Jim Cummings – The Dakota Dude, Saddle Sore, Skull Duggery, Jack
Jeff Bennett – The Cowlorado Kid, Buffalo Bull
Michael Greer – Mayor Oscar Bulloney
Joe Piscopo – Sheriff Terrorbull/The Masked Bull
Charity James - Lily Bovine, Tewah
Kay Lenz - Cowlamity Kate Cudster
Troy Davidson - Cody “Calf-Pint” Calf
Danny Mann – Boot Hill Buzzard
Michael Horse – J.R.
 |
| The cast: Buffalo Bill, J.R., Cowlamity Kate, The Cowlorado Kid, The Dakota Dude, Calf-Pint, Marshal Moo Montana, Miss Lily, Sheriff Terrorbull, Saddle Sore, Mayor Bulloney, Boot Hill Buzzard. |
With the powerhouse Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in full swing, networks were hungry for
their next big mutant hit resulting in a swell of similarly-themed shows. It
just so happened that this particular iteration came from a member of the Ninja Turtles family. Comic book artist and
writer Ryan
Brown worked on Ninja Turtles comics
for both Mirage Studios and Archie Comics and designed action figures
for their toy line. Along the way, he conceived of Wild West
C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, the product of a strange meteor crashing in
the Old West of 19th century America creating a massive and
high-rising mesa and mutating all the nearby animal lifeforms (with the
unexplained exception of horses). They all became human-like with the ability
to speak, and created their own society based on the American West (filling in
whatever gaps they didn’t know along the way) called Moo Mesa.
 |
| A minor representation of Cow Town used as a background for a sticker playset. |
The idea actually began as a line of
action figures,
which were released in 1991 by Hasbro.
Brown sold the idea to ABC where it was
developed into a series by Bob
Carrau with ABC’s Greengrass
Productions and King World
Productions. Animation production was handled by Gunther-Wahl,
who used the figures as the base for their character models while making some
alterations here and there, and the actual animation was done by A.D.
Productions. The series centered primarily on Cow Town, making full use of its
Western genre themes with liberal doses of steampunk thrown in. Adding to the
Western flavor was a theme song performed by country singer Billy Dean, who also wrote it with Verlon Thompson. Although fairly
faithful to the renderings of the Old West, cow elements found their way into
things such as names or building designs (one building in Cow Town resembled a
bull’s head, complete with horns). Other bizarre buildings included one shaped
like a cowboy boot, one shaped like a high-heeled pump, a pharmacy shaped like
an old-fashioned pill crusher, and the Sheriff’s office which resembled a
covered wagon.
 |
| The lawcows confront a pair of bank robbers. |
Maintaining law and order on the
Mesa were the C.O.W.-Boys: Marshal Moo Montana (Pat Fraley), deputy The Dakota
Dude (Jim Cummings) and The Cowlorado Kid (Jeff Bennett). Moo was the
unwavering leader of the lawcows, who had a strong sense of duty and lived by
the Code of the West (incidentally what the “C.O.W.” in the title stood for),
which he seemed to make up on the fly during a given situation. Moo’s usual
battle cry was “Let’s rodeo!” Dakota was a bull of few words who was
superhumanly strong, able to lift giant boulders and pull a sinking riverboat
out of the water by himself (of course, his strength varied by episode).
Cowlorado was the youngest and rashest of the bunch. A master with a lasso, he
was desperate to earn his deputy star and often tried to prove himself to Moo,
which often led him into deep trouble. Their primary transportation were their
horses: Cyclone, Rebel and Jezebel, respectively. That’s right—humanoid bovines
riding horses.
 |
| Cowlamity Kate wrangles a desperado outside of The Tumbleweed. |
Decent citizens of Cow Town included
Miss Lily Bovine (Charity James), who owned and ran the local saloon, The Tumbleweed (whose building was
shaped as a beer mug). She was Moo’s primary love interest, but often found
herself taking a backseat to his first love: the law. Cowlamity Kate Cudster
(Kay Lenz) was a tomboy rancher who owned and ran the Golden Cud Mine. She
could give Cowlorado a run for his money with a lasso and had a relationship
with Dakota. Cody Calf, nicknamed “Calf-Pint” by Moo, was a young boy who lived
and worked at The Tumbleweed. He
idolized Moo and often tried to help the lawcows, but usually wound up in
trouble. Also featured were scientific inventor Indian buffalo J.R. (Michael
Horse) and blacksmith Buffalo Bull (Bennett), who occasionally helped the
lawcows.
