Animal Crackers (TV series)

Animal Crackers
Genre	Comedy
Based on	Animal Crackers by Roger Bollen
Developed by	Joseph Mallozzi
Directed by	Pascal Pinon Louis Piché (season 1) Nadja Cozic (seasons 2–3)
Voices of	Mark Camacho Teddy Lee Dillon Kate Hutchison Marc Montgomery Terrence Scammell Dawn Ford
Composers	Jeff Fisher Steve Wener
Country of origin	Canada France
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39 (78 segments)
Production
Executive producers	Micheline Charest Ronald A. Weinberg Christian Davin
Producer	Cassandra Schafhausen
Running time	23 minutes
Production companies	CINAR Alphanim
Original release
Network	Teletoon (Canada) La Cinquième/Canal J (France)
Release	October 17, 1997 (1997-10-17) – September 16, 2000 (2000-09-16)

Animal Crackers is an animated television series produced by CINAR and Alphanim ^[1] in association with Canal J. It is based on the newspaper comic strip Animal Crackers by the American cartoonist Roger Bollen. The show was first launched in Canada on Teletoon on October 17, 1997, when the network began to broadcast; ^[2] before premiering on La Cinquième and Canal J on September 19, 1999 in France. ^[3] It ended with the final episode on September 16, 2000 in Canada. It lasted for three seasons with 39 episodes.

Plot

The show tells about a group of anthropomorphic animals that live in a fictional jungle in Africa called Freeborn.

Characters

Major characters

• Lyle Lion (voiced by Mark Camacho): Passive, insecure and a mama's boy, Lyle is not what one might call "King of the Jungle" (he's more of a prince who is incapable of being king), intent on taking philosophy classes and ordering pizzas (preferably vegetarian) than to be the dominant predator. Despite multiple failed attempts, his number one goal in life is to date Lana. Outside his love life, his other goal is to be an astronomer.
• Dodo (voiced by Teddy Lee Dillon): He is the last remaining dodo alive and is Lyle's best friend. Rash, impatient and slightly self-centered, he is extremely hot-headed and refuses to believe that he lacks the ability to fly. This leads to multiple failed attempts to take flight, sometimes using some very innovative and unusual techniques, all of which fail.
• Eugene the Elephant (voiced by Terrence Scammell): Eugene is a bull elephant who acts as an "overgrown baby" that craves attention, despite his size and nature. He is rather arrogant, obnoxious and is unafraid to bully others with his size and strength to get what he wants. Some of his secret pleasures include inhaling loads of peanut butter and stomping petunias, but the sight of a tiny mouse will freak him out.
• Gnu the Wildebeest (voiced by Marc Montgomery): For a "supposed" leader of a herd, he lacks any leadership qualities; rather, his traits show the exact opposite of a leader: lazy, timid and no sense of direction. Despite his nature, Gnu does mean well and is very dedicated to his herd, even though his presence there will hinder rather than help. A single father with a son he loves very much, he is a caring parent.
• Lana the Lioness (voiced by Kate Hutchinson): Lana is smart, attractive, strong-minded and the object of Lyle's affection. Lana is quite caring towards her fellow inhabitants of Freeborn and will put the group ahead of herself. She is an avid book lover and is often found with her nose in a novel. Despite showing little to no interest in Lyle's pursuits, it has been hinted that perhaps she does reciprocate his crush on her.

Supporting characters

• Tito: a silent chameleon with no dialogue in the entire series. Often Tito can be found among the main characters, but due to his size and silent nature, he's usually either knocked aside, stepped or sat on, or used for some purpose, the characters mistaking him for an inanimate object. Despite this, Tito rarely holds any ill-will or contempt for the others and often shows to be very intelligent or at least at times on the same level as Lana, able to solve a problem or fix something when most of the other characters can't figure it out.
• Lance: Another lion who competes with Lyle for Lana's attention.
• Louie: Lyle's nephew. Being a cub still in diapers, Louie speaks in a manner similar to Mikey from Look Who's Talking where the audience can hear his thoughts, but the characters within the show are unaware what he's thinking. Unlike most animals on the Preserve, Louie doesn't think less of Lyle for his shortcomings, though he does show more self-awareness and intelligence than his uncle.
• Bud and Edna: Two recurring human tourists, both the common stereotype of the annoying tourist couple who bumble about, usually completely unaware of what's really going on around them and making things more uncomfortable for the locals.
• Junior and the Herd: Junior is Gnu's son (though never properly named in the series beyond "Junior", so it is possible he shares his father's name) he is shown to be smarter and have more common sense than his father and is sometimes embarrassed by him, but understands Gnu's desire to be a leader and a good father and loves and respects him for this. The herd meanwhile don't show as much respect but are rather fittingly about as lazy as Gnu, often bailing on him whenever he calls for a stampede. Ironically, it is their lazy tendencies that keep Gnu as leader as any other leader (such as Roland the Waterbuffalo) would forcibly work them hard and into shape, which they don't want. Some of the herd have more distinct personalities, such as the gnu with a backwards baseball cap who speaks like a Californian surfer stereotype, an especially geeky gnu with an ID tag on his ear (these two can often be seen together), and a smaller gnu about Junior's age who appears to be the geeky gnu's little brother as they share similar characteristics, such as glasses and buck teeth.
• Elmo the Crocodile: A somewhat passive and laid-back crocodile who usually just floats in the pond. He tends to be the butt of physical pain humor every now and then, as someone ends up landing on his head when jumping into the pond. Although he's as docile as any of the other animals in the preserve, he will on the rare occasion indulge his predatory instincts by trying (and failing) to convince smaller animals to allow him to eat them.
• Roland the African buffalo
• Lamont the Hippopotamus
• Roxanne the Ostrich (voiced by Dawn Ford)
• Grandpa Tortoise and his grandsons
• Sergeant Rhino
• Snake
• Frog and Toad

