Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is an animated television series based on the film of the same name. The series was produced by Morgan Creek Productions and Nelvana Limited for Warner Bros. Television. It aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997 on CBS. A third season and reruns of previous episodes aired on Nickelodeon from 1999 to 2000.
Overview[]
The series is a sequel of the Ace Ventura movies. The titular character, voiced by Canadian actor Michael Daingerfield (credited as Michael Hall), is a goofy private investigator with a predilection for animals of all species.
The show ran on CBS for two seasons, with a third season airing on Nickelodeon when that channel acquired the show to broadcast reruns. Many of the characters from the movie were retained, though not voiced by their original actors. While the original movies already had a strongly cartoonish comedic aesthetic, they were eclipsed by the slapstick and garish humor of the cartoon. Seth MacFarlane was among the writers over the course of the show's run, displaying similar humor to his later series.
The show was rife with toilet humor and anachronisms (one episode centered around the Egyptian Mau, claiming it to be an extinct breed of cat, when, in fact, they are not). Despite running in a time slot after The Mask (another popular Jim Carrey-based cartoon) and a crossover with that show (in that series' finale, "The Aceman Cometh"), the series failed to gain a large audience. Ultimately, both The Mask and Ace Ventura were cancelled. A new and completely different season of the series ran on Nickelodeon.
A computer game, Ace Ventura, was based on the show.
Voice cast[]
- Michael Daingerfield as Ace Ventura
- Richard Binsley as Spike
- Vince Corazza as Schickadance
- Pam Hyatt as Atrocia Odora
- Bruce Tubbe as Emilio
- Al Waxman as Aguado
Series overview[]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 13 | December 9, 1995 | April 27, 1996 | ||
| 2 | 13 | September 7, 1996 | August 30, 1997 | ||
| 3 | 15 | October 29, 1999 | February 4, 2000 | ||
Episodes[]
Season 1 (1995–1996)[]
| No. overall |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Reindeer Hunter" | December 9, 1995 | |
| Ace is called on by Santa to find his reindeer, on Christmas Eve! When Ace discovers who it is, he has to save them before Christmas. | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "Bowling for Bear" | January 20, 1996 | |
| When a Grizzly's life is put in danger, the only person willing to save its life is Ace. Ace has to uncover who is doing this and put a stop to it. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "Pet Food" | January 27, 1996 | |
| When something is endangering the lives of many animals in Miami, Ace is called upon to investigate and uncover what's going on. The only thing they have in common is that they are the last of their kind. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Parrot Who Knew Too Much" | February 3, 1996 | |
| Ace has to save a Parrot who knows too much from falling into the wrong hands. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "French Dip" | February 10, 1996 | |
| Ace is convinced that something fishy is going on when a normally placid blue whale tries to assassinate a nature show host. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Natural Born Koalas" | February 17, 1996 | |
| When a friendly koala goes aggressive, its up to Ace to find out why. | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Hounds of D'Urbervilles" | February 24, 1996 | |
| Ace meets the Hounds of D'Urbervilles. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Remembrance of Trunks Past" | March 2, 1996 | |
| When the city of Miami is over-run by large elephants. Ace is called in by the city to investigate. | ||||
| 9 | 9 | "Night of the Gorilla" | March 9, 1996 | |
| When a cute kind-hearted gorilla is accused of committing an awful crime, it is up to Ace to clear the name of the gorilla before it is too late. | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "Day of the Groundhog" | March 30, 1996 | |
| Ace Ventura must help save the life of a Groundhog on Groundhog Day. | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "The Big Stink" | April 6, 1996 | |
| Ace follows his nose when a little boy's pet skunk gets skunk-napped. | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "The Gator Gal" | April 20, 1996 | |
| Ace Ventura meets the Gator Gal. | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "The Bull Market" | April 27, 1996 | |
| Ace investigates the problems of some bulls. | ||||
Season 2 (1996–1997)[]
| No. overall |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Panda-monium" | September 7, 1996 | |
| Ace runs into some problems when he is asked to save some Pandas. | ||||
| 15 | 2 | "Snow Job" | September 14, 1996 | |
| When an Eskimo tribe's huskies disappear, Ace journeys to Siberia to help find them. However, things go from bad to worse when Ace's search gets him caught in the middle of a Russian arms smuggler's plan to steal a doomsday weapon from a secret military installation run by Russian armed forces who still believe the Cold War is still in effect. | ||||
| 16 | 3 | "Salmon Rush Hour" | October 5, 1996 | |
| Ace must find out what happen to the salmon. | ||||
