Party Wagon is an animated television movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 created by animator Craig Bartlett

Craig Bartlett

Craig Michael Bartlett is an animator best known for writing for Rugrats and creating the television series Hey Arnold!.-Career:...

 (of Hey Arnold!

Hey Arnold!

Hey Arnold! is an American animated television series created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. The show's premise focuses on a fourth grader named Arnold who lives with his grandparents. Episodes center on his experiences navigating big city life while dealing with the problems he and his friends...

 fame) for Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

. It was made to be a pilot

Television pilot

A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 for an animated series that Bartlett was making for Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 after he left Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

. However, the series was later scrapped. Little information of this series exists on the internet for this movie.

Plot

The adventure starts off as a coming-of-age story for a teenager, Randolph P. McDuff, as he escapes his city life and seeks to start over in the west. On his journey, he meets fellow travelers Romeo Jones, Louis Clark Jefferson, the cranky wagon master Bumpy Schmitts, his daughter Onery Sue, and the rootin' tooin' cowgirl Subliminy Jane. This band of misfits headed west meet on a ferry traveling down the Mississippi River, headed by the creepy little Three-Eyed Jack. The ferry crashes, but right before the final plank busts, Jack tells of his hidden gem mine in El Glitterado and presents the travelers with a map. The remaining members band together and travel west, each with a torn piece of the salvaged map. The group eventually joins a wagon train following the Oregon Trail, and even let in two orphans they meet on the way. The rambunctious crew is deemed the ‘party wagon' of the train and is sent to be the last to follow all other wagons. Wacky hijinks ensue, leading to many complications, but throughout the story Randy grows as a character as he logs his daily adventures in a letter he plans to send to his aunt back in Maine. What's made matters worse is that Three-Eyed Jack survived the waterfall and is on the hunt to get his map back.