Part Eighteen: The Adventurer, The Wanderer & The Warrior:
The growth of Nelvana as an animation studio was helped by three significant factors. The first being the success of its sister studio, Studio Eleven and the movies it distributed and created brought in funds that gave vital resources to improve and expand their work. The second factor was the partnership with Studio Ghibli, which not only allowed Studio Eleven access to the films of the Japanese studio to distribute, but also led to semi-frequent employee exchanges that allowed the animators on both sides to learn new skills and bring in new techniques to animate their own shows. The third was the acquisition of three of the biggest animated hits in the 1980's,
Rupan,
Doctor Who: The Animated Series and, of course,
Usagi Yojimbo.
- Extract from '
The Modern Age of Animation', 2008
“Having been put in charge of Nelvana, there were plenty of different projects for us to work on throughout the time period. In 1986, three shows we had planned were released and really helped make Nelvana's name as a studio that could do high quality shows. We expected
Doctor Who: The Animated Series to do fine and the Rupan cartoon was something that took off in popularity beyond what we were expecting. What really took us back was a project we took on largely to make an independent piece of work. Getting the rights to
Usagi Yojimbo was just us making a cartoon that would be a simple adventure series. We never expected it to become as popular as it did.”
- Extract from an interview with Peter Loubert, 1997
The Adventures of Rupan (1986 – 1988)
Doctor Who: The Animated Series (1987 – 1989)
Usagi Yojimbo (1988 – 1993)
- A list of the 'Big Three' of Nelvana's animation output in the late 80's
“
The Adventures of Rupan is to the Lupin franchise, what Disney is to Grimm fairy tales.”
- Quote from Animaus, member of the Freakin' Awesome Network forums, 2012
Join Rupan and friends as they hunt for treasure across the globe! Always on the look out for adventure and excitement, Rupan the treasure hunter, Jigen the bodyguard, Goemon the Samurai and Fujiko the adventurer explore the world for new discoveries. Chased by Inspector Zenigata and always in conflict with the evil SCORPION criminal organisation, Rupan and the gang are never out of trouble and always do their best to save the day!
- Extract from a TV Guide advert of the
The Adventures of Rupan
“Getting the rights for a Lupin show wasn't all that hard, the popularity and success of Castle of Cagliostro in the US provided us an opening for it. Of course, we had to really rethink what the show was going to be about since the censors wouldn't let us make an actual thief the protagonist at that time. So, changes of him being a treasure hunter framed by an international crime syndicate were introduced instead. Fujiko Mime's changes go without saying and the violence that Jigen and Goemon got through had to be toned down quite a bit. Despite that though, we had a run of luck with the writing staff, getting on good people who knew their stuff and were willing to do some legwork to get ideas for stories. Joe was a big help to us at this period. He worked on all three of our flagship shows at the time and his talents really blossomed as the years went on.”
- Extract from an interview with Clive Smith, 1999
Throughout the late 80's, Nelvana saw itself move away from the reputation it had grown of producing purely forgettable merchandise-able children's fare into something more developed. Although their three most successful franchises of the 1980's still held some of these characteristics (Particularly in terms of merchandise), the writing staff on each show managed to create show which would stand the test of time. J. Michael Straczynski, Alan Burnett and Evelyn Gabai, among others, all offered their skills to writing episodes throughout the three shows. The partnership with the newly named Studio Ghibli also allowed the animation talents of that studio to explore television animation with one talent exchange, producing some truly wonderful animation that blew many of Nelvana's previous productions away. One name that stood out in all of this was Hideaki Anno, one of the 'talent transfers' as they were called, making his name, at first, as a character designer for the
Doctor Who animated series.
- Extract from
The Mouse & The Bear: The Two Giants of Western Animation, 2012
“The entire basis of Rupan was essentially, an adventure series. Kinda repetitive but the episodes were fun. Rupan and the gang hear about a treasure and/or a plot by Scorpion, they head out to seize it or stop the plot and have to deal with Zenigata the entire time. Cap off each episode with at least one awesome action scene and you have a really fun show. There's always been purists of the franchise that have complained about how the personalities weren't like what they were in Japan, but that doesn't detract from a good show. Especially as the relationships were one of the best part of Adventures. You had Rupan, the head-strong leader who'd do a good deed provided there was fun in it. Jigen, the silent strong type who had some of the best lines in the show, especially in his sniping with Fujiko. Goemon, loyal swordsman to the group and kind of a clutz whenever a pretty lady passed on by. And of course, Fujiko. I've spoken about her in the past but she had class, wit and looked great in that cat suit. God bless the animators.”
