''The Raccoons'' is a Canadian

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

that ran on

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

from November 11, 1985, to March 19, 1991, in Canada and on

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

from July 4, 1985, to August 28, 1992, in the U.S., with three preceding

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

s from its inception in 1980, and one direct-to-video special in 1984. The franchise was created by Kevin Gillis with the co-operation of the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

Synopsis

The series revolves around Bert

Raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

and married couple Ralph and Melissa Raccoon, of whom Bert is a friend and roommate. The series mostly involved the trio's efforts against the

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

forces of greedy

aardvark Aardvarks ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') are medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammals native to Africa. Aardvarks are the only living species of the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. They have a long proboscis, similar to a pi ...

millionaire Cyril Sneer, who regularly tries to destroy the forest for personal wealth. However, the Raccoons always save their forest from Cyril's schemes, with help from their forest friends including Schaeffer, a gentle Old English Sheepdog; Cedric, Cyril's college graduate son; and Sophia Tutu, Cedric's girlfriend. As the series progresses, Cyril becomes more of a sympathetic character, eventually becoming an

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

, becoming more responsible in his priorities and business practices. Originally, the story was set in a kind of hidden world in the Evergreen Forest where a small human family of a forest ranger and his children reside unaware of the struggles taking place out of sight. The second season had these human characters removed as the premise shifted to an unambiguous fantasy world of a sophisticated humanoid animal version of Canada with complex transportation systems, broadcasting media and heavy industry etc. In addition, Ralph's relatives become regular characters, especially his young nephew and niece, Bentley the insecure child technology prodigy and Lisa the statuesque athletic teenager who became an understated love interest for Bert. Unlike many other cartoons of its time, it handled action, humour, and romance in a fairly sophisticated manner, while remaining sufficiently uncomplicated for younger viewers. Lessons featured in the series mainly focused on

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

. It also covered other topics, including friendship and teamwork.

Episodes

Characters

Main

* Bert Raccoon (voiced by

Len Carlson Len Carlson (September 2, 1937 - January 26, 2006) was a Canadian voice actor who voiced various characters on many animated television series from the 1960s to the 2000s, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman during ...

) – The main protagonist of the series. He is Ralph and Melissa's houseguest and is their best friend from childhood. An energetic

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

with a lot of imagination, Bert always likes to seek out adventure and to live life to the fullest. Although he is impulsive and prone to foolish decisions, he has a kind heart. * Ralph Raccoon (voiced by

Bob Dermer Bob Dermer (born 1946) is a Canadian actor who first made his contributions to Canadian television in 1965 as an actor in Ottawa on a late night serial called ''Milk and Honey'' which ran for 200 episodes. Prior to '' Readalong'', Dermer was also ...

) and Melissa Raccoon (voiced by

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

(specials 1–2),

Dottie West Dottie West (born Dorothy Marie Marsh; October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country singer and songwriter. She also had several credits as an actress. A distinguished figure in the country genre, West was among several people ...

(special 3), Linda Feige (season 1) and

Susan Roman Susan Roman (born April 17) is a Canadian television and voice actress and voice director, best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the Canada DiC (and later Cloverway/CWi) dub of the anime ''Sailor Moon''. She is one of ...

(seasons 2–5)) – The happily married couple who live in the "Raccoondominium" with their more-or-less permanent houseguest Bert. Ralph tolerates Bert's antics to some extent and knows his heart is in the right place but it does not prevent him from getting frustrated by them. He is also the founder of "The Evergreen Standard" newspaper. Melissa is the more sensible of the three raccoons, and is always there to give the boys a push in the right direction. She often enjoys a good laugh too, usually when Bert or Ralph act silly or when Cyril's plans go embarrassingly awry. * Cedric Sidney Sneer (voiced by

Fred Little Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

(specials 1–3) and Marvin Goldhar (series)) – Cyril Sneer's nerdy son and Bert Raccoon's best friend, and heir to the Sneer fortune. Since the special "The Raccoons on Ice" Cedric has gained a crush on Sophia and usually acts nervous around her. In the specials, he was completely passive and subservient to his father, but gradually becomes more assertive as the series goes on. * Schaeffer (voiced by

Carl Banas Carl Banas (January 23, 1930 – April 1, 2020) was a Canadian radio personality and voice actor, known for his voice roles in ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' (1964) and '' The Raccoons'' (1980–1992). As a television actor, he appeared in ...

