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'''''Pac-Man''''' (also known as '''''Pac-Man: The Animated Series''''') is an [[Animation|animated]] [[television series]] produced by [[Hanna-Barbera]] based upon the video and arcade game series, ''[[Pac-Man]]'' by [[Namco]] (later merged with [[Bandai]] and became [[Namco Bandai Holdings]]), which premered on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and ran from 1982 to 1984. During the first airing of the show, the large number of advertisers sponsoring it caused commercial breaks to be double their normal length. Later episodes featured normal commercial break times.
'''''Pac-Man''''' (also known as '''''Pac-Man: The Animated Series''''') is an [[Animation|animated]] [[television series]] produced by [[Hanna-Barbera]] based upon the video and arcade game series, ''[[Pac-Man]]'' by [[Namco]] (later merged with [[Bandai]] and became [[Namco Bandai Holdings]]), which premiered on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and ran from 1982 to 1984. During the first airing of the show, the large number of advertisers sponsoring it caused commercial breaks to be double their normal length. Later episodes featured normal commercial break times.


The arcade game ''[[Pac-Land]]'' was based entirely on the cartoon, and ''[[Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures]]'' drew significant influence from it as well. Also, the [[Tengen (company)|Tengen]] release of the original ''Pac-Man'' arcade game for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] features box art based on the cartoon. This series along with ''[[The Smurfs (Hanna-Barbera series)|The Smurfs]]'', ''[[Foofur]]'' and other Hanna-Barbera adaptations of other properties were completely different from the regular Hanna-Barbera shows. The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create [[Saturday Supercade]], which featured other video game characters from the [[Golden age of video arcade games]].
The arcade game ''[[Pac-Land]]'' was based entirely on the cartoon, and ''[[Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures]]'' drew significant influence from it as well. Also, the [[Tengen (company)|Tengen]] release of the original ''Pac-Man'' arcade game for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] features box art based on the cartoon. This series along with ''[[The Smurfs (Hanna-Barbera series)|The Smurfs]]'', ''[[Foofur]]'' and other Hanna-Barbera adaptations of other properties were completely different from the regular Hanna-Barbera shows. The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create [[Saturday Supercade]], which featured other video game characters from the [[Golden age of video arcade games]].

Revision as of 22:09, 22 May 2010

Pac-Man
File:Pac Man.jpg
The Pac Family
StarringMarty Ingels
Barbara Minkus
Russi Taylor
Frank Welker
Lorenzo Music (season two)
Peter Cullen
Barry Gordon
Chuck McCann
Neil Ross
Susan Silo
Darryl Hickman (season two)
Allan Lurie
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes42 (and 2 holiday specials)
Production
Executive producersWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Running time30 minutes
Production companyHanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 25, 1982 –
September 1, 1984
ReleaseList of Pac-Man episodes
ReleaseList of Pac-Man episodes
ReleaseList of Pac-Man episodes
ReleaseList of Pac-Man episodes
ReleaseList of Pac-Man episodes
ReleaseList of Pac-Man episodes

Pac-Man (also known as Pac-Man: The Animated Series) is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera based upon the video and arcade game series, Pac-Man by Namco (later merged with Bandai and became Namco Bandai Holdings), which premiered on ABC and ran from 1982 to 1984. During the first airing of the show, the large number of advertisers sponsoring it caused commercial breaks to be double their normal length. Later episodes featured normal commercial break times.

The arcade game Pac-Land was based entirely on the cartoon, and Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures drew significant influence from it as well. Also, the Tengen release of the original Pac-Man arcade game for the Nintendo Entertainment System features box art based on the cartoon. This series along with The Smurfs, Foofur and other Hanna-Barbera adaptations of other properties were completely different from the regular Hanna-Barbera shows. The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create Saturday Supercade, which featured other video game characters from the Golden age of video arcade games.

This marked the first time in Hanna-Barbera's 25-year history in that they created a cartoon series based on a video game.

Plot

The show follows the adventures of the title character, Pac-Man, his wife Pepper, their child Pac-Baby, their dog Chomp-Chomp and their cat Sour Puss. The family lives in Pac-Land, a place in which the geography and architecture seem to revolve primarily around spheres and sphere-like shapes. Most episodes of the show center around the ongoing battle between the Pac family and their only known enemies, the Ghost Monsters: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, and Sue. They work for Mezmaron, (a mysterious figure who resembles Darth Vader and acts similarly to Gargamel), whose sole mission is to locate and control the source of "Power Pellets", which serve as the primary food and power source for the city, and also as the deus ex machina in virtually every episode.

