Animalympics | |
---|---|
Written by | Steven Lisberger Michael Fremer |
Story by | Steven Lisberger Roger Allers John Norton |
Directed by | Steven Lisberger |
Starring | Billy Crystal Michael Fremer Gilda Radner Harry Shearer |
Music by | Graham Gouldman |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Donald Kushner Steven Lisberger |
Cinematography | Ted Bemiller Paul Nevitt (animation camera) |
Editor | Matt Cope |
Running time | 78 minutes |
Production company | Lisberger Studios |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | February 1, 1980 |
Animalympics is a 1980 American animated sports comedy television film [1] directed by Steven Lisberger [2] and produced by Lisberger Studios for the NBC network. [3] Originally commissioned as two separate specials, it spoofs the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and features the voices of Billy Crystal, Gilda Radner, Harry Shearer and Michael Fremer. [4]
The film is a series of vignettes presented as the broadcast of the first animal Olympic Games through the fictional ZOO television network. The Games combine summer and winter Olympic events.
The event is covered mostly by Barbara Warblers, a songbird, and "anchorturtle" Henry Hummel. The 100-meter dash is covered in the style of a drag race by Jackie Fuelit.
Unlike the real Olympics, continents are represented rather than countries. The continents featured are North America, South America, Eurasia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia. Eurasia represents the USSR, whereas Europe represents Western and Central Europe.
The only mention of areas other than continents are the New York City Rats soccer team, Dean Wilson being from California, a Central American marathon runner named Pepé Repanosa, an Acapulco cliff diver named "Primo Cabeza", marathon runner Terry Hornsby being from Boulder, Colorado, René Fromage being from France, and Kurt Wüfner appearing at the downhill event right before a Scandinavian is given a gold medal.
Although many of the segments stand alone, there are some recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of the marathon, where competitors René Fromage and Kit Mambo are the favorites to win. Both are determined to win – Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself – they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love, culminating in the pair holding hands for the rest of the race and crossing the finish line together. Another important story is that of Kurt Wüffner, a West German dachshund skier, and his disappearance to Dogra-la during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after the slalom event.
There are even cases of players attempting to cheat in the games, only to end up losing disgracefully while their honorable opponents take home the victory. At the start of the soccer game, the New York Ratpack led by Rizzo the "Whiz" uses underhanded maneuvers to win; yet they are overpowered by the European All-Stars Hounds led by Rolf Shmecker whose experience brings home the win. During the ice hockey game, the Eurasian Longhorns have rigged the entire ice rink with explosives in order to help take out their rivals; the North American Kodiaks, led by their coach Bear McLane. Yet in spite of the foul play, the Kodiaks still emerge victorious due to the efforts of their star player Guy Lafluke. In the swimming game for the 100 meter free-style lap, the largest swimmer Ono Nono tries to take out the entire competition with a tidal wave to ensure no one else but him wins; yet he is defeated by the young surfer Dean Wilson who uses his own tail as a surfboard to ride the wave to the finish line first. With the boxing game, viscous brawler Janos Brushteckel is known for overpowering his opponents with excessive force; yet aspiring boxer Joey Gongolong manages to outmaneuver him with clever strategy and out-boxer style to wear him down and ultimately deal the winning blow. For the fencing game, Count Maurice Boar-Deaux uses underhanded moves to take out all other fencers; only to be outsmarted by The Contessa whose graceful moves and style help her to adapt to the Count's actions and ultimately overcome him, avenging all the players whom he wronged.
A minor story features an alligator named Bolt Jenkins. He was "born as a handbag" and told that he would never walk again. A song during his story reveals that he lives in the sewers. After seeing a frog named Boris Amphibiensky break the world record for the high jump, Jenkins has an epiphany, and becomes determined to break the record. Jenkins goes on to set world records in the high jump, the pole vault, and later the 100-meter dash. Jenkins sacrifices his gold medal in the hundred meter dash to an African competitor and favorite whom Jenkins considers to be his superior.
