LEN JANSON
(Unknown)
Notable Roles: Animator,
writer, story editor, producer, director
Janson began working
at Walt Disney Productions as an
in-betweener. In 1965, he became a story man and received his first screen
credit in Warner Bros.’ Boulder Wham! Roadrunner
short. In the following years, he partnered with fellow animator and writer Chuck Menville. Together, they
produced a series of live-action short films utilizing the long-forgotten stop-motion pixilation
method. Among them was the Academy Award-nominated Stop Look and Listen, which
followed a day in the life of motorists who tooled around the city in invisible
cars. They wrote, directed and starred in their shorts. Clips from their second
film, Vicious
Cycles, were used in ABC’s The
New Communicators which landed them a gig making commercials for Gulf Oil’s “no-nox” gasoline. In
1969, Janson and Menville started long stints at both Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, serving
as story editors and producers for several of their shows. Over at DiC Enterprises in
the 1980s, Menville and Janson were offered the story editor position of The
Real Ghostbusters, but they initially turned it down due to the
massive workload of having to produce a syndicated and Saturday morning version
of the show at the same time. Following the departure of story editor J. Michael Straczynski over
creative differences in changes ABC wanted to make, Janson and Menville became
the story editors for the remainder of the show’s run. They went on to write,
produce and story edit for the reboot of Land of the Lost and Tiny
Toon Adventures. Following Menville’s death in 1992, Janson went
on to develop the Sonic
the Hedgehog animated series for ABC, as well as its
follow-up, Sonic
Underground. He also wrote several episodes of Baywatch Nights and The
Woody Woodpecker Show revival. Janson’s last credited work was on an
episode of Gadget and the Gadgetinis in 2003, although
he did appear in 2008 documentaries about The Real Ghostbusters.
Saturday Credits:
Cattanooga Cats
Will the Real Jerry Lewis
Please Sit Down
Groovie Goolies
Sabrina, the Teenage
Witch (1969)
Fat Albert and the Cosby
Kids
The Flintstone Comedy
Hour
The ABC Saturday
Superstar Movie (episodes)
Lassie’s Rescue Rangers
Speed Buggy
Star Trek: The Animated
Series
Wheelie and the Chopper
Bunch
Hong Kong Phooey
Korg: 70,000 B.C.
Shazam! (1974)
Uncle Croc’s Block
The New Adventures of
Gilligan
The Secrets of Isis
ABC Weekend
Specials (episodes)
Ark II
The New Adventures of
Batman
Space Sentinels
Tarzan, Lord of the
Jungle
Tarzan and the Super 7
Yogi’s Space Race
Buford and the Galloping
Ghost
Jason of Star Command
The New Fred and Barney
Show
The New Shmoo
Fred and Barney Meet the
Shmoo
The Flintstone Comedy
Show
Space Stars
The Smurfs
Mork & Mindy/Laverne
& Shirley/Fonz Hour
Benji, Zax & the
Alien Prince
The Biskitts
Kissyfur
The Real Ghostbusters
The Little Wizards
Tiny Toon Adventures
Land of the Lost (1991)
The Little Mermaid: The
Animated Series
Sonic the Hedgehog (1993)
Dumb and Dumber: The
Animated Series
Gadget and the Gadgetinis
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