Ruby-Spears

Last updated
Ruby-Spears Productions
Company type Private
Industry Entertainment
Genre Animation
Founded1977;47 years ago (1977)
Founders Joe Ruby
Ken Spears
Defunct1996;28 years ago (1996)
FateClosed
SuccessorLibrary:
Warner Bros. Television Studios
(through Warner Bros. Animation)
(pre–1991, except Rambo: The Force of Freedom , It's Punky Brewster and Piggsburg Pigs! )
Headquarters
Burbank, California, U.S.
Number of locations
2 branches
Products Television shows
Television specials
Animated sequences
Parent Filmways (1977–1981)
Taft Broadcasting (1981–1987)
Great American Broadcasting (1987–1991)
RS Holdings (1991–1996)

Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was an American entertainment production company founded by veteran writers and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! creators, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, in 1977, before closing in 1996. Specialized in animation, it was headquartered in Burbank, California, with another branch in Rome, Italy.

Contents

History

Ruby and Spears started out as sound editors at Hanna-Barbera and later branched out into story-writing for such programs as Space Ghost and The Herculoids . In 1969, they were assigned the task of developing a mystery-based cartoon series for Saturday mornings, the result of which was Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. They left Hanna-Barbera shortly after because "they were having a hard time moving up" and wanted to be "associate producers". [1] They were also writers and producers for DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, particularly for The Barkleys and The Houndcats . [2]

The company was founded in 1977 as a subsidiary of Filmways (later Orion Pictures) and sold in late 1981 to Taft Broadcasting, becoming a sister company to Hanna-Barbera, while Ruby and Spears were network executives at ABC supervising the Saturday-morning programming. ABC Entertainment president Fred Silverman wanted to create competition for Hanna-Barbera, which then provided the bulk of the Saturday morning content for all three major networks. Silverman was concerned the studio was stretching their projects too thin, diluting the quality of their series, requiring competition. [3] The company's first production was The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy. The company's credits include the animated series Fangface , Goldie Gold and Action Jack , The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show , Thundarr the Barbarian , Rubik, the Amazing Cube , the 1983 version of the Alvin and the Chipmunks series, Mister T , Sectaurs , Centurions , the 1988 Superman series, the Police Academy animated series and the American Mega Man cartoon series.

Among the unrealized projects at the studio were Roxie's Raiders, an Indiana Jones -style serial about a female adventurer and her allies; Golden Shield, about an ancient Mayan hero seeking to save earth in the apocalyptic year 2012; and The Gargoids, about scientists who gain superpowers after being infected by an alien virus. [4]

Ruby and Spears' favorite Ruby-Spears-produced show was Thundarr the Barbarian. [5]

Only two pre-1991 series, Police Academy: The Animated Series and Piggsburg Pigs! , used Canadian rather than American voice talent like most of their other cartoons. Ruby-Spears was also responsible for the animated sequence in the 1988 film Child's Play and replaying the sequence as a fictional commercial in the 1991 sequel Child's Play 3 .

In 1991, Ruby-Spears was spun off into RS Holdings. Most of the pre-1991 Ruby-Spears Productions library was sold along with Hanna-Barbera to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn merged with Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery) in 1996. The Ruby-Spears studio closed later that year, after 19 years of operation. [3] As of now, Ruby-Spears' pre-1991 library is owned by Warner Bros. through Warner Bros. Animation. The few pre-1991 Ruby-Spears shows not owned by Warner Bros. are Rambo: The Force of Freedom , which is owned and distributed by StudioCanal which also own and distribute the first three live-action Rambo films, It's Punky Brewster , which is owned by Universal Television (but distributed by MGM Television outside the US, along with most of the pre-2004 NBC Studios library), and Piggsburg Pigs!, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company through its acquisition of Fox Kids Worldwide (now ABC Family Worldwide) in 2001.

