Who Framed Roger Rabbit (franchise)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a media franchise that began with the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit by Gary K. Wolf. It was adapted into a feature film in 1988, produced by Touchstone Pictures and Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. The film's success launched additional media including further books, animated shorts, comic books and video games. The franchise takes place in a world in which cartoon characters, known as "toons", coexist with humans.

Books

''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?''

Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf is the book on which the film is loosely based. It was released in January 1981.

''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit by Martin Noble is the novelization of the film of the same name. It was released in December 1988.

''Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?''

Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? is a humorous mystery novel written by Gary K. Wolf released in 1991. The book is inconsistent with and so is neither a sequel nor a prequel to Who Censored Roger Rabbit? or the film adaptation by Touchstone/Amblin. It could be considered a reboot. The original novel was retconned as a dream of Jessica, in chapter 12.
The novel features the original main characters Roger Rabbit, Eddie Valiant, Jessica Rabbit, and Baby Herman. Their personalities conform to those established in the Who Framed Roger Rabbit film, such as Jessica's devotion to Roger and Roger's cartoony quirks such as his speech impediment.
The story starts out with Eddie Valiant at the front door of Roger Rabbit's house. Almost immediately after he is let inside the house, Roger tells him about the upcoming Gone with the Wind toon adaptation and how he has a chance to play the lead as Rhett Butler. However, the Telltale News, a newspaper that tends to toons, prints an article about Jessica Rabbit and her relationship with Clark Gable. Introduced in this novel is Jessica's diminutive twin sister, Joellyn, who becomes Eddie's main love interest as he has broken up with his girlfriend, along with Eddie's sister, who is in a mixed-race marriage with a toon, and has three children with her toon husband. From here, the story branches out to the murders of Kirk Enigman, Baby Herman, and Dodger Rabbit.

''Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?''

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? is a mystery-humor novel written by Gary K. Wolf released in 2013.

''Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business''

Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business is a novel written by Gary Wolf released in 2022 that details the origin story of Jessica Rabbit, who was originally a human named Jessica Krupnick before she became a Toon.

Children's picture books

Roger Rabbit: A Different Toon by Justine Korman
Roger Rabbit: Make the World Laugh by Justine Korman
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: The Movie Storybook by Justine Korman
Films

''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988)

Animated short films

and Amblin Entertainment produced a series of animated shorts featuring Roger Rabbit, following the release of the film. The three shorts, were presented in front of various Disney/Touchstone/Amblin features in an attempt to revive short subject animation as a part of the movie-going experience. Of the three shorts, only the first is "complete", the other two ending with Roger wrecking the sets.

Cast and characters

A dark gray cell indicates the character did not appear in that installment.
A indicates a character appears in an cameo appearance.
An indicates a performer stood in as their character's singing voice.
A indicates an actor or actress was not credited for their respective role.

Main characters

Roger Rabbit : A crazy rabbit, main toon character in the film, and central character in the franchise.
Eddie Valiant : A private detective, and main human character in the film.
Jessica Rabbit : Roger's attractive wife, and singer in The Ink and Paint Club.
Judge Doom : Judge of Toontown, and main antagonist in the film.
Other toons
' : Roger's co-star in short films. Although he has the appearance of a baby, he is really a middle-aged man. He acts as an innocent baby when acts with Roger in the cartoons.
': Five weasels who act as the Toontown police force, working under the orders of Judge Doom, acting as the film's secondary antagonists. They also appear as the main antagonists in the Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin attraction. The characters are based on the weasels from the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
* ' : Leader of the Toon Patrol, and Judge Doom's right-hand man. He is the only one with constant dialogue in the film, unlike his companions, who only have brief phrases.
* ' : A weasel notable for wearing a 1930s-style green suit.
* ' : A weasel who has bulging eyes, spiky hair, and wearing a straitjacket.
* ' : A weasel who stands out for being obese, and wearing children's clothing such as a striped T-shirt, sneakers, and a hat with a propeller.
* ' : A weasel who stands out for being blue-gray and constantly smoking cigarettes that cause him to be surrounded by smoke.
' : An anthropomorphic taxi cab that was imprisoned by the Toon Patrol until freed by Roger and Eddie, whom he helps escape from the weasels. He also appears in the Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin attraction as the vehicle used by Roger to rescue Jessica. Benny also has cameo appearances in the House of Mouse television series episodes "Max's New Car" and "Mickey vs. Shelby".
' : Baby Herman's "mother" in the cartoons starring Roger. She is seen only from the waist down.
' : A big gorilla and the bouncer of The Ink and Paint Club.
':Is a ugly version of Jessica Rabbit who has an obsession on Eddie Valiant after he mistaken her for Jessica and gave a chase until she hits herself on the wall.
':Are a gang of western living cowboys like bullets who were once owned by Eddie Valiant until his brother was murder by a toon and never use them again until 3 years later when Eddie decide to aid them on his case he test the native American bullet to destroy the bottle while he tries to shoot three at Doom but only to misplace him so Eddie got rid of his gun leaving the last two bullets unknown.
': Is a living Toon shoe who plays a death role when after the authorities accidentally open up the Clown shoes they got everything back in except one who was standing next to Judge Doom while its possible it tried to warn Eddie that Doom is the killer who murder Marvin acme since it lived in the factory as an eye witness but only to get dip by Doom in front of Eddie much to his horror. The Shoe became a Display for Judge Doom during the Oogie Boogie Bash event since 2023.
': Is a handsome man face like sword who was known to sing by the impression of Frank Sinatra, When Eddie tried to use the Sword to dual towards Doom but all he did was sing Witchcraft which wasted his time and almost his life. Yet it's possible the sword's main ability other than being forced to fence like a real blade was singing victims to sleep whoever has a weak mind but didn't work on Doom due to having a strong mind.
: Benny's "twin cousin", who appears in the Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin attraction as the ride vehicle used by the guests.

