Boo Boo Runs Wild

All of this just works. ― Todd Howard

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Boo Boo Runs Wild
Boo Boo surely went wild here...
Genre: Parody Running Time: 20 minutes Country: United States Release Date: September 24, 1999 Network(s): Cartoon Network Created by: John Kricfalusi Distributed by: Cartoon Network Starring: Corey Burton John Kricfalusi Michael Pataki Mary Ellen Thomas

Boo Boo Runs Wild' is a stand-alone special parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø. Boo Boo Runs Wild originally aired on Cartoon Network on September 24, 1999, along with A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith, a similar Yogi Bear-themed stand-alone special.

Plot

Just when Ranger Smith is making sure everything in Jellystone Park is in order, Boo Boo enters a feral state due to his impatience with all the rules, much to the displeasure of Ranger Smith, who expected Yogi Bear to do this. Boo Boo's actions go from clawing the backsides of trees to savagely devouring honey from a hive, which even convinces Cindy Bear to go feral as well. After Ranger Smith is alerted to this, he is ordered to put Boo Boo down by his chief. Yogi and the Ranger get into a physical altercation over this, which ends with Yogi beating Ranger. When Boo Boo witnesses this, he tries to stop the fight but is knocked out by Yogi. This, along with Ranger Smith throwing water on him returns him to normal, much to everyone's delight and the cartoon ends.

Bad Qualities

1. Boo Boo has been badly flanderized in this special, as he has gone from being Yogi's loyal faithful companion and conscience into a huge psychopath who turns feral just because Ranger Smith doesn’t want Boo Boo to tear off bark from trees.
   1. He's really out of character in this special, since Yogi is usually the one who gets annoyed by any new rules that are established by the park, and when he inevitably disobeys them, Boo Boo would tell Yogi that Ranger Smith will not be pleased.
2. Some scenes have tons of padding such as Boo Boo snapping.
3. Barely stays true to the source material.
4. Some scenes are very disturbing such as Boo Boo tearing off bark from sentient trees and Yogi and Ranger Smith fighting.
5. Some gross-out jokes and butt jokes.
6. Plot-hole: Cindy Bear becomes feral after seeing Boo Boo act savage, but she doesn’t appear for the rest of the special even when Boo Boo turns back to normal, so it’s unsure if Cindy is still savage or turned back to normal.
7. A painful slapstick comedy moment, with Boo-Boo badly biting Yogi's foot.
8. A few animation errors such as Boo Boo somehow having his bow tie back after turning back to normal and asking where is said bow tie.
9. False Advertising: Despite the title card saying that it’s a "Ranger Smith Cartoon", Ranger Smith only appears at the beginning and the last half of the special, as the special focus more on Boo Boo instead.
10. Knowing this was from John Kricfalusi, the time hasn't been the same after he was fired from The Ren & Stimpy Show. This was even made during the time he was a pedophile before he was exposed.
12. They just used the Auggie Doggy and Doggy Daddy theme song in the opening.

Good Qualities

1. It’s nice to see Yogi Bear again, plus Yogi Bear himself was likable in this special.
2. Some emotional scenes such as Ranger Smith complicating Yogi and Yogi trying to encourage Ranger Smith not to shoot Boo Boo and telling him about all the times that Boo Boo has helped him.
3. The animation is decent for the late-1990s standards.
4. The character designs look superb, like most of the classic cartoon reboots.
5. The backgrounds are great and fit the classic '50s-'60s Hanna-Barbera backgrounds.
6. Some funny moments such as Ranger Smith reading the rules about animals not wearing clothes when telling Yogi and Boo Boo to put on clothes which poke fun at the fact of how most anthropomorphic Hanna-Barbera animal characters are seen wearing clothes.
7. Corey Burton, John Kricfalusi, Michael Pataki, Mary Ellen Thomas, and Stephen Worth do a great job with the voice acting and sound a lot like Don Messick, Daws Butler, and Julie Bennett.
8. Ranger Smith changing designs throughout the special was likely poking fun at the fact of how Ranger Smith keeps changing designs throughout the original Yogi Bear cartoons.
9. Ranger Smith got his comeuppance for making Boo Boo go berserk.

Trivia

• The short is dedicated to Ed Benedict, the original character designer for The Yogi Bear Show and other Hanna-Barbera properties of the 1950s-1960s.
• Since its original debut in 1999, Boo Boo Runs Wild has aired multiple times on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. Strangely, whenever aired on Adult Swim, it retains its original TV-Y7 rating and was never rerated to TV-PG. From January 2006 until April 2006 Boo Boo Runs Wild aired every Sunday on Adult Swim. On April 1, 2006, following the normal Neon Genesis Evangelion bump, Adult Swim aired Boo Boo Runs Wild as an April Fool's Day joke, despite all TV listings showing Evangelion in its normal time slot. Adult Swim re-aired Boo Boo Runs Wild on Halloween night, October 31, 2008, as part of an advertised "Halloween Stunt" night, where obscure or randomly seen shows preempted the usual programming for that Friday night. In 2011 Adult Swim re-aired Boo Boo Runs Wild every night from January 10 until January 14, as part of their "DVR Theatre". It aired again on the nights of August 12, 2016, September 5, 2017, and January 6, 2019.
• Ranger Smith's design changes are a reference to the original Yogi Bear cartoons, in which the characters' designs (including Ranger Smith's) would change from cartoon to cartoon. Ranger Smith's inconsistent appearance in this short is a parody of that.

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