Calamity Coyote is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series, Tiny Toon Adventures. He appears often on the show. Calamity is voiced by Frank Welker.
Biography[]
Calamity is a young, gray male coyote, who wears pink high tops. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres. Calamity's quest is to catch Little Beeper. It is revealed in the Psychic Fun-omenon Day episode segment, Piece of Mind, that Calamity had been chasing Little Beeper since infancy; this episode features Calamity's life story (told while Calamity is plummeting toward a street from the top of a tall skyscraper called the Rump Tower), narrated by Wile E. himself.
Like his mentor and favorite teacher, Wile E. Coyote, Calamity has a penchant for inventing traps and other devices. He resembles Wile E., though his cherry-red nose is similar to Ralph Wolf (a character based off Wile E.). Unlike Wile E., however, Calamity seems genuinely competent and more technically proficient than the older coyote, even maneuvering himself out of his skyscraper plummet by switching Wile E. into his place.
He never speaks, communicating instead with written signs (though a voice credit is officially given to Frank Welker, mainly for the laughs and other noises he provides Calamity). He also occasionally yowls in a high pitched voice.
Personality[]
Calamity Coyote is a "techno-whiz" prodigy. He's a young genius with a knack for jerry-rigging any toy into an instrument of destruction. Little Beeper, the object of his pursuit, is always one step ahead...his experiments generally start out brilliantly, then conclude by blowing up in the coyote's face. Still, the little coyote has perseverance. He gets back on his feet, only to trip right over them again. Calamity is jealous of Beeper's athletic prowess and lives for the day when he can catch the fleet-footed bird. To that end, the coyote employs a wide array of roadrunner catching devices which he orders from the Acme Shopping Network.
Calamity is often shown reading various science textbooks; Quantum Physics, Computer Animation, etc. Other Tiny Toon characters have acknowledged him as a "science whiz" and even seem willing to trust their lives and well-being to his skills. Perhaps it is primarily his young age and inexperience -- along with Acme merchandise -- that have been the undoing of his efforts. Interestingly enough, the gadgets that he creates generally work perfectly as long as they don't directly benefit him. When a device would help Calamity, it malfunctions. For example, in the K-Acme TV sketch Gyp-Parody, when Calamity is one of the contestants, he knows the question to every answer, but his buzzer refuses to work.
Appearances without Beeper[]
In the It's Buster Bunny Time episode segment, Bag That Bunny, Elmyra Duff offers Calamity her allowance to catch Buster Bunny for her (similar to Wile E. Coyote in a few Bugs Bunny cartoons), but he fares about as well capturing Buster as he does with Little Beeper. Elmyra decides to make him her pet instead, although he manages to escape from her and The Elmyra Swarm (a group of similar aged girls to Elmyra, who act, dress and speak like her as well) in the second wraparound.
Calamity is the main protagonist in the Pledge Week episode segment, Lifeguard Lunacy, where he works as a junior lifeguard under the supervision of Arnold the Pit Bull (who mentally and psychically abuses him the entire time). He is unsuccessful at the job at first, mainly because it's his first day as well as Elmyra trying to "help" (constantly making things worse for him). When he manages to rescue Arnold from the pool (who, ironically, can't swim), the babes that were wooing over the large and buff pit bull now turn their attention to Calamity for being a hero.
Although Calamity is normally a friend to Buster, Babs and the other Tiny Toons, he is shown on occasion to be their antagonist (similar to Dizzy Devil's relationship with them), sometimes even working for Montana Max (or even Elmyra). Such examples include the episode, Hero Hamton, where he is one of Monty's helpers, and the opening to Weekday Afternoon Live, where he is a member of Montana Max's band.
Trivia[]
In the New Class Day episode segment, Just-Us League of Supertoons, Calamity is a member of the mighty superhero team, the Just-Us League of Supertoons. He is Keen Arrow, a parody of Green Arrow. This episode segment is one of the few times he and Little Beeper (as Little Dasher) work together, rather than against each other.