''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...

owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and

Amblin Entertainment Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshal ...

, that began with the 1988 film, ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1 ...

'', itself based on a book titled ''

Who Censored Roger Rabbit? ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' is a mystery novel written by Gary K. Wolf in 1981. It was later adapted by Disney and Amblin Entertainment into the critically acclaimed 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. Plot Eddie Valiant is a hardboiled pr ...

'' by Gary K. Wolf. The original film was released through Disney's

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...

banner on June 22, 1988, and became a

blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

hit. It brought a renewed interest in the

Golden Age of American animation The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the ...

, spearheading modern American animation and the

Disney Renaissance The Disney Renaissance was the period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films that were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, much ...

. It won three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects and received a

Special Achievement Academy Award The Special Achievement Award is an Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for its animation direction by Williams. In 2016, it was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". There's also media related to the 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', including books, three animated shorts, comic books and a video game.

Books

''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?''

'' by

Gary K. Wolf Gary K. Wolf (born January 24, 1941) is an American author. He is best known as the author of ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' (1981), which was adapted into the hit feature-length film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988). Early life and career W ...

is the book on which the film is loosely based.

''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''

''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' by Martin Noble is the novelization of the film of the same name.

''Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?''

''Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?'' is a humorous mystery novel written by

released in 1991 (). The book is inconsistent with and so is neither a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

nor a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

to ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' or the film adaptation by Disney. It could be considered a

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

. The original novel was

retconned Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...

as a dream of Jessica, in chapter 12. The novel features the original main characters

Roger Rabbit Roger Rabbit is an animated anthropomorphic rabbit. The character first appeared in author Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel, ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' In the book, Roger is second banana in a popular comic strip, "Baby Herman". Roger hires private ...

Eddie Valiant Eddie Valiant is the main protagonist of the novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'', and the film adaptation, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' In the original novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'', Eddie Valiant is a fict ...

Jessica Rabbit Jessica Rabbit is a fictional character in the novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' and its film adaptation, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. She is depicted as Roger's human toon wife in various Roger Rabbit media. Jessica is renowned as one of the ...

, and

Baby Herman ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's ...

. Their personalities conform to those established in the ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' film, such as Jessica's devotion to Roger and Roger's cartoony quirks such as his

speech impediment Speech disorders or speech impairments are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean stuttering, lisps, etc. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is considered mute. Speech skills are ...

. The story starts out with

at the front door of Roger Rabbit's house. Almost immediately after he is let inside the house, Roger tells him about the upcoming ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Win ...

'' toon adaptation and how he has a chance to play the lead as

Rhett Butler Rhett Butler (Born in 1828) is a fictional character in the 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' by Margaret Mitchell and in the 1939 film adaptation of the same name. It is one of Clark Gable's most recognizable and significant roles. Role Rhe ...

. However, the ''Telltale News'', a newspaper that tends to toons, prints an article about

and her relationship with

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

. Introduced in this novel is Jessica's diminutive twin sister, Joellyn, who becomes Eddie's main love interest as he has broken up with his girlfriend. We also meet Eddie's sister, who is in a mixed-race marriage with a toon, and has three children with her toon husband. From here, the story branches out to the murders of Kirk Enigman (another candidate for the part of Rhett Butler),

, and Dodger Rabbit (Roger Rabbit's evil cousin).

''Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?''

''Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?'' is a mystery-humor novel written by

released in 2013.

Children's picture books

*''Roger Rabbit: A Different Toon'' by Justine Korman *''Roger Rabbit: Make the World Laugh'' by Justine Korman *''Who Framed Roger Rabbit: The Movie Storybook'' by Justine Korman (1988)

Comic books

''Roger Rabbit''

''Roger Rabbit'' is a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series by

Disney Comics Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with ...

starring characters from the 1988 film, ''

'', as well as following continuity from the film. It spawned a spin-off series entitled ''

Roger Rabbit's Toontown ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a media franchise owned by The Walt Disney Company and Amblin Entertainment, that began with the 1988 film, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', itself based on a book titled ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wolf. ...

'', which lasted five issues. The series continues the adventures of Roger Rabbit, who has since returned to working for Maroon Cartoons, now under C.B. Maroon (a character introduced in the graphic novel, '' Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom''). The comics are usually split into two stories, with one main feature focusing on Roger's adventures, and a back-up feature presented to look like an actual animated subject. While characters such as Jessica Rabbit, Baby Herman and Benny the Cab all appear in the stories, Eddie Valiant is seldom seen, replaced by a new detective character named Rick Flint. This is explained in the first issue. It is explained that when Roger went to Eddie with a new case, Eddie was too busy with new cases brought on by his new-found fame after defeating Judge Doom twice. Eddie then refers Roger to a "new kid" private detective, Rick Flint. The actual editorial reason for omitting Eddie Valiant from the comic was not having the likeness rights to make Eddie resemble Bob Hoskins. Two other new characters introduced were Lenny, a toon plane who is Benny's cousin, and Mel, who is Roger's sentient mailbox. The series had a one-off 3D strip as part of the ''

Disney's Comics in 3-D ''Disney's Comics in 3-D'' was a two-part comic book series published by Disney Comics (publishing), Disney Comics in 1992. Unlike most comic books, the stories are drawn in Stereoscopy, 3-D stereo. The first issue had Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, U ...

'' series, which reprints the back-up features of earlier comics and converted them into 3D. The comic-book line lasted 18 issues, and continued until the implosion of

''Roger Rabbit's Toontown''

''Roger Rabbit's Toontown'' was a comic book published by

. It features Roger and his supporting characters from Disney and Amblin Entertainment's ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. Every issue began with a Roger Rabbit story and his supporting characters such as his wife Jessica, his co star Baby and his taxi cab friend Benny round out the comic. This comic book lasted for five issues from May to August 1991. This comic book is similar to the

version of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.

