It was meant to be a series of 26 episodes with a projected release during the fall of 2000, but only four were completed when it was cancelled mid-series due to production issues. The series was only broadcast in Europe, but was released on VHS in North America, and additionally on DVD in France prior to the TV airing. The show met with mixed reviews from critics.
Premise
Lac-Mac is the star of a galactic circus, run by Rigatoni and Admiral Razorbeard.[b] He and his friends are forced to live life as circus freaks, hit by whips and generally mistreated. They only wish that they can be free from their dreadful, unfair lives. One night, after Lac-Mac has just done a great performance, the circus closes for the night and Rigatoni picks up a new circus recruit Rayman.[3] Rayman is forced to stay at the circus because he can do amazing tricks with his floating limbless hands. He discovers that the other performers are forced to stay in this prison despite not having done anything wrong. Rayman won't take this. That night, he helps them escape. Rigatoni hires the bumbling detective, Inspector Grub, to bring the "fugitives" back. Rayman leads the circus freaks in outsmarting Grub and living in the city of Aeropolis, the populated world the traveling circus landed on.[3][4]
Characters
Rayman (voiced by Billy West)[5] – The limbless protagonist of the show, Rayman, has magical abilities and powers which he uses to help his new friends defeat Grub. His feet stand on the ground and his hands, torso and head float in the air. He comes up with plans to get away from Grub. In the English dub, he has a Bostonian accent, unlike his other depictions.
Betina (voiced by Lacey Chabert)[5] – A girl with literal red hair. She can perform great acrobatics and can land perfectly. She takes care of Flips as if she were her older sister. She has a similar personality to Rayman and is kind and caring.
Cookie (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui)[5] – A paranoid, anthropomorphic mole. Cookie is whiny and dramatic, and constantly questions Rayman's ideas. Cookie is also proficient on several fields – he is a good handyman and fixes the group's car (in episode one), makes a periscope to keep an eye on Grub, and is a great cook. At first, it seems like he does not care about others' feelings, but he is not what he seems on the surface.
Flips (voiced by Candi Milo)[5] – A young fairy. Flips cannot speak English, and instead communicates by a squeaking-like language called Fairyish (that language is not canon) – however, her friends can understand her well. Flips rarely walks, and flies everywhere instead. She is always trying to help. She is always with Betina, sleeping in the same cage as her during their time at the circus, despite being small and easily able to fly away through the bars. Flips refuses to run away and save herself because if she did, she would have to leave Betina behind; she explains that they need each other.
Lac-Mac (voiced by Danny Mann)[5] – A slightly dumb, linguistically challenged anthropomorphic rabbit that can juggle and bend cast iron steel bars. Lac-Mac is sometimes clueless to the world around him and is dragged into doing things by Cookie, who takes advantage of him. He's naïve and even shy, but he means well, even if his trying to help ends in catastrophe.
Rigatoni (voiced by Danny Mann)[5] – The cruel owner of the flying circus and the main antagonist of the show. He's responsible for Rayman and his friends' statuses as fugitives. Rigatoni is obsessed with catching Rayman, who is constantly getting Rigatoni's name wrong, being called "Linguini" or "Ravioli". Despite his Italian name (derived from a pasta of the same name), he has a Brooklyn accent.
Admiral Razorbeard (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui[5] – A robotpirate working for Rigatoni, who first appeared in the video games as the main antagonist of Rayman 2: The Great Escape.[3]
Grub (voiced by Billy West)[5] – A policeman and detective hired by Rigatoni to capture Rayman and his friends. He lives on his own in a tree house high up in Aeropolis forest, which Rayman and the gang happen to fall into and then have to keep themselves out of Grub's sight.
Episodes
No.
