Easter Comes Late...The Bunny in the TVCU
Yeah, it's kind of late, right. Well, I did cover IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE just a month ago. But you can blame Toby for giving me the idea. But he can blame NBC's HOP promotion.
So...the Easter Bunny. How do we explain his presence in the TVCU? Is he a mutant? Is he an immigrant from the Looniverse? No and no.
Here's the thing. Children have underdeveloped brains. It's a known fact that because of this, and because of the emotional instability and angst of children, their minds can manifest poltergeist.
So imagine if billions of children all at the same time imagine the same fictional being as being real. Imagine all that psychic energy focused on one thing. And that's what happens. The Easter Bunny exists because children will it into existence. This also explains why the Bunny appears differently at different times, with even different personality, methods of operation, ect. Even his origin can change, as the imaginations of children can alter his entire reality. The Bunny alters depending on the children he's nearest. In some sense, that means anytime a person dresses as the Easter Bunny, he may actually merge with the real Easter Bunny.
Oh, and I don't consider every Easter Bunny appearance to be in the TVCU. Only appearances with characters already established to be in the TVCU.
So let's look at the Bunny in the Television Crossover Universe...
Early 16th century--The first recorded appearance of the Easter Bunny is in the area of Germany, but the unrecorded folk legends date back further than this.
18th century--When a German comes to America, he brings with him the legend of the Easter Bunny, thus spreading the territory in which the Easter Bunny operates.
1835--Jakob Grimm, of THE BROTHERS GRIMM, records the story of the Easter Bunny. The Brothers Grimm were the foremost recorders of legendary stories from history.
1859 to 1873--BONANZA--"Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing"--I guess the Easter Bunny appears.
Spring 1910 to circa 1980--THE EASTER BUNNY IS COMIN' TO TOWN--See Gordon Long's blog, Of Flying Reindeer, Talking Snowmen, and the World's Greatest Toymaker: The Rankin-Bass Universe Timeline, for a very detailed timeline of the Rankin-Bass cartoons, which includes one version of the Easter Bunny.
1987--THE CARE BEARS ADVENTURE IN WONDERLAND--The White Rabbit on Wonderland claims to be related to both the Easter Bunny, and Swift Heart, of the the CARE BEAR COUSINS. I will leave it to James Bojaciuk to elaborate on this when he updates the Wonderland blog. The Easter Bunny is a tulpa from a pocket dimension called the North Pole, as explained in Gordon Long's Rankin-Bass blog. Wonderland, home of the White Rabbit, is a separate pocket dimension, and the Care Bears, though once from Earth's past, had migrated to yet another pocket dimension. But as seen on ONCE UPON A TIME, travel between these dimensions and the main TVCU seem to be more common than expected.
1990--HOME ALONE--When a man dressed as Santa Claus gets a traffic ticket, he says "What's next? Rabies shots for the Easter Bunny?"
December 25, 1996--ELMO SAVES CHRISTMAS--Elmo uses a magic snow globe to wish that every day were Christmas, and then has to travel back in time to undo the wish when he finds there are negative consequences to his wish. The Easter Bunny appears.
1999 to 2003--FARSCAPE--In one episode, Harvey wears a bunny costume and discusses Easter traditions.
April 2001--DREW CAREY SHOW--"The Easter Show"--Just a guy in a costume in this episode.
2002--THE SANTA CLAUSE 2: THE MRS. CLAUSE--Scott Calvin learns he needs to get married in order to maintain his Santa gig. The Easter Bunny appears in THE SANTA CLAUSE 2 and THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE.
2003--WWE VENGEANCE--The Easter Bunny appears. As much as I hate to break it to people, the WWE is fictional, the show is scripted, and the wrestlers are actually fictional characters. Since these wrestlers have crossed with a variety of other TVCU shows, the WWE is in the TVCU, where it can be considered to be real.
The not too distant future--MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000--"Santa Claus"--The gang poke fun at the long-standing adversarial relationship between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
ALTERNATE REALITIES:
BILL AND TED'S BOGUS UNVERSE--I'm sure there is a link to bring Bill and Ted into the TVCU, but I can't recall it right now. So for now they get their own. The Easter Bunny appears in Hell. Since the Easter Bunny is a psychic manifestation of the imagination, this version still counts as the real Easter Bunny.
