Tom Rueggar? What's with him?

[sun]

Tom Rueggar was one of the creative greats behind BATS, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and Histeria. He wrote a show for BATS about an old retired tv show actor who Batman actually got the idea of being Batman from. Batman accuses the actor of blowing up various places, the actor lends Batman the reel of film where the idea of blowing up places using toy cars came from, and Batman discovers that it is some toy salesman who really was setting the fires...So Tom Rueggar was a writter, and executive producer, who helped to create some of our favorite toons. I even saw him credited with writing an episode of Batman Beyond....
Does anyone know what is he doing now, since they took off some of the best toons ever to be made.:rolleyes: If anyone answers this, thank you... and best of luck to all. .old toon guy

[don Jaime]

Last I heard, old Tom had renounced civilization. He lives in the New Hebrides now, in a small thatch house with his two wives and an adopted kid. I think he farms yams and sweet potatoes.

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

Poor Ruegger! Like Oldtoonguy, I feel sad about how most of the cartoons he worked on were/are being taken off the air...(sniff)

He did do a lot on WB, and by treating the toons he worked on like that....sigh. Stupid...
Oh, well, at least stuff like A! and Tiny Toons are being shown on different networks at least...

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by don Jaime
Last I heard, old Tom had renounced civilization. He lives in the New Hebrides now, in a small thatch house with his two wives and an adopted kid. I think he farms yams and sweet potatoes.

::stops cold::

This is either too strange to be true, or too strange NOT to be true. Someone help gullible old Maxie out, here.

[killercroc]

Originally posted by oldtoonguy
Tom Rueggar was one of the creative greats behind BATS, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and Histeria. He wrote a show for BATS about an old retired tv show actor who Batman actually got the idea of being Batman from. Batman accuses the actor of blowing up various places, the actor lends Batman the reel of film where the idea of blowing up places using toy cars came from, and Batman discovers that it is some toy salesman who really was setting the fires...

I think it was called "Return of the Grey Ghost." And Adam West did the voice.

[don Jaime]

Originally posted by Maxie Zeus


::stops cold::

This is either too strange to be true, or too strange NOT to be true. Someone help gullible old Maxie out, here.

Maxie, would I lie to you? I'd give you TR's old email addy that I picked up from a.t.a., but he doesn't respond to it anymore since he moved to the South Pacific.

[DR. BELCH]

--speak for Ruegger, but his sons have a future in v/o work, if they can beat the stigma of nepotism and find a project where their father isn't a producer.
Yes, "Grey Ghost" was a wonderful example of metahumor in using West as Simon Trent, a washed-up typecast old actor...and as I've said before a caricature of Paul Dini (the video store clerk) appears in it. The villain was a real wussy, and I'm glad he only appeared once, but aside from him it's a great episode.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by don Jaime


Maxie, would I lie to you? I'd give you TR's old email addy that I picked up from a.t.a., but he doesn't respond to it anymore since he moved to the South Pacific.

Auuggghhh! Cognitive gridlock! No, you'd never lie to me, but I do believe you'd tease me within an inch of my sanity! ;)

[don Jaime]

I managed to get in touch with Nate Ruegger - he inherited the email addy (it's AOHell). He's starting his senior year at high school and works at a Gilberto's for money to buy a car with. Mom's in an ad agency, so the four of them aren't hurting for cash. He's preparing for college, plans to major in microbiology. The trust fund from all those years as Froggo and Skippy and Baby Plucky should cover it, he hopes. He's no longer interested in acting and says Luke isn't either, but Cody still goes to the occasional casting call.

Dad burned out around the time Batman Beyond premiered. He hated the show and thought it was an exercise in futility and cynical commercialism. He was also frustrated doing an educational show, which he did not want to do. He quit WBA in 1999 and tried to get Mom to give up her job, too, so they could join the Peace Corps. She refused; he bailed. He got assigned to Vanuatu and has since settled there permanently. He doesn't farm, he speculates in copra - dried coconut meat, used for soap and oil. Nate's pretty bitter and didn't mention his father's current domestic arrangements.

Sounds like no more new Ruegger material for us. Shame, really. :(

[optimal321]

Originally posted by don Jaime
Sounds like no more new Ruegger material for us. Shame, really. :(

To say the least...

[The Mad Hatter]

(pause)

Really? Wow, truth is stranger than fiction.

