Chapter XI
Lucasfilm Animation becomes Fandango Cartoons, 1983-1990 releases
In his role as president of Lucasfilm, Jeffrey Katzenburg was intent on delivering successes. He had been put in charge of the new animation division, and his vision was simple: attract the top talent and give them the freedom to create their best work. His first hire came after a chance meeting, arranged by mutual friends, with Richard Williams, an animator who had been working on a project since the late 1960s. Williams showed Katzenburg his progress to that point, and his storyboards for the rest of the project, and Katzenburg immediately offered to put the project into full production at Lucasfilm Animation. To announce the establishment of their studio to the world, Katzenburg and Lucasfilm CEO Michael Eisner decided a short film should be made in time to pair it with the release of
Return of the Jedi.
The outcome, the short film
Fandango wasn’t just directed by Richard Williams. Never keen to place all his eggs in one basket, Katzenburg held meetings with animators throughout the industry. Don Bluth sold Katzenburg on his vision for a
Beauty and the Beast movie, and Katzenburg asked Bluth to co-direct the short film. The pair took an interesting approach, each responsible for certain characters’ art. The final product was dazzling, the quick turnaround unapparent. The story was of a couple meeting on the dance floor of a Tatooine cantina, and the scoundrel escaping bounty hunters with his dance partner, who he had just met and was surprised to find herself in the crosshairs of a bounty hunters blaster. Perhaps due to the wild, at times chaotic, but rewarding collaborative work, internally the studio began to refer to itself as the name of the short film, Fandango, and in 1985 the studio would officially rename itself Fandango Cartoons, a byproduct of the Steve Jobs deal.
While Bluth had gotten through the door with the idea to do an adaptation of the fairy tale
Beauty and the Beast, it would be a few years before that project came to fruition. The first feature project released by Fandango hadn’t even started at the studio, Bluth originally had a deal with Paramount Pictures, but the financing was drying up. Naturally, he turned to Katzenburg, who negotiated the rights to the project away from Paramount and Bluth brought it to Fandango. The film in question was
East of the Sun and West of the Moon, an adaption of the Norwegian fairy tale. It took less than a year to complete, the film entering theaters in 1984, in fact just a few months after the short film Fandango won the Oscar for Best Animated Short.
(Art from East of the Sun, West of the Moon)
The third arm of the Fandango creative tripod was Ralph Bakshi, who came to the meeting between he and Kurtzenburg with a host of ideas. The first project that was delivered to theaters took negotiating with Middle-earth Enterprises first, in order to secure the rights to
Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit. Autumn of 1984
The Return of the King (in some markets titled
Lord of the Rings, Part 2) released, covering the rest of
The Two Towers and
The Return of the King, finally finishing the story he had started in 1978. The next year he followed it up with
The Hobbit.
Also released in 1985 was Williams’ masterpiece,
The Thief and the Cobbler. The film had trouble in the market at first, but after glowing review after glowing review, it finally reached #1 week 4 and had long legs after. Years later those who were children then would reminisce over viewing the film for the first time, and the countless times after on VHS. The next year it would make waves as the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, although it would come up short.
(Poster of The Thief and the Cobbler)
Bluth kept a steady pace of releasing a film every two years, but his follow up to
East of the Sun and West of the Moon was not
Beauty and the Beast but rather
The Little Blue Whale, a project he had been developing since the early 80s. Sometimes lovingly, sometimes as a criticism, the film would at times be described as “underwater Bambi.” The plot follows a blue whale calf who is left orphaned after his mother is killed by whalers. He eventually befriends a little girl who, along with some animal friends, dedicate themselves to protecting him from his mother’s killers. While some critics were undecided, the big numbers at the box office demonstrated just how much the story hit home for audiences.
(Art from The Little Blue Whale)
In 1987, George Lucas’ vision for
Howard the Duck on the big screen was finally realized. He had been developing the project for years before his death, having hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz to write a screenplay after finishing
American Graffiti. Very early on they were advocating for the picture to be animated, believing live action would not work at all, never mind well. Marcia Lucas agreed, and while she liked their script, she sent it off to Diane Thomas for a draft. Not content, the project sat, until Steven Spielberg suggested Chris Columbus work on an updated version. It is this script that got into the hands of Bakshi, who enjoyed the absurdism and jokes that toed the line. There was little dissent that the film was a success, from critics and audiences alike.