Common themes

For whatever reason, nearly everything in Pac-Land takes the shape of a sphere (or is round, at the very least). Everything from natural backgrounds to houses to cars to animals and even (or especially) the people assume the form of a ball. Another recurring theme is the common use of "Pac-" as a prefix for verbs and famous or common existing nouns (an example: Pac-Hollywood, a town famous for its film studios). This is reminiscent of The Smurfs or The Snorks, both animated series which replaced or altered several existing words with "Smurf" or "Snork," respectively.(In fact, the series was referred to as "Pac-Smurfs" around the Hanna-Barbera studio. [citation needed]) Pac-man himself is often referred to the nickname "Packy" by Pepper. In a typical episode, the ghost-monsters are eaten in the beginning, and their eyes fly back to Mezmaron's lava-lair closet to get new ghost suits and plot something evil.

Power Pellets (which were previously called "power pills", or "energizers") seem to be the focal point of nearly every episode, as Mezmaron and the Ghost-Monsters are intent upon finding them. In actuality, while Power Pellets are plentiful and easy to find around Pac-Land, Mezmaron and the Ghost-Monsters' ultimate goal is to control all the power pellets by taking over the Power Pellet Forest (usually referred to as simply the "Power Forest") where power pellets are grown on trees. Although their primary purpose appears to be enabling the Pac-people to "chomp" Ghost-Monsters, Power Pellets also seem to be the staple of their diet (as well as the city's source of power in general); Pac-Baby is fed power pellet milk for example. It's interesting to note that when Pac-Man (or any other Pac-person, or Pac-animal) eats a power pellet, instead of turning blue (as in the video game series) the "Ghost-Monsters" (known as simply "monsters" in the original arcade game, and as simply "ghosts" in the Atari 2600 version) turn "purple with panic" after which they make an obvious note of their situation ("P-P-P-P-P-Pac Power!").

Other changes from the video games include the following:

  • Super Pac-Man is portrayed as a separate character who lives in a parallel dimension called the Super Time Warp Space Home (and is called "Super-Pac").
  • Clyde is the 'head' ghost-monster, instead of Blinky (who is the first one out of the monster pen at the beginning of each level in the games); this is probably a reference to "Clyde" of the Ant Hill Mob from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, another Hanna-Barbera series. Considering the gangster persona applied to Clyde and somewhat to Sue, Clyde may have been made the leader as a reference to Bonnie and Clyde (with Sue fitting the bill for Bonnie).
  • Ms. Pac-Man is called "Pepper".
  • When the ghosts catch up to Pac-Man in the early episodes, they trap him and "chomp his bones", leaving him a disheveled version of himself. It was a pretty creepy visual for the predominantly young audience, and in future episodes, Pac-Man just appeared beat up (Or in a weakened state) rather than internally gobbled.
  • Sue (the only female ghost-monster) is now just a separate character and the fifth ghost monster. In Ms. Pac-Man, Sue replaced Clyde in an attempt to give Ms. Pac-Man a rival of her own. When she was around, Pepper was usually the one who chomped the Sue. Even though in the cartoon Sue is purple, in the arcade game she is orange, the same color Clyde is in the Pac-Man game.
  • The ghosts all wear hats or (in Sue's case) earrings. (Possibly so the animators/painters could tell the ghosts apart)
  • Pinky and Inky had abilities the other ghost monsters did not. Pinky was able to alter his shape. For instance he changed into an inflatable rubber raft to travel on a body of water. Inky was able to produce many supplies and items from his clothing. Inky is even able to retrieve items larger than himself. An example of this is when he took a very long ladder out of his clothing to climb a wall to escape from Pac-Man. This ability is similar to Hammerspace. Each of the ghosts have a distinct personality. Aside from Clyde and Sue's aforementioned personalities, Inky is the stupid one, Blinky is the cowardly one and Pinky is the tough one.
  • The ghost monsters have a child cousin named "Dinky" (Julie McWhirter). Dinky and Pac-Baby would get along, not like the adults. Dinky appeared in two episodes.
  • In the second season, besides Super-Pac, Pac-Man's teenage cousin, P.J. (Darryl Hickman), appears semi-regularly on the show. The two characters never appeared together in any of the episodes.
  • Pac-Baby was voiced by Russi Taylor, the current voice of Minnie Mouse. Frank Welker voiced Pac-Baby's adult self.

Broadcast history

Pac-Man aired on ABC Saturday Morning in the following formats:

Since the original run, reruns have turned up on the USA Cartoon Express on USA in the 1980s and Boomerang in 2005. The series is also available for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 160 Microsoft Points per episode.

