From Tunes to Loons: Bugs & Co. get new look

Bugs, Daffy, Wile E. and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang are getting a makeover.

They are set to morph into futurist superheroes in Loonatics, a new television series to air in the fall of 2005.

Loonatics, is one of three new programs that Kids' WB, the children's channel of Warner Bros., announced this week for its 2005-06 season.

The 9 a.m. Saturday morning show will feature the updated – by 767 years – versions of the iconic cartoon characters stemming from the 1940s.

It is the year 2772. Using special abilities and an irreverent sense of humour, the six – Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tasmanian Devil, Lola Bunny, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote – will battle the evils of Acmetropolis.

The new Bugs is leaner, sinister, has claws and will likely be known as Bunny..., Buzz Bunny.

Animators have given a dangerous edge to Daffy's new look, too – in stark contrast to his put-upon, irritated demeanor of old, Daffy's now "bad."

The Roadrunner has become a high-tech roboticized crime fighter.

"We all flipped for it," said David Janollari, president of the Kids' WB. "I think the legacy is intact," he added. "If anything, it's an homage to the legacy, instead of a destruction of the legacy."

Kids' WB's two other new series this fall are Johnny Test and Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. All three new shows are from Warner Bros. Animation.

Other shows on Kids' WB include Yu-Gi-Oh, Xiaolin Showdown, Pokémon and The Batman.