I can't really blame the guy... WBA did screw him over in the final years. I'm sad to see him leave the animated community, but I hope he finds peace...

(Afraid to ask if the "two wives" thing was facetious...)

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
Really? Wow, truth is stranger than fiction.


No kidding. Real pity about the personal and professional wreckage left behind. I do hope he's reasonably happy now, though.

Thanks for the update, don Jaime. Seriously, I never meant to doubt you, but the content of that original post was only an emoticon (a :D or a :p ) away from sounding like a pretty funny if facetious joke.

[I.R Joey]

Nobody cared about my post onm the smae topic. i'm not loved!!!

Anyway that stinks, man I really liked some of the shows he's written.

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

Agreed, I.R. I hope he's happy, but as for what I hear of the kids....well, here's hoping they get on better times as well.

Sigh....he didn't even want to do an educational show. I really do have to think Histeria had all the cards stacked against it....(sigh)

It's also, as others said, a pity no more Ruegger stuff is coming up. I remember that Gray Ghost eppy, it's my fav (of what I've seen) of the animated Batman.

[Psycho Fox]

Wow like that is so sad. I'm sad to see him leave the animation scene since like hole and the wall studios would have cared for him they wouldn't have paid him much but they wouldn't be as big of a jerk as WB was.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by don Jaime
I managed to get in touch with Nate Ruegger - he inherited the email addy (it's AOHell). He's starting his senior year at high school and works at a Gilberto's for money to buy a car with. Mom's in an ad agency, so the four of them aren't hurting for cash. He's preparing for college, plans to major in microbiology. The trust fund from all those years as Froggo and Skippy and Baby Plucky should cover it, he hopes. He's no longer interested in acting and says Luke isn't either, but Cody still goes to the occasional casting call.

Dad burned out around the time Batman Beyond premiered. He hated the show and thought it was an exercise in futility and cynical commercialism. He was also frustrated doing an educational show, which he did not want to do. He quit WBA in 1999 and tried to get Mom to give up her job, too, so they could join the Peace Corps. She refused; he bailed. He got assigned to Vanuatu and has since settled there permanently. He doesn't farm, he speculates in copra - dried coconut meat, used for soap and oil. Nate's pretty bitter and didn't mention his father's current domestic arrangements.

Sounds like no more new Ruegger material for us. Shame, really. :( OK I have a question when did he leave? See I know it had to be this year since you said he doesn't reply to his e-mail address since he moved and Nate took it over but TR and I exchanged a few e-mail on September and October of last year regarding the A! and TTA annis and he talked like he would be able to help and communicate with the rest of the WBA crew thus it had to be this year TR went to the South Pacific but when.

[don Jaime]

:D

I am sorry, guys. Just a Yamazaki moment. It was so outrageous I didn't think anyone would believe it. Man, Will's had contact with TR, and still believed most of it. I'm going to have to be more careful and use those emoticons, like you said.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by don Jaime
:D

I am sorry, guys. Just a Yamazaki moment. It was so outrageous I didn't think anyone would believe it. Man, Will's had contact with TR, and still believed most of it. I'm going to have to be more careful and use those emoticons, like you said. Well I had my suspicions but WB is a dimention on to its self were logic and reason are abandoned. Hell Brad Caslor (fired from the NFB for a cartoon that was suppose to be serious and help people find a job but turned it into a funny cartoon that did the same thing along the way) who for years wanted to be part of WB in the 40s working aside Tex Avery won't step foot in the place since he is scared of punching a suit out for stupidity. He runs his own editing studio now in Winnipeg

[Dante Bunny]

Before I will start making my own cartoons and produce it, maybe I will get Tom Ruegger's permission to re-create Freakazoid, Road Rovers, and Histeria! Also, I will ask him to make a spin-off of Tiny Toon Adventures and Histeria!, if I get a chance to go to college. He is one of my favorite cartoonist and writer before Genndy, Craig, and others.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by G.I. D'oh!
Before I will start making my own cartoons and produce it, maybe I will get Tom Ruegger's permission to re-create Freakazoid, Road Rovers, and Histeria! Also, I will ask him to make a spin-off of Tiny Toon Adventures and Histeria!, if I get a chance to go to college. He is one of my favorite cartoonist and writer before Genndy, Craig, and others. Don't forget to get the other members of WBA's permission. Oh and you will have to make it diffent enough so TW can't sue you.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by don Jaime
:D

I am sorry, guys. Just a Yamazaki moment. It was so outrageous I didn't think anyone would believe it. Man, Will's had contact with TR, and still believed most of it. I'm going to have to be more careful and use those emoticons, like you said.

