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Jetlag Productions

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Jetlag Productions was an American animation studio that has created a number of animated films based on both popular children's stories and original productions. Produced mainly for the American market, the films were animated in Japan by KKC&D Asia and Animal Ya among South Korean companies. They were later released directly to VHS through the GoodTimes Home Video distribution company.

Years later, the films were distributed with the introduction of DVD via a newer department of the same company, GoodTimes Home Entertainment. The films in Jetlag's catalog were dubbed into many different languages and were distributed by international departments of the GoodTimes corporation. Since 2005, the Gaiam company has held the copyrights to Jetlag Productions' animated films, following GoodTimes Entertainment's bankruptcy.

History

Jetlag Productions started out as a small animation company, assisting in the productions of such series as The New Adventures of He-Man and Heroes on Hot Wheels in 1990, and Conan the Adventurer in 1992, until it was approached by Joe, Ken, and Stan Cayre (known artistically as the Cayre Brothers) of GoodTimes Entertainment. The company then replaced Golden Films as GoodTimes's provider of budget animated productions, when the contract with Golden Film expired. Under the name of their new establishment, the Cayre Brothers produced Children's Classics, a series of animated films that were very similar to those from Golden Films in style. Beginning their releases in 1994, Jetlag Productions produced a total of 17 different animated films, 13 adaptations of existing material, and four original features. All 17 films were around 45 minutes in length, and were released as direct-to-video VHS features, under the "GoodTimes" name by GoodTimes Home Video. Their last release was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was released on April 30, 1996, just before GoodTimes turned to a new company, Blye Migicovsky Productions, for their new line of animation releases. Jetlag Productions' films were revived on DVD under a "Collectible Classics" label in 2002 by GoodTimes Entertainment. The new releases were widely available until GoodTimes filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and all assets were transferred to Gaiam.

Title listing

Fairy tale and short story adaptations

Myths and legends adaptations

Literary novel adaptations

Original works

  • Happy, the Littlest Bunny (1994), written by Larry Hartstein
  • Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle (1994), written by George Bloom
  • Curly, the Littlest Puppy (1995), written by Larry Hartstein
  • Magic Gift of the Snowman (1995), written by Larry Hartstain

TV series

Music

Unlike its predecessor, Golden Films, Jetlag Productions did not rely on familiar classical compositions as the soundtrack to their films (the only exception would be Heidi, which featured a variation of Edvard Grieg's "Morning Mood"). Instead, a variety of original compositions were created from scratch, produced by Andrew Dimitroff.

Original songs

Jetlag Productions consistently incorporated original songs into their animated films, adhering to this practice across all 17 of their productions. Each film featured a set of three original songs, sung by a diverse range of performers. These songs were not only presented as standalone musical numbers but were also integrated into the films' soundtracks in various ways, sometimes extending beyond the main musical sequences. It is worth noting that, while the inclusion of musical numbers followed a certain formula, there were exceptions to this rule. For instance, "A Christmas Carol" (1994) departed from the typical opening musical number, and "Hercules" (1995) concluded with an instrumental rendition of "Son of Zeus" rather than a vocal performance. Despite the prevalent use of off-screen voices for most songs, a few films featured in-character performances, such as "Hip Hip Hooray" from "Snow White" (1995), "Sleep and Dream" from "Magic Gift of the Snowman" (1995), "(It's the) Chance of a Lifetime" from "Cinderella" (1994), and "Out on My Own" from "Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle" (1994). An exception to this trend was the duet "When Love Has Gone Away" from "Cinderella" (1994), sung by the characters Cinderella and the prince. Among the many songs featured in Jetlag's films were notable titles like "Dream On, Cinderella" from "Cinderella," "Start With A Smile," "This Is Home," and "(We're) The Very Best Of Friends" from "Heidi," and "Never Give Up" from "Hercules."

Musicians

The composers and lyricists involved in original soundtracks were credited formulaically across all seventeen of Jetlag's animated productions. Thus, they were never linked to their actual work. Among these credits, the following artists were credited as:

  • Music producer: Andrew Dimitroff
  • Composers: Nick Carr, Ray Crossley and Andrew Dimitroff
  • Lyricist: Joellyn Cooperman

Credited musicians

  • Ray Crossley
  • Andrew Dimitroff
  • Milcho Leviev
  • Mel Steinberg
  • Leslie Woodbury

Uncredited vocalist performers

  • Kathleen Barr (as the singing voice of Tooey in Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle (1994), performing "Out on My Own")
  • Garry Chalk (as the voice of Leo in Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle (1994), performing "I'm a Really Nice Guy")
  • Wendy K. Hamilton-Caddey (for songs such as "A Little Bit of Magic," "The Season of Love," "Keep Christmas in Your Heart", and "Land of Pocahontas", among others)
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