- Extract from an episode of
Nelvanaber (Nelvana-November), a Nostalgia Critic review, 2011
[Scene: After bringing down SCORPION once and for all, Rupan and the gang are ready to receive medals for their heroic efforts as well as a full pardon for their actions in front of the White House while Zenigata is off scowling in the distance and the President is making a speech in front of them. Just before the President is about to hand out the medals and make it official though, Fujiko gets a call on her mobile phone.]
FUJIKO:
Look, whatever it is, can't it wait? We're about to... No, I don't care about some horse!
JIGEN:
Why would anyone ring you up to tell you about a horse?
FUJIKO:
Oh, it belongs to someone called Troja... [Back to the phone.] For the last time we... Hey!
[Fujiko lets out a protest as Rupan suddenly grabs the phone and puts it to his ear.]
RUPAN:
Horse?! As in Trojan Horse?! They've found it?!
GOEMON:
Oh boy...
JIGEN:
You had to tell him about it, didn't you?
RUPAN:
Uh huh... Uh huh... Uh huh... We'll be there! [Throws the phone over his shoulder, glass smashes off screen.] Alright guys, there's rumours that the Trojan Horse has been discovered! We've got to be there before anyone else!
GOEMON:
But what about our pardon?
FUJIKO:
And the medals?
JIGEN:
And the celebratory banquet?
RUPAN:
Let's be honest here, would going off around the world be anywhere as near as fun without Zenigata on our tails?
[There's a pause before the other three shrug in resignation, realising the truth of his words.]
RUPAN:
Great! Now I'm pretty sure I parked around the back...
[The camera cuts to a shot of the President at the podium, finishing off his introduction.]
PRESIDENT:
Now, to finalise the pardon of this brave group of adventurers, I...
[The President is cut off as Rupan runs into him, trampling to the ground with the rest of the gang following him.]
RUPAN:
No time to stay! Gotta head off! You coming old man?!
[The camera shifts to Zenigata who blinks before realising that Rupan and the others hadn't been pardoned and thus, still wanted criminals. The camera shifts to show the gang running across the White House lawn with Zenigata in hot pursuit.]
ZENIGATA:
Stop, Rupan! You're under arrest!
- Extract from the final scene of
The Adventures of Rupan, 1989
Fujiko's disguises, her phone, Rupan's car and Daisuke looking like he walked onto the screen from Miami Vice (And he wasn't the only one), made the Adventures of Rupan a real piece of the 80's pop culture.
- Extract from the
Unintentional Period Piece page on TV Tropes, 2014
The choice of
Doctor Who as a property to develop into a cartoon was a natural one for Nelvana. After the success of the franchise since John Denver's time as the Fifth Doctor, an adaptation was a natural step and plans had been set aside for years for an animated feature to be made. The question arose as to how to portray the Doctor and how close he was to be to any of his live action incarnations. Wanting to avoid paying the rights for using the actual images, it was decided that a new Doctor would be created for the show. The design would largely be based off the Fifth Doctor, reflecting his popularity with American audiences although elements of the Fourth and Third Doctor would seep in. Although keeping with the 'good old boy' image of the Fifth Doctor, there would be influences from the other Doctors as well. The clothing, a long overcoat hearkened back to the Fourth Doctor while the focus on Earth as a setting and the inclusion of a sole, young female companion reminded other fans of the Third Doctor. The cartoon would introduce a new audience to
Doctor Who, increasing the popularity of the show even further in the US.
Extract from
The First Forty Years in The TARDIS: Doctor Who, 1963 – 2003
“Just when you thought it couldn't get worse than John Denver... it did.”
- Quote from Dr. Brett, member of the Doctor Who fan forums, 2006
There's always been a rivalry between British and American fans of
Doctor Who. John Denver's time as the Doctor, as well as the animated show, gave British fans the impression that Americans simply didn't get the idea behind the show. The jokes were thick and fast, the horror and tension downplayed and there was just a general feel of being much more light hearted than the original British show. American fans who were introduced to the franchise through John Denver's time on the show or through the animated series are more comfortable around the lighter side of
Doctor Who. As a result, certain parts of the franchise are more popular in one country than the other, Nelvana's
Doctor Who: The Animated Series perhaps being the greatest example of this.
