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.
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
David Hemblen as Baron DeKlaus
Bruce Tubbe as Emilio
Al Waxman as Aguado
Kevin Michael Richardson as Phatteus Lardus
Rob Paulsen as Stanley Ipkiss / The Mask
Episodes[]
Season 1 (1995-1996)[]
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Air date (USA)
Production Code
Network
1
1
"The Reindeer Hunter"
December 9, 1995
2
2
"Bowling for Bear"
January 20, 1996
3
3
"Pet Food"
January 27, 1996
4
4
"The Parrot Who Knew Too Much"
February 3, 1996
5
5
"French Dip"
February 10, 1996
6
6
"Natural Born Koalas"
February 17, 1996
7
7
"The Hounds of D'Urbervilles"
February 24, 1996
8
8
"Remembrance of Trunks Past"
March 2, 1996
9
9
"Night of the Gorilla"
March 9, 1996
10
10
"Day of the Groundhog"
March 30, 1996
11
11
"The Big Stink"
April 6, 1996
12
12
"The Gator Gal"
April 20, 1996
13
13
"The Bull Market"
April 27, 1996
Season 2 (1996-1997)[]
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Air date (USA)
Production Code
Network
14
1
"Panda-monium"
September 7, 1996
15
2
"Snow Job"
September 14, 1996
16
3
"Salmon Rush Hour"
October 5, 1996
17
4
"The Search for Spike"
October 19, 1996
18
5
"The Milky Way"
November 2, 1996
19
6
"The Golden Kitten"
November 16, 1996
20
7
"Thunderballrighty Then"
November 23, 1996
21
8
"Dragon Guy"
December 7, 1996
22
9
"Bad Hare Day"
December 14, 1996
23
10
"Robo West"
December 21, 1996
24
11
"Howl of the Weremoose"
January 18, 1997
25
12
"Bald Courage"
February 8, 1997
26
13
"Have Mask, Will Travel"
August 30, 1997
Season 3 (1999-2000; Revival)[]
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Air date (USA)
Production Code
Network
27
1
"Witch's Brew"
October 29, 1999
28
2
"Bird is the Word"
November 30, 1999
29
3
"Dino Mite"
December 1, 1999
30
4
"Ace in Space"
December 2, 1999
31
5
"Get Piggy"
December 3, 1999
32
6
"Ace Off"
December 6, 1999
33
7
"Shell Shock"
December 7, 1999
34
8
"Beware the Fly"
December 8, 1999
35
9
"Ace in Time"
December 9, 1999
36
10
"When Nature Shrieks"
December 10, 1999
37
11
"Exor-Kitty"
January 7, 2000
38
12
"Ace of the Jungle"
January 14, 2000
39
13
"Cyber Ace"
January 21, 2000
40
14
"Circus Ace"
January 28, 2000
41
15
"The Cat Who Paints"
February 4, 2000
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.