CINEVERSE--The events of SANDMAN, SANTA WHO?, SONG OF SONGS, OH SO TWISTED, HOLIDAY ROMAN, EASTER BUNNY SUPER HERO, THE BAD NEWS BEARER, THE LEAGUE OF IMAGINARY HEROES, CALENDAR CONFLOPTION, IS HE REAL OR NOT?, THE GRATEFUL UNDEAD, MILKSOPS, HOP, HANK AND MIKE, THE FIRST EASTER BUNNY, SPACEMEN GO-GO GIRLS AND THE GREAT EASTER HUNT, COFFEE WITH BERNIE, SANTA CLAUS, and THE NOT-SO-GRIM REAPER occur here, in which the Easter Bunny appears. EASTER BUNNY also takes place here, but the title bunny is just an inanimate stuffed animal here. In EASTER BUNNY KILL KILL, the bunny is just normal rabbit. In EASTER BUNNY BLOODBATH, a slasher dresses as the Easter Bunny. EASTER PARADE also appears here, but if there is any relationship to the Easter Bunny, I'm not sure about it. The Bunny in STEEL MAGNOLIAS, COOKIE'S FORTUNE, NORTH, and THE MATADOR is just a guy in a costume. The Easter Bunny is referenced in HUSTLE & FLOW.
DC MULTIVERSE--The Easter Bunny appears in THE LOBO PARAMILITARY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL.
DC UNIVERSE--A mall Easter Bunny appears in MALLRATS.
BONGO UNIVERSE--On SOUTH PARK, there is a cult that centers around the Easter Bunny.
EARTH-PRIME--The Easter Bunnies here are just hot chicks in BOB HOPE AND HIS BEAUTIFUL EASTER BUNNIES AND OTHER FRIENDS. He also appears in THE GIRLS NEXT DOOR.
FAIRLY ODDPARENTS--This is a self-contained universe, as revealed in the crossover with JIMMY NEUTRON. The Easter Bunny appears in the episode "Christmas Every Day".
FAMILY CIRCUS UNIVERSE--OK, this may be part of the TVCU or the Looniverse, but as of right now I know of no crossovers linking Family Circus to either. So for now this is where I will place A FAMILY CIRCUS EASTER.
LOONIVERSE--This reality's Easter Bunny has appeared in YOGI THE EASTER BEAR. Bugs Bunny also met the Easter Bunny in EASTER YEGGS. He will later reflect on that encounter in BUGS BUNNY'S EASTER SPECIAL. The Easter Bunny meets Tom and Jerry in HAPPY GO DUCKY. Alvin and his brothers meet the Easter Bunny in THE EASTER CHIPMUNK.
ROBOT CHICKEN UNIVERSE--Every fictional character has a twisted counterpart in this reality.
SANTA CLAUSE UNIVERSE--The Easter Bunny appears in THE SANTA CLAUSE 2 and THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE.
SKITLANDIA--The Easter Bunny appears on Y B NORMAL?, CHUNKYDONKEY, and LARRY THE CABLE GUY'S CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR.
TOOB WORLD--This is the shared reality for almost all television programs, including ones also in the TVCU. The Easter Bunny appears in THE YOUNG ONES in the episode "Time", THE AMAZING EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDS in the episode "Quality Time", NEWSRADIO episode "The Lam", and THE VICAR OF DIBLEY.
TOONIVERSE--The events of THE EASTER BUNNY IS COMIN' TO TOWN, A CHUCKLEWOOLD EASTER, SOUTH POLE, THE SANTA TRAP, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, PJ BUNNY: A VERY COOL EASTER, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PETER RABBIT, EASTER IN BUNNYLAND, EASTER FEVER, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL, CLAYMATION EASTER, FUNNY LITTLE BUNNIES, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: OOGIE'S REVENGE, EASTER EGG MORNIN', THE FIRST EASTER RABBIT, SANTA VS. THE SNOWMAN, and AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE occur here. The Easter Bunny appears in all of these. Snoopy also dresses as THE EASTER BEAGLE.
If you want to imagine that the Easter Bunny exists in the TVCU as a poltergeist (or more properly, a tulpa) then perhaps he is the same entity (called a pooka) that manifested to Elwood P. Dowd in the movie HARVEY.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I think Harvey counts as a TVCU appearence? Because Angelo claims to see Harvey as well, in the crossover film WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT.
In Roger Rabbit, I feel that the Harvey reference was a joke, as that was the time of the movie, and it was in reference to him looking for a rabbit.