Title
Original release date
1
"Lac-Mac Napping" "(LacMac Napping)"
20December1999(1999-12-20)
Rayman, a creature with no limbs, is forced to perform in a mobile circus by its abusive owner, Rigatoni and his minion Admiral Razorbeard, who imprison Rayman in a cage with the circus' other performers: Lac-Mac, a dim-witted rabbit; Betina, a kind-hearted girl; Cookie, a pompous mole; and Flips, a dragonfly-like fairy girl. Rayman comes up with a plan for everyone to escape the circus by having Lac-Mac use his strength to bend the cage bars while Flips flies around the surveillance cameras to distract Rigatoni. Rayman then uses Cookie's knife to cut a hole in the circus tent, allowing the group to leave. Enraged at his performers' escape, Rigatoni enlists the help of a detective named Grub to track down Rayman and his friends, who have fled to a nearby city.
2
"No Parking" "(Stationnement interdit)"
27December1999(1999-12-27)
While driving in a car in search of a place to hide from the law, Rayman and his friends are spotted by Grub though they manage to evade him. While the group hide out at a park, Flips takes a nap in the car, which is soon taken away by a tow truck. Realising that Flips is trapped in the car, Rayman and the others travel to the Scrapyard, where the car is being taken but not without Grub following them. At the Scrapyard, Rayman uses his magic hands to save Flips in the nick of time and Lac-Mac chases Grub away with a steamroller. The group leave the Scrapyard in the steamroller but end up falling off a pier and crashing into an apartment building; unbeknownst to them, their new room is just above Grub's own apartment.
3
"High Anxiety" "(Cookie craque)"
3January2000(2000-01-03)
Cookie has been dealing with a splitting headache due to the crash that the group experienced from the previous episode, so they all take a taxi to the doctor's office. There, Cookie's doctor concludes that the problem is in his mind and that he should be put in a mental asylum. While in the asylum, Cookie meets his new roommate: an old lady with mood swings. Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Rayman and the others find Grub entering the building; fearing that Grub will discover Cookie, the group decide to find Cookie before Grub does. Grub soon arrives at Cookie's room to visit the old lady, who is the former's mother. Rayman and the gang arrive just as Grub recognises Cookie and Grub's mother helps them escape the asylum. Subsequently, Grub is mistaken for a similar-looking patient and is thrown into that patient's cell.
4
"Big Date" "(Grub flirte)"
10January2000(2000-01-10)
After discovering that they are out of food, Rayman and his friends decide to go to the grocery store but are afraid of possibly getting caught by Grub. While checking to see whether Grub is home, they discover that Grub has a date and conclude that he might focus less on arresting them while pursuing a romantic relationship. Due to his clumsiness, Grub's date goes poorly, prompting Rayman and the gang to secretly help him out. In spite of the group's efforts at tidying Grub's apartment and preparing a feast, Grub ends up angering his date after he accidentally dumps food on her. In a last-ditch effort to save Grub's evening, Rayman goes to Grub's date's house to give her a singing telegram, apologising for the disastrous date and inviting her to the movies, which she happily accepts.
Production and release
On April 1, 1999, the show was announced by UbiSoft as the first animated show in the Rayman series. With the budget of US $7.5 million.[6] According to producer François Pétavy, the series was internationally co-produced by Ubisoft's teams in France (pilot episode, design, storyboard, a scenario portion, layout and post-production), Canada (animation, set modeling, characters integration and rendering), and the United States (script).[1][6] 26 quarter-hour episodes were planned with a release during the fall of 2000.[7][8][9][10]
The series was cancelled after the fourth episode was completed,[3] leaving a fifth episode unfinished[13] (though Midi Libre also reported the sixth episode had been in production before cancellation).[14] The cancellation was made due to production issues; Destructoid reported that the reason for the show's cancellation was due to a lack of funds.[3] Plans to broadcast the show worldwide were also shelved.[15][16]
Reception
In a retrospective review from Carl Fisher of the website gbhbl.com gave the series 5/10, writing: "Is it good? Not particularly, but it's not a bad show either."[17]
Notes
↑Also known as Rayman: The TV Series,[2] or just Rayman.
↑Bailles, Loic (20 August 2020). "Millau: Laurent Jennet, du coup de crayon aux dessins animés à la télévision"[Millau: Laurent Jennet, from drawing to animated television cartoons]. Midi Libre (in French). Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2025. Laurent Jennet then joined the French team at Ubisoft and worked on the character Rayman, and "a series that was aborted after six episodes". (Translated)
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