Episodes

Season 1 (1997)

Episode	Segment 1	Segment 2	Written by	Directed by	Original air date (La Cinquième)	Original air date (Teletoon) [4]
1	High Gnu'n	Eu-genial	Joseph Mallozzi	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)	12 September 1999	17 October 1997
2	Dino-Sore-As-Heck	Wilderness Training 101	Michael Leo Donovan Joseph Mallozzi	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		18 October 1997
3	Treasure of the Preserva Freeborna	Call Waiting	Joseph Mallozzi Michael Leo Donovan	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		19 October 1997
4	For Goodness Snakes	Meat the Folks	Thomas LaPierre Ian Boothby	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		20 October 1997
5	If You Can't Be'em, Join'em	Spring Fever	Paul Mullie Michael Leo Donovan	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		21 October 1997
6	Pachyderm Pandemonium	Herd Mentality	C. Northey and Michael Palmeter Anne-Marie Perrotta and Tean Schultz	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		22 October 1997
7	Going Quakers	Blockbusted	Rick Jones and John Handforth Patrick Granleese and Hugh Neilson	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		23 October 1997
8	Pachy My Bags	Mommy Dearest	Ken Ross (segment 1), Kim Segal (segment 2) and Joseph Mallozzi (story editor)	Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director)		24 October 1997
9	Sherlock Dodo	Poultrygeist	Barry Julian Joseph Mallozzi	Louis Piché		25 October 1997
10	Lyle's Psychic Alliance	Snowed Inn	Paul Mullie Michael Leo Donovan	Louis Piché		26 October 1997
11	Svelte Veldt	All the Preserve's a Stage				27 October 1997
12	It's a Date	Bully for Woolly	Wayne Millett			28 October 1997
13	Lights, Camera, Lyle!	Bud and Edna's Excellent Adventure!				29 October 1997

Season 2 (1998)

Episode	Segment 1	Segment 2	Written by	Storyboard directed by	Original air date (La Cinquième)	Original air date (Teletoon) [4]
1	Sleepover	Classified Casanova	Patrick Granleese and Hugh Nielson (segment 2)	Éric Bergeron (segment 2)		5 February 1998
2	Eight Hooves Out	My Brother's Keeper	Barry Julian (segment 1) Jacques Bouchard (segment 2)	Gerry Capelle (segment 1) Éric Bergeron (segment 2)		6 February 1998
3	Lyle's Ark	How to Be a Millionaire	Rowby Goren (segment 1) Anne-Marie Perrotta and Tean Schultz (segment 2)	Julian Harris (segment 1) Gerry Capelle (segment 2)		7 February 1998
4	Lyle Files	The Butler Did It	Todd Swift and Thor Bishopric (segment 1) Ken Ross (segment 2)	Jean Sarô (segment 1) Éric Bergeron (segment 2)		8 February 1998
5	Lyle in the Fast Lane	A Wing and a Prayer	Rick Jones (segment 2)	Julian Harris (segment 2)		9 February 1998
6	Schooldaze	Call of the Wild	Michael Leo Donovan (segment 1) Thomas LaPierre and Joseph Mallozzi (segment 2)	Éric Bergeron (segment 1) Gerry Capelle (segment 2)		9 February 1998
7	The Cold Scholder	The Last Dodo Egg				10 February 1998
8	Lana Tuner Overdrive	Trust Me				11 February 1998
9	Birthday Palooza	Tito in Love				12 February 1998
10	Downsizing	Gnus in Canoes				13 February 1998
11	Beauty and Eugene	Freeborn for Rent				14 February 1998
12	Horrorscope	Lights! Camera! Gnu!				15 February 1998
13	Loony Bin	That's What Friends Are For				16 February 1998