The next year would see three major releases from Fandango, the culmination of their efforts to that point. Bluth would finally deliver upon the promise of
Beauty and the Beast, the final product proving to be a stunning adaptation. The film would break records at the box office for animated films, bringing in just over $500 million worldwide. At the following years Academy Awards, viewers were shocked when
Beauty and the Beast won Best Picture. Williams wouldn’t disappoint either. Upon Katzenburg’s recommendation, Williams looked to the works of Hans Christian Anderson, finally deciding upon
The Little Mermaid to adapt. Although not as beloved at the box office, many argue the art of
The Little Mermaid superseded
Beauty and the Beast. Not to be forgotten, Bakshi released
The Worm Ouroborous, based on the heroic high fantasy novel by E. R. Eddison, to solid reviews and strong audiences.
(Poster for Beauty and the Beast)
After years of hard work, the first computer animated film would finally be released. Bluth worked diligently alongside John Lasseter and the team at Pixar to bring what had originally been Michael Jackson’s vision to the screen, sometimes while he worked on other productions. After the iconic King of Pop secured the rights to the Beatles catalogue, he approached Bluth with the idea to make a spiritual successor to
Yellow Submarine. It was Bluth’s idea to forgo traditional animation and make the film with computer generated images. It wasn’t easy to get the approval to use the Beatles’ likeness, ultimately requiring LucasArts Chairman David Geffen to call in a lot of favors, and a lot of wining and dining. LucasArts President Marcia Lucas personally hosted each individual Beatle, separately. Getting the estate of John Lennon to agree was the easiest, and then Ringo agreed, and then Paul, and finally soon after George agreed. The result was
Strawberry Fields Forever, the visuals wowing audiences. Ebert called it the “modern-day Fantasia.”
Strawberry Fields Forever wasn’t the only Bluth production released in 1990, he also released the traditionally animated film
The Snow Queen, another Hans Christian Anderson adaptation. The stark, icy landscapes paired well with the winter temperatures, having released in the holiday season. Although
Strawberry Fields Forever didn’t get a particularly wide release, it and The Snow Queen combined brought in over $500 million, cementing Bluth’s position as a money maker for the studio. Bakshi released what many consider to be his magnum opus that year:
Odyssey, based on the classic Greek epic by Homer. Many critics agreed it was Bakshi’s best work yet, the culmination of all his work to that point. It did alright at the box office, making its budget back, but its prohibitive length put off some viewers, and the film would remain in the red until released on home video. Despite the critical acclaim, Bakshi would move in new directions after his version of the
Odyssey released.
Feature films weren’t the only focus of Fandango Cartoons, the studio also produced several television shows for QUBE. The first of these was
Star Wars: Droids and
Star Wars: Wookiees, two 30 minute shows to fill what would for years be the afternoon “Star Wars block.” Over time, those shows would be replaced with the likes of
Young Han Solo Adventures and
Star Wars: Journal of the Whills, which took place 10,000 years before the events of the trilogy, and was about the early days of the Jedi movement and the first Sith, overseen by a young Brad Bird. Their television efforts weren’t limited to the Star Wars franchise, in fact for many years an adaptation of the comic
Cerebus the Aardvark anchored a late night animation hour on the QUBE channel. Another notable series that aired during this block was Ralph Bakshi’s adaptation of
The Canterbury Tales, which went on to win several Emmy Awards.
Meanwhile, Don Bluth was developing Pixar’s next project…
| Films released 1983-90 | |
|---|
Year | Title | Director |
1983 | Fandango (short) | Don Bluth and Richard Williams
(co-directors) |
1984 | East of the Sun, West of the Moon | Don Bluth |
~ | The Return of the King | Ralph Bakshi |
1985 | The Thief and the Cobbler | Richard Williams |
~ | The Hobbit | Ralph Bakshi |
1986 | The Little Blue Whale | Don Bluth |
1987 | Howard the Duck | Ralph Bakshi |
1988 | Beauty and the Beast | Don Bluth |
~ | The Little Mermaid | Richard Williams |
~ | The Worm Ouroboros | Ralph Baksi |
1990 | Strawberry Fields Forever | Don Bluth |
~ | The Snow Queen | Don Bluth |
~ | The Odyssey | Ralph Bakshi |
Television shows:
- Star Wars: Droids (1983-1989 — 7 seasons, 148 episodes)
- Star Wars: Wookiees (1983-1984 — 2 seasons, 40 episodes)
- Young Han Solo Adventures (1985-1986 — 2 seasons, 44 episodes)
- Young Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventures (1987- still airing as of 1990)
- Star Wars: Journal of the Whills (1989 - still airing as of 1990)
- The Canterbury Tales (1988— one season, 24 episodes)
- Cerebus the Aardvark (1988 - still airing as of 1990)
Next up: The Cradle Will Rock production (1986)