- Extract from
Fans! Fandoms And Their Histories, 2015
“So you have a Doctor (Who's American, of course) a companion who decides to show how wonderful the show is by being of an ethnic minority probably chosen by a roulette wheel and childish writing with choppy animation. Is it a wonder that anyone thinks Americans ruin everything they import from the UK?”
- Quote from AngloDoc, member of the Doctor Who fan forums, 2013
The Doctor – A traveller from the world of Gallifrey, the Doctor loves journeying and taking people along with him to see the wonders of the Universe. Although he might be a little scatter brained at times, the Doctor always does his best to save the day when needed and is always up for adventure!
Clarissa – A mechanic from the twenty-fifth century, Clarissa surprised the Doctor with her knowledge of his vehicle known as the TARDIS and how time travel works. Practical, resourceful although with a bit of a temper at times, Clarissa loves to travel with the Doctor, finding out about the past and future.
K-9 – The Doctor's loyal mechanical companion, K-9 has travelled with the Doctor for years now and pulled his fat out of the fire more than once! Able to think up of solutions to problems with his magnificent robotic mind, K-9 serves as the one to usually come up to the solution to whatever problem the Doctor has stumbled into.
- Extract from the character page of Nelvana's
Doctor Who: The Animated Series annual, 1988
“Have people who say Nelvana's
Doctor Who series even seen the monster episodes? Have they not seen the Hideaki designs?”
- Quote from DocDen, member of the Doctor Who fan forums, 2012
“The complaints regarding the childish aspects of the show we got from long time fans of
Doctor Who were outmatched by the complaints we got from parents over certain episodes. Hideaki Anno's designs were a large part of this as the times we wanted to emulate the horror of some of the episodes from the original British series. I admit that we attempted a balancing act between light episodes and more mature themes that didn't quite pay off. There was too much of a whiplash from one episode to another at times that hurt the show as a whole. Individual episodes stand out really well to this day, but taken as one large piece, there's too much tonal inconsistency to make it truly outstanding.”
- Extract from an interview with J. Michael Straczynski, 2002
Seraphs – First found in the
Doctor Who: The Animated Series episode
The Chain, the Seraphs weren't given in an actual name until later on in the expanded universe of books as enemies of the Doctor. In their first introduction, they appeared as a fiery sphere that extended into wings. They had no dialogue, the entire nature of their being only speculated about by characters in the episode. All that was known was that they destroyed all the gazed upon and that nothing man-made could stop them. Eventually, the Doctor managed to stop them by creating an artificial black hole and the Seraphs were never seen in the animated show again. Despite that though, they made a great impact upon the viewers and would later turn up in other parts of the franchise, Hideaki Anno's designs causing nightmares in many an American child in the late 80's.
- Extract from
Aliens, Monsters And The Unknown: The Races of Doctor Who, 2008
“OK, so we had
Mother's Day,
The Parting of The Ways,
The Chain and
Grave of Fireflies went onto to get nominated for an Oscar, all in the span of a year. What was wrong with the water in 1988 that caused so many heartaches and nightmares?”
- Quote from CapCap, member of the Freakin' Awesome Network, 2013
“We'd never have expected the sheer popularity of
Usagi Yojimbo when we were first scouting for ideas for further ideas for cartoons. While we were always happy to create our own properties, MGM was putting pressure on us to get something out there which had similar merchandise opportunities as Rupan. One of the kids of our animators provided the key when his dad doodled a Samurai rabbit during his lunchbreak, saying that his son had a comic with the character in it. With our Japanese influence already pretty evident, we followed up on it and soon got into contact with Stan Sakai regarding an adaptation of his work. He warmed up to it right away and spoke to us of his ideas of where he was going to take the series and what he was going introduce in terms of characters and plots, something that really helped the series as we went along. The debut of the show really took off and it was helped by the fact that it had become a labour of love for our animators and writers, trying to take this rather obscure series and make something really good of it. The animation was among the best we'd ever done for a television show up to that point and we did our best to actually research the history and aesthetics of Japan to match the period we were aiming for. Although it was a merchandise driven show, the fact it was a well written and animated merchandise driven show was something we were all proud of. It was part of our mission at the time, not to be like Disney, do something that went beyond what they would do and stand on our own in terms of quality. We wanted to be better.”
