I just found out Lou died today. I must live in a cave. That man and the company he helped build was a huge part of my childhood. Thanks for uploading this.
1965-1988....great run....nothing will ever comes close...especially now in 2020...those of us who were around to appreciate saturday morning cartoons will get it...even those who caught the last hurrah for me he man in the mid to late 80s...love it...
It cannot be understated the importance of filmmation. IT allowed Bruce Timm to get into animation, giving him his first step in the door of film making-and legendary status. And one of the greatest alumnus of Filmmation-Glen Keane. The legendary Disney artist who has put his stamp on some AMAZING animated films, and shorts (DUET). Filmmation kicked butt people
I'm so, so happy to have seen this video. Almost brought a tear to my eye. My only problem with it is that they never interviewed the voice actors. And what I find weird is that Lou died a day after my Mom died. R.I.P. Lou Scheimer
thank you for this. i am one of the lucky ones who grew up in the 70s and 80s, the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. It was one of the few things that made me childhood tolerable and one of the only pleasures afforded to me. Love almost all of the studios from this era! so many good memories of Saturday morning.
+Lamont Cranston Japanese art students would work four hours a day in small groups similar to "madhouse", and "monkey-boy post" to illustrate and paint cells for animations like "Akira", and "Perfect Blue". The methods and style of these were more advanced and costly than their common American counterparts with Hanna Barberra, in the 1960 era. Doug Wilding, a comic book artist, wanted to bring his "Terry and the pirates" style to television in 1964. Iwo Takemoto with HB wanted to revolutionize American cartoons with "Johnny Quest" in 1964. HB did not want to spend the dime necessary, and the series ended up with the same cartoony style of the previous efforts to go into a prime time slot, like The "Flintstones", and "Top Cat". - Nice Try, HB!
Aye, "Zorro" was the odd one out, not only in the outsourcing matter, but also the "lesson of the day" segment. That one was about how Western Hemisphere Spanish influenced American English.
Great documentary, and He-Man was a great cartoon. So much positivity on many levels. A lot of it was inspired by psychology where Greyskull = the grey matter in the skull = the human brain. He-Man = the divine masculine. The Sorceress = the divine feminine. Skeletor = the shadow self. Orco = the ego. Man-at-Arms = the reactive mind. Tough to say whether the Sorceress was divine feminine or if that was She-Ra later on (Ra, the Egyptian Sun God) because she was mostly inside Greyskull in which case she'd symbolise the superpowers of the human biomind. Lots of moral lessons presented in allegorical form.
also my respects and thanks go out to both the founding fathers of Filmation who have passed on throughout the years Arthur Nadal and Lou Scheimer, I want to thank you for giving us the beautiful memories on what is meant to enjoy watching Saturday Morning Cartoons when we were kids.God bless and Thanks for the memories
I remember a blog from John K. about his time at Filmation and how their animation techniques made him 'physically ill'. Of course this is the same John K. who is pretty much a ONE-SHOW-WONDER who's only notable contribution to animation is Ren & Stimpy, and yet he acts like he's the arbiter of what REAL animation is. Long live Filmation!
I know, I didn't know Lou Scheimer passed only recently and Never knew who he really was but watching this doc and a couple other related tributes to him it boggles my mind of how great of a human being he was both in and out of the studio. as a artist a writer a producer a businessman a father and member of the human race he was a class act sure the product he, Norm and Hal Sutherland (as like rivals Bill H and Joe B and others ) was not at all the optimum quality but it was fun and enjoyable entertainment for the time and as evidenced by taking talented bright young men and women among them Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and even John K. (though he would like to forget his time there) Scheimer and Co's investments in such talent coupled with his risky bet of putting He-Man in first run and the profits that that show (and other cartoon commercials of the era) made helped nurture and finance that much beloved promised land "second golden age of American Animation" during the late 80s early 90s that so many modern animation aficionados, cartoon elitists, 90s kids, and TV historians both professional and amateur, such as myself, praise. speaking of John K I agree with you I have a love/hate relationship with John Kricfalusi (ironically similar to my love hate of another famed animation legend, Hayao Miyazaki, ) and although I respect his own contributions as a animation revolutionary and his passion as classic cartoon aficionado and creative GENIUS and educator and though some of his bitterness towards the state of animation is warranted much of Krisfaluci's critical bitterness towards 90% of animation outside his interests has made him too egotistically malicious and devoid of humanity. in his recent years he has created a unhealthy cultish elitist fanboy/girl following around him that has elevated him to a cult figure. all this from/for a man who hasn't had a successful TV show in 20 years and whose body of work of recent consists of his rant blog, doing cover art for Miley Cyrus and doing UFC commercials for Adult Swim. yet he is the all knowing all seeing all concerned Maharishi of anything and everything animated. makes me appreciate the candor honor humility sincerity and thorough professionalism of Scheimer Prescott and Sutherland and contemporaries among others a whole lot more. Thank you filmation.
Rest in peace Lou.. Im so Glad i got to Grow up Watching your cartoons and Live action shows..Memories i will carry with me until the end.. I Can Honestly Say I Love you for that..
Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott and Hal Sutherland and their crew did well to present polished tv cartoons within budget and keeping the network executives happy with delivering their programs on time and within watchdog guidelines. They selected the best established ideas (Superman, Batman, Archie, Star Trek, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, He-Man) to put in animated form. While the repetitive animated movements, character poses, and scenes may bother some folks, that did well enough to keep their programs in one's memory since childhood and keeping the company in creating new series and episodes within budget for over 20 years. May The Wheel of Filmation (producers Scheimer and Prescott's names circling around) spin always in memory.
At least Scheimer and the people at FILMATION honored and welcomed newcomers. Nowadays, you actually have to severely work in order to work at a studio.
They selected some great existing fictions to adapt, but some of my favourite Filmation stuff was their original story-telling, particularly in their live-action shows. Ethically, they played it safe, but in many other ways their stories were very creative and off-the-wall, and I appreciated that.
O.K filmation may not be disney but they made cartoons for Saturday mornings.I have nothing but good time with filmation cartoons.They also did another hit with making cartoons for week days. Instead of just saturdays!!!
WOW! Yes, Lou thank you. Putting smiles on kid's faces: mission accomplished! I didn't know Paul Dini worked at Filmation...now wonder all of the cartoons back then were soooo...good! R.I.P. Lou...you'll be deeply missed.
So many of Filmation's interesting and unforgettable shows were on throughout my childhood and later years. So it's awesome to find out how this unique animation studio went through the situations that made all of their lasting for "eternia" creations possible. Stay safe everyone!
Filmation's world was my childhood paradise... The sketches (beautiful beyond words) the paintings, the colors, the scapelands, the storytelings and the music themes were the best and they'd captivated me more than anyother artwork...Of course the King was the Masters of The Universe series and the Queen was She-ra: Princess Of Power series... The secret Of the Sword was a movie that should have won an oscar if you ask me. It has a very deep backround story, with a lot of meanings. I know that there are people that didn't like the motion part of the Filmation cartoons (they say that it was very slow) but it doesn't realy matter. The storytelling was so good that overshadowed any imperfections of the "moving" of the skethes. Beside I've always prefered an animation series with a good meaningful story instead of an animation series with perfect moving sketches and an empty and silly backround story. Now, My Dream.... I wish Filmation legasy to come alive again. I wish that there will be a day that a "new Filmation" company will take over and will use all these original super beautiful sketches and music themes enhanced with the new animation techniques and the new animation tecnology to make new stories that will continue the original stories of the Star Leader The Masters Of The Universe. I only wish.....
I'd forgotten JMS was involved here, great to see a younger him pop up! When were the interviews filmed? So much of this is represented in my childhood memories from the UK...
That's so funny that they ended up conning that SOB Mort Weisinger into getting the contract for the Superman series. Weisinger was such a bastard to his staff writers during his tenure at DC, guys like Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel and John Broome. Yeah, I loved Filmation. I still do. Credit to Scheimer, Prescott and Sutherland for keeping it going as long as they did.
I would love to see those stock-shot sketch books. I could look through that for days and years and never get bored. Now because Filmation was notoriously thrifty, I doubt that any blooper reels exist from the vocal tracks because they probably recorded over the flubs (lol). But, to me, those would be worth their weight in gold.
Apparently back in the late 60's, Filmation got an order from CBS to make The Batman/Superman Hour. But CBS ordered it pretty late, and Filmation had to rush to complete it. To try to get it done on time, Filmation started pulling animators they had working on other shows. They actually left one show so understaffed that CBS had to cancel it entirely, even though 6 episodes were supposedly completed and ready to air. That show was Metamorpho, the Elephant Man. Other then saying CBS shelved them, no mention was ever made on what happened to those 6 episodes.
Wish I'd seen this before Mr. Scheimer passed away, so I could thank him directly-not only for making such a huge chunk of my childhood entertainment, but for giving a start to people who would make the even better entertainment I would later enjoy as an adult: Paul Dini, J. Michael Stracynszki, Marc Scott Zicree and many others. Wherever he is, I hope he knows what an impact he had on so many lives.
He definitely made MY childhood special. The He-Man series will always have a special place in my heart. Learned alot of NICE life lessons in that series.
Filmation's Animation Action Adventure cartoons was by far the best. Tarzan, He-man, Zorro, Lone Ranger, BlackStarr, Brave Starr, Flash Gordon. Every Character was so perfectly built. The men are handsome and the women are beautiful and and there movement was athletic realistic looking.
thanks to Lou and the amazing crew of FILMATION. Future reboots of the He-man characters shouldn't forget the Filmation Legacy. I will hate to see a future He-Man live action film if those filmmakers don't use the main theme title at least.
I drove by the corner of Sherman Way and Lindley last weekend. That's where the Filmation studios use to be. It's right next door to the Jon's shopping center where they have that little donut shop where they filmed "Boogie Nights". It's a dentist office now.
