"The Angry Beavers" Theme Song (HQ) Episode Opening Credits Nick Animation
The Angry Beavers is an American animated television series and the seventh major Nicktoon created by Mitch Schauer. The series revolves about Norbert and Daggett Beaver, two beaver brothers who have left their parents and home to become bachelors in the forest near the town of Wayouttatown, Oregon. Their many adventures spark them to release their ugly sides very often, drawing in the name Angry Beavers.
The show premiered on April 19, 1997 after the 1997 Kids' Choice Awards, making it the first Nicktoon to have that honor. It ended its run on November 11, 2003, as part of a special U-Pick Live event, with a few previously-unaired episodes eventually showing up on the Nicktoons Network in August 2006.
Characters
- Main article: List of The Angry Beavers characters
Main characters
- Norbert Foster "Norb" Beaver (voiced by Nick Bakay): Norbert is older than Daggett by four minutes. He presents as very laid-back, calm and much more mature than his brother, but is extremely lazy. He often obsesses over his hair. He likes to manipulate his brother, mostly in order to get things, or make Daggett look like an idiot or even hurt. Even so, he will sometimes show a reluctant protective brotherly love for his younger sibling. His catchphrase is "Biiiiig HUG!" After saying this, he will force hugs on the less-than-receptive Daggett. Some of Daggett's nicknames for him are "Norb", "Norby", and "Norby-orby-orby". He has blond/yellow fur, a tan tail, a purple-ish nose, and brown, rounded fins/ears on his back. He is slightly pigeon-toed when standing. He seems to enjoy the finer things in life, such as money, great Arbor day gifts, hair curlers, bad horror movies, and becoming a Lipizzaner stallion. He is considered "cool" by most of the other animals in the forest, and is a usual trend-setter.
- Daggett Doofus "Dag" Beaver (voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz): Daggett is the younger sibling, born four minutes after Norbert. He is hyperactive and loves to joke around, and is very immature, yet way more hardworking than Norbert and arguably more responsible at times. Bugging his brother is almost like a hobby for him. He has brown fur, a gray tail, sharp teeth, a red nose, yellow eyes and pointy black fins/ears on his back. He is apparently unliked of by many animals in the forest, and thought of as stupid or uncool, but Norbert still seems to have somewhat of a soft spot for him, despite bullying him frequently. Daggett's catchphrases include "That was NUTS!", and "Spoot!". Some of Norbert's nicknames for him are "Dag", "Daggy", "Daggy-waggy" "Daggy-doo", etc.
- Stump: A giant sequoia stump, friend of the beaver brothers. He frequents many of the beavers' social events, forming an integral part of their inner circle. When Dag first met Stump, he was jealous of him but Stump brought Norb and Dag closer together. In "Stump Looks For His Roots" he journeys off in search of his real family. Norb and Dag almost ate Stump while they were in a cave.
- Treeflower (voiced by Cynthia Mann): Norbert's girlfriend who is a hippie beaver with many jobs outside the forest. Treeflower first met Norbert in "Bummer of Love," but her first appearance was in an earlier episode titled "Long in the Teeth" which takes place after they first met. She once dated Truckee the Shrew, but since he only cares about his truck they broke up and her and Norbert have had romantic feelings for each other again ever since. Treeflower was also Muscular Beaver's sidekick, Goody Good Gal. Her careers include elevator songwriter, championship snowboarder, superhero and firefighter. As revealed by series creator Mitch Schauer, she and Norbert are in fact boyfriend and girlfriend.
- Bing (voiced by Victor Wilson): An annoying lizard who hangs out with Norb and Dag. Bing went through a breakup in one episode. Norbert and Daggett also fought over him because he told all the other creatures that they're both constantly ditching him.
- Barry Bear (voiced by John Garry): Daggett and Norbert's funk-loving friend. Barry is a vegetarian despite being a bear. He once made a disco album after everybody got sick of Beaver Feaver. In one episode, Barry felt awkward around Norbert because he was acting like Daggett. There was also an episode where the beavers thought Barry was going to eat them (A lie that Bill Licking made up).
- Truckee (voiced by Mark Klastorin in most appearances, Mitch Schauer in "Dag's List"): A truck loving shrew and Daggett's most hated enemy. He drives a big truck around called "Big Renee" just because it's cool. Truckee once worked together with Daggett when a "volnado" (Combination of a tornado and volcano). threatened to destroy his dam. Even though they escaped he took all of Norb's stuff (He couldn't take Dag's stuff because Dag had it all nailed down). He is also very sensitive about the size of his ears.