) – A large sheepdog, who is friends with the Raccoons. Originally portrayed as slow and dimwitted in the original specials, he quickly became one of the smartest characters on the series, and eventually opened the Blue Spruce Cafe as a bartender and assists with the Evergreen Standard's technical needs. * Broo (voiced by

Sharon Lewis Sharon M. Lewis is a Canadian television personality and film director from Toronto, Ontario. She studied political science at the University of Toronto.John McKay, "Sharon Lewis finds activism experience a plus for new role as CounterSpin host, ...

) – A sheepdog puppy who seems to favor Bert as his owner in season 2 after the human characters were dropped from the show. * Sophia Tutu (voiced by Sharon Lewis) – Cedric's ditzy girlfriend, who is a superb swan glider and diver. Although clearly an aardvark, she is much more humanoid in appearance than either Cedric or Cyril. She is very feminine, but likes to ride bikes with Cedric and once participated in the Evergreen Games, coming in third place. She was phased out of the show in later seasons. * Cyril Sneer (voiced by

Michael Magee Michael or Mike Magee may refer to: * Michael Magee (actor) (1929–2011), Canadian actor and author * Mickey McGee (1947–2020), American drummer * Mike Magee (journalist) (born 1949), British journalist * Michael Magee, Irish casualty during the ...

) – Originally the main villain of the series, Cyril is an

, with a long, pink nose, a ruthless and greedy businessman and Cedric's father. Although Cyril starts off villainous, he later softens up, becoming distinctly less so as the series progresses, though he retains his treacherous, greedy nature. Despite his money-grubbing ways, he has shown to genuinely love his son and tries grooming him to take over the family business. He has a soft spot for Bentley and Lisa, Ralph's nephew and niece. He has a strict matter of pride about keeping promises, as shown in the episodes "Going It Alone!" and "Trouble Shooter!". * Snag (voiced by Michael Magee) – Cyril and Cedric Sneer's (non-anthropomorphic) pet dog. He has blue fur, a nose similar to his aardvark-owners' and a bad temper that rivals Cyril's, but he also loves Cedric and once saved him from a fire. * The Pigs (voiced by Nick Nichols (Pig One (special 3 – episodes 50; 58)),

Keith Hampshire Keith Hampshire (born 23 November 1945) is an English-born singer and actor. He recorded three songs which were top ten hits in Canada, and hosted the CBC Television show ''Keith Hampshire's Music Machine''. His voice has been compared to Davi ...

(Pig One (episodes 51–60)), Len Carlson (Pigs Two and Three (series)) and Fred Little (Pig Three (special 3) – Cyril's three bumbling henchmen and assistants. They are almost never referred to by name, as they are simply listed as Pig One, Two and Three in the credits, although they occasionally refer to one another as "Lloyd". Fans of the show have referred Pig One as "Lloyd" and the other two as "Boyd" and "Floyd". Kevin Gillis said their names were "Lloyd, Lloyd and their somewhat gullible brother, Floyd" (however, some fans point out this makes no sense from a logical point of view for two characters to have the same name). * The Bears (voiced by

and

) – Cyril Sneer's additional henchmen, workers, butlers, soldiers, spies, etc. * Bentley Raccoon (voiced by

Noam Zylberman Noam Zylberman (; born June 30, 1973) is an Israeli-born Canadian voice actor. Early life Zylberman was born in Haifa, Israel to Jewish parents. His family relocated to Canada when he was two years old. He attended Arlington Middle School and ...

