Editing Ralph Bakshi (section)

===Return to television (1987–1989)===
{{main|Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures}}
In April 1987, Bakshi set up a meeting with Judy Price, the head of [[CBS]]'s Saturday morning block. Three days before the meeting, Bakshi, Kricfalusi, Naylor, [[Tom Minton]], [[Eddie Fitzgerald (artist)|Eddie Fitzgerald]] and [[Jim Reardon]] met to brainstorm. Bakshi remembers, "My car was packed to the windows. Judy was my last stop before driving cross country back to New York to my family." Price rejected Bakshi's prepared pitches, but asked what else he had. He told her that he had the rights to ''[[Mighty Mouse]]'', and she agreed to purchase the series. However, Bakshi did not own the rights and did not know who did. While researching the rights, he learned that CBS had acquired the entire Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten about it. According to Bakshi, "I sold them a show they already owned, so they just gave me the rights for nothin'!"<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-210"/>

Kricfalusi's team wrote story outlines for thirteen episodes in a week and pitched them to Price. By the next week, Kricfalusi had hired animators he knew who had been working at other studios. ''[[Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures]]'' went into production the month it was greenlighted; it was scheduled to premiere on September 19, 1987. This haste required the crew to be split into four teams, led by supervising director Kricfalusi, Fitzgerald, Steve Gordon and Bruce Woodside. Each team was given a handful of episodes, and operated almost entirely independently of the others. Although the scripts required approval by CBS executives, Kricfalusi insisted that the artists add visual gags as they drew. [[Bruce Timm]], [[Andrew Stanton]], Dave Marshall and Jeff Pidgeon were among the artists who worked on the series. Despite the time constraints, CBS was pleased with the way Bakshi Productions addressed the network's notes.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-216">{{cite book |title=Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi |pages=216–217 |chapter=Ups & Downs |isbn=978-0-7893-1684-4 |last1=Gibson |first1=Jon M. |last2=McDonnell |first2=Chris |year=2008 |publisher=Universe }}</ref>

During the production of the episode "The Littlest Tramp", editor Tom Klein expressed concern that a sequence showing Mighty Mouse sniffing the remains of a crushed flower resembled [[cocaine]] use. Bakshi did not initially view the footage; he believed that Klein was overreacting, but agreed to let him cut the scene. Kricfalusi expressed disbelief over the cut, insisting that the action was harmless and that the sequence should be restored. Following Kricfalusi's advice, Bakshi told Klein to restore the scene, which had been approved by network executives and the CBS [[standards and practices]] department. The episode aired on October 31, 1987, without controversy.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-216"/>
[[File:Ralph Bakshi, 1987.png|right|220px|thumb|Bakshi in December of 1987]]
In 1988, Bakshi received an [[Annie Award]] for "Distinguished Contribution to the Art of Animation".<ref>[https://annieawards.org/juried-awards/winsor-mccay Annie Awards - Winsor Mccay]</ref> The same year, he began production on a series pilot loosely adapted from his ''Junktown'' comic strips. According to Bakshi, the proposed series "was going to be a revitalization of cartoon style from the '20s and '30s. It was gonna have [[Duke Ellington]] and [[Fats Waller]] jazzing up the soundtrack." [[Nickelodeon]] was initially willing to greenlight 39 episodes of ''Junktown''.<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-216"/>

On June 6, 1988, [[Donald Wildmon]], head of the [[American Family Association]] (AFA), alleged that "The Littlest Tramp" depicted cocaine use, instigating a media frenzy. The AFA, during its incarnation as the National Federation for Decency, had previously targeted CBS as an "accessory to murder" after a mother killed her daughter following an airing of ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]''. Concerning Bakshi's involvement with ''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'', the AFA claimed that CBS "intentionally hired a known pornographer to do a cartoon for children, and then allowed him to insert a scene in which the cartoon hero is shown sniffing cocaine." Bakshi responded, "You could pick a still out of ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]'' and get the same impression. ''Fritz the Cat'' wasn't pornography. It was social commentary. This all smacks of burning books and the Third Reich. It smacks of [[McCarthyism]]. I'm not going to get into who sniffs what. This is lunacy!" On CBS's order, Klein removed the sequence from the master broadcast footage. Wildmon claimed that the edits were "a de facto admission that, indeed, Mighty Mouse was snorting cocaine".<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-216"/> Despite receiving an award from [[Action for Children's Television]], favorable reviews, and a ranking in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's "Best of '87" feature, ''Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures'' was canceled by CBS following the controversy.

The incident had a ripple effect, weakening Nickelodeon's commitment to ''Junktown''. Bakshi has also stated that "we were trying something different [...] but a series didn't make sense. It just didn't work".<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-216"/> The series was scrapped, and the completed pilot aired as a special, ''[[Christmas in Tattertown]]'', in December 1988. It was the first original animated special created for Nickelodeon. Bakshi moved into a warehouse loft in downtown Los Angeles to clear his head, and was offered $50,000 to direct a half-hour live-action film for [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]'s ''[[Imagining America]]'' anthology series. Mark Bakshi produced the film, ''This Ain't Bebop'', his first professional collaboration with his father. Bakshi wrote a poem influenced by [[Jack Kerouac]], [[jazz]], the [[Beat Generation]] and Brooklyn that served as the narration, which was spoken by [[Harvey Keitel]]. After a car crash, Bakshi completed the post-production in stitches and casts. Bakshi said of the work, "It's the most proud I've been of a picture since ''Coonskin''—the last real thing I did with total integrity."<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-216"/>

As a result of the film, Bakshi received an offer to adapt [[Dr. Seuss]]'s ''[[The Butter Battle Book]]'' for [[TNT (U.S. TV network)|TNT]].<ref name="Grant2">{{cite book |title=Masters of Animation |pages=28–29 |chapter=Ralph Bakshi }}</ref> Ted Geisel had never been satisfied with the previous screen versions of his Dr. Seuss work. Bakshi wanted to produce an entirely faithful adaptation, and Geisel—who agreed to storyboard the special himself—was pleased with the final product. Bakshi next directed the pilot ''Hound Town'' for NBC; he described the result as "an embarrassing piece of shit".<ref name="Gibson-McDonnell-219">{{cite book |title=Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi |page=219 |chapter=Ups & Downs |isbn=978-0-7893-1684-4 |last1=Gibson |first1=Jon M. |last2=McDonnell |first2=Chris |year=2008 |publisher=Universe }}</ref> Besides Bakshi, sitcom alumnus Rob Sternin and Prudence Fraser wrote and produced the project.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1989-02-27|title=Network development: strike-slowed but steady|work=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/89-OCR/BC-1989-02-27-OCR-Page-0037.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/89-OCR/BC-1989-02-27-OCR-Page-0037.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-22}}</ref>