From The TV IV

Filmation Associates (later known simply as Filmation) was a studio located in Reseda, California that produced animated cartoons for American television. It was founded in 1963 by Lou Schiemer and Norm Prescott.

[edit] History

Lou Schiemer and the studio's main director Hal Sutherland had previously worked at Larry Harmon's animation studio making Bozo the Clown cartoons and a handful of the Al Brodax Popeye cartoons. After Norm Prescott joined the consortium, they created their own studio, True Line, which made the syndicated cartoon Rod Rocket and produced two theatrical features--Pinocchio In Outer Space and Journey Back To Oz (which featured the voice of Liza Minnelli as Dorothy but was not released to theaters till 1974).

True Line would rename itself Filmation Associates in 1963 after Rod Rocket became a syndicated series and they would spend the next three years making commercials. In 1966, CBS tapped them to make The New Adventures of Superman. At that point, they were the main competitor to Hanna-Barbera when it came to accomodating Saturday morning schedules.

Prescott, Schiemer and Sutherland would readily attest that drawing and animating Superman wasn't easy. In contrast to the Fleischer cartoons of 25 years before, the TV Superman cartoons were hopelessly wooden and repetitive. Regardless, it delivered big ratings. Filmation's main output consisted of licensed properties. They would animate DC heroes such as Aquaman, the Teen Titans, Batman and Justice League of America. In following years, they would make the numerous Archie shows as well as Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down? (1970), Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973, Emmy winner), Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972), Flash Gordon (1979), Ghost Busters (live action series, 1975), Ghostbusters (1986, based on the 1975 series, not the 1984 movie) and The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle (1979).

In the 1980s, Filmation released two theatrical features--Happily Ever After and Pinocchio And The Emperor of the Night--that not only fared poorly both critically and financially, but the Disney Corporation sought to have their releases halted citing intellectual property (in spite of the fact that the source stories are public domain).

In 1989, the L'Oreal cosmetics company bought the Filmation studio from Westinghouse (Group W) and closed the studio. Ownership of the Filmation library is varied, with CBS Television Distribution owning Star Trek: The Animated Series, The Brady Kids and The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, Warner Bros. Television owning the DC Comics heroes line, and News Corporation (through 20th Television) and Classic Media owning other properties.

[edit] List of shows produced by Filmation Associates

[edit] External links

• Filmation Associates at the Internet Movie Database