Totally awesome company, well done for taking over kids TV and keeping work in USA. You could do a series of movies that could reach the levels of harry potter. Put the movies in pre he-man era, young man at arms, prince randor instead of king, no skeletor etc. The options are overwhelming in a world like eternia, the animals, scenery, innovations could be endless.
Filmation was a good company because they produced cartoons on the cheap. Corners were cut by reusing the same stock animations, sometimes tweaked a bit, and all their voice talent came from in house including Lou himself. This did lead to often strange voice choices or the same voice being used in different shows. While I was never a fan of their work I do have to admit they were successful at what they did.
I love this productions of Filmation since my childhood. Especially He-man and Bravestarr. Lou Scheimer is my true hero, and I'm sad, because he leave us.
Hanna-Barbera was the 900# gorilla of TV animation... Filmation was the closest thing they had to serious competition. One of the many differences between the companies was the attitude toward intellectual property. HB played very fast-and-loose. Their stock and trade was **mostly** knock-offs and thinly veiled copies of other works. (But they did it with a certain charm, somehow.) Filmation seemed to take it much more seriously. Most of their stuff was legitimately licensed and adapted. That's why they didn't come-off hypocritical when they took action on the big movie infringing on the Ghost Buster trademark... I found it kinda' interesting that, when they revived their original Ghostbusters in animated form, they seemed to go out of their way to make Spencer and Kong (who appeared in the pilot) *not* look like Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker. I'm guessing so as not to infringe on their likenesses.
Man i used to remember even in CBS and NBC every Saturday Morning back home in NYC before living on and off in both places Puerto Rico and in my hometown New York City. watching the favorite cartoon shows from Filmation from the New Adventures of Batman to Tarzan and The Super Seven up to the Lone Ranger and Zorro hour even watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters and BraveStar in the late 80's oh yeah and who can no one forget Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids (which lead and inspired the hit movie Fat Albert and in fact i saw the movie the day after Christmas 2004 at Magic Johnson Theatres in Harlem and bought the DVD early 2005 which months later on September 9,2005 was the day i came back to live in Puerto Rico which with God's help real soon I'll be going back home to NY) unfortunately Filmation closed down it's doors 27 years ago. the shows had some positive messages with something special and magical for kids back in my Dad's days in the 60's all the way to our time when we were kid's in the late 70's and throughout the 1980s as well. it's a damn shame that younger generation today can never understand history and heritage especially when Filamtion cartoons n when we grew up watching especially the shows i watched on CBS every Saturday morning when there was a time where these historic Filmation cartoons had good advice for the kids from Staying in School all the way to say no to drugs where we always enjoyed watching real good television as part of the Saturday Morning Cartoon lineup be it from ABC, CBS, NBC even in the 90's from FOX, the old WB and UPN until 2006 where both were merged to what is today the CW network especially when there was a time were watching Saturday Morning Cartoons and enjoying eating a bowl of our favorite cereal are parts of really having fun, not like the junk you got on TV nowadays. especially reality TV shows what makes any show not even worth watching anymore.
I loved catching masters of the universe after school when i could back in the 80s. It was way more advanced and beautiful than other cartoons at the time.
At Power Con '21 I had a chance to talk with a few of the storyboarders, and they all had great stories about working with Filmation, about how the studio was like a family. Including getting dressed down by Lou if necessary! Rob Lamb said that Lou was a pretty mild mannered guy and reminded him of Jimmy Stewart, so hearing him drop F-bombs was serious.
There's a bunch of videos like this on the DVD set that came out maybe 15-18 years ago. That's where this came from. The box sets were cool. Glad I was able to get them when I did.
REAL art vs today's, were genuine and actually divulged art are made from tools you buy no vs. the easy-less time consuming and no mess like digital art! Digital represents, less time and computer tools then the real thing. I love the convenience because of it but I have a lot of love and respect and waste well earned money to something handmade where it cannot be easily copied, and mass produced.
I respect the hospitality and admire the environment Lou Schiemer created for the people who worked for him, but I just cannot respect the shows they made.
+SirChristopherGorton "He man" was an adaptation of an earlier effort by Filmation in 1979. This was a movie version of the comic strip, "Flash Gordon". The entire movie is available on you tube. It was fluffed-up, and re edited as a saturday morning cartoon. Flash does resemble Adam, and the other character their own counterparts.
the company behind such massive hits (Superman, Aquaman, Batman, The Archie Show, The Hardy Boys, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (animated series), The Groovie Goolies, He-Man etc...)
On John Berwick's IMDb page, there's a wonderful photo of Brian Tochi(Space Academy), Craig Littler(Jason of Star Command) and the two Johns(Venocur and Berwick, from The Kid Super Power Hour) with Lou Scheimer; I think to celebrate the release of Hero High on DVD. I thought that was great; once a member of the Filmation family, always a member of the Filmation family. Often literally; if I remember correctly, John Berwick married Arthur H. Nadel's daughter.🌞
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck, writing in the same animation offices as Straczynski and Dini and Zicree and DeTillo? I'd take a picture just to remind myself that I was there.
