Animalympics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animalympics is a 1980 animated film produced by Lisberger Studios, that spoofs the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, featuring the voices of Billy Crystal, Gilda Radner, Harry Shearer and Michael Fremer, who also co-wrote the script with director Steven Lisberger as well as editing the dialogue and music tracks and supervising the sound mix. [1]
Contents |
[edit] History
Originally commissioned by the NBC Television Network in 1978, it was produced as two separate shows intended to air along with the network's 1980 winter and summer Olympics coverage.[2] [3] However, only the half-hour winter show made it to the small screen, as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan caused President Jimmy Carter to boycott the Moscow Summer Olympics. America stayed away, NBC canceled its Olympic coverage and with it, the hour-long Animalympics.[4] However, from its conception, producer Donald Kushner and director, Steven Lisberger intended "Animalympics" to be an hour and a half feature-length theatrical release. That version, recorded and mixed in Dolby surround sound via magnetically-striped 35MM film, had its debut at the 1980 Miami Film Festival, where it was well-received. The feature-length version of "Animalympics" screened in theaters worldwide, summer of 1980.
Considering that the film was produced in 1979, it stands out through the use of several music-video-like sequences to its soundtrack by 10cc's Graham Gouldman, uncommon at the time. [5]
Among those who worked on Animalympics were art director/animator Roger Allers, animation director Bill Kroyer, and animator Brad Bird. Allers, who animated Kit Mambo, the lion star of Animalympics, appropriately went on to direct The Lion King.[6] Kroyer later wrote and directed the animated feature Ferngully. Brad Bird went on to work as story editor of The Simpsons, and later achieved even greater success writing and directing Iron Giant, The Incredibles.[7] and Ratatouille .
Director Lisberger went on conceive of co-write and direct the science fiction classic Tron. While Tron is best known as the film that brought computer animation to the screen, its two Academy Award nominations in 1982 were in the sound category. Its soundtrack supervisor was Animalympics co-writer and voice-over talent Michael Fremer.
Unlike the real Olympics, continents are represented rather than countries. The continents featured are North America, South America, Eurasia, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Eurasia represented Eastern Europe, reflecting the Summer Olympics scheduled to be held in Moscow, whereas Europe represented Western and Central Europe. South America is only briefly represented in soccer. The only reference to Australia is the use of a kangaroo as a North American boxer and a koala as a commentator.
The only mention of areas other than continents are the New York Rats soccer team, Dean Wilson being from California, a Central American marathon runner named Pepe Repanosa, marathon runner Terry Hornsby being from Boulder, Colorado, Renee Fromage being from France, and Kurt Wüfner appearing at the downhill event right before a Scandinavian is given a gold medal.
[edit] Plot summary
The movie is a series of vignettes presented as the broadcast of the first animal Olympic Games through the fictional ZOO television network. Because of the combination of the two short cartoons, the Games combine both summer and winter Olympic events. Many of the characters presented, both ZOO crewmembers and Olympic participants, are celebrity caricatures.
Although many of the segments could easily stand alone, there are a number of recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of the marathon, where competitors René Fromage (a French goat) and Kit Mambo (an African lioness) are the favorites to win. Both determined to win — Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself — they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love. Another important story is that of Kurt Wüffner, German dachshund skier, and his disappearance to Dogra-la (see Shangri-la) during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after the slalom event.
A fan of the movie has started the Animalympics Album Project (see link below), an attempt to remaster and re-release the movie's soundtrack (composed by Graham Gouldman, bassist of 10cc) on compact disc. Fans of the original films have also re-edited the combined film into a close approximation of the original winter/summer games as separate films, and have been showing them at science fiction conventions since the 1980s. The movie has recently been uploaded in its entirety on YouTube. The film's combined summer/winter format has been retained, however the movie has been divided into nine parts of approximately seven to nine minutes in length.
In various parts of the film, references to past medalists and past athletics are indicated. Because it is clearly stated that it is the first Animalympics, the highlights of other events must be from other events such as world championships. In fact, figure skater Dorrie Turnell is indicated as having won the Junior World Championship.
[edit] Disney Version
Animalympics is shown most often on the Disney Channel, albeit with several edits, both to make the movie more family friendly and to edit jokes that are considered "offensive". Some scenes were merely shortened while others were lengthened.
[edit] References
- ^ Animalympics
- ^ Animalympics - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - New York Times
- ^ Animalympics: Summer Olympics - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - New York Times
- ^ Zeek: Simulacra, Simulation and Science Fiction
- ^ Billboard.com - Biography - Graham Gouldman
- ^ Roger Allers - Movies, Movie Clips and Trailers
- ^ Interview - Brad Bird for "The Incredibles"