The film spoofs real-life sports personalities like Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali. [5]
Animalympics was commissioned by NBC in 1978, as the network intended Lisberger Studios to create it as two hour-long specials to be paired alongside coverage of both the 1980 Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics then held in Moscow. But after the Soviet Union had invaded and gained control of Afghanistan, then United States President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the Moscow Summer Olympics. Because of this, NBC canceled its Olympic coverage and the Animalympics Summer special. [6]
However, from its conception, producer Donald Kushner and director Steven Lisberger intended the project as a feature-length theatrical release (complete with Dolby surround sound via 35mm film), even though The Winter Olympics special was already considered for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film nomination. [7]
Among those who worked on Animalympics were art director/animator Roger Allers, animation director Bill Kroyer, and animator Brad Bird. Allers, who animated Kit Mambo, the lion star of Animalympics, went on to direct The Lion King. [8] Kroyer later wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated short Technological Threat and the animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest. Bird went on to work as story editor on the animated sitcom The Simpsons , and later achieved even greater success writing and directing the animated films The Iron Giant , The Incredibles and Ratatouille . Director Lisberger went on to conceive, co-write and direct the science fiction cult classic Tron , which some of the Animalympics crew were involved in. Its soundtrack supervisor was Michael Fremer, who was involved in Animalympics as a co-writer, voice artist, dialogue/music track editor and sound mix supervisor. Fremer also went on to supervise the soundtrack to Tron as well. [9]
Animalympics | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | March 1980 | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Studio | Strawberry Studios North and South; A&M Studio, Los Angeles | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 35:41 | |||
Label | UK version - Mercury US version - A&M | |||
Producer | Graham Gouldman | |||
Graham Gouldman chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Animalympics | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [10] |
A&M Records in the US, and Mercury Records in Europe released an Animalympics soundtrack album, which has long been out of print. [11] The music on this soundtrack was written and produced by Graham Gouldman, who performed the tracks himself along with other members of 10cc (Gouldman is the bassist and co-founder of the band). [12] The soundtrack was recorded primarily in Strawberry Studios North and South, used extensively by 10cc, as well as in Los Angeles. [13]
Pieces of classical music play in the film. "The Hut on Hen's Legs (Baba Yaga)" from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky plays during Tatyana Tushenko's floor exercises. "March to the Scaffold" from Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz plays during the couple's figure skating. The 3rd movement from Symphony No. 4 by Johannes Brahms plays during Dorie Turnell's skating performance. [14]
All tracks are written by Graham Gouldman [15] [16]
Side 1
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Go For It" | 3:34 |
2. | "Underwater Fantasy" | 3:18 |
3. | "Away From It All" | 2:32 |
4. | "Born To Lose" | 4:04 |
5. | "Kit Mambo" | 4:30 |
Side 2
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Z.O.O." | 3:29 |
2. | "Love's Not For Me" | 2:42 |
3. | "With You I Can Run Forever" | 4:04 |
4. | "Bionic Boar" | 3:35 |
5. | "We've Made It To The Top" | 3:53 |
Per vinyl liner notes [16]
Despite the 1980 NBC premiere being cancelled midway, Lisberger Studios prepared a theatrical version for overseas markets by editing together the Summer and Winter Olympic Games sections, alongside other additions and changes to increase its run-time for theatrical exhibition. Though Animalympics never found a theatrical distributor in the U.S., Telepictures did acquire US home video and pay-TV distribution rights to it shortly after the NBC cancellation. It eventually got a full US TV premiere on NBC affiliate WPTZ on July 4, 1982. Animalympics also aired in its theatrical form on HBO [17] [18] [19] and Showtime nationwide in summer 1984, [20] as well as intermittently during the early to mid-1990s on The Disney Channel. [21]
The film was released on VHS by Warner Bros., Family Home Entertainment and UAV Corporation. [22] [23] [24]
On April 3, 2018, Hen's Tooth Video put out the first-ever region 1 DVD release. [25] [26] In 2019, German label WinklerFilm put out a remastered DVD alongside the first-ever Blu-ray release worldwide. [27]
Tron is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape. It also stars Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes. Tron, along with The Last Starfighter, was one of cinema's earliest films to use extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI).
The Mindbenders were an English beat group from Manchester. Originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana, they were one of several acts that were successful in the mid-1960s British Invasion of the US charts, achieving major chart hits with "The Game of Love" in 1965 and "A Groovy Kind of Love" in 1966.