%2B1.jpg) |
| Mayor Bulloney plots with Sheriff Terrorbull. |
But, what good are lawcows without
desperados to fight? Living right in their home town was the crooked Mayor Oscar
Bulloney (Michael Greer). Bulloney lived up to his name and did everything he
could to lie, cheat and steal from his constituents. However, whenever an
outside force threatened his operations he backed the lawcows 100% in their
stopping the new villains. Working with Bulloney was the equally-crooked
Sheriff Terrorbull (Joe Piscopo), who doubled as the masked desperado The
Masked Bull. Terrorbull’s henchmen were Saddle Sore (Cummings), a comically
inept scorpion, and Boot Hill Buzzard (Danny Mann), an even more inept buzzard
(as the name implied).
 |
| Ad for the show. |
Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa
debuted on September 12, 1992. Episode titles (and sometimes plots) were often
parodies of Western movies and books using frequent cow puns. To decrease the
threat of the violence on the show, the guns featured didn’t fire bullets or
look real. Instead, they often fired ammunition indicative of the shooter’s
theme or the gun design. For instance, Moo’s gun was a golden revolver that
fired Marshal Stars, which he always used to disarm and incapacitate with trick
shots. The writers for the season included Cliff Roberts, Marilyn Webber, Elana Lesser, Cliff Ruby, David Benavente, Michael J. Benevente, Jack Enyart, Francis Moss and Ted Pedersen, with Ruby and
Lesser serving as story editors. The music was composed by Gordon Goodwin.
The show performed well-enough in the ratings to gain a second season.
However, there was a falling out between Gunther-Wahl and ABC, which caused
them to leave the project. Animation duties were handed over to Ruby-Spears Productions
who managed to keep the look and feel of the show consistent, despite some
minor changes in the animation style and character movements. Wang Film
Productions took over as the new overseas animation facility. New writers
for the season included Rich
Fogel, Tony Marino, Mark Jones, Buzz Dixon and Mark Seidenberg, with Fogel and
Seidenberg taking over as story editors. Lisa Goodwin and Dan Savant took over scoring duties
along with Goodwin.
 |
| Moo Montana coloring book page. |
Several other changes happened
within the show itself. The intro was revised to insert shots of the various
villains and a few episode clips in between the remaining shots from the
original intro. Terrorbull was removed as the primary threat in the season’s
first episode; exiled to another town after losing a bet to Moo where he took
up residency as its sheriff. Dakota also became more verbose; cracking jokes
and having full conversations. Ultimately, the series didn’t return for a third
season although ABC kept it on the network until the fall of 1994. Reruns of
the show returned in 1998 on Toon
Disney, running until 2001. To commemorate this, Kid Stuff manufactured new Moo Mesa items such as 3-inch articulated
figures, plastic cups, place mats, sticker activity set and a small poster with
a frame.
 |
| Character select screen from the arcade game. |
While the cartoon was in
development, Brown entered into talks with Konami
to produce an arcade game
based on the concept. It was a run-and-gun style shoot-‘em-up built on the
engine from their 1991 release, Sunset Riders. The
player had to rescue Miss Lily from The Masked Bull and his cronies through
several levels, which a player could select to play in any order. The player
could choose from the three main lawcows and Buffalo Bull, who was added to
complete the four character line-up. The lawcows used their firearms and horns
in charging attacks, as well as gained power-ups by shooting chickens flying
overhead. The game was released in 1992 in two and four-player versions.
 |
| The first issue of Archie Comics' Moo Mesa series. |
After the first season ended, Archie
released two Moo Mesa comic series of
thee issues each; the first
beginning that December and the second that following
March. The very first issue featured a pull-out wanted poster. Along with
Hasbro’s figures, a line of story
books, coloring
books and VHS tapes
were produced by Random House.
Collegeville/Imagineering LP released vinyl
Halloween costumes based on Moo and Cowlorado. Farley
Candy produced Moo Mesa-themed fruit
snacks, and to fight the cavities those gave kids Tsumura International
Inc. produced a line of personal
hygiene products including bubble bath, a shaving kit, and toothbrushes.
Character watches, Moo Mesa-themed clothing,
backpacks and a Moo mask were also available. Betras Plastic released a dinnerware
set including a dish, bowl and glass.
 |
| Familiar bovines appear on Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward. |
In 2006, Brown returned home and
rejoined Mirage’s Turtles franchise.
His second debut on the second volume of Tales
of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (he was principally involved with
the first volume) brought a crossover with the C.O.W.-Boys in issue #21.
The C.O.W.-Boys would again appear in #s 32,
52
and 58.
#32 also featured an exclusive variant cover that was made available at an
event at the Wayne Center for the Arts.
In August of 2006, robotic versions of the C.O.W.-Boys made an appearance on
the 2003 Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles episode “Home Invasion”. Renditions of Moo,
Cowlorado, Dakota, Terrorbull and Boot Hill were featured, amongst several
original characters. In 2008, artist Tristan
Jones was slated to write a new comic mini-series with
art by Fernando León González, Jr., but the series never materialized.
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