At 16:18, is that a photo of the He-Man animation reference model? I know they used live-action actors to rotoscope certain movements but they were never credited. Very rare if this is actually He-Man. Kinda short too.
this was made around 2006-07, when bci started releasing filmation product,i was part of a later docu on lou, m"animation maverick', that appears on 'dc superheroes: the filmation adventures.'
Being a kid of the 80's I always asked my dad who lou schiemer was after seeing his name on the TV when he man was on. Also i was lucky enough to have the fabulous funnies on vhs. It had that lou schiemer/norm prescott circle on it
I am a huge He-man fan and I my self love to draw my daughter draws also I collect he-man action figures now with the new origins figures coming out I'm collecting them now have some vintage figures and castle grayskull and snake mountain just pre ordered new castle grey skull Mattel is going all out and can't wait to get more thank you lou rip ✌️❤️
DeaditeSlayer99 Have a soft spot in my heart for Filmation, but I agree. Ironically, Sam Simon, co-developer of "The Simpsons", wrote an episode of "Fat Albert". I believe it was his first writing assignment?
I myself sometimes wish I had met him before his death. In fact, I planned a stage musical in my head based on his Secret of the Sword Movie..., but now that he's gone, I guess I can share this idea with his daughter, Erika..., however, I don't think I'll ever get the chance to share with him what he himself had inspired me to do. Secret of the Sword: The Musical. I wanted to know if this is what Lou would've wanted to see happen..., but now I'll have to wait, and see if Erika is interested.
it would be great, I want to see it, I could imagine that you use the "I have the power" theme and also the he-man theme song along with the She-Ra theme and put lyrics on the amazing soundtrack by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban just like the Orko theme once had lyrics in one episode, The Horn of Good Song from Dree Elle's Return episode. Every time I watched it my tears comes.
thanks. that does my heart good. however, if I'm gonna' share this idea with Erika, the surviving Scheimer of the family, I'm gonna' need her Email address, and I'll have to find someone who has it.
Is there any documentary about the animation processes and techniques companies like Filmation used? I always wanted so much to know how they did the "sparkles" in He-Man / She-Ra back then.
OH what it could have been. I think that their niche was/should have been the classic characters like Tarzan, Lone Ranger & Flash Gordon … they could have gone even further with The Shadow, Phantom, Rocketeer and more from the old ages of American folklore.
R.I.P. Lou Scheimer
R.I.P. Norm Prescott
R.I.P. Hal Sutherland
The trio of FILMATION
I just found out Lou died today. I must live in a cave. That man and the company he helped build was a huge part of my childhood. Thanks for uploading this.
1965-1988....great run....nothing will ever comes close...especially now in 2020...those of us who were around to appreciate saturday morning cartoons will get it...even those who caught the last hurrah for me he man in the mid to late 80s...love it...
It cannot be understated the importance of filmmation. IT allowed Bruce Timm to get into animation, giving him his first step in the door of film making-and legendary status.
And one of the greatest alumnus of Filmmation-Glen Keane. The legendary Disney artist who has put his stamp on some AMAZING animated films, and shorts (DUET).
Filmmation kicked butt people
And Paul Dini too
IIRC, Paul Dini wrote for the Filmation "Mighty Mouse" that aired around 1980
RIP Lou. And than you for making my childhood so special!
I'm so, so happy to have seen this video. Almost brought a tear to my eye. My only problem with it is that they never interviewed the voice actors. And what I find weird is that Lou died a day after my Mom died. R.I.P. Lou Scheimer
thank you for this. i am one of the lucky ones who grew up in the 70s and 80s, the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. It was one of the few things that made me childhood tolerable and one of the only pleasures afforded to me. Love almost all of the studios from this era! so many good memories of Saturday morning.
Lou Scheimer never sent animation work out of the country unlike other animation studios. It was all done in the USA.
+Kodachrome40 and it was all elderly veterans of Disney and Fleisher, I've heard Bruce Timm and Paul Dini joke that everyone there was either 20 or 80
+Lamont Cranston
Japanese art students would work four hours a day in small groups similar to "madhouse", and "monkey-boy post" to illustrate and paint cells for animations like "Akira", and "Perfect Blue". The methods and style of these were more advanced and costly than their common American counterparts with Hanna Barberra, in the 1960 era. Doug Wilding, a comic book artist, wanted to bring his "Terry and the pirates" style to television in 1964. Iwo Takemoto with HB wanted to revolutionize American cartoons with "Johnny Quest" in 1964. HB did not want to spend the dime necessary, and the series ended up with the same cartoony style of the previous efforts to go into a prime time slot, like The "Flintstones", and "Top Cat". - Nice Try, HB!
Lamont Cranston
Except for Zorro.
Aye, "Zorro" was the odd one out, not only in the outsourcing matter, but also the "lesson of the day" segment. That one was about how Western Hemisphere Spanish influenced American English.