Episodes

Season one

  1. Presidential Pac Nappers - Mezmaron orders the Ghost Monsters to kidnap the Pac-President in order to get Pac-Man to lead them to the Power Pellet Forest. The debut episode
  2. Hocus Pocus Pac Man - Pac-Man put Pac-Baby in a magic hat and made him disappear!
  3. The Great Pac Quake -
  4. Picnic in Pac Land - Pac-Man and his family go for a picnic. The Ghosts are also on a picnic and plot to chomp Pac-Man with each plan going horribly awry.
  5. South Paw Packy -
  6. Pac Baby Panic -
  7. The Pac Man in the Moon -
  8. Neander Pac Man - Pac-Man reads Pac-Baby a story about their prehistoric ancestors.
  9. Super Ghosts - The ghost monsters try to take over the world
  10. Invasion of the Pac Pups -
  11. Trick or Chomp - The Pac family goes trick or treating on Halloween night until the ghosts comes along and spice things up.
  12. Pacula - Mezmaron transforms a bat into the vampiric Count Pacula in a plot to get the citizens of Pac-Land to hand over the directions to the Power Pellet Forest.
  13. Once Upon a Chomp -
  14. Journey to the Center of Pac Land -
  15. Chomp Out at the OK Corral - While taking a vacation out west, the ghost monsters along with their bratty cousin, Dinky, try to ruin the Pac-family vacation.
  16. The Bionic Pac Woman - Mezmaron made a robotic clone of Pepper to fool Pac-Man.
  17. The Great Power Pellet Robbery -
  18. Back Packin' Packy -
  19. The Abominable Pac Man - A legendary creature is lurking the snowy hills.
  20. Sir Chomp A Lot -
  21. Goo Goo at the Zoo -
  22. The Pac-Mummy -
  23. A Bad Case of the Chomps -
  24. Nighty Nightmares -

Season two

  1. Here's Super-Pac! - Super-Pac arrives in Pac-Land and saves Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man from a Ghost Monster attack. Mrs. Pac-Man then invites Super-Pac to lunch as Mezmaron creates a giant robotic Ghost Monster.
  2. Hey, Hey, Hey...It's P.J. -
  3. The Super-Pac Bowl -
  4. Journey into the Pac-Past -
  5. The Old Pac-Man and the Sea -
  6. Public Pac-Enemy No. 1 -
  7. The Genie of Pacdad -
  8. Computer Packy -
  9. The Greatest Show in Pac-Land - The ghost monsters take their cousin Dinky to the circus for his birthday, where they encounter the Pac-family.
  10. Pac-A-Lympics -
  11. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Pac-Man - Pac-Man turns into a werewolf after the Ghost-Monsters trick him into eating Power Pellets specially created by Mezmaron.
  12. Around the World in 80 Chomps -
  13. Super-Pac vs. Pac-Ape - An organ grinder's Pac-Monkey eats super-powered Power Pellets and grows to giant size. Now Pac-Man and Super-Pac must stop the giant Pac-Monkey before it wrecks Pac-Land
  14. P.J. Goes Pac-Hollywood -
  15. Pac-Van-Winkle -
  16. Happy Pacs-Giving - The Pacs hear a story about the first Pacs-Giving during pacs-giving dinner. The finale episode

Specials

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land

In this Christmas special, Pac-Man and family help Santa Claus (Peter Cullen) after crash-landing on Pac-Land (after the reindeer were startled by floating eyes of the Ghost Monsters after Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Baby munched them). Mezmeron was the only character from the cartoon that is not in the special (although his castle, which is covered in snow appears). It is shown every December on the Boomerang Christmas party.

Pac-Man Halloween Special

The Halloween special consisted of two segments, "Pacula" and "Trick or Chomp". Contrary to popular belief, this was not a primetime special. Rather it was simply a Halloween episode played in the normal series run. It has been replayed on channels like Cartoon Network and Boomerang during Halloween in recent years.[1]

