurs in another episode, but with the characters in the same universe.
Characters
I.M. Weasel (Michael Dorn): A highly intelligent, skilled and famous weasel who mostly plays a straight man role in a world full of idiots. While very helpful and beloved at the beginning of the series, he eventually starts to show frustration with people's antics and his "hero" status towards them becomes more fallible. I.R. Baboon (Charlie Adler): A dimwitted and jealous baboon, he eventually becomes Weasel's best friend. Shown in the beginning as trying to persuade people's attention from Weasel, always failing miserably and being hated, he eventually gets a "hero" status as the world becomes just as stupid as him. He is known for his habit of going into a rage if people laugh at his buttocks. Always wears a white t-shirt with an upside-down "I.R." written by himself on it. The Red Guy (Charlie Adler): Also cited as "I.B. Red Guy", he is a comical representation of the Devil. He reprises his role from Cow and Chicken, trying to persuade and scam the central characters under various disguises. He may sometimes play as a third main character. Jolly Roger (Dee Bradley Baker): A fat and tall man who always wears a tuxedo along a sailor costume, named after the pirate flag. He makes a brief appearance in the middle of season 3 before becoming a recurring character for the show in season 5. Loulabelle (Susanne Blakeslee / Teresa Ganzel): A gorgeous assistant woman to Weasel, a blonde nurse. Also shown as laboratory assistant in two episodes. Loulabelle is implied as Weasel's girlfriend in season 2. Her appearance is downsized to a one-time character in season 3. Admiral Bullets (Jess Harnell / Michael Gough): A short-sized admiral always seen standing up over a small bench. He appears mostly in the early seasons calling up for Weasel's help. He was last seen in a later episode of season 3, where he is given a darker skin tone and is seen piloting a jet in a war.
Development and production Creation and concept
Cow and Chicken started out as the pilot episode "No Smoking" on What a Cartoon! in 1995, and was greenlit to become a series. Cartoon Network demanded a second cartoon to join Cow and Chicken in its half-hour time slot, so David Feiss came up with I Am Weasel, loosely based upon the novel I Am Legend, one of his favorite books as a teenager. "I was doodling one day, and drew a weasel, with the title 'I Am Weasel', off of one of my favorite books as a teenager, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. I thought against type, that instead of a weasel who was a weasel, this guy would be smart and heroic".
According to Feiss, the idea for creating the show began as a single drawing of I.M. Weasel with the caption "I Am Weasel" and that suggested many stories to him. The concept for the rivalry between a weasel and a baboon came up from the classic nursery rhyme "Pop Goes the Weasel", where a monkey is said to be chasing a weasel. Also, the fact that the Red Guy does not wear pants was controversial for many people, as he said: "The thing that I never thought that I'd get approval for was the Red Guy. The mere fact that he didn't wear pants was a challenge for a lot of people and I am glad Cartoon Network let it go - he's my favorite character".
Production began around April 1996 and the show was inserted as a series of segments in Cow and Chicken until mid-1999. Right after the end of that show, it was spun-off into a new separated series produced until September 16, 1999, with all the previous episodes incorporated and removed from Cow and Chicken.
General production took place at the studio of Hanna-Barbera, in Los Angeles, with the series being labeled as part of both the collection of cartoons of that company and Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons. Animation production was done overseas by Rough Draft Korea, in Seoul.
Retooling
From season two onward, the show's story, recurring characters and art style underwent significant changes. I.R. Baboon went on to become gradually more friendly to Weasel and less seen as antagonist, as that role was taken over by the Red Guy. Supporting characters from seasons one to three, such as Loulabelle and Admiral Bullets, became less and less seen, completely being absent in seasons four and five. Many characters from Cow and Chicken were added as supporting or recurring characters. That was explained by Feiss: "There was a lot of pressure to complete Cow and Chicken quickly, and I felt that I couldn't dedicate enough time to the second show. But Cartoon Network wanted to spin off Weasel, so we did. I don't really remember asking if I could or could not cross populate the two shows--I just did it because it felt like the same universe, plus I thought it was funny to have the Red Guy in I Am Weasel".
The story started to show more of Weasel's shortcomings and at times allowed him to lapse into a wise fool, suffering similar gags as I.R., as opposed of the invincible folk hero role he played on season one.I Am Weasel - Seasons 2 to 5. I.R. Baboon started to become more like a hero than a villain, also taking that role from Weasel in some episodes of season five, leading to the finale. The show never truly dropped its premise of Weasel serving to contrast Baboon's stupidity and failures (the very thing that allowed Baboon to usurp him in the final episode as the key piece of the entertainment) and that Weasel retained more than enough intelligence and morality to serve as his defining characteristics, among the cast.
The exact same art style of Cow and Chicken is used starting from season two. Season one is a bit different, including the title cards for episodes, which feature animation and Weasel saying the name of the episode with additional commentary and/or events, contrasting with the style also used for Cow and Chicken, with static image.I Am Weasel - Season 1.
Humor style Humor relies on slapstick comedy and moderate off-color humor, as typical of many 1990s cartoons, and is based on the existent gap between the central characters, with I.R. Baboon being the center of most running gags, which are mostly about his stupidity and big red buttocks, though some episodes show I.M. Weasel or the Red Guy also taking this role. Butt jokes are also more frequent when the Red Guy is around and parodies of popular culture and other shows and crossovers also take place in some episodes.
Season one shows Weasel as a "perfect" character without a single display of any character flaw, and Baboon as a buffoonish idiot. Weasel gradually becomes less intelligent and competent alongside the audience, allowing I.R. to take his place as the "star" of the show. From season two onward, the Red Guy incorporates the style of humor found in Cow and Chicken, taking the role of villain, but also appearing as a third wheel. In season five, Jolly Roger also starts to fill both roles.
Episodes usually reference the show name and I.M. Weasel with titles in first person, and a great number of them also make fun of I.R. Baboon's misspelling, with grammatically incorrect names such as "I Big Star", "I Good Salesmans" and "I Artiste".
The fourth wall is often broken, mostly at the end of episodes. The characters do it to make some ending commentaries, give advice to spectators or just call for the end of the episode.
Title, credits and music The title sequence features I.M. Weasel constantly saying his catchphrase "I am Weasel!" and I.R. Baboon doing his trademarked victory dance. The series ending credits were only created in 1999, with the separation; it credits all involved in the three years of production and the theme song is played instrumentally in a pop rock style, with additional arrangement like orchestrations.I Am Weasel ending credits.
The theme song was composed by Bill Fulton, written by Richard Pursel, and sung by April March. Musically, it is a humorous take on the well-known version of "Pop Goes the Weasel".
Voice cast
Michael Dorn provided voice for I.M. Weasel and Charlie Adler did both voices of I.R. Baboon and the Red Guy. Loulabelle was voiced by Susanne Blakeslee in season two and Teresa Ganzel in season three, Jolly Roger by Dee Bradley Baker, and Admiral Bullets by Jess Harnell in season one and Michael Gough in season two. Feiss originally considered James Earl Jones for the role of I.M. Weasel since he was the announcer of Cartoon Network's sister channel CNN, but Dorn was recommended to him by his friend and Johnny Bravo creator Van Partible.
Additional characters were voiced by the aforementioned along with Carlos Alazraqui, Dan Castellaneta, Dom DeLuise, Tom Kenny, Candi Milo, Howard Morris and Frank Welker, among others.