Great documentary, and He-Man was a great cartoon. So much positivity on many levels. A lot of it was inspired by psychology where Greyskull = the grey matter in the skull = the human brain. He-Man = the divine masculine. The Sorceress = the divine feminine. Skeletor = the shadow self. Orco = the ego. Man-at-Arms = the reactive mind. Tough to say whether the Sorceress was divine feminine or if that was She-Ra later on (Ra, the Egyptian Sun God) because she was mostly inside Greyskull in which case she'd symbolise the superpowers of the human biomind. Lots of moral lessons presented in allegorical form.
Great! Did Filmation metioned these inspirations from psychology? Thanks
R.I.P Filmation Productions
also my respects and thanks go out to both the founding fathers of Filmation who have passed on throughout the years Arthur Nadal and Lou Scheimer, I want to thank you for giving us the beautiful memories on what is meant to enjoy watching Saturday Morning Cartoons when we were kids.God bless and Thanks for the memories
Thank you for Batman (Adam West voiceovers), Star Trek toons, Ted Knight voiceovers, and finally, Fantastic Voyage
I remember a blog from John K. about his time at Filmation and how their animation techniques made him 'physically ill'. Of course this is the same John K. who is pretty much a ONE-SHOW-WONDER who's only notable contribution to animation is Ren & Stimpy, and yet he acts like he's the arbiter of what REAL animation is. Long live Filmation!
I know, I didn't know Lou Scheimer passed only recently and Never knew who he really was but watching this doc and a couple other related tributes to him it boggles my mind of how great of a human being he was both in and out of the studio. as a artist a writer a producer a businessman a father and member of the human race he was a class act sure the product he, Norm and Hal Sutherland (as like rivals Bill H and Joe B and others ) was not at all the optimum quality but it was fun and enjoyable entertainment for the time and as evidenced by taking talented bright young men and women among them Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and even John K. (though he would like to forget his time there) Scheimer and Co's investments in such talent coupled with his risky bet of putting He-Man in first run and the profits that that show (and other cartoon commercials of the era) made helped nurture and finance that much beloved promised land "second golden age of American Animation" during the late 80s early 90s that so many modern animation aficionados, cartoon elitists, 90s kids, and TV historians both professional and amateur, such as myself, praise. speaking of John K I agree with you I have a love/hate relationship with John Kricfalusi (ironically similar to my love hate of another famed animation legend, Hayao Miyazaki, ) and although I respect his own contributions as a animation revolutionary and his passion as classic cartoon aficionado and creative GENIUS and educator and though some of his bitterness towards the state of animation is warranted much of Krisfaluci's critical bitterness towards 90% of animation outside his interests has made him too egotistically malicious and devoid of humanity. in his recent years he has created a unhealthy cultish elitist fanboy/girl following around him that has elevated him to a cult figure. all this from/for a man who hasn't had a successful TV show in 20 years and whose body of work of recent consists of his rant blog, doing cover art for Miley Cyrus and doing UFC commercials for Adult Swim. yet he is the all knowing all seeing all concerned Maharishi of anything and everything animated. makes me appreciate the candor honor humility sincerity and thorough professionalism of Scheimer Prescott and Sutherland and contemporaries among others a whole lot more. Thank you filmation.
Rest in peace Lou.. Im so Glad i got to Grow up Watching your cartoons and Live action shows..Memories i will carry with me until the end.. I Can Honestly Say I Love you for that..
Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott and Hal Sutherland and their crew did well to present polished tv cartoons within budget and keeping the network executives happy with delivering their programs on time and within watchdog guidelines. They selected the best established ideas (Superman, Batman, Archie, Star Trek, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, He-Man) to put in animated form. While the repetitive animated movements, character poses, and scenes may bother some folks, that did well enough to keep their programs in one's memory since childhood and keeping the company in creating new series and episodes within budget for over 20 years. May The Wheel of Filmation (producers Scheimer and Prescott's names circling around) spin always in memory.
At least Scheimer and the people at FILMATION honored and welcomed newcomers. Nowadays, you actually have to severely work in order to work at a studio.
They selected some great existing fictions to adapt, but some of my favourite Filmation stuff was their original story-telling, particularly in their live-action shows. Ethically, they played it safe, but in many other ways their stories were very creative and off-the-wall, and I appreciated that.
O.K filmation may not be disney but they
made cartoons for Saturday mornings.I have nothing but good time with filmation cartoons.They also did another hit with making cartoons for week days.
Instead of just saturdays!!!
WOW! Yes, Lou thank you. Putting smiles on kid's faces: mission accomplished! I didn't know Paul Dini worked at Filmation...now wonder all of the cartoons back then were soooo...good! R.I.P. Lou...you'll be deeply missed.
Ghostbusters, He-man, She-Ra, Bravestarr…absolutely peak childhood cartoon memories. Respect. Massive appreciation.
I am not a big He-Man fan (not since I was 5) but this documentary was wonderful. Great job! R.I.P. Lou Scheimer
hell yes, filmation & hanna-barbera Saturday morning so well, passing of an era;still part of cartoon history-
@@johnerwin9024 And what a voice cast! Not that many actors since they all did multiple roles. John Erwin? He-Man is that you?
thanks to filmation for all those nice and wise cartoons we saw in our childhood.