- Big Rabbit (voiced by Scott Weil in most appearances, Richard Steven Horvitz in "Omega Beaver"): Nobert and Dagget's toughest friend. It is revealed that he sent a threatening note to them so they would be his friend. Norb and Dag eventually meet his family.
- Wolffe D. Wolf (voiced by Wally Wingert): He is a laid back Grey Wolf who will never do what other wolves do.
- Chelsea Beaver (voiced by Chelsea Schauer): One of the beaver brothers younger sisters and a female Doppelgänger of Daggett. Chelsea is also hyperactive and unintelligible like Dag.
- Stacy Beaver (voiced by Stacy Schauer): Another of the Daggett and Nobert's younger sisters and a female doppelgänger of Nobert. Stacy is also laidback and condescending like Norb.
- Leonard Beaver (voiced by Tim Thomerson in most appearances, Lorin Dreyfuss in "If You In-Sisters"): He is the slobby and goofy father of the beaver brothers and sisters. He once stayed with Norb and Dag because their mother and sisters left to go visit their grandmother. Leonard has a strange condition called the "poo spot" (When you press it, it makes a farting noise.). He also encourages Dag to slap his tail even though beavers are only supposed to use the slap for emergencies.
- Mrs. Beaver (voiced by Sheryl Bernstein in most appearances, Linda Phillips in "Kandid Kreatures," Marcia Wallace in "If You In-Sisters"): She is the beaver brothers and sisters mother and Leonard's wife, Like her son Norbert she has secret doors and she likes Daggett best when her boys are getting along, She is also a secret agent as well as a housewife.
- High Princess (voiced by Beverly Garland): The leader of the female raccoon tribe and the beavers' enemy who appears twice in the series. During her first appearance, she mistakes Daggett for a god because he had a knot hole on his head. Unfotunately, Norbert and Daggett end up destroying the knot hole. She gets even with the beavers by having her tribe literally cooking their dam over an open flame. During her second appearance, it was revealed that she was the one pranking Norb and Dag.
- Bill Licking (voiced by Gregg Berger): He is a wig wearingm wildlife television host and Norbert and Daggett's Idol and occasional enemy. He had a contract with the beavers to make them look good but instead he humiliated them. The beavers got even with him by hurting him on his own show.
- Laverta Lutz (voiced by Kate Donahue): A goofy and hideous magical woman who works in the bowing alley as maintenance worker who always bumps into Daggett for making wishes for him. She helped Dag bowl better, helped him win arguments against Norb and transported him to a world where Norb was an only child.
- El Grapadura (voiced by Timothy Borquez in most appearances, Luke Torres in "Kandid Creatures," Joe Lala in some episodes): The Mexican Luchadore Norb and Dag's favorite Wrestling hero.
- Oxnard Montalvo (voiced by Tom Kane): Norbert and Daggett's favorite B-Movie actor. Norbert and Daggett once helped him save the world from the monsters in his movies because they brought them to life by remembering his films. Scientist #1 managed to make him do his movies in color.
- Toluca Lake (voiced by Adrienne Barbeau): An actress who plays as the damsel in distress in Oxnard's B-Movies. She kept falling on her ankles in one episode.
- Dr. Cowtiki (voiced by William Schallert): The other actor who played as the scientist in the B-Movies with Oxnard and Toluca.
- Scientist #1 (voiced by Edward Winter): He is a mad scientist who laughs in an evil way as he does his job for science and is the main villain of the series. Scientist #1 always mistakes the beavers for pointy weasels. His chest hair is literally in the shape of a one and in one episode, it is revealed that he does not have eyes underneath his glasses. He once accidentally transformed himself into a beaver and built a futuristic society.
- Pete (voiced by Nick Bakay): He is Scientist #1's assistant. He's a half short old looking man with a big bald head, long nose, and he mumbles a lot as he talks. Pete once worked together with Norb to stop Scientist #1 and Dag.
Reception
The Angry Beavers was a generally popular show during its airtime. This was one of the shows that kept tweens and adults interested in Nickelodeon in the late 90s. It had a more adult, sophisticated sense of wordplay jokes and pop culture references that made up its humor, but it was silly and unrealistic enough to attract the attention of young children as well. Unfortunately, it was aired in the midst of the success of Rugrats, and many fans believe it did not earn the popularity it deserved. Many people compare it to Rocko's Modern Life and The Ren & Stimpy Show as one of the most influential Nicktoons of the 90s.