Cast

The Pac Family

Friends and Relatives of the Pac Family

The Ghost Monsters

Relatives of the Ghost Monsters

Production credits

  • Executive Producers: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
  • Producer: Kay Wright
  • "PAC-MAN" developed for and written for television by: Jeffrey Scott
  • Supervising Director: Ray Patterson
  • Directors: George Gordon, Bill Hutten, Bob Hathcock, Carl Urbano, Rudy Zamora
  • Assistant Directors: Bob Goe, Terry Harrison
  • DONALD LOUGHERY CREATIVE CONSULTANT FOR BALLY/MIDWAY MFG. CO. AND NAMCO LTD.
  • Story Direction: Stephen Hickner, Mitchell Schauer, Thomas V. Tataranowicz, Wendell Washer, Roy Wilson
  • Recording Director: Gordon Hunt
  • Animation Casting Director: Ginny McSwain
  • Voices: Jodi Carlisle, Lorenzo Music (season 2), Peter Cullen, Barry Gordon, Marty Ingels, Paul Kirby, Allan Lurie, Chuck McCann, Barbara Minkus, Neil Ross, Susan Silo, Russi Taylor, Lennie Weinrib, Darryl Hickman (season 2), Frank Welker
  • Graphics: Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke
  • Musical Director: Hoyt Curtin
  • Musical Supervisor: Paul DeKorte
  • Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto
  • Design Supervisor: Bob Singer
  • Character Design: Sandra Berez, Deborah Hayes, Takashi
  • Layout Supervisor: Gary Hoffman
  • Layout: Sue Adhopoz, Kurt Anderson, Cosmo Anzilotti, Rex Barron, Barry Bunce, Franco Christophani, Tom Coppola, Marija Dail, Jaime Diaz, Barbara Dourmashkin, Dave Dunnet, Owen Fitzgerald, Drew Gentle, Moe Gollub, Charles Grosvenor, Paul Gruwell, Karenia Haber, Wes Herschensohn, David Hilberman, Carol Holman, John Howley, Terry Hudson, Ray Jacobs, Mary Jorgenson, Mike Kawaguchi, Terry Keil, John Kricfalusi, Ken Landau, Lonnie Lloyd, Mike Maliani, Jack Manning, Warren Marshall, Greg Martin, Lorenzo Martinez, Alex McCrae, Darrell McNeil, Skip Morgan, James Mueller, Judith Niver, Floyd Norman, Dave O'Day, Michael O'Mara, Phil Ortiz, John Perry, Phil Phillipson, Mario Piluso, Darrell Rooney, Linda Rowley, Joel Seibel, Jim Simon, Robert Smith, Leo Sullivan, Gary Terry, Dean Thompson, Maureen Trueblood, Robert Tyler, Sherilan Weinhart, David West, Dave Williams, Roy Wilson
  • Animation Supervisor: Jay Sarbry
  • Assistant Animation Supervisor: Joanna Romersa
  • Animation: Bob Hathcock, Jeff Hall, Bill Hutten, Tony Love, Ron Myrick, Tim Walker, Bob Alvarez, Monique Barreras, Bob Bemiller, Lefty Callahan, Rudy Cataldi, Zeon Davush, Joan Drake, Jon Elford, Lillian Evans, Hugh Fraser, Valerie Gifford, Fred Hellmich, Karen Kastelman, Hicks Lokey, Mircea Manta, Constantin Mustatea, Bob Nesler, Margaret Nichols, Bill Nunes, Ken Muse, Bernard Posner, Bill Pratt, Don Ruch, Kunio Shimamura, Michael Silbereich, Jim Simon, Ken Southworth, Rich Trueblood, Woody Yocum
  • Checking and Scene Planning: Paul Strickland
  • Xerography: Star Wirth
  • Background Supervisor: Al Gmuer
  • Backgrounds: Lorraine Andrina, Fernando Arce, Gary Conkline, Gil DiCicco, Flamarion Ferreira, Martin Forte, Robert Gentle, Bonnie Goodknight, Eric Heschong, Jim Hickey, Paro Hozumi, Michael Humphries, Vicki Jenson, Phil Lewis, Michelle Moen, Andy Phillipson, Phil Phillipson, Bill Proctor, Jeff Richards, Jeff Riche, Ron Roesch, Peter Van Elk, Dennis Venizelos, Gloria Wood
  • Ink and Paint Supervisor: Alison Victory
  • Technical Supervisor: Jerry Mills
  • Camera: Roy Wade, Steve Altman, Chuck Flekal, Curt Hall, Ralph Migliori, Joe Ponticelle, David Valentine, Jerry Whittington
  • Sound Direction: Dick Olson, Joe Wachter
  • Supervising Film Editor: Larry C. Cowan
  • Dubbing Supervisor: Pat Foley
  • Effects Editors: Mike Bradley, Mary Gleason, Carol Lewis, Catherine MacKenzie, Sue Sawade, Kerry Williams
  • Music Editors: Terry Moore, Joe Sandusky, Robert Talboy
  • Show Editor: Gil Iverson
  • Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
  • Post Production Supervisor: Joed Eaton
  • Executives in Charge of Production: Jayne Barbera and Margaret Loesch
  • BASED ON THE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPED BY NAMCO LTD. AND MANUFACTURED BY BALLY/MIDWAY MFG. CO.
  • A HANNA-BARBERA PRODUCTION
  • PAC-MAN and the PAC-MAN characters are trademarks of Bally/Midway Mfg. Co. in the Western hemisphere and Namco Ltd. in the rest of the world.
  • (c) 1982 Hanna-Barbera Productions Inc. (Now owned by Cartoon Network Studios)

Home Media Releases

It is unknown when there will be a DVD release of the series from Warner Home Video. The holiday special, Christmas Comes to Pac-Land was released on VHS by Kids Klassics in the 1980s.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.toonarific.com/show.php?show_id=2727
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