(episodes 16–54) and

Stuart Stone Stuart Stone (born Stuart Eisenstein) is a Canadian actor as well as a producer of television, film and music. He is best known for his roles as Ronald Fisher in the 2001 cult film, ''Donnie Darko'' and Ralphie Tennelli on ''The Magic School Bus'' ...

(as Stu Stone) (episodes 55–60) – George and Nicole's son. He's an expert with computers, and is a very typical younger kid, with a tendency to overemphasize his personal setbacks. He often favours houseguest Bert while Cyril Sneer thinks highly of him. He is originally introduced as Ralph's cousin in his first appearance but later retconned into his nephew. * Lisa Raccoon (voiced by Lisa Lougheed) – Ralph's niece and Bentley's teenage basketball-playing sister, who becomes a prominent character in Season 5, after her first appearance in the Season 4 episode "Spring Fever", where she comes to visit.

Supporting

* Dan the Forest Ranger (voiced by

Rupert Holmes Rupert Holmes (born David Goldstein; February 24, 1947) is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles " Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and " Him" (1980). He is also know ...

(special 1),

Leo Sayer Leo Sayer (born Gerard Hugh Sayer, 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter who has been active since the early 1970s. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingd ...

(special 2), John Schneider (special 3), Kevin Gillis (special 4 (uncredited)) and Murray Crunchley (series) – The caretaker of the Evergreen Forest, as well as the father of Tommy and Julie and owner of Schaeffer and Broo during the specials and Season 1. He is shown to be a single father as there is no mention of the mother of his children in neither the specials nor the series. * Tommy (voiced by Hadley Kay (specials) and

(series)) – Ranger Dan's son and one of Schaeffer and Broo's original owners as well as Julie's younger brother. * Julie (voiced by Tammy Bourne (specials) and Vanessa Lindores (series)) – Ranger Dan's daughter and one of Schaeffer and Broo's original owners as well as Tommy's older sister. * Mr. Mammoth (voiced by

) – A rhinoceros who is the richest, most powerful character on the show; he speaks in incoherent mumbles that are translated by his assistant. * Sidekick (voiced by Rick Jones, Seasons 1–2) and Dan Hennessey (Season 5) – Mr. Mammoth's canary assistant who translates his grumbles. * Mr. Knox (voiced by

) – An acquaintance of Cyril Sneer, a Southern crocodile business mogul; he is married to Lady Baden-Baden, and owner of the television company K.N.O.X. TV. He and Cyril are rivals, though it is a friendly one. * Lady Baden-Baden (voiced by

) – A wealthy, melodramatic hen who eventually marries Mr. Knox. She was a theatre actress in her younger days, and now is an enthusiastic

patron of the arts Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

. She later becomes mayor of the Evergreen Forest. * Professor Witherspoon Smedley-Smythe (voiced by Len Carlson) – A goat who runs the Evergreen Museum. * Dr. Canard (voiced by Len Carlson) – A duck who is Cyril's doctor. * Mr. Willow (voiced by

) – A friendly polar bear who is the owner of Willow's General Store. * Mrs. Suey-Ellen Pig (voiced by Nonnie Griffin) – The pigs' mother. She appears in two episodes, "Mom's the Word", where her name is revealed, and "Promises Promises". * Milton Midas (voiced by Len Carlson) – An eagle businessman and scam artist. He is responsible for the poisoning of the fishing hole at Rippling Pond in the series' penultimate episode "The One That Got Away". * George and Nicole Raccoon (voiced by

Dan Hennessey Daniel Robert Hennessey (September 11, 1942 – November 13, 2024) was an American-born Canadian voice actor. He was perhaps best known for voicing Brave Heart Lion in the ''Care Bears'' franchise. In addition to his well-received voice work ...

and

Elizabeth Hanna Elizabeth Hanna is a Canadian film and television actress and speech language pathologist, most notable for her voice acting work in animated films. She is best known as the voice of Hen in '' Little Bear''. History Early history Elizabeth H ...

) – Ralph's respective older brother and sister-in-law and the father and mother of Bentley and Lisa Raccoon. A couple who were once nomads. George hosts "Chef Surprise", a cooking show on KNOX-TV.

