''Crazylegs Crane'' is a 16-episode made-for-television cartoon series produced by

DePatie–Freleng Enterprises DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (also known as Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng Productions when involved with the Mirisch brothers and Geoffrey Productions; and DFE Films) was an American animation production company that was active from 1963 to 1 ...

in 1978 for '' The All New Pink Panther Show'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Production

This was Crazylegs Crane's first series dedicated solely to him. Previously, he had made regular appearances in the three DePatie-Freleng animated comedies, ''

Tijuana Toads ''Tijuana Toads'' is a series of 17 theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie–Freleng and released through United Artists. Plot The series was about two toads, El Toro and Pancho, who live in the Mexican city of Tijuana. Throughout the carto ...

'', ''

The Blue Racer ''The Blue Racer'' is a series of 17 theatrical cartoons produced from 1972 to 1974 created by Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie. The character's first cartoon, ''Snake in the Gracias'', was released theatrically on January 24, 1971. Production ...

'' and ''

The Dogfather The Dogfather was a series of 17 cartoons produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released between 1974 and 1976. It is the final theatrical cartoon series made by DePatie–Freleng. This cartoon ''The Dogfather'' is the same most of next '' ...

''.

Larry D. Mann Larry D. Mann (18 December 1922 – 6 January 2014) was a Canadian actor. He was best known as "The Boss" in a series of Bell Canada television commercials in the 1980s and for voicing the character of Yukon Cornelius in ''Rudolph the Red-Nose ...

voiced him in all but two of his appearances, with Bob Holt voicing him in the ''Tijuana Toads'' short "Flight to the Finish", and

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Ho ...

voicing him in the ''Dogfather'' short "The Goose That Laid a Golden Egg". His personality is similar to the Disney character

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

. In the German series, this character was known as "Dummvogel", literally "stupid bird". The character's name was never spoken in the theatrical shorts, only being referred to as a "chicken" or a "crane" by other characters. When his own series entered production he was initially called "Ichabod Crane" before settling on "Crazylegs Crane".

Plot

In the cartoons that star Crazylegs Crane (voiced by

), he always goes through various misadventures (often accompanied by his son Crazylegs Crane Jr. (voiced by

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

)) and often deals with his frenemy, a fire-breathing

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

(voiced by Frank Welker impersonating

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...

). None of the shorts contained any credit information; only the series title and episode title were shown.

Theatrical shorts

# Go For Croak (1969, Tijuana Toads) # Snake in the Gracias (1971, Tijuana Toads) # Two Jumps and a Chump (1971, Tijuana Toads) # The Egg and Ay Yi Yi! (1971, Tijuana Toads) # A Leap in the Deep (1971, Tijuana Toads) # Flight to the Finish (1972, Tijuana Toads) # Blue Aces Wild (1973, The Blue Racer) # Snake Preview (1973, The Blue Racer) # Aches and Snakes (1973, The Blue Racer) # The Goose That Laid a Golden Egg (1974, The Dogfather) # Mother Dogfather (1974, The Dogfather)

Episodes

# Life With Feather # Crane Brained # King of the Swamp # Sonic Broom # Winter Blunderland # Storky and Hatch # Fly by Knight # Sneaker Snack # Barnacle Bird # Animal Crack-ups # Jet Feathers # Nest Quest # Bug Off # Beach Bummer # Flower Power # Trail of the Lonesome Mine

Reruns

Crazylegs Crane previously aired as part of ''The All-New Pink Panther Show'' on

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally fo ...

on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30am

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

until September 22, 2011. Also, most of the shorts often air as filler material on

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

. Some episodes have also appeared on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

and other online video sites.

Home video

A DVD and Blu-ray containing the 16 episodes were released on April 26, 2016 from

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...

References

External links

* 1970s American animated television series 1978 American television series debuts Animated television series about birds Television series by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises Television series by MGM Television The Pink Panther Show Television characters introduced in 1969 American children's animated comedy television series {{animation-tv-prog-stub