Looney Tunes is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.
Aardman Animations Limited is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring its plasticine characters from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph. After some experimental computer-animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with Owzat (1997), Aardman entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). As of February 2020, it had earned $1.1 billion worldwide, with an average $134.7 million per film.
Animation in the United States in the television era was a period in the history of American animation that slowly set in with the decline of theatrical animated shorts and the popularization of television animation during the late 1950s to 1960s, peaked in the 1970s, and ended in the mid-late 1980s. This era is characterized by low budgets, limited animation, an emphasis on television over the theater, and the general perception of cartoons being primarily for children. Due to the perceived cheap production values, poor animation, and mixed critical and commercial reception, this era is sometimes referred to as the dark ageof American animation by critics.
Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. 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.
Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters must produce and/or broadcast a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada. CanCon also refers to that content itself, and, more generally, to cultural and creative content that is Canadian in nature.
Franklin is an animated preschool educational children's television series, based on the Franklin the Turtle books by Brenda Clark and Paulette Bourgeois, and produced by Nelvana. It was followed up by a CGI adaptation, Franklin and Friends.
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits". In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from the 1920s into the 1970s when confined to two 35 mm reels or less, and featurettes for a film of three or four reels. "Short" was an abbreviation for either term.
The Care Bears Movie is a 1985 animated musical fantasy film directed by Arna Selznick from a screenplay by Peter Sauder. This was the second feature film from the Canadian animation studio Nelvana, in addition to being one of the first films based directly on a toy line. 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. Traveling across Earth, the Bears help two lonely children named Kim and Jason, who lost their parents in a car accident and also save a young magician's apprentice named Nicholas 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.
Tom and Jerry is an American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series centers on the rivalry between the titular characters of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Many shorts also feature several recurring characters.
Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1933 to 1969, the studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. Warner Bros. re-established its animation division in 1980 to produce Looney Tunes–related works, and Turner Broadcasting System merged with WBD predecessor Time Warner in 1996. In March 2001, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into the studio, and in 1996, Ruby-Spears did the same.
The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police is an animated television series, based on the Sam & Max comic series by Steve Purcell. The series follows vigilante private investigators Sam, an anthropomorphic dog, and Max, a lagomorph or "hyperkinetic rabbity-thing", as they investigate strange and bizarre cases and confront the criminals responsible.
Clive A. Smith is a British expatriate director and animator who, with Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert, founded Canadian animation studio Nelvana in 1971.
Little Airplane Productions is an American television production company co-founded by Josh Selig and Lori Shaer in 1999. The company produced Oobi for Noggin, Wonder Pets! for Nickelodeon, and 3rd & Bird for the BBC. It has also released independent short films. Since 2017, the company has been owned by Studio 100, which entered a co-production agreement to create the comedy series Doctor Space with Little Airplane.
Christmas Two Step is a 1975 live-action/animated Canadian television special produced by Nelvana Limited, and broadcast on the CBC. A follow-up to the studio's earlier Small Star Cinema series, it tells the story of a girl who wants to be a lead dancer at a Christmas pageant. The production of the special brought in a handful of animators into the Nelvana studio.
The Infinite Quest is an animated serial based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was made by BBC Television, but does not share the same producers as the live-action series. It was aired in twelve weekly parts starting 2 April 2007 as a segment of the children's spin-off show Totally Doctor Who. The final instalment was shown at the end of the "Omnibus" episode, thus increasing the total to thirteen parts, making the compiled series the equivalent length of a standard episode of Doctor Who. The compiled story was broadcast on 30 June 2007, coinciding with the finale of Series 3.
Bob & Doug is a Canadian animated sitcom, which premiered on Global on April 19, 2009. The series is a revival of the SCTV sketch characters Bob and Doug McKenzie.
Intergalactic Thanksgiving, sometimes known as Please Don't Eat The Planet, is a 1979 Canadian Thanksgiving animated television special that premiered on CBC and in the United States in syndication on November 22, 1979. Intergalactic Thanksgiving was the fourth television special produced by Nelvana in their 1977 to 1980 series of specials, A Cosmic Christmas, The Devil and Daniel Mouse and Romie-0 and Julie-8, all premiering in 1977, 1978 and 1979.
David Fine is a Canadian filmmaker, who works in animated film alongside his British wife Alison Snowden. The couple are best known as the creators of the Nelvana animated television series Bob and Margaret, and as the directors of several animated short films which have won or been nominated for Genie Awards and Academy Awards.
"Mr Pencil Draws The Line" early Nelvana (16mm 1975), YouTube