Mr. Microchip is a live-action children's television series that focused on the world of computer technology and the (then) relatively new home computer trend of the early 1980s. Several 8-bit home computers of the era were seen in the show, including the Apple II, Commodore, Atari 8-bit computers, and Tandy Computers. It was originally broadcast in Canada on the CBC, [1] [2] between 1983 and 1985, and later shown in the U.K., Australia and South Africa.
The show was produced by Canadian animation company, Nelvana, whom at the time had also produced some of its first television series: Inspector Gadget , 20 Minute Workout and The Edison Twins . A total of thirteen episodes were produced. The original scripts were later re-used to produce the same thirteen episodes in French, using different actors, as a show titled M. Micropuce. All twenty-six episodes were produced during the summer of 1982 through the fall of 1984.
The series was created by Skip Lumley and Michael Hirsh, Nelvana and Ventura Pictures, produced by Michael Hirsh and directed by Peter Jennings. Most of the computer hardware, software and electronics in the show were donated by various companies, looking to promote their products at the time.
To date, the show has not been released on home video or DVD.
Aimed at school students aged nine to fifteen, and designed to teach children basic knowledge about computers. It featured Skip Lumley, an adult computer consultant, and his two neighbours, twelve-year-old Stevie Grosfield and his ten-year-old sister Dayna Simon. Visiting Skip's workshop, Stevie and Dayna learned about computers through hands-on demonstrations and clear, analogy-filled explanations. [3] The trio were accompanied by an artificial intelligence fantasy computer named Lumley and a robot called Hero.
Episode 1 - "Information please"
Episode 2 - "Bits of programming"
Episode 3 - "Memory is made of this"
Episode 4 - "The computer has a code"
Episode 5 - "Problems, problems, problems"
Episode 6 - "You can count on computers"
Episode 7 - "Flights of fancy"
Episode 8 - "A pixel is worth a thousand words"
Episode 9 - "Music on key"
Episode 10 - "Does that compute?"
Episode 11 - "Games computers play"
Episode 12 - "Ask the teacher"
Episode 13 - "Computers don't do windows"
Braceface is a Canadian-Chinese animated series co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Jade Animation (Shenzhen) Company that aired on Teletoon. The show features actress Alicia Silverstone from the movie Clueless serving as executive producer. The episodes focus on the misadventures of Sharon Spitz, a high school student who often struggles with an unusual ability occurring in her braces, which often creates mishaps in her daily life. Although considered to be a trademark feature in the series, later episodes began to drop this narrative in favor of tackling real-world issues. Unlike most animated shows which take place in fictional cities or states, etc., this one takes place in the real-life town of Elkford, British Columbia.
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000. Founded in July 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, it was named after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at Polaris, the North Star.
Max & Ruby is a Canadian children's preschool animated series based on the book series by Rosemary Wells and co-produced by Nelvana Limited. The series follows two young rabbit siblings in the 1940s and 1950s.
Franklin is an animated preschool educational children's television series, based on the Franklin the Turtle books by Brenda Clark and Paulette Bourgeois, and co-produced by Nelvana Limited. It was followed up by a CGI adaptation, Franklin and Friends.
The Care Bears Movie is a 1985 animated musical fantasy film directed by Arna Selznick from a screenplay by Peter Sauder. It was the second feature film from the Canadian animation studio Nelvana after the 1983 film Rock & Rule, in addition to being one of the first films based directly on a toy line and the first based on Care Bears. It introduced the Care Bears characters and their companions, the Care Bear Cousins. The voice cast includes Mickey Rooney, Georgia Engel, Jackie Burroughs and Cree Summer. In the film, an orphanage owner tells a story about the Care Bears, who live in a cloud-filled land called Care-a-Lot. While traveling across Earth, the Bears help two lonely children named Kim and Jason, who lost their parents in a car accident, and also save Nicholas, a young magician's apprentice, from an evil spirit's influence. Deep within a place called the Forest of Feelings, Kim, Jason and their friends soon meet another group of creatures known as the Care Bear Cousins.
The History of Canadian animation involves a considerable element of the realities of a country neighbouring the United States and both competitiveness and co-operation across the border.
Maggie and the Ferocious Beast is a Canadian animated children's television series created by Michael and Betty Paraskevas. The program was based on the 1996 book The Ferocious Beast with the Polka-Dot Hide and its sequels, which were also written by the Paraskevas. Two years later, the show started off as a series of shorts aired on the Canadian channel Teletoon in 1998. The first full-length episode first premiered on Nickelodeon as part of the Nick Jr. programming block on June 5, 2000, in the United States before premiering on Teletoon on August 26 of that same year in Canada. The series ran for three seasons, airing its final episode on June 9, 2002.
Patrick Loubert is one of the founders of the Canadian animation studio, Nelvana Limited, along with Clive A. Smith and Michael Hirsh. He has produced, and executive-produced, much of the company's most memorable fare.
