PITFALL!
(CBS, September 17-December 3, 1983)
Ruby-Spears Productions
MAIN CAST:
Robert Ridgely – Pitfall Harry
Noelle North – Rhonda
Kenneth Mars – Quickclaw
In 1979, game developer David Crane
came up with the technology that could display a realistic running man in a
video game. Searching for a suitable game to use it in, Crane sat down with a
piece of paper and ended up scribbling down a stick figure man running through
a jungle collecting treasures and avoiding enemies. That simple idea became the
basis for Pitfall!
The player controlled Pitfall Harry as he
ran through a maze-like jungle to collect 32 treasures comprised of bags of
money, gold and silver bars and diamond rings within a set time limit.
Meanwhile, Harry had to avoid numerous obstacles such as pits, quicksand,
rolling logs, fire, snakes, scorpions and crocodiles, by jumping over them,
climbing, or swinging on vines (which was accompanied by a Tarzan-like yell sound effect). Points
would be lost whenever Harry fell into a hole or hit a log, and a life with
every other peril.
Activision
released the game on April 20, 1982 for the Atari 2600. The technical
achievements of Crane’s programming meant that multiple animated sprites could
appear on the screen without causing any flickering on the otherwise primitive
graphics hardware. The game was a hit, spending 64 weeks as a #1 best-seller
and receiving high praise for its graphics and gameplay; often credited with
creating the side-scrolling genre (even though it didn’t actually scroll). It
was even awarded “Best Adventure Video Game” in the 4th annual Arkie
Awards. The game was subsequently ported to the various gaming systems
available at the time and went on to sell over 4 million copies throughout the
1980s.
Around the time of the game’s release, CBS was looking to get in on the video game craze
and to combat ABC’s Pac-Man produced by Hanna-Barbera.
Figuring to hedge their bets, they licensed several gaming properties and
commissioned former Hanna-Barbera employees Joe Ruby and Ken Spears to handle it
through their company Ruby-Spears
Productions. The resulting series was Saturday Supercade.
 |
| Harry with Rhonda and Quickclaw. |
Making up the Supercade every week were segments based on Frogger, Donkey
Kong and Donkey
Kong Jr., while Pitfall! alternated
its slot with Q*Bert. As in the game,
Pitfall Harry (Robert Ridgely) navigated the many perils of the jungle as he
searched for all kinds of treasure. Joining him were the newly created
characters of his adventure-seeking niece, Rhonda (Noelle North), and their eyepatch-wearing cowardly pet mountain lion, Quickclaw (Kenneth Mars). Ken Boyer and Patrick A. Ventura served as Supercade’s character designers and
fleshed out Harry from his pixelated blocky form.
 |
| Harry and Quickclaw hanging out with Donkey Kong. |
Pitfall!
debuted
with the rest of Supercade on
September 17, 1983. It had the shortest run of all the featured segments,
topping out at only seven episodes. When Supercade
was renewed for a second season, Pitfall!,
along with Frogger and Donkey
Kong Jr., were dropped in favor of new segments Space
Ace and Kangaroo.
Before Pitfall!’s
cancellation, work had begun on the 1984 sequel to the game, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns. The game was
the last major release for the Atari 2600 and featured further technological
advancements by Crane; such as a soundtrack and 27 horizontal levels. Included
in the game were the characters of Rhonda and Quickclaw, both of whom needed to
be collected in order to win the game. Like the earlier game, Pitfall II was ported to additional
systems. The Atari 5200
and 8-bit
versions were called Adventurer’s Edition due
to the extra level added by designer Mike
Lorenzen, while the Famicom (the Japanese name for the Nintendo
Entertainment System) got a loose remake called Super Pitfall.
In 1985, Sega licensed the game to
create an arcade version,
which was actually a combination of both Pitfall
games with better detailed graphics. The Quickclaw name was later reused
for a jaguar included in the sixth and final Pitfall game, 2004’s The Lost Expedition (known
as The Big Adventure on Nintendo Wii).
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Pitfall’s
Panda Puzzle” (9/17/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Amazon
Jungle Bungle” (9/24/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Raiders
of the Lost Shark” (10/8/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Tibetan
Treasure Trouble” (10/22/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Masked
Menace Mess” (11/5/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Sabretooth Goof” (11/19/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Pyramid Panic” (12/3/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
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