Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Entertainment |
Genre | Animation |
Founded | 1977 |
Founders | Joe Ruby Ken Spears |
Defunct | 1996 |
Fate | Closed |
Successor | Library: 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 Theatrical films Television specials Direct-to-video films Television films Television commercials |
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 specialized in animation, which was active from 1977 until its closure in 1996. Founded by veteran writers and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, it was headquartered in Burbank, California, with another branch in Rome, Italy.
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 and distributed 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]
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.
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. was an American production company that was active from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Founded on July 7, 1957 by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera along with George Sidney, it was headquartered at the Kling Studios from 1957 to 1960, then on Cahuenga Blvd from 1960 to 1998 and subsequently at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks from 1998 to 2001.
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.
Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing the TBS library for worldwide distribution. In recent years, this role has largely been limited to being the copyright holder, as it has become an in-name-only subsidiary of Warner Bros., which currently administers their library.
Scoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and protagonist of the animated television franchise created in 1969 by the American animation company Hanna-Barbera. He is a male Great Dane and lifelong companion of amateur detective Shaggy Rogers, with whom he shares many personality traits. He features a mix of both canine and human behaviors, and is treated by his friends more or less as an equal. Scooby often speaks in a rhotacized way, substituting the first letters of many words with the letter 'r'. His catchphrase is "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!"
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation division and label of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television, is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of Warner Bros., a flagship studio of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Launched on March 21, 1955 by William T. Orr, it serves as a television production arm of DC Comics productions by DC Studios and, alongside Paramount Global's CBS Studios, The CW, the latter that launched in 2006 and WBD has a 12.5% ownership stake. It also serves as the distribution arm of WBD units HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator and cartoonist, best known as the co-founder of the animation studio Hanna-Barbera.
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.
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 along with Ruby would create many other shows such as Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Fangface. Spears would also work on the shows Sectaurs, Mister T and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on September 13, 1969, and aired for two seasons until October 31, 1970. Reruns were broadcast for the 1971 season. In 1978, a selection of episodes from the later animated series Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and The Scooby-Doo Show were aired on ABC under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! title name, and was released in a DVD set marketed as its third season. It also aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1973. The complete series is also available on Boomerang, Max, and Tubi streaming services.
The Scooby-Doo Show is an American animated mystery comedy series. The title of the series is an umbrella term for episodes of the third incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo franchise. A total of 40 episodes ran for three seasons, from 1976 to 1978, on ABC, marking the first Scooby Doo series to appear on the channel. Sixteen episodes aired as segments of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour in 1976, while eight aired as part of Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics in 1977. A final set of sixteen episodes came out in 1978, with eight running individually under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! name and the remaining eight as segments of Scooby's All-Stars.
The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts represents the fifth incarnation of the Scooby-Doo franchise.
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.
Harvey Eisenberg was an American animator and comic book artist. Best known for his work with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio and later at their own Hanna-Barbera Productions, Eisenberg illustrated a large number of comic book stories and comic strips starring characters such as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, and The Flintstones, while also working as an animation layout artist and character designer on the cartoons themselves.
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.
Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob is a 2021 American direct-to-DVD animated comedy film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is the thirty-fifth entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films and was released on February 23, 2021.
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