waichingliu81
04-15-2008, 01:48 PM
The company origins
The company was founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass in the early-1960s as Videocraft International. One of Videocraft's first projects was an independently produced series based on the character Pinocchio. It was done using "Animagic", a stop motion animation process using figurines (a process already pioneered by George Pal's "Puppetoons" and Art Clokey's Gumby and Davey and Goliath). This was followed by another independently produced series using more traditional cel animation and based on already established characters, Tales of the Wizard of Oz in 1961.
Throughout the decade of the 1960s, Videocraft produced other stop motion and traditional animation specials and films, some of which were non-holiday stories. For example, 1965 produced Rankin/Bass's first theatrical film, Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, the first of four films produced in association with Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Pictures. 1966 brought to life The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (narrated by James Cagney), the story of the famous forest fire-fighting animal seen in numerous public service announcements.
In 1972 and 1973, Rankin/Bass produced four animated TV-movies for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie: The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters, Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid, The Red Baron, and That Girl in Wonderland.
In 1977, Rankin/Bass produced an animated version of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. It was followed in 1980 by an animated version of The Return of the King, the final volume of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. (The animation rights to the first two volumes were held by Saul Zaentz, producer of Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation The Lord of the Rings.) Other books adapted include The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and Peter Dickens' "The Flight of Dragons".
In the 1970s, Rankin-Bass' Saturday-morning output included animated adventures of The Jackson 5ive (TV series)(Co-Produced with Motown Productions) and The Osmonds).
Rankin/Bass also produced the popular cartoon series, ThunderCats (1985), a cartoon and related toy-line about battling cat-like people in a post-apocalyptic future. It was followed by two similar cartoons about animal-like people, Silverhawks (1986), and Tigersharks (as part of the series The Comic Strip in 1987) which never enjoyed the same commercial success.
Rankin/Bass also attempted live-action productions, such as 1967's sequel King Kong Escapes, the 1976 telefilm The Last Dinosaur, and the 1978 made-for-TV movie The Bermuda Depths.
In addition to the 'name' talent that provided the narration for the specials, Rankin/Bass had its own company of voice actors. For the studio's early work, this group was based in Toronto, Ontario, where recording was supervised by veteran CBC announcer Bernard Cowan. This group included actors such as Paul Soles, Larry D. Mann, and Paul Kligman....Outside of the holiday specials, Larry Kenney had been with Rankin/Bass for years, doing characters on ThunderCats (notably as Lion-O) and SilverHawks.
Many of Rankin/Bass' traditionally cel-animated works were animated by the Japanese studio Top Craft, which was formed in 1972 as an offshoot of the legendary studio Toei Animation.
After its last output in 1987 the Rankin/Bass production company became dormant, and for many years to come, no new holiday or non-holiday specials or theatrical films were produced. Arthur Rankin Jr. split his time between New York City, where the company still has its offices, and his summer retreat in Bermuda; similarly, Jules Bass commuted between New York and Paris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankin_Bass
The company was founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass in the early-1960s as Videocraft International. One of Videocraft's first projects was an independently produced series based on the character Pinocchio. It was done using "Animagic", a stop motion animation process using figurines (a process already pioneered by George Pal's "Puppetoons" and Art Clokey's Gumby and Davey and Goliath). This was followed by another independently produced series using more traditional cel animation and based on already established characters, Tales of the Wizard of Oz in 1961.
Throughout the decade of the 1960s, Videocraft produced other stop motion and traditional animation specials and films, some of which were non-holiday stories. For example, 1965 produced Rankin/Bass's first theatrical film, Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, the first of four films produced in association with Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Pictures. 1966 brought to life The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (narrated by James Cagney), the story of the famous forest fire-fighting animal seen in numerous public service announcements.
In 1972 and 1973, Rankin/Bass produced four animated TV-movies for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie: The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters, Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid, The Red Baron, and That Girl in Wonderland.
In 1977, Rankin/Bass produced an animated version of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. It was followed in 1980 by an animated version of The Return of the King, the final volume of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. (The animation rights to the first two volumes were held by Saul Zaentz, producer of Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation The Lord of the Rings.) Other books adapted include The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and Peter Dickens' "The Flight of Dragons".
In the 1970s, Rankin-Bass' Saturday-morning output included animated adventures of The Jackson 5ive (TV series)(Co-Produced with Motown Productions) and The Osmonds).
Rankin/Bass also produced the popular cartoon series, ThunderCats (1985), a cartoon and related toy-line about battling cat-like people in a post-apocalyptic future. It was followed by two similar cartoons about animal-like people, Silverhawks (1986), and Tigersharks (as part of the series The Comic Strip in 1987) which never enjoyed the same commercial success.
Rankin/Bass also attempted live-action productions, such as 1967's sequel King Kong Escapes, the 1976 telefilm The Last Dinosaur, and the 1978 made-for-TV movie The Bermuda Depths.
In addition to the 'name' talent that provided the narration for the specials, Rankin/Bass had its own company of voice actors. For the studio's early work, this group was based in Toronto, Ontario, where recording was supervised by veteran CBC announcer Bernard Cowan. This group included actors such as Paul Soles, Larry D. Mann, and Paul Kligman....Outside of the holiday specials, Larry Kenney had been with Rankin/Bass for years, doing characters on ThunderCats (notably as Lion-O) and SilverHawks.
Many of Rankin/Bass' traditionally cel-animated works were animated by the Japanese studio Top Craft, which was formed in 1972 as an offshoot of the legendary studio Toei Animation.
After its last output in 1987 the Rankin/Bass production company became dormant, and for many years to come, no new holiday or non-holiday specials or theatrical films were produced. Arthur Rankin Jr. split his time between New York City, where the company still has its offices, and his summer retreat in Bermuda; similarly, Jules Bass commuted between New York and Paris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankin_Bass