Graphic novels and trade paperbacks

*''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (based on the movie) *''Roger Rabbit: Tummy Trouble'' (based on the animated short) *''Roger Rabbit: Who Framed Rick Flint'' (trade paperback featuring a story line from the ''Roger Rabbit'' comic series)

''Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom''

''Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom'' () is a graphic novel sequel that takes place between the film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' and the

short film ''

Tummy Trouble The ''Roger Rabbit'' shorts are a series of animated short films produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1989 to 1993. The anthology features Roger Rabbit, the animated protagonist from ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', being enlisted the task o ...

''. It also helped to set the scene for the ''Roger Rabbit'' comic-book series by

=Plot summary

= The comic opens with a documentary about the origin of

Judge Doom Judge Doom (formerly known as Baron von Rotten) is a fictional character who appears as the main antagonist in the 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', portrayed by Christopher Lloyd. He is depicted as the much-feared, cruel, and evil judge of ...

. The documentary mentions the original character

cel A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, bu ...

used to create Doom. Eddie Valiant is given credit for ending Doom's reign of terror by dissolving him in a puddle of Dip, stated as 'A victim of his own evil creation', and putting a stop to his plans to erase Toontown and build a freeway where it would have once stood. A weasel, Slimy, is shown watching the documentary. He goes with two other weasels, Flasher and Ragtag, to find the original cel of Doom. They manipulate some

animators An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

to bring Doom back to life. With time, Doom remembers everything that happened to him, and now wants revenge against both Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit for ruining his plans. Meanwhile, Eddie Valiant is called by C.B. Maroon, the late R.K. Maroon’s brother and new executive of Maroon Cartoons, who announces they are reopening the studio, and pays Valiant $500 to run a search on the background of Roger Rabbit. Valiant finds Roger's records clean as a whistle. Meanwhile, Roger and Jessica Rabbit are enjoying life at home as much as possible, despite Roger's unemployment following the closing of Maroon Cartoon Studios. Roger gets a call from Maroon Cartoons, saying they are reopening the studio, and that they want Roger to come work for them. Roger accepts the offer, and the next day, Roger meets C.B. Maroon, who starts Roger off with a very low-budget film (depicted in a

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

-esque style). Roger angrily objects to his part in the film, and is fired ("Get me that ''other'' rabbit with the tiger for a buddy!"). The next day, Roger finds dozens of scandalous, untrue headlines centered on himself. He turns to Valiant to find out why this is happening. Valiant first meets with C.B. Maroon, and questions him about firing Roger. Maroon reveals himself as Doom, tells his plan to ruin Roger's reputation and then kill him. He and the weasels knock Valiant out and lock him up in a storage locker, where Valiant meets the real C.B. Maroon. Doom, as C.B. Maroon, puts Maroon Studios up for auction, and the studio will be officially sold at noon. Meanwhile, Roger and Jessica are about to leave for Simi Valley, but first go to Valiant's office to say goodbye, only to find the office ransacked. Jessica finds indentations of the address Valiant wrote on the last piece of paper he used. Rushing to the address, they find and rescue Eddie Valiant and C.B. Maroon. They leave to save Maroon Studios. Valiant sprays him and his weasels with the Dip-filled gag squirt gun, and before dissolving, "Maroon" reveals himself to be Doom. The real C.B. Maroon announces he is re-opening Maroon Cartoon Studios, and will be providing all the toon employees with work, including Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman with a line-up of new animated short films, starting with ''Tummy Trouble''.

Animated short films

Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

produced a series of animated shorts featuring

, following the release of the film. The three shorts (''Tummy Trouble'', ''Roller Coaster Rabbit'', and ''Trail Mix-Up''), were presented in front of various Disney/Touchstone features in an attempt to revive short subject animation as a part of the movie-going experience. Of the 3 shorts, only the first is "complete", the other 2 films ending with Roger wrecking the sets.

Video games

*''

The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle ''The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle'', known in Japan as for the Family Computer Disk System, is a 1989 puzzle video game developed by Kemco for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was also released for the Game Boy in Japan as and in North Americ ...

'' – Featured on the Japanese FDS version. *''

'' – Released in 1988 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

by Buena Vista Software. *''

'' – Released in 1989 for

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

LJN LJN Toys Ltd. was an American toy company and video game publisher based in New York City. Founded in 1970 by Jack Friedman, the company was acquired by MCA Inc. in 1985, sold to Acclaim Entertainment in 1990, and dissolved in 1994. The toy d ...

. *''

Hare Raising Havoc ''Hare Raising Havoc'' is a side-scrolling adventure game developed by BlueSky Software for the Amiga and MS-DOS compatible operating systems. It was published by Disney Software in 1991. The game is a spin-off of the 1988 Disney/Amblin film, '' ...

'' – Released in 1991 for

and

BlueSky Software BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Interac ...

. *''

'' – Released in 1991 for

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

Toys

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

made cups based upon ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' in 1989 in the United States. * Roger Rabbit, Judge Doom, Smart Ass and Jessica Rabbit

Funko Pop! Funko Inc. is an American company that manufactures licensed and limited pop culture collectibles, best known for its licensed vinyl figurines and bobbleheads. In addition, the company produces licensed plush, action figures, apparel, access ...

figures were released in 2014.

Cast and characters

* A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that installment. * An indicates a performer stood in as their character's singing voice. * A indicates an actor or actress was not credited for their respective role.

References

External links

List of Roger Rabbit publications
in the

INDUCKS The International Network of Disney Universe Comic Knowers and SourcesFrom Inducks lecture
held at ...

database {{Disney franchises

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

Touchstone Pictures franchises