So many of Filmation's interesting and unforgettable shows were on throughout my childhood and later years. So it's awesome to find out how this unique animation studio went through the situations that made all of their lasting for "eternia" creations possible. Stay safe everyone!
Hey Lou and FILMATION crew: Thanks for being an important and really really good part of my childhood in germany!
R.I.P Sir. I will always remember your great shows .
Filmation's world was my childhood paradise... The sketches (beautiful beyond words) the paintings, the colors, the scapelands, the storytelings and the music themes were the best and they'd captivated me more than anyother artwork...Of course the King was the Masters of The Universe series and the Queen was She-ra: Princess Of Power series... The secret Of the Sword was a movie that should have won an oscar if you ask me. It has a very deep backround story, with a lot of meanings. I know that there are people that didn't like the motion part of the Filmation cartoons (they say that it was very slow) but it doesn't realy matter. The storytelling was so good that overshadowed any imperfections of the "moving" of the skethes. Beside I've always prefered an animation series with a good meaningful story instead of an animation series with perfect moving sketches and an empty and silly backround story. Now, My Dream.... I wish Filmation legasy to come alive again. I wish that there will be a day that a "new Filmation" company will take over and will use all these original super beautiful sketches and music themes enhanced with the new animation techniques and the new animation tecnology to make new stories that will continue the original stories of the Star Leader The Masters Of The Universe. I only wish.....
I was 10 years old when the animated Star Trek premiered in 1973. That Filmation product was my introduction to the wonderful world of Trek. ^_^
I grew up watching Filmation and Hanna Barbera productions on Saturday. To bad those companies are gone.
Filmation turned out my favorite cartoon ever. Filmations ghostbusters.
I'd forgotten JMS was involved here, great to see a younger him pop up! When were the interviews filmed? So much of this is represented in my childhood memories from the UK...
Filmation had some of the best animation. It was very good for tv. The animation sequences were as good as Disney.
That Filmation Studios is so very Cool. was been Opened in 1962 to be Shut Down in 1989
That's so funny that they ended up conning that SOB Mort Weisinger into getting the contract for the Superman series. Weisinger was such a bastard to his staff writers during his tenure at DC, guys like Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel and John Broome.
Yeah, I loved Filmation. I still do. Credit to Scheimer, Prescott and Sutherland for keeping it going as long as they did.
I would love to see those stock-shot sketch books. I could look through that for days and years and never get bored.
Now because Filmation was notoriously thrifty, I doubt that any blooper reels exist from the vocal tracks because they probably recorded over the flubs (lol). But, to me, those would be worth their weight in gold.
Apparently back in the late 60's, Filmation got an order from CBS to make The Batman/Superman Hour. But CBS ordered it pretty late, and Filmation had to rush to complete it. To try to get it done on time, Filmation started pulling animators they had working on other shows. They actually left one show so understaffed that CBS had to cancel it entirely, even though 6 episodes were supposedly completed and ready to air. That show was Metamorpho, the Elephant Man. Other then saying CBS shelved them, no mention was ever made on what happened to those 6 episodes.
As a historian I find this fascinating...and greatly appreciate this video...
Wish I'd seen this before Mr. Scheimer passed away, so I could thank him directly-not only for making such a huge chunk of my childhood entertainment, but for giving a start to people who would make the even better entertainment I would later enjoy as an adult: Paul Dini, J. Michael Stracynszki, Marc Scott Zicree and many others. Wherever he is, I hope he knows what an impact he had on so many lives.
He definitely made MY childhood special. The He-Man series will always have a special place in my heart. Learned alot of NICE life lessons in that series.
They don't make them that way anymore, a horrific shame.
It's magic indeed...Thank you filmation for the magic childhood !
it was a shame filmation closed down
All of the old animation companies (Hanna Barbera, Ruby Spears, DiC) are gone.
It sure as sugar wouldn't be called Filmation today.
Filmation was based in Reseda, California
@@seanvogt221 and that’s why Warner Bros. Animation is still continuing making the new projects via Remake and revival of the classic cartoons
So glad I have many original cells and backgrounds in my collection. Such beautiful work
Thanks Lou for Bringing Mighty Mouse Heckle & Jeckle Tom & Jerry and So on RIP
Filmation's Animation Action Adventure cartoons was by far the best. Tarzan, He-man, Zorro, Lone Ranger, BlackStarr, Brave Starr, Flash Gordon. Every Character was so perfectly built. The men are handsome and the women are beautiful and and there movement was athletic realistic looking.
Rest In Peace Lou, You Were A Good Friend! I Will Always Remember Flimation!
RIP Lou, Norm, Howell and all the 700 plus staff that worked in Reseda at Filmation...
Rest in peace Lou you are the greatest...
thanks to Lou and the amazing crew of FILMATION. Future reboots of the He-man characters shouldn't forget the Filmation Legacy. I will hate to see a future He-Man live action film if those filmmakers don't use the main theme title at least.
I drove by the corner of Sherman Way and Lindley last weekend. That's where the Filmation studios use to be. It's right next door to the Jon's shopping center where they have that little donut shop where they filmed "Boogie Nights". It's a dentist office now.