| 17 | 4 | "The Search for Spike" | October 19, 1996 | |
| When a smuggler monkey-naps Spike by mistake, Ace travels all over Miami to find his partner. | ||||
| 18 | 5 | "The Milky Way" | November 2, 1996 | |
| When cows have been taken by what appears to be aliens, Ace discovers that Claw is up to no good again. | ||||
| 19 | 6 | "The Golden Kitten" | November 16, 1996 | |
| When Ace discovers the last of a breed of cats that have been said to be extinct for centuries, he discovers a legend of a gold statue... and a terrible curse. | ||||
| 20 | 7 | "Thunderballrighty Then" | November 23, 1996 | |
| Ace must protect a dog from the most dangerous criminal mastermind in the world. | ||||
| 21 | 8 | "Dragon Guy" | December 7, 1996 | |
| Ace tells a story about a man who finds and later saves a dragon from an evil sorcerer. | ||||
| 22 | 9 | "Bad Hare Day" | December 14, 1996 | |
| in New York City, The Amazing Blackstein hires Ace Ventura to Locate Bernie, His Rabbit, but a jealous rival of Blackstein and an old adversary of Ventura are involved... | ||||
| 23 | 10 | "Robo West" | December 21, 1996 | |
| TBA. | ||||
| 24 | 11 | "Howl of the Weremoose" | January 18, 1997 | |
| When Ace deals with a new case, it is discovered that there may be a weremoose involved. | ||||
| 25 | 12 | "Bald Courage" | February 8, 1997 | |
| When all the bald eagles in America are stolen, Ace discovers a conspiracy that will change America forever if not stopped. | ||||
| 26 | 13 | "Have Mask, Will Travel" | August 30, 1997 | |
| Ace is called upon by NASA to travel to a space station where a hamster—one that knows the entire Elvis Presley catalogue—is missing. When Stanley Ipkiss arrives to retrieve his mask, which was stolen by Spike, he becomes the Mask and joins Ace on his mission.Note: This is the second part of a crossover with The Mask: Animated Series, following the events of The Mask episode "The Aceman Cometh". | ||||
Season 3 (1999–2000)[]
| No. overall |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | "Witch's Brew" | October 29, 1999 | |
| Ace has to find a missing pet bat in high school. | ||||
| 28 | 2 | "Bird is the Word" | November 30, 1999 | |
| Ace has been called to find a missing falcon before midnight. | ||||
| 29 | 3 | "Dino Mite" | December 1, 1999 | |
| Ace has been called to find some missing resurrected dinosaurs. | ||||
| 30 | 4 | "Ace in Space" | December 2, 1999 | |
| Ace is hired by aliens from another planet. | ||||
| 31 | 5 | "Get Piggy" | December 3, 1999 | |
| Ace has to find Gabe, a movie star pig who can talk. | ||||
| 32 | 6 | "Ace Off" | December 6, 1999 | |
| When all clues point to Ace for a dog-napping, he must not only find the dog but also clear his name. | ||||
| 33 | 7 | "Shell Shock" | December 7, 1999 | |
| Ace has been called to find a rock band's pet turtle. | ||||
| 34 | 8 | "Beware the Fly" | December 8, 1999 | |
| A parody of The Fly. Ace swaps heads with Spike. | ||||
| 35 | 9 | "Ace in Time" | December 9, 1999 | |
| Ace goes back in time to rescue a panther cub from a smuggler-turned-emperor. | ||||
| 36 | 10 | "When Nature Shrieks" | December 10, 1999 | |
| Ace is hired to track down an mysterious creature known as the Wooly Howl. | ||||
| 37 | 11 | "Exor-Kitty" | January 7, 2000 | |
| Ace is called in to exorcise a cat. | ||||
| 38 | 12 | "Ace of the Jungle" | January 14, 2000 | |
| Ace gets stranded on a tropical island. | ||||
| 39 | 13 | "Cyber Ace" | January 21, 2000 | |
| Ace gets trapped in cyber space. | ||||
| 40 | 14 | "Circus Ace" | January 28, 2000 | |
| Ace has to solve a mystery in a circus. | ||||
| 41 | 15 | "The Cat Who Paints" | February 4, 2000 | |
| Ace has to find a cat that can paint. | ||||
Crossover[]
A two-part crossover between Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask, another animated series based on a Jim Carrey film, aired on August 30, 1997. The crossover begins with The Mask episode "The Aceman Cometh", and concludes with the Ace Ventura episode "Have Mask, Will Travel". At the time of the original airing, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was running in the adjoining time slot immediately following The Mask in CBS's Saturday morning lineup. During the crossover, Stanley/Mask and Ace retain their respective animation styles while appearing within the other's show. The crossover also serves as the second season finale of Ace Ventura and the series finale of The Mask.
In "The Aceman Cometh", Stanley Ipkiss's dog Milo has his brain switched with that of a scientist and is then dog-napped. Stanley in turn hires Ace to help get him back. At the end of the episode, Spike steals the mask, and Stanley follows them to Miami to retrieve it. In "Have Mask, Will Travel", Stanley catches up to Ace just as he is recruited to solve a case on a space station, leading Stanley to become the Mask and join the investigation.
Home release[]
A three-episode DVD of the show was bundled with the two Ace Ventura movies. The back of the package has a mistake in the description of the pilot episode "The Reindeer Hunter," stating that Santa's main reindeer, Rudolph, has been abducted when in truth, Rudolph is not in the episode at all, rather it was the rest of his reindeer that had been abducted. This was also the only DVD release of this show. It's currently unknown if the whole series will be released.