10cc are an English rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians — Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme — who had written and recorded together since 1968. All four members contributed to songwriting, working together in various permutations. Godley and Creme’s songwriting has been described as being inspired by art and cinema. Every member of 10cc was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer and producer. Most of the band's records were recorded at their own Strawberry Studios (North) in Stockport and Strawberry Studios (South) in Dorking, with most of those engineered by Stewart.
Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music video for their single "An Englishman in New York". After this, they became involved in the production of videos for artists such as Ultravox, the Police, Yes, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Huey Lewis and the News and Wang Chung, as well as directing the groundbreaking video for their 1985 single "Cry". The duo split at the end of the 1980s. Both have since been involved in music videos, TV commercials, and sporadic music projects.
Steven M. Lisberger is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing the 1982 film Tron.
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc, Gouldman worked as a freelance songwriter and penned many hits for major rock and pop groups, including the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits and Ohio Express.
Roger Allers is an American film director, screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist, and playwright. He is best known for co-directing Disney's The Lion King (1994), the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time, and for writing the Broadway adaptation of the same name. He also directed Sony Pictures Animation's first feature-length animated film, Open Season (2006) and the animated adaptation of The Prophet.
Paul Burgess is an English rock drummer, notable for his association with a wide range of British rock and folk-rock bands. In addition to extensive session work, he has been a member of 10cc, Jethro Tull, Camel, Magna Carta, and The Icicle Works.
Sunburn is a 1979 British-American comedy detective film directed by Richard C. Sarafian and written by James Booth, John Daly and Stephen Oliver. It is based on the novel The Bind by Stanley Ellin. The film stars Farrah Fawcett, Charles Grodin, Art Carney, Joan Collins, William Daniels and John Hillerman. The film was released on August 10, 1979, by Paramount Pictures.
The Orson Welles Cinema was a movie theater at 1001 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts that operated from 1969 to 1986. Showcasing independents, foreign films and revivals, it became a focal point of the Boston-Cambridge film community.
Look Hear? is the seventh studio album by 10cc, released in 1980.
Richard Fenn is an English rock guitarist. He has been a member of the band 10cc since 1976 and has also collaborated with Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, The Hollies singer Peter Howarth, and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Rick Fenn is also a Musical Playwright, a Librettist and a Novelist.
Donald Kushner is an American producer who has worked with animation, live-action, and theater productions.
Do Not Bend is the third solo album by British pop musician and songwriter Eric Stewart, a founding member of 10cc.
William Kroyer is an American director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles, and theatrical films. He and Jerry Rees were the main animators for the CGI sequences in Tron. He is currently the head of the Digital Arts department at Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University.
Tron: Legacy is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, based on a story by Horowitz, Kitsis, Brian Klugman, and Lee Sternthal. The second installment in the Tron series, it serves as a sequel to Tron (1982), whose director Steven Lisberger returned to co-produce. The cast includes Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their roles as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, respectively, as well as Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, James Frain, Beau Garrett, and Michael Sheen. The story follows Flynn's adult son Sam, who responds to a message from his long-lost father and is transported into a virtual reality called "the Grid", where Sam, his father, and the algorithm Quorra must stop the malevolent program Clu from invading the real world.
Tron is an American science fiction media franchise created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. It began with the eponymous 1982 film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The original film portrays Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a genius computer programmer and video game developer who becomes transported inside a digital virtual reality known as "The Grid", where he interacts with programs in his quest to escape.
Tron: Ares is an upcoming American science fiction action film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. A standalone sequel to Tron: Legacy (2010) and the third installment in the Tron franchise, it is directed by Joachim Rønning from a screenplay by Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne. The film stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson and Sarah Desjardins, with Jeff Bridges reprising his role from the previous installments.
Harvey Brian Lisberg is an English talent manager and impresario, best known for discovering Herman's Hermits in 1963. In 1965, he signed songwriter Graham Gouldman, a founder member of 10cc, who Lisberg also managed, along with Godley & Creme, Tony Christie, Barclay James Harvest, Gordon Giltrap, Sad Café, Wax and others.