Totally awesome company, well done for taking over kids TV and keeping work in USA. You could do a series of movies that could reach the levels of harry potter. Put the movies in pre he-man era, young man at arms, prince randor instead of king, no skeletor etc. The options are overwhelming in a world like eternia, the animals, scenery, innovations could be endless.
Filmation was a good company because they produced cartoons on the cheap. Corners were cut by reusing the same stock animations, sometimes tweaked a bit, and all their voice talent came from in house including Lou himself. This did lead to often strange voice choices or the same voice being used in different shows.
While I was never a fan of their work I do have to admit they were successful at what they did.
Thankyou awesome video, RIP Lou Scheimer
I love this productions of Filmation since my childhood. Especially He-man and Bravestarr. Lou Scheimer is my true hero, and I'm sad, because he leave us.
Hanna-Barbera was the 900# gorilla of TV animation... Filmation was the closest thing they had to serious competition.
One of the many differences between the companies was the attitude toward intellectual property. HB played very fast-and-loose. Their stock and trade was **mostly** knock-offs and thinly veiled copies of other works. (But they did it with a certain charm, somehow.)
Filmation seemed to take it much more seriously. Most of their stuff was legitimately licensed and adapted. That's why they didn't come-off hypocritical when they took action on the big movie infringing on the Ghost Buster trademark... I found it kinda' interesting that, when they revived their original Ghostbusters in animated form, they seemed to go out of their way to make Spencer and Kong (who appeared in the pilot) *not* look like Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker. I'm guessing so as not to infringe on their likenesses.
MAYBE A FILMATION 2 PRODUCTION COMPANY BE MADE SOMEDAY TO HONOR THE ORIGINAL COMPANY!
those people deserve to have their statues and places named after them, I would say even their name and stars on Hollywood walk of fame .
They put out a lot of good cartoons and live action shows!
RIP, Lou...
Thanks for the fun!
Lou Schimer was a good guy
I think someone should bring Filmation back to life , it was a start for so many talents .
BTW , Gilligans Planet was a fantastic show . :)
Because Is was a RIP Lou Scheimer 1928 - 2013
Man i used to remember even in CBS and NBC every Saturday Morning back home in NYC before living on and off in both places Puerto Rico and in my hometown New York City. watching the favorite cartoon shows from Filmation from the New Adventures of Batman to Tarzan and The Super Seven up to the Lone Ranger and Zorro hour even watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters and BraveStar in the late 80's oh yeah and who can no one forget Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids (which lead and inspired the hit movie Fat Albert and in fact i saw the movie the day after Christmas 2004 at Magic Johnson Theatres in Harlem and bought the DVD early 2005 which months later on September 9,2005 was the day i came back to live in Puerto Rico which with God's help real soon I'll be going back home to NY) unfortunately Filmation closed down it's doors 27 years ago. the shows had some positive messages with something special and magical for kids back in my Dad's days in the 60's all the way to our time when we were kid's in the late 70's and throughout the 1980s as well. it's a damn shame that younger generation today can never understand history and heritage especially when Filamtion cartoons n when we grew up watching especially the shows i watched on CBS every Saturday morning when there was a time where these historic Filmation cartoons had good advice for the kids from Staying in School all the way to say no to drugs where we always enjoyed watching real good television as part of the Saturday Morning Cartoon lineup be it from ABC, CBS, NBC even in the 90's from FOX, the old WB and UPN until 2006 where both were merged to what is today the CW network especially when there was a time were watching Saturday Morning Cartoons and enjoying eating a bowl of our favorite cereal are parts of really having fun, not like the junk you got on TV nowadays. especially reality TV shows what makes any show not even worth watching anymore.
I loved catching masters of the universe after school when i could back in the 80s. It was way more advanced and beautiful than other cartoons at the time.
At Power Con '21 I had a chance to talk with a few of the storyboarders, and they all had great stories about working with Filmation, about how the studio was like a family. Including getting dressed down by Lou if necessary! Rob Lamb said that Lou was a pretty mild mannered guy and reminded him of Jimmy Stewart, so hearing him drop F-bombs was serious.
The dude at the end credits insulting the fan base seemed like an odd choice to end this nice video with.
THIS VIDEO WAS RECORDED IN 2004ISH.... RIP TO ALL THESE PEOPLE.
There's a bunch of videos like this on the DVD set that came out maybe 15-18 years ago. That's where this came from. The box sets were cool. Glad I was able to get them when I did.
REAL art vs today's, were genuine and actually divulged art are made from tools you buy no vs. the easy-less time consuming and no mess like digital art!
Digital represents, less time and computer tools then the real thing. I love the convenience because of it but I have a lot of love and respect and waste well earned money to something handmade where it cannot be easily copied, and mass produced.
Bob Foreward? Great name!
Wonder if he ever worked with Neil Downward?
Is So Very Good
I respect the hospitality and admire the environment Lou Schiemer created for the people who worked for him, but I just cannot respect the shows they made.