ReplyDeleteBut even if we count that, Roger Rabbit is the in Looniverse. There is no connections to the TVCU, except maybe Betty Boop, but I'm placing Boop in the Looniverse since her connection there is stronger than her connection to the TVCU. Live Action can occur in the Looniverse, as I don't consider the Looniverse really to be a world where everything is a cartoon, but a world where cartoons dominate. If cartoons can exist in the TVCU, it only makes sense then that live action can exist in the Looniverse.
Roger Rabbit is a Loonieverse character, but only because Toon Town is a permanent conduit connecting the Loonieverse with the TVCU, as I see it anyway. Cartoon physics only works for the cartoon characters, or for 'real' people while they are inside Toon Town, which suggests that only Toon Town is part of the Loonieverse, not the entire movie setting. The distinction is furthered by the use of DIP to kill toons, while 'real' people can be killed by normal means.
ReplyDeleteThe same rules seem to apply to Space Jam, which makes it seem to me that Bugs, Daffy, et al. travel to the TVCU to kidnap Michael Jordan and bring him into the Loonieverse.
And yes, if cartoons can exist in the TVCU, then live action can exist in the Loonieverse... but if characters can crossover from the Loonieverse and the Bongoverse, why couldn't they crossover between the Loonieverse and the TVCU?
As to the idea that Toon domination designates whetehr something takes place in the TVCU or the Loonieverse, I'd like to point out the discrimination against toons that many people, including the main character Eddie Valiant, feel against toons. And the plot revolves around destroying Toon Town. which would be impossible or irrelevant in the Loonieverse, since doing so would neither eliminate the toons nor clear the way for the freeway.
Live action movies I place in the Loonieverse include George of the Jungle and Dudle Do-Right, as well as Godzilla vs Hedoah (the Smog Monster). But when a movie like Roger Rabbit, Space Jam, or Rocky & Bullwinkle makes a clear distinction between the reality the cartoon characters live in and the reality that the humans live in (so does Cool World, but there's no crossover for that one that I know of).
and as long as I'm on a soapbox, I'll point out that the Bonkers cartoon is an unofficial follow-up to Roger Rabbit, in which cartoon star Bonkers T Bobcat gets a job in the real world police force after his acting career flops, teamed with a human cop that dislikes toons. This particular version DOES take place completely in the Loonieverse, according to your standard of Toon Dominance, since the toons are present in all walks of life, not just the entertainment business.
In order to place the live action part of Toon Town in the TVCU, there has to be a crossover. The Looniverse characters travel to many different worlds, such as the DC Universe (Superman/Bugs Bunny) and Earth-Prime (Space Jam). Certainly they cross into the TVCU (Daffy meets Drew Carey, for example.)
ReplyDeleteBut when there is no crossover, I can't place it in the TVCU. I'd speculate that since the plot was foiled, the freeways never got created, and the "toons" spread then throughout the world, and in doing so, the nature of their reality spread. Certainly we've seen that with Mystery, Inc. They spent so much time in the Looniverse they absorbed the properties and carried them back to the TVCU.
As for George and Do-Right, those are live action remakes, so they would be in the Cineverse. Cool World has no crossover connections, so likely is in the Cineverse and Tooniverse. I actually think Rocky and Bullwinkle is in the TVCU, because of a reference in Crossovers. I'm curious how you connect the Godzilla film to the Loonivers.
Bonkers I place in the Looniverse, and in fact that is evidence of how the "toons" migrated out and expanded into the rest of the world.
The Loonieverse already has a version of Godzilla, as seen in the old Hanna-Barbara series (w/ Godzooky, the Jar Jar Binks of dai kaiju) and an episode of Drawn Together. In the movie Godzilla vs Hedorah, the Big G dances, flies, and generally acts like a dilweed in light of the awful majesty that IS the King of Monsters in every other G-flick (except maybe the one that's just a dream sequence in which a kid thinks Minya can talk and change his size). I'll point out that the movie ALSO has animated sequences, which is why I feel justified in thinking this is a live movie of the Looneyverse Godzilla, rather than, say, the lame-o-verse version of Godzilla.
ReplyDeleteJust being animated is not enough to bring something into the Looniverse. Let's be clear there is a difference between the Looniverse and the Tooniverse. The Looniverse is connected via crossovers whereas the Tooniverse contains all cartoon. It's the same distinction between the TVCU and Toob World. But the Drawn Together connection does bring the cartoon into the Looniverse, and probably dancing Godzilla.
ReplyDelete