Iieee Bees!!!!

Sigh... the glory days of 80s weekday cartoons. "He-Man", "She-Ra"...

30 minute toy commercials for most 80s weekday cartoon shows, yes...but it was something fresh and new to watch at least.

Gladly take the *Wheel of Filmati >(:))n* for another spin.

Since I know you're such a terminal animation geek, you might find the following interesting:

Grumblebee was voiced by Jonathan Harris ("Lost in Space" fame) in both the movie and the television series that never got finished. I still have a cassette recording of him reading his lines for one of the scenes from the TV show that I worked on -- he sounds just like another animated bug that he voiced at a much later date -- Manny from A Bugs Life.

Mike and I were both employed at Filmation while Bugzburg was being worked on, and we were both present on the day the studio shut down forever. Mike, however, had been there a lot longer than me; among other things he animated while he worked there were certain scenes for the Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night movie.

In the movie, Grumblebee had four legs and four wings. For the TV show, he lost a pair of each. I drew him in the television style here.

The day the studio closed, I was in the middle of animating a scene with Grumblebee interacting with a gang of hornets, and when the other animators told me the news, it didn't fully register with me right away. People were starting to go home, and I kept saying, "Wait, I just want to finish doing this one scene..."

Maybe the show wouldn't have been all that popular if we had been allowed to finish it. But I sure wanted to see it get done.

What did an animator say to you that they were leaving because Filmation shut down in 1989?

It was a long, long time ago, but basically I recall that people were saying "Stop working."

As an animation geek, I much appreciate the inside info.

Jonathan Harris had a good relationship with Filmation and Lou Scheimer since he appeared in their live-action "Space Academy" and "Uncle Croc's Block" series and played Uncle Martin's voice in "My Favorite Martians" in the 70s. His broad acting voice persona would have been nice to hear once again...and seeing your work... if "Bugzburg" went to series. I loved "Lost in Space"...Dr Smith was sniveling and scheming...yet he was sympathetic in trying everything to get back to Earth by any means possible. Harris made Smith funny instead of super evil. I believe Harris was in the cast of "The Visionairies" cartoon show around that period in the '80s.

Filmation also had another spin-off show in the works from their final broadcasted series "BraveStarr" with the alien prairie people characters as its stars. A pilot promotional film for that show is included in the second "BraveStarr" series dvd set. Did you work on that?

Group W had owned Filmation in the 1980s during the "He-Man"/"She-Ra"/"Ghostbusters"/"BraveStarr" weekday era. L'Oreal, the cosmetics company had purchased Filmation around 1988 for tax purposes and then shut the company down.

That transaction certainly stunk.

The BraveStarr spin-off you speak of was called "Bravo," and it was being worked on at the same time as Bugzburg. I remember Lou Scheimer showing the new animators the finished pilot for that series, but the proposed show shared the same fate as Bugzburg. I didn't get a Bravo assignment to work on while I was there during the short amount of time that the studio had left. Perhaps I eventually would have if Filmation had survived. At any rate, I do recall seeing model sheets for the Bravo characters posted all around the place.

I don't think I'll ever forgive L'Oreal for what they did. To this day I refuse to buy any of their products.

If you ever get the chance, find the tribute they did to Irwin Allen on SciFi. Jonathan Harris came in and talked about his part in "Lost in Space". He knew he would be cut within a few episodes, and so he altered the character to make him more likely to be kept. Harris was a great stage actor who knew how to act for the small screen.
"You bubbleheaded booby" and "oh the pain, the pain" are still his two best lines...

My error. The "Bravo" pilot episode was in the extras in the first "BraveStarr" dvd set.

Ah, Filmation... I remember the Batman stuff they did...

I'm elated to know that someone else beside some remembers this film and it's a pleasure to know that you did share your talent with Filmation when they were still around. Would your name happen to appear in the credits?

No, but my husband's name does. He worked on the actual movie as well as the TV series that didn't get finished. I was only around for the tail end of Filmation's existence, working on the TV show that never would get on the air.

Glad to know you remembered the film, though!

Personal fave of mine, memorable soundtrack and it was fun.

You worked on Pinnochio and the Emperor of the Night? I love that movie! It deserves so much more attention than it's gotten!

Like I said, it was my husband Mike who was one of the animators that worked on Filmation's Pinocchio. I've been telling him about the people here who have expressed their fondness for the movie, and he's rather surprised, as he didn't think anyone liked it!

nice i liked the movie and the comic adaption i almost forgot about this character