Hanna Barbera, Ruby-Spears, Sunbow, DiC, Filmation, Rakin/Bass, Fred Wolf Films are all gone. The good old days.
NOSTALGIA
“The Adventures of Batman and Robin”! Can’t beat that!
He man and she ra were the best
+SirChristopherGorton
"He man" was an adaptation of an earlier effort by Filmation in 1979. This was a movie version of the comic strip, "Flash Gordon". The entire movie is available on you tube. It was fluffed-up, and re edited as a saturday morning cartoon. Flash does resemble Adam, and the other character their own counterparts.
Star Trek was the best!
So was Brave star and ghost busters
Excellent documentary👍❤⚡
perfect name....filmation...
Filmation unlike most American studios worked entirely in America
some people are Disney some people are Filmation .I am a Filmation kid and Lou is my Walt
love filmations work.
Love Filmmation!!!
the company behind such massive hits (Superman, Aquaman, Batman, The Archie Show, The Hardy Boys, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (animated series), The Groovie Goolies, He-Man etc...)
Filmation had some great cartoons during my childhood and teen years. a Shame they closed down after He-man and She-Ra.
On John Berwick's IMDb page, there's a wonderful photo of Brian Tochi(Space Academy), Craig Littler(Jason of Star Command) and the two Johns(Venocur and Berwick, from The Kid Super Power Hour) with Lou Scheimer; I think to celebrate the release of Hero High on DVD. I thought that was great; once a member of the Filmation family, always a member of the Filmation family. Often literally; if I remember correctly, John Berwick married Arthur H. Nadel's daughter.🌞
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck, writing in the same animation offices as Straczynski and Dini and Zicree and DeTillo? I'd take a picture just to remind myself that I was there.
Wish all Filmation cartoons were revived by Warner Bros. Animations
At 16:18, is that a photo of the He-Man animation reference model? I know they used live-action actors to rotoscope certain movements but they were never credited. Very rare if this is actually He-Man. Kinda short too.
this was made around 2006-07, when bci started releasing filmation product,i was part of a later docu on lou, m"animation maverick', that appears on 'dc superheroes: the filmation adventures.'
Being a kid of the 80's I always asked my dad who lou schiemer was after seeing his name on the TV when he man was on. Also i was lucky enough to have the fabulous funnies on vhs. It had that lou schiemer/norm prescott circle on it
He-Man/She-Ra and Bravestarr were my favourite ones
I am a huge He-man fan and I my self love to draw my daughter draws also I collect he-man action figures now with the new origins figures coming out I'm collecting them now have some vintage figures and castle grayskull and snake mountain just pre ordered new castle grey skull Mattel is going all out and can't wait to get more thank you lou rip ✌️❤️
Omg his my hero i want to be like him
I loved Space Sentinels as a kid
Great doc, where is it from? A DVD release?
If Filmation hadn't run out of cash, could they have been able to produce the most successful cartoon in history--THE SIMPSONS--instead of FOX?
DeaditeSlayer99 Have a soft spot in my heart for Filmation, but I agree. Ironically, Sam Simon, co-developer of "The Simpsons", wrote an episode of "Fat Albert". I believe it was his first writing assignment?
10:25 ! That's J. Michael Straczynski, creator of the excellent sci-fi hit *Babylon 5* , that at the time gave Star Trek a run for its money
For this, I am going to make my animations in 3 to 6 frames per second. Also, I am going to draw my animations in squiggles, Because it's easier.
inspired us a lot
I myself sometimes wish I had met him before his death. In fact, I planned a stage musical in my head based on his Secret of the Sword Movie..., but now that he's gone, I guess I can share this idea with his daughter, Erika..., however, I don't think I'll ever get the chance to share with him what he himself had inspired me to do.
Secret of the Sword: The Musical. I wanted to know if this is what Lou would've wanted to see happen..., but now I'll have to wait, and see if Erika is interested.
it would be great, I want to see it, I could imagine that you use the "I have the power" theme and also the he-man theme song along with the She-Ra theme and put lyrics on the amazing soundtrack by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban just like the Orko theme once had lyrics in one episode, The Horn of Good Song from Dree Elle's Return episode. Every time I watched it my tears comes.
thanks. that does my heart good.
however, if I'm gonna' share this idea with Erika, the surviving Scheimer of the family, I'm gonna' need her Email address, and I'll have to find someone who has it.
and I know that the odds may be against me, but if there's a way to do so, I'm gonna' find it.
I love that they used a mannequin for their receptionist!
Is there any documentary about the animation processes and techniques companies like Filmation used? I always wanted so much to know how they did the "sparkles" in He-Man / She-Ra back then.
OH what it could have been.
I think that their niche was/should have been the classic characters like Tarzan, Lone Ranger & Flash Gordon … they could have gone even further with The Shadow, Phantom, Rocketeer and more from the old ages of American folklore.
An interesting Video but it´s a pity they didn´t show the people who were Manequin for She-Ra and He-Man!
Wish I had the opportunity to work with this company.
I wish I worked at Filmation studios