Filmation

I am not as venomous as I once was when I talk about Filmation. When I was in my teens taking animation class, I would place the animation produced by the likes of Filmation and Hanna-Barbera in the same catagory as Adoph Hitler and the Black Plague.

And there was plenty to criticize Filmation on. Their version of Tom and Jerry and Mighty Mouse were terrible. Then again, I hated Mighty Mouse until John Kricfalusi and company's zany reinvention of the character in the late 1980s. Their attempts to adapt the Looney Tunes characters alongside the Groovie Goolies was laughable. But not laughable in an enjoyable way. You can also agrue that Filmation cheapened and dumbed down animation. However, not nearly as bad as some of the later Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1970's and 1980's.

And their insistance in adding an annoying little character for comedy relief is always embarrasing to watch. And of course the Archie series. But then again, I hate Archie to begin with, so my opinion the animated version is a bit on the jaded side.

But as I said. My opinion of Filmation is not nearly as scathing as it once was. Some of that may be do to childhood nostalgia. But rewatching many of the cartoons they did, in particular their superhero and adventure output, given the limitation of television animation during that period of time, many of them were very well done.

And even that you can look at as their attempt to keep animation jobs in this country for as long as they can by creating a process where they would reuse actions. You can look at this as cheating. But remember. Unlike theatrical animation, there is more of a supply and demand for television animation. Computer and flash animation would not become dominant until many, many, many years later. They were still using Cel Animation in the 1970s and I think well into the 1980's. Filmation, much like many of the companies that produced weekday and Saturday morning cartoons at the time, was in the business of making money. And the only way to keep up with the demand while still trying to keep people working is to take shortcuts.

They were the first studio to do an animated adaptation of Batman predating the Superfriends by several years. As a matter of fact, they were the first animation studio to animated adaptations of many of the DC Superhero roster. With the exception of Superman who had his own series of animated shorts produced by Max and Dave Fleischer in the 1930's.

But Batman was still virgin territory as far as a full-blown animated series was concerned. And by 1968 with the success of the Batman television series, a Batman cartoon was in demand. Olan Soule and Casey Kasem would pretty much become the Adam West and Burt Ward of the animated Batman world for most of the 1970's and into the early part of the 1980's

And after rival Hanna-Barbera would snatch them up for the Superfriends, Filmation made an even bigger score by getting the genuine article with Adam West and Burt Ward for their 1977 Batman series.

Not to mention they were also the first company to animate Star Trek. WITH most, if not all, of the original cast.

Looking a bit like the cast from Sealab 2021

We won't discuss their version of Gilligan's Island or Gilligan's Planet.

But we can't forget Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

Again, much like Superman, it wasn't the first time a character that started out as part of Bill Cosby's stand-up about his childhood was animated.

However, the Filmation version is the one we all remember when we think about Fat Albert and the gang.

Of course I'd be remiss if I left out their live action and animated version of one of my favorite superheroes. The Big Red Cheese himself Captain Marvel.

Not the first time the Cap has had the live action treatment. The Captain Marvel serials of the 1940's were far superior to the live-action series of the 1970's.

But it was good to see the Captain getting some much deserved attention during that time period.

I remember as a kid enjoying their version of Flash Gordon, Zorro, Tarzan and the Lone Ranger. If anything else, it made me enjoy and interested in characters I may not have been interested in otherwise. I also remember enjoying a show called Blackstar. Which seemed like a precursor to the He-Man cartoons.

All this rediscovering Filmation came about watching the Retro Channel on Saturday morning over breakfast.

I also noticed that a great many of the more adventure and fantasy characters really reminded me of the work of Carmine Infantino. The eyebrows in particular reminds me of his work.

Does anyone out there know if he ever work as a consultant or in any artistic capacity with the company?

The ones I haven't caught on television I've seen on Youtube. Although, I kind of wish they would start showing them on the Retro Channel. But I kind of wonder if they can't either due to availability or copyright issues. I may have to write them and inquire if I can obtain an e-mail.

But like I said, maybe I'm just becoming a bit nostaligic as I enter my late 30's. I wouldn't say the time period I was watching cartoons was by any means a "Golden Age of Animation". Far from it. Many of the cartoons on Cartoon Network now are far superior.

But I'm finding as bad as some of them probably were, I did enjoy watching them with a bowl of cereal in front of a small black and white television screen.