Season 3 (2000)

Episode	Segment 1	Segment 2	Writer	Director	Original air date (La Cinquième)	Original air date (Teletoon) [4]
1	Look Who's Not Talking	Paris, Freeborn				August 28, 2000 (2000-08-28) [5]
2	Eugenius	Citizen Eugene				August 28, 2000 (2000-08-28)
3	Dial-a-Phobia	Time Flies But Dodo Doesn't				August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29)
4	A Rumor of Her Own	Prime Time Crime				August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29)
5	Dustbusters	Freeborn Online	Jacques Daviault & Wayne Millett (Segment 2)			August 30, 2000 (2000-08-30)
6	Stop in the Name of Lana	Starstruck				August 30, 2000 (2000-08-30)
7	Volcano Madness	Love Is Blind				August 31, 2000 (2000-08-31)
8	Wishing Well	Eu've Got Mail				August 31, 2000 (2000-08-31)
9	Message in a Bottle	Fame, Fortune, Madness				September 1, 2000 (2000-09-01)
10	Storyteller	Animal Court				September 1, 2000 (2000-09-01)
11	Boo	Fountain of Youth				September 14, 2000 (2000-09-14)
12	Brand New Gnu	Boyz Night Out				September 15, 2000 (2000-09-15)
13	Fool's Gold	Near Myths				September 16, 2000 (2000-09-16)

Telecast and home media

The show was first aired in Canada on Teletoon during its launch in 1997, but added in the U.S. on Fox Family (now Freeform) in 1998 until 2000 and the Cookie Jar Toons block on This TV from November 2008 until August 2009. In foreign countries, the show was also aired in France beginning on La Cinquième (now France 5) and Canal J on September 19, 1999 and Gulli on November 26, 2005, ^[3] while in Malaysia on TV9 and Astro Ceria. As of 2022, the show is now streaming on Tubi.

Crew

• Micheline Charest – executive producer
• Ronald A. Weinberg – executive producer
• Christian Davin – co-executive producer
• Cassandra Schafhausen – producer
• Nadja Cozic – director (seasons 2–3)
• Louis Piché – director (season 1)
• Pascal Pinon – director/co-director
• Katell Lardeux – line producer
• Justine Hyun Van Phong – line producer
• Lesley Taylor – line producer
• Natalie Dumoulin – associate producer
• Jan Van Rijsselberge – animation supervisor
• Robert Waldren – animation supervisor
• Heidi Blomkvist – timing director
• Sebastian Grunsta – timing director
• Alan Jeffery – timing director
• Jean Pilotte – timing director
• Greg Bailey – supervising director
• Andrew Gryn – talent coordinator
• Éric Thériault – background design
• Wayne Millett – background design supervisor
• Éric Bergeron – storyboard director
• Gerry Capelle – storyboard director
• Julian Harris – storyboard director
• Jean Sarô – storyboard director

Writing credits

• Joseph Mallozzi – writer
• Ian Boothby – writer
• Wayne Millett – writer
• Jennifer Kierans – writer
• Pierre Colin-Tiebert – writer
• Thomas LaPierre – writer
• Jacques Bouchard – writer
• Jacques Daviault – writer
• Patrick Granleese – writer
• Hugh Neilson – writer
• Maureen Neilson – writer
• C. Northey – writer
• Michael Palmeter – writer
• Gerard Lewis – writer
• John Handforth – writer
• Ken Ross – writer
• Amy Jo Cooper – writer
• Greg Van Riel – writer
• Kim Segal – writer
• Rick Jones – writer
• Natalie Dumoulin – writer
• Heidi Foss – writer
• Lynn Mason – writer
• Brian Cameron Fuld – writer
• Rowby Goren – writer
• David Acer – writer
• Michael Leo Donovan – writer
• Bryan Michael Stoller – writer
• Anne-Marie Perrotta – writer
• Daniel Baldassi – writer
• Michael F. Hamill – writer
• Barry Julian – writer
• Tean Schultz – writer
• Thor Bishopric – writer
• Todd Swift – writer
• Vigeland Rubin – writer

References

1. "Animal Crackers". Archived from the original on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
2. Teletoon Animal Crackers Commercial (Feb 1998) (Video). Nanotro. November 17, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2026– via YouTube.
3. "Planète Jeunesse - Bêtes à Craquer" . Retrieved 2026-01-06.
4. "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2016-03-02.^{[ dead link ]} Alt URL
5. "TELETOON: Highlights". www.teletoon.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

External links

• Official archived website at DHX Media
• Official archived website at Gaumont Animation
• Animal Crackers at IMDb