The 1980s
saw a veritable boom in television animation. FCC
regulations became more relaxed, meaning studios could partner up with toy
manufacturers once again to produce shows based on their products. The
syndication market, where studios could sell directly to independent stations,
became very attractive because without the same FCC guidelines and network
standards and practices, they were able to exert more creative freedom in their
productions. Anime became appealing as they could be imported from Japan,
edited to American television standards, dubbed and aired at a fraction of the
cost of producing an all-new show (even though the short run of some anime
resulted in new episodes having to be commissioned from the Japanese studio).
The rise in home video also opened up a new avenue for distribution deals and
new profits from selling episodes of favorite programs.
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Marvel Productions replaced DePatie-Freleng on the airwaves. |
As a result
of this boom, the number of studios rose from four—Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, DePatie-Freleng
and Ruby-Spears—to around
30. You had DiC
Enterprises ushered in from France by Hanna-Barbera alum Andy Heyward; Sunbow Entertainment,
who would oversee the production of various properties based on Hasbro toys; Bagdasarian Productions
resurrecting their Chipmunks
franchise; Murakami-Wolf-Swenson
made their mark licensing the hottest independent comic to date, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles; Nelvana,
who would drag themselves up from a struggling animation studio into a full-out
production company; Saban Entertainment
finding their niche of importing and dubbing shows, although their biggest hit
wouldn’t come until the following decade; and others. DePatie-Freleng bowed out
early, with Marvel
Productions rising from its ashes and often partnering with Sunbow.
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Here comes Disney! |
And, of
course, one of the two big dogs entered the fray: Disney. Disney would produce television
animation in both syndication and on the networks. With their massive financial
capabilities, they were able to make shows that looked near theatrical quality.
Certainly, better than anything the others were putting out with the exchange rate
of the Japanese yen forcing them to find alternative, cheaper countries to
outsource their animation work to. Warner
Bros. would also resurrect their animation division, but their first television
offering wouldn’t hit until 1990.
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The rise in VCR technology meant TV could be viewed at any time anywhere. |
ABC, CBS and NBC weren’t having all that easy a time either.
Syndication meant that advertisers were now being pulled in two directions and the
networks weren’t making as much money on their programming. Not to mention that
cable and satellite television were beginning to rise in popularity, offering
audiences even more channels with many catered to a particular market. And,
towards the end of the decade, a brand-new network—FOX—would
launch and give them all a run for their money, being unafraid to take risks
with their programming. All of those viewing alternatives, plus home video
sales, meant that children could now watch cartoons in more places at more
times. Saturday morning was slowly becoming a less viable proposition.
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Muppet Babies ushered in the new trend of babyfication. |
The studios
took advantage of every trick they could. The unparalleled success of Filmation’s
He-Man and
the Masters of the Universe, based on the Mattel toyline, not only made syndication
seem attractive to the other studios, but the partnership between toy companies
and animation as well. Licenses for other Mattel properties, as well as Hasbro,
Tyco and others were snatched
up and turned into programs. Further driving studios towards syndication was
the success of DiC’s Inspector
Gadget. While the networks largely shied away from the toy-based cartoons,
they eagerly embraced ones based on the growing video game market. The
surprising box office of Nelvana’s The Care Bears Movie inspired
other studios to look into doing theatrical films for their franchises.
Celebrities continued to be a draw for the studios looking to attract their
fans, resulting in the likes of Gary
Coleman, Mr. T, Martin Short and John Candy getting their own
cartoons. As the 80s marked the rise of the Hollywood summer blockbuster,
movies became fodder for animated shows. One movie in particular, The Muppets Take Manhattan,
inspired a whole new trend: babyfication, the process of taking a
previously established character and de-aging them.
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Lou Scheimer's goodbye letter to Filmation employees that would run as a full-page ad in Hollywood Reporter and Variety. |
But, with
every boom there must come a bust. And bust the animation industry did. The
syndication market quickly became saturated with more product than the stations
had available air time. Most of that product was action-adventure programs that
little to distinguish themselves from each other, driving audiences towards
more comedic and cutesy fare simply because it was different. Reruns of The
Smurfs were outperforming anything new! Toy companies began
to learn that a hit show doesn’t necessarily equal toy sales, and since toys
were their business they gradually began to pull out of showbusiness. The
Care Bears Movie’s success turned out to be a fluke more than the
indication of a trend, as the subsequent programs-to-movies fared poorly. The
biggest casualty of all was that Filmation was sold to new owners who promptly
shut the studio down early in 1989.
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Rubik, the Amazing Cube was definitely one of the more questionable ones... |
The 1980s
were a turbulent time for animation, full of highs and lows. While you can
argue that the animation itself wasn’t always great, there was no denying that
the studios made full use of their newfound creative freedom to churn out some
inspired, weird (and sometimes questionable) programs.
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