Ruby-Spears' post-1991 library does not appear to be owned by any company, however there are a few exceptions: Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa is now owned by WildBrain, Mega Man is owned by Shochiku and Skysurfer Strike Force is owned by Invincible Entertainment Group with distribution handled by 41 Entertainment, along with most of the Bohbot Entertainment library. [6]

The founders both died in 2020 within three months of each other – Ruby died of natural causes on August 26 at the age of 87 and Spears died of complications from Lewy body dementia on November 6 at age 82. [7] [8]

Filmography

See also

Related Research Articles

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Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera. The series features four teenagers: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps, while traveling using a brightly colored van called the "Mystery Machine". The franchise has several live-action films and shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanna-Barbera</span> American production company

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<i>Thundarr the Barbarian</i> American 1980–1981 animated series

Thundarr the Barbarian is an American Saturday morning animated series, created by Steve Gerber and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. The series ran for two seasons on ABC from October 4, 1980, to October 31, 1981, and was rerun on NBC in 1983.

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Joseph Clemens Ruby was an American animator, writer, television producer, and music editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the animated Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Ken Spears. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Ruby would work with Spears and would co-create several other shows including, Fangface, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder and Jabberjaw among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Spears</span> American animator (1938–2020)

Charles Kenneth Spears was an American animator, writer, television producer and sound editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Joe Ruby. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Spears and Ruby created many other shows such as Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Fangface. Spears also worked on the shows Sectaurs, Mister T and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

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<i>Piggsburg Pigs!</i> 1990 multi-national TV series or program

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Richard Sebast is an American director, story director, animator, and television producer known for working at companies such as Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros., Marvel, MGM, and Universal Animation Studios.

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Jerry Eisenberg is an American television producer, animator, storyboard artist, and character designer, primarily known for his work at Hanna-Barbera Productions and Ruby-Spears Productions.

Darrell Tyrone "Big D" McNeil was an American animator, writer, editor, publisher, producer, and actor. He started at the age of eight performing as a background actor and bit player in various movies and television series. He entered the animation industry at the age of 18 with Hanna-Barbera Productions. He was most recently developing and producing a number of animated and live action projects through his own company, Gold Medal Productions.

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References

  1. ↑ "Ruby & Spears : WonderCon 2012". YouTube . August 28, 2020.
  2. ↑ Shostak, Stu (05-02-2012). "Program 276 (Legendary animation producers JOE RUBY and KEN SPEARS discuss their long association, which began at Hanna-Barbera in 1959 when they were film and sound editors and eventually led to the formation of their own company in 1977, and writer MARK EVANIER talks about the differences between working for H-B as opposed to R-S.) Archived 2020-06-12 at the Wayback Machine ". Stu's Show. Retrieved 03-18-2013.
  3. 1 2 Shostak, Stu (01-16-2013). "Program 305 (TV animation producers JOE RUBY and KEN SPEARS return to discuss the formation of their own company and creating such series as "Fangface", "Rickety Rocket", "Goldie Gold" and many others. Also - animation writer MARK EVANIER talks about working on "Thundarr" and "Plastic Man" for the team.) Archived 2020-09-18 at the Wayback Machine ". Stu's Show. Retrieved 03-18-2013.
  4. ↑ Jack Kirby's Heroes in Waiting - The New York Times
  5. ↑ "Ruby & Spears : WonderCon 2012". YouTube . 2 April 2012. 10:21
  6. ↑ "Invinclible Entertainment TV holdings (including most of the Bohbot Entertainment catalog)". Archived from the original on 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  7. ↑ Saperstein, Pat (August 27, 2020). "Scooby-Doo Co-Creator Joe Ruby Dies at 87". Variety . Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  8. ↑ Shafer, Ellise (November 9, 2020). "Ken Spears, Co-Creator of 'Scooby-Doo,' Dies at 82". Variety . Retrieved October 21, 2022.

34°10′21″N118°18′57″W / 34.1726°N 118.3158°W / 34.1726; -118.3158

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