Michael Hirsh (born April 7, 1948) is a Belgian-born Canadian producer, TV executive, entrepreneur, and author. He has been attributed to building from the ground up the Canadian animation industry and, more specifically, award-winning children's programming since the 1980s. He co-founded Nelvana, a Canadian based animation and entertainment studio in 1971 with partners Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith producing numerous cartoons that established Nelvana as a leader in the industry including Little Bear, Franklin, Babar, Max & Ruby, The Magic School Bus, Care Bears, The Adventures of Tintin, Inspector Gadget, Droids and Ewoks, among many, many others. After Corus Entertainment's acquisition of Nelvana, Hirsh became the CEO of Cookie Jar Group, which created numerous highly popular children's shows, among them Arthur, Johnny Test, and Strawberry Shortcake. When Cookie Jar was acquired by DHX Media Hirsh became the Executive Chairman of the company, the largest supplier of kids programming to online streaming services as well as a leader in production and licensing and merchandising for children. Three years after the acquisition by DHX Media, Hirsh left the company to serve as CEO and chairman of WOW! Unlimited Media from 2015 to December 2023.
The Get Along Gang is a group of characters created in 1983 by Tony Byrd, Tom Jacobs, Ralph Shaffer, Linda Edwards, Muriel Fahrion, and Mark Spangler for American Greetings' toy design and licensing division, "Those Characters from Cleveland", for a series of greeting cards. The Get Along Gang is a group of 6 pre-adolescent anthropomorphic animal characters in the fictional town of Green Meadow, who form a club that meets in an abandoned caboose and who have various adventures whose upbeat stories were intended to show the importance of teamwork and friendship. The success of the greeting card line led to a Saturday morning television series, which aired on CBS for 13 episodes in the 1984–1985 season, with reruns showing from January to June 1986.
6teen is a Canadian traditionally animated teen comedy drama television series created by Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis which originally aired for four seasons and 93 episodes on Teletoon from November 7, 2004 until February 11, 2010.
The Edison Twins is a Canadian children's television program which ran for six seasons on CBC Television from March 3, 1984 to December 17, 1986. The Disney Channel also picked up the rights in the mid-1980s. Six seasons were co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Canada Films.
Stickin' Around is a Canadian animated children's television series produced by Nelvana and created by Robin Steele and Brianne Leary. The series originally aired from August 14, 1996, until April 12, 1998. Stickin' Around, originating as a series of one-minute interstitials on CBS in 1994, centered on two best friends named Stacy and Bradley; their hand-drawn adventures with their friends and family; and their fantasies, both encountering many problems they must face as they continue to grow up – with school, bullies, friends, and parents – and always coming up with imaginative ideas to eliminate these obstacles, such as becoming a superhero and putting themselves in a different environment where they have no trouble in defeating their enemies.
Sunny Besen Thrasher is a Canadian former child actor who starred as Paul Edison in Nelvana's live-action series The Edison Twins, and supplied voices in the first two Care Bears movies. He is the son of Prairie Oyster keyboardist and Canadian songwriter Joan Besen.
Pippi Longstocking is an animated television series co-produced by AB Svensk Filmindustri, TaurusFilm, TFC Trickompany Filmproduktion, and Nelvana Limited based on the book series drawn and written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. It is a joint Canadian-German-Swedish co-production. This was the first time that the popular character had been animated. A spin-off of the 1997 animated film of the same name, the series disregards the film and starts with a new storyline. Melissa Altro, Richard Binsley, Noah Reid, Olivia Garratt, Wayne Robson, Rick Jones, Philip Williams, Chris Wiggins and Karen Bernstein are the only voice cast reprising their roles from the 1997 film. It was led by German director Michael Schaack. The story editor and chief writer for the series was Ken Sobol whose son, John, also wrote several episodes.
Small Star Cinema is a series of live-action/animated shorts broadcast on CBC Television from April 12, 1974, to May 24, 1975, as part of their Bagatelle, Camera Twelve and Children's Cinema series. It was produced by Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, and starred Clive A. Smith. Each short began with a small animated character purposefully walking into a spotlight. The series was then followed by the 1975 Christmas special Christmas Two Step also made for the CBC that has a similar premise.
Take Me Up to the Ball Game is a 1980 American-Canadian animated television special that premiered on CBC in Canada and in syndication in the United States on September 18, 1980. It is the last television special in Nelvana's 1977 to 1980 series of specials. It was also the last Nelvana television special to be distributed by Viacom Enterprises in the United States. The title is a play on the 1908 song title "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
Babar is an animated television series co-produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana Limited and The Clifford Ross Company. It premiered in 1989 on CBC in Canada, and on HBO in the United States. The series is based on Jean de Brunhoff's original Babar books, and was Nelvana's first international co-production. The show has been dubbed in 30 languages in over 150 countries.
Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise is a 1983 Canadian-American animated television special that first premiered in New York City on March 31, 1983 and in Los Angeles, California on April 1. This is the first Strawberry Shortcake television special produced by Nelvana Limited and also the first Strawberry Shortcake television special to be distributed by Lexington Broadcast Services Company. The following year in 1984, Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise was released on VHS.
Donkey Kong Country is an animated television series based on the video game Donkey Kong Country from Nintendo and Rare, co-produced by Nelvana Limited, Medialab Studio L.A. and Hong Guang Animation, in association with WIC Entertainment, with the participation of Teletoon—for Season 1, it was produced in co-production with France 2, Canal+, and produced in association with Valar 4.