Chucklewood Critters

***Chucklewood Critters*** (also known as ***Buttons & Rusty***) 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 cub. It started as a Christmas special in 1983 called *The Christmas Tree Train*, followed by eight more holiday/seasonal specials. In 1998, it was developed into a series entitled ***The New Chucklewood Critters***, which ran for two seasons.

In 2010, ***Chucklewood Critters*** entered ACME Crime Net as it uploaded most of the holiday specials on YouTube. Four years later, due to the success of the holiday specials on YouTube, ACME Crime Net acquired the rights for YouTube and DailyMotion to the entire Chucklewood Critters franchise. The franchise was nicknamed ***Buttons & Rusty*** to reflect the stars of the franchise.

## Characters

* **Buttons** - a brown bear cub who lives in a cave in Chucklewood Park, along with his parents, Bridgette and Abner.
	+ **Bridgette** is a brown bear with hair on her head.
	+ **Abner** is a dark brown bear and wears blue overalls.

* **Rusty** - an red/orange fox cub, and his parents, Rosie and George, live in the same cave as Buttons' family.
	+ **Rosie** is is a red/orange vixen.
	+ **George** has the same colors as Rusty.

* **Ranger Jones** (or "Jonesy" for short) - the park ranger in charge of Chucklewood, and the only regular human character in the series. Ranger Jones is a mentor to the cubs. He wears a green ranger jacket.

* **Bearbette and Frisky** - two female cubs were introduced in the Valentine's Day special ***The Honeybunch***. They originate from Crystal Bayou and live in Chucklewood with Bearbette's parents Darwin and Bearnadine. They are Buttons & Rusty's girlfriends.
	+ **Bearbette** is a grey or reddish-brown bear cub. Her stomach, muzzle, hair, and tail are honey-blonde.
	+ **Frisky** is an orange vixen cub with auburn hair with a purple bow-tie on her head.

* **Skipper and Bluebell** - two blue/grey 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** - a green 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. He first appeared in ***The Honeybunch***.

* **Franklin** - a brown barn owl who is the critters' teacher, who sometimes turns into a rap singer to make the lessons more interesting. When in a rap singer, he is unofficially called "M.C. Franklin" He first appeared in ***School Daze***.

* **Freddie** - a grey raccoon who wears a red T-shirt is a friend and classmate of the cubs, first appeared in ***School Daze***, who tends to be a troublemaker. He lives with his father, Philbert, who is a carpenter. Outside of Chucklewood, he loves staring at females in bikinis in which he calls them "chickens" which The Chipettes (usually Brittany), Kaliedo Star (usually Layla), or Cosmo Cats scold him for. He assists the host on ACME Wheel.

* **Turner** - a green turtle who first appeared in ***What's Up, Mom?*** and sometimes appears to be wearing a bow tie.

* **Quacker** - a duck and denizen of the forest, who often relays messages for the others. He wears a yellow scarf and a red hat. True to his name, he often makes quacking sounds. He first appeared in ***Buttons & Rusty's Christmas Jamboree***.

* **Skeeter** - a brown mouse, the smallest member of the cast. He wears a green sweater and hat. Because of his size, he is often nervous and high-strung. He first appeared in ***Buttons & Rusty's Christmas Jamboree***.

## Specials

 "Which Witch Is Which?"
 "The Turkey Caper"
 "A Chucklewood Easter"
 "The Adventure Machine"
 "What's Up Mom?"
 "Honeybunch"
 "Twas the Day Before Christmas"
 "School Daze"

## Series

All the episodes in this series were directed by Bill Hutten and written by John Bates.

## Related Page

Buttons and Rusty: Welcome to Chucklewood: A work in progress idea.