Pac-Man (TV series)

Pac-Man (also known as Pac-Man: The Animated Series) is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera based on the video game Pac-Man, made by Namco and published by Bally-Midway, which premiered on ABC and ran from 1982 to 1983. It was also the first cartoon based on a video game.

Plot
The show follows the adventures of the title character, Pac-Man, his wife Pepper Pac-Man, their child Pac-Baby, their dog Chomp-Chomp and their cat Sour Puss. The family lives in Pac-Land, a place in which the geography and architecture seem to revolve primarily around spheres and sphere-like shapes. Most episodes of the series center around the ongoing battle between the Pac family and their only known enemies, the Ghost Monsters: Blinky, Inky, Pinky, Clyde, and Sue. They work for Mezmaron, a mysterious figure who resembles Darth Vader from Star Wars: The Original Trilogy and acts similarly to Gargamel from fellow H-B show The Smurfs. Mezmaron's sole mission is to locate and control the source of "Power Pellets", which serve as the primary food and power source for the city, and also as the deus ex machina in virtually every episode. The second season later introduces Super-Pac and Pac-Man's nephew P.J.

Broadcast history
Pac-Man aired on ABC Saturday Morning in the following formats:


 * The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show (September 25, 1982 – September 3, 1983)
 * The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour (September 10, 1983 – September 1, 1984)

During the first airing of the show, the large number of advertisers sponsoring it caused commercial breaks to be double their normal length. Later episodes featured normal commercial break times. Since the original run, reruns have turned up on the USA Cartoon Express on USA in the 1980s, Cartoon Network in the 1990s and Boomerang in 2005. The Christmas-themed episode currently airs each year as part of the Boomerang Christmas Party, an annual marathon of Christmas cartoons, but otherwise is not included in the channel's rotation. The series is also available for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace. In the United Kingdom it was first Broadcast on TVAM as a part of the Roland Rat show.

Main voices

 * Marty Ingels - Pac-Man
 * Peter Cullen – Sour Puss
 * Barry Gordon – Inky
 * Darryl Hickman – P.J. (Season 2)
 * Allan Lurie – Mezmaron
 * Chuck McCann – Blinky, Pinky
 * Julie McWhirter – Dinky (two episodes from seasons 1 & 2)
 * Barbara Minkus – Pepper Pac-Man
 * Lorenzo Music – Super-Pac (Season 2)
 * Neil Ross – Clyde
 * Susan Silo – Sue
 * Russi Taylor – Pac-Baby
 * Frank Welker – Chomp-Chomp, Morris, adult Pac-Baby

Additional voices

 * William Callaway -
 * Jodi Carlisle -
 * Brian Cummings -
 * Pat Fraley -
 * Joan Gerber -
 * Arte Johnson -
 * Paul Kirby -
 * Chris Latta -
 * Kris Stevens -
 * Andre Stojka -
 * Janet Waldo -
 * Lennie Weinrib – Pacula (ep. 7)

Series 1

 * Jay Sarbry (supervisor)
 * Joanna Romersa (assistant supervisor)
 * Robert Alvarez
 * Monique Barreras
 * Bob Bemiller
 * Oliver Callahan
 * Rudy Cataldi
 * Zeon Davush
 * Joan Drake
 * Jon Elford
 * Lillian Evans
 * Hugh Fraser
 * Valerie Gifford
 * Fred Hellmich
 * Bill Hutten
 * Karen Kastelman
 * Hicks Lokey
 * Tony Love
 * Mircea Mantta
 * Ken Muse
 * Constantin Mustatea
 * Ron Myrick
 * Bob Nesler
 * Margaret Nichols
 * Bill Nunes
 * Barney Posner
 * Bill Pratt
 * Don Ruch
 * Kunio Shimamura
 * Michael Silbereich
 * Jim Simon
 * Ken Southworth
 * Richard Trueblood
 * Tim Walker
 * Woody Yocum

Series 2

 * Jamie Diaz (supervisor)
 * Roger Chaisson (supervisor)
 * Sean Newton (supervisor)
 * Don Patterson (supervisor)
 * Don Spencer (supervisor)
 * Susan Beak
 * Dick Dunn
 * Peter Gardiner
 * Gerry Grabner
 * Greg Ingram
 * Jon MacClennahan
 * Paul Maron
 * Mike Stapleton

Pac-Man Halloween Special
The Halloween special consisted of two segments from the show, "Pacula" and "Trick or Chomp". The special aired in primetime on ABC on October 30, 1982. It has been replayed on channels like Cartoon Network and Boomerang during Halloween in recent years.

Christmas Comes to Pacland
Christmas Comes to Pacland In this Christmas special, Pac-Man and family help Santa Claus (voiced by Peter Cullen) after crash-landing on Pac-Land (after the reindeer were startled by the floating eyes of the Ghost Monsters after Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Baby munched them). Mezmeron was the only character from the cartoon that is not in the special (although his castle which is covered in snow appears). It's been speculated that he was away for the holiday, but this hasn't been confirmed by the show's writers. It is shown every December on the Boomerang Christmas Party.

Crew

 * William Hanna - Executive Producer
 * Joseph Barbera - Executive Producer
 * Kay Wright - Producer
 * Jeffrey Scott - Developer
 * Ray Patterson - Supervising Director
 * Gordon Hunt - Recording Director
 * Ginny McSwain - Animation Casting Director

Influence
The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create Saturday Supercade, which featured other video game characters from the golden age of video arcade games. The arcade game Pac-Land was based entirely on the cartoon, and Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures drew significant influence from it as well. Also, the Tengen release of the original Pac-Man arcade game for the Nintendo Entertainment System features box art based on the cartoon.

Home media releases
In 1982, Worldvision Home Video Inc. (under Rainbow Products Ltd.) distributed a Pac-Man and Family VHS in Australia (catalogue number RCV 9019) (Episodes include: Pacula, Trick or Chomp, Super Ghosts, The Pac-Man in the Moon, Invasion of the Pac-Pups, Journey to the Center of Pacland, and the special Christmas Comes to Pacland). Warner Archive released both seasons of Pac-Man on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. These are Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases, available exclusively through Warner's online store or Amazon.com. Season 1 was released on January 31, 2012, followed by season 2 on September 11, 2012.