Additionally, Droopy, character from MGM cartoons, make cameo appearances in both the film and the three short films.

Other humans

' : Eddie's girlfriend. She works as a waitress at a bar, where she helps Eddie hide Roger. Later, after the incident between Roger and Doom at the bar, she mentions that her boss fired her.
' : The wisecracking owner of the Acme Factory and Toontown, who is killed after a safe falls on his head. At the climax of the film, it is discovered that in his will he leaves the Toons as the owners of his property.
' : Owner of Maroon Cartoons and Roger's boss. He hires Eddie to find out about Jessica's infidelities. Later, Eddie discovers that it was all a planned ploy, but when Maroon is about to tell him the whole truth, he is killed by being shot by Judge Doom.
' : Police lieutenant and friend of Eddie, whom he takes to the Acme Factory to show him the scene of Marvin Acme's murder. At the climax of the film, he meets Eddie again at the Acme Factory, where Eddie reveals to him Doom's acts on the case.
' : A patron at the bar where Dolores works, who mocks Eddie's job as a detective on toon cases. Although later, he ends up covering up Roger's presence at the bar when Judge Doom looks for him.
': Eddie's deceased brother, with whom he worked as a private detective, until he was killed by a toon who dropped a piano on his head during a case.
: Director of Roger's films, who ends up enraged due to Roger's clumsiness when it comes to acting.
Video games
The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle – Released in 1989, featured on the Japanese FDS version under the title Roger Rabbit.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Released in 1988 for MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Apple II and Commodore 64 by Buena Vista Software.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Released in 1989 for Nintendo Entertainment System by LJN.
Hare Raising Havoc – Released in 1991 for Amiga and MS-DOS by BlueSky Software.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit – Released in 1991 for Game Boy by Capcom.
Comic books

''Roger Rabbit''

Roger Rabbit is a comic book series by Disney Comics starring characters from the 1988 film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as following continuity from the film. It spawned a spin-off series entitled Roger Rabbit's Toontown, which lasted five issues.
The series continues the adventures of Roger Rabbit, who has since returned to working for Maroon Cartoons, now under C.B. Maroon. The comics are usually split into two stories, with one main feature focusing on Roger's adventures, and a back-up feature presented to look like an actual animated subject.
While characters such as Jessica Rabbit, Baby Herman and Benny the Cab all appear in the stories, Eddie Valiant is seldom seen, replaced by a new detective character named Rick Flint. This is explained in the first issue. It is explained that when Roger went to Eddie with a new case, Eddie was too busy with new cases brought on by his new-found fame after defeating Judge Doom twice. Eddie then refers Roger to a "new kid" private detective, Rick Flint. The actual editorial reason for omitting Eddie Valiant from the comic was not having the likeness rights to make Eddie resemble Bob Hoskins. Two other new characters introduced were Lenny, a toon plane who is Benny's cousin, and Mel, who is Roger's sentient mailbox.
The series had a one-off 3D strip as part of the Disney's Comics in 3-D series, which reprints the back-up features of earlier comics and converted them into 3D. The comic-book line lasted 18 issues, and continued until the implosion of Disney Comics.