Character quirks, like Daggett's compulsive adoption of a superhero alter-ego named "Muscular Beaver", whose costume consisted of an ill-fitting ski mask, a stuffed sweater, vent-front white briefs, stockings, socks and a cape, kept older and younger audiences' interest, but entertained them on different levels. For example, children and adults would be amused by the costume, but adults might get some additional mileage from finding the name "Muscular Beaver" to be vaguely risqué.
The show's popularity with the more "adult" audience managed to get it some recognition. The show even had a small merchandise line that included T-shirts, plush toys and a playable appearance in Nicktoons Racing.
63 episodes of the show were produced.
Broadcast history
| Country | Channel |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
Episodes
- Main article: The Angry Beavers episode list
The series ran from 1997 to 2001, ending a few episodes early in the United States on Nickelodeon. According to Script Supervisor Micah Wright, the last episodes have been seen in England, France and Australia, and may have since been shown on Nicktoons in the United States.[1]
At the end of the fifth season, three episodes were in development but never finished. The first was "Tree Flockers". Also titled "Tree Trouble", it involved the beavers selling flocked Christmas trees in July. The script for this episode can be downloaded from Wright's website.
The second was "Magnum Opus, aka The Beavers Rock Opera". It would have been a post-series half hour special. "Tree Flockers" was bumped in favor of "Magnum", but after "Magnum" was cancelled, "Tree Flockers" was not reinstated.[1]
The final unfinished episode was "Bye-Bye Beavers". In it, Norbert learns that their show has been cancelled and he breaks the news to Daggett: they are both cartoon characters and the show will soon enter reruns. Wright stated, "Nickelodeon hated this episode because it actually told the kids the truth: that the show was ending! Nick likes to just rerun their shows forever and pretend that they're still making new episodes and this show idea drove them up a wall!"
The recording session for this episode starts off as with Norb and Daggett discussing the situation. As it progresses, actors Nick Bakay and Richard Steven Horvitz begin switching in and out of character and later address each other by both their real names and the characters' names. There is also a few instances where Richard addresses Nick as "Salem", referring to his character on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and laughter from the recording engineers can occasionally be heard.
The final line in the session is Norb and Daggett saying "April Fools!" Whether this indicates the episode is an April Fools prank on the audience or whether the recording session itself is an April Fools joke is not clear. If the latter, then Wright's claim that Nickelodeon hated the episode would be a continuation of that joke.[2]
Home video releases
- Main article: The Angry Beavers videography
Six "Best of" volumes are available from iTunes, offering seven pairs of episodes.
In 2010, Amazon.com released manufacture-on-demand "Best of" DVD sets of the show's first three seasons. However, after Nickelodeon gave the license to Shout! Factory, the "Best of" DVDs were discontinued. Shout! Factory released the first two seasons on their first volume, while the third season was split across two volumes. A "Complete Series" set was released in 2013, with the final season to receive an individual release in February 2014. The Shout! Factory releases have received generally positive reviews but have been criticized for the lack of bonus features. The DVDs were created from the re-broadcast masters and contain the censoring of some of the jokes.
Music
The show's theme song, also called Beaver Bounce and Beaver Hop, was written by Charlie Brissette.[3] Brissette is a multi-Grammy Award-winning composer and songwriter[4] who also wrote music for fellow Nicktoons The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, The Fairly OddParents, The Ren & Stimpy Show and SpongeBob SquarePants.
The theme song can be found on The Best of Nicktoons and The Newest Nicktoons albums. The former album additionally included the songs "Beach Beavers A-Go-Go" and "I Think I Like You", while the latter included "Beaver Fever" and "Oh Baby".
Trivia
- Norbert and Daggett were planned to have a cameo in The Loud House episode "Schooled!", during the song "Welcome to Canada". However, Nickelodeon requested that they not be used.
- Despite that “Bye-Bye Beaver”, the unfinished finale of The Angry Beavers was cancelled, an audio recording can still be found on YouTube.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Micah Wright's page on The Angry Beavers
- ↑ Audio recording of "Bye-Bye Beavers" on YouTube
- ↑ BMI Work #4289510
- ↑ Charlie Brissette bio at Music by the Metric Ton
External links
- The Angry Beavers Wiki
- Nickstory Archives: The Angry Beavers
- NickToons: G.L.O.B.E. Archives: The Angry Beavers
- TeenNickstory Archives: The Angry Beavers
- The Angry Beavers at TV Tropes
- The Angry Beavers at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- The Angry Beavers at Behind the Voice Actors
- Shout! Factory page
- Sound clip from "Bye-Bye Beavers"
- The Angry Beavers fan-site | furrypause.com
This show has a wiki of its own: The Angry Beavers Wiki.