I was right! You would tease me to within an inch of my sanity!!! :D

I'm just glad I wasn't the only gullible fool around here. . . .

O/T but related, anyone here familiar with Eddie Izzard's HBO special, Dress to Kill? "Engelbert Humperdinck died this afternoon"?

All this still leaves open the question: Whatever happened to TR?

[I.R Joey]

Don Jamie you're an evil person!!! You really had me going there.
:mad: :p :o


Anyway, I hope he gets back on his saddle and does what he's good at again.

[don Jaime]

Ok, honest answers...I don't know what he's up to. I do have the e-mail addy from a.t.a., which he used to post Histeria! schedules and nothing else. Took me forever to realize the "tr" in the address of this mysterious poster was "Tom Ruegger." The biographical detail I can supply is that he graduated Dartmouth in 1976.

He was a veep at WBA and should still be. He may be strictly management now; he should have his finger in the Justice League pie somewhere, along with his own projects. Brian Cruz has contact with him from time to time. You might ask him.

Yes, yes, Joey, Maxie, bow before the master!

[happyheathen]

and to use the simple, honest, Sniffles for a front for such a lie - you should be ashamed!!!


(good going, dude:) )

[don Jaime]

Honest Sniffles? He's a pathological liar; he's not very good at it, either. Watch Sniffles Bells the Cat when you can. First he puts down his own idea when it looks like he'll have to follow through with it. Then the cat surprises him while he's practicing fibs. Then he plays the old shell game. Then after he lucks into belling the cat, he goes him to brag about his bravery with his fingers crossed behind his back.

Sniffles is cute, but get a receipt.

[killercroc]

Originally posted by don Jaime
Honest Sniffles? He's a pathological liar; he's not very good at it, either. Watch Sniffles Bells the Cat when you can. First he puts down his own idea when it looks like he'll have to follow through with it. Then the cat surprises him while he's practicing fibs. Then he plays the old shell game. Then after he lucks into belling the cat, he goes him to brag about his bravery with his fingers crossed behind his back.

Sniffles is cute, but get a receipt.

OH, now I see. This was all an elaborate plan that you set up in order to get in a plug for Sniffles. Masterfully done Jamie!:)

[DR. BELCH]

--right up until the hoosafudge about coconut meat and the Peace Corp. I mean, I can buy the boys wanting to give up showbiz and prepare for college, and even commend them for it--they wouldn't be the first child actors to do so--but cynicism wins out over curiosity in the end.

[sun]

Lets try and get in touch with Tom Rueggar....He gave us so much great work, we all enjoy, that if he has given up, left civiliazation or what, maybe it would help to know that his work means much to many. Just think about it, a writer, and executive producer of Tiny Toon, Animaniacs, BATS, Batman Beyond, and Histeria.
Who knows what kind of bad deal he got from WB. He worked with a number of directors, maybe someone is still in touch. Maybe some of them look at some part of this board...I know someone is in touch with Paul Duni( spelling may not be correct) ) who wrote for BATS., maybe he or Brian knows.
And, if it means we have to mail letters,ok. I can write a letter and mail it to someone who made me laugh and gave me so much enjoyment. Some BATS are great. Some Animaniacs are great. Who knows if fandom ever really was able to say thank you. Yes, it is sappy, but thats me. Lets do it...Old toon guy.

[Jack]

I read the whole thread and was never fooled, but then again, I know Sniffles. The cute ones are the trickiest...



Jack:D

[don Jaime]

Okay, I sent to Brian Cruz to see what he knows, and I may try the Man Himself. I have two addresses now, thanks to Google. (No, I won't tell you, except Will who probably already has it.) Hopefully we'll know something soon.

Belchie, you mean you believed the two wives, but not the copra?

And ANYTIMES a good time for Sniffles!

[DR. BELCH]

--you know those showbiz types. :p The stress, the long hours, the rigors of the spotlight--multiple marriages and affairs are as inevitable as flatulence after a big Mexican dinner. But coconuts? Now if you'd said turkey farming, that's a whole new ball game....