- Extract from an interview with Michael Hirsh, 1999
With animation that was helped by Studio Ghibli,
Usagi Yojimbo also became well known for its writing being particularly strong. With the staff researching the background of Japan, they also managed to make it feel authentic in conveying the period and aesthetic of the country. Capturing the look of Feudal Japan was an accomplishment in and of itself and the little touches of how characters address each other and clothing being accurate to social standings and fashions of the times. Its place as a piece of animation has caused some to argue over whether or not it should be classified as an anime due to its obvious Japanese influence and the fact that a healthy part of its animation was done there. It's a debate which has yet to be settled, even amongst those who worked on the show.
- Extract from
Animation in The Age of Amalgam, 2004
“Our aim with
Usagi Yojimbo was to build the show around this one character and the bring in others as the plots varied in his travels. A core cast was eventually built up with Stan helping a lot with ideas for stories and a number of episodes were direct adaptations from his work. We were able to develop on his characters that Stan couldn't do directly, due to our greater resources. We eventually decided to follow a similar idea with Rupan, focusing on a cast of four core characters by the end of the first season and then making them the centre point of all future stories. Usagi, Gen, Kitsune and Chizu offered a very entertaining quartet that were great to write for. We did aim for a mixture of action, drama and humour and, going by the popularity of the show, I'd like to think we succeeded.”
- Extract from an interview with Alan Burnett, 1996
The rise of strong female characters in animation can be traced from Studio Eleven's import of Studio Ghibli films, and then their own animated shows showed growth in this key aspect. Of the 'Big Three' shows which made up their animated output in the late 1980's, all three featured at least one strong female character who was strong, independent and each had their own individual character traits to make them stand out. It was these aspects which were to make the shows stand out from certain fare which held much more traditional female roles in the medium. Nelvana's rise as an animation studio and its movement away from the toyetic into mature shows was the largest part of this rise. Characters such as the cunning Chizu or the ever practical Clarissa were the start of what was to come.
- Extract from the essay
Women's Roles in Animation, 2007
Comedy and action mixed with the drama incredibly well in
Usagi Yojimbo, a sign of the writing staff being at its best in Nelvana at this time. Animation also showing the hard work put into it as well as influence from Studio Ghibli only highlighted what was a beautiful show to look at. The true strength of the show rested with the interaction between the characters, the dialogue constantly seen as a reason why each one was so popular. Witty, sharp and fitting into each situation the characters found themselves in. Each episode was stand alone, although with the odd reference to what had gone on in previous episodes and several long running villains. It was a series that was easy to get into and hard to leave with children and those older getting into the series for various reasons. Although the adaptation had to be censored compared to the comic as a way to get onto television (Hence the inclusion of Lord Hikiji's 'Shadow Warriors'), it became well known for tackling mature themes such as revenge, love and the use of violence in conflicts. The action scenes brought in child fans who took in the merchandise of the show in great quantities, the list of Christmas top sellers being dominated by the toys of the characters three years in a row. A pop culture hit over the dawn of the new decade,
Usagi Yojimbo retained its fame throughout the 1990's and gained another explosion of popularity with the advent of DVD's that saw the franchise remain at a high level of popularity.
- Extract from
A History of Nelvana, 2006
“The success of the 'Big Three' was a huge boost to our studio and the money we made from it all was a huge boon to the freedom we were allowed from MGM.
Usagi Yojimbo opened up avenues for greater experimentation in animation that even leaked to other networks. The whole 'Elder Hour' that Cartoon Network tried with stuff like
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and
Life in Hell stemmed from us bringing in more mature aspects to these shows and movies. I know that sounds kinda arrogant, but it's honestly my impression of the change in the medium over those few years. The Oscar nomination really made this a huge deal, that animation could tell mature stories. I think without Studio Ghibli, animation would still be stuck in the mindset that it's only for children.”
- Extract from an interview with Peter Loubert, 1999
“I was once told that the way of the warrior was the resolute acceptance of death. I refuse to believe that is all it is. A warrior can be so much more than one who accepts death, they can embrace life as well. Every step I have made on my journey has been for that, that life is worth fighting for and that it is beautiful. I might die with my sword in my hand, but only when I have kept it in its sheath for as long as I can.”
- Quote from fifth episode of the third series of
Usagi Yojimbo, from the eponymous character
Grave of The Fireflies – 1989
Return of The King – 1997
Genocyber – 1999
- List of animated movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in the 1980's and 1990's