Steve Bulen
Barbara Goodson
Shifra Margolis
Mona Marshall
Jan Rabson
Brock Richards
Doug Stone
Composer(s)
Carol Anderson
Richard Friedman
Similar
The Wuzzles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turt, Garfield and Friends, Tom & Jerry Kids, The Smurfs
Chucklewood Critters is an American line of television specials and an animated television series created by former Hanna-Barbera animators, Bill Hutten and Tony Love, which centered on two North American woodland animals: Buttons, a young bear cub, and Rusty, a young fox pup. It started as a Christmas special in 1983 called The Christmas Tree Train, followed by eight more holiday/seasonal specials. In 1997 it was developed into a series entitled The New Chucklewood Critters, which ran for two seasons.
Buttons is a brown bear cub who lives in a cave in Chucklewood Park, along with his parents, Bridgette and Abner.
Rusty an orange fox cub, and his parents, Rosie and George, live in the same cave as Buttons' family.
Ranger Jones, a.k.a. Jonesy, is the park ranger in charge of Chucklewood, and the only regular human character in the series. Ranger Jones is a mentor to Buttons and Rusty.
Bearbette and Frisky are a zaftig female grey and yellow bear cub and a slim orange-cream vixen cub, respectively; they were introduced in the Valentine's Day special, Honeybunch. They live in Chucklewood with Bearbette's parents Darwin and Bearnadine; Frisky is an adopted member of the family, and she and Bearbette are Rusty and Button's girlfriends.
Skipper and Bluebell are rabbits, introduced in A Chucklewood Easter. They live in an underground warren and bear a bit of a suspicious resemblance to Bugs Bunny.
Lester Eli Gator is a Cajun alligator who lives in nearby Crystal Bayou, which is where Bearbette and her family lived before moving to Chucklewood; Lester is a close friend of the family.
Franklin the Owl is the cubs' teacher, who sometimes turns into a rap singer to make the lessons more interesting.
Freddie the Raccoon who wears a red T-shirt is a friend and classmate of the cubs, introduced in School Daze, who tends to be a troublemaker.
Turner the Turtle is another friend and classmate of the cubs, who was introduced in What's Up, Mom? and sometimes appears to be wearing a bow tie.
Claude the Coyote is a trader who'll stoop to underhanded means to make a deal; he was introduced in the episode An Eye for a Tooth. His voice is modeled after that of W. C. Fields (whose middle name was Claude).
Quacker the Duck is a denizen of the forest, who often relays messages for the others. True to his name, he often makes quacking sounds.
Skeeter the Mouse who wears an green sweater and a hat is the smallest member of the cast. Because of his size, he is often nervous and high-strung.
Series
All the episodes in this series were directed by Bill Hutten and written by John Bates.
Voice cast
Barbara Goodson - Buttons, Christie (Which Witch is Which), Frisky
Kathy Ritter - Rusty, Rosie (The Christmas Tree Train/Which Witch is Which/The Turkey Caper)
Mona Marshall - Rusty, Bearbette, Bluebell
Alvy Moore - Abner (The Christmas Tree Train/Which Witch is Which/The Turkey Caper/A Chucklewood Easter), Santa (The Christmas Tree Train)
Morgan Lofting - Bridgette (The Christmas Tree Train/Which Witch is Which/The Turkey Caper)
Oceana Marr - Bridgette (A Chucklewood Easter)
Bill Ratner - George (The Christmas Tree Train/Which Witch is Which/The Turkey Caper)
Robert Axelrod - George (A Chucklewood Easter/What's Up, Mom?), Easter Bunny (A Chucklewood Easter)
Bill Boyett - Ranger Jones (The Christmas Tree Train/Which Witch is Which/The Turkey Caper/A Chucklewood Easter)
Dan Roth - Skipper (A Chucklewood Easter), Marty (The Turkey Caper), Toy Dept. Manager (The Christmas Tree Train)
Doug Stone - Lester, Skeeter
Steve Bulen - Franklin
Additional voices
Bobby West
Shane Margolis
Shifra Margolis
Standley Gurd, Jr.
Dan Smith
Jan Carole
Brock Richards
Marsha Jones
Joyce Roberts
Hal Ventura
Ann Green
James Curtis
R.T. West
Susan Clark
Bill Kerns
Availability
Most of the holiday specials were released on VHS videocassette, but these are now out of print. More recently, the entire series and all the specials have been made available on a four-volume DVD set but as of now, the DVD set has been discontinued by its publisher (Platinum Disc) and practically, out of print