Cast and characters

Main

– Bert Raccoon / Boyd (Pig Two) / Floyd (Pig Three) / Mr. Knox / Additional Voices *

– Cyril Sneer / Snag *

– Ralph Raccoon / Lady Baden-Baden / Additional Voices * Linda Feige – Melissa Raccoon (1985–1986) *

– Melissa Raccoon (1987–1991) / Additional Voices * Marvin Goldhar – Cedric Sneer / Additional Voices *

– Sophia Tutu / Broo *

– Schaeffer / Bears / Mr. Mammoth / Mr. Willow * Nick Nichols – Lloyd (Pig One) (1983–1990; 1991) *

– Lloyd (Pig One) (1990–1991) * Murray Cruchley – Dan the Forest Ranger *

– Tommy / Bentley Raccoon (1987–1990) *

– Bentley Raccoon (1990–1991) / Danny * Vanessa Lindores – Julie *

– George Raccoon / Sidekick (1990) *

– Nicole Raccoon * Lisa Lougheed – Lisa Raccoon * Geoffrey Winter – Narrator

Additional voices

* Debra McGrath – Nurse Peck * Les Lye – Samaritan "Sammy" Sneer * Rick Jones – Sidekick (1985–1987) * Derek Diorio – Haggis Lamborgini *

Pauline Rennie Merna Pauline Lesauvage (née Reinke; December 14, 1911 – January 7, 1998), known professionally as Pauline Rennie, was a Canadian voice actress whose career included voice roles on several 1980s cartoons, including '' Star Wars: Ewoks'', ''Car ...

– Aunt Gertie * Nonnie Griffin – Mrs. Suey-Ellen Pig * Bob Segarini – Woodchuck Berry * Barry Bailey – Troy Malone * Jeremiah McCann – Bonneville Knox * Peter Messaline – The Great Tromboni * Kay Hawtrey – Miss Primrose *

Bruno Gerussi Bruno Santos Gerussi (7 May 1928 – 21 November 1995) was a Canadian stage and television actor, best known for the lead role in the CBC Television series '' The Beachcombers'' from 1972 to 1990. He also performed onstage at the Stratford Fest ...

– Edward Miller * Barbara Frum – Miss Barbara LaFrum * Theresa Sears – Ingrid Bellamour * Terrence Scammell – Classmate #1 *

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The Powerpuff Girls'', '' The Fair ...

– Donna (credited as Tara Charendoff) *

Lisa Yamanaka Lisa Jai Yamanaka is a Canadian actress. She is known as the voice of Wanda Li in ''The Magic School Bus'' and Yoko in ''Timothy Goes to School''. Yamanaka is also known for her work on ''Babar'' and ''Resident Evil 2''. She is also credited as Li ...

– Patty

Production

The ''Raccoons'' franchise was originally conceived by Canadian TV personality Kevin Gillis in the 1970s, while appearing in shows like ''

Celebrity Cooks ''Celebrity Cooks'' is a Canadian cooking show independently produced by Carleton Productions and Insight Productions and aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1979 and on Global from 1980 to 1987. It was syndicated throughout Canada and the Uni ...

'' and '' Yes You Can''. The initial idea for the show was created by Gillis and columnist Gary Dunford. They drew their inspiration for Ralph Raccoon from a dilemma that happened at a

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

in Ottawa. Dunford backed out, but Gillis took his idea to Ottawa lawyer Sheldon S. Wiseman, who saw a potential in Gillis' idea and put together a large group of animators, musicians and writers to create the first special to star the characters known as '' The Christmas Raccoons''. Production on the special began in 1979 and was completed the following year, and the special was broadcast on December 17, 1980 on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

. It was also broadcast in several countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. The special was a huge hit and its success resulted in two sequel specials '' The Raccoons on Ice'' and '' The Raccoons and the Lost Star'' and a

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

special, '' The Raccoons: Let's Dance!''. In 1981, US television networks

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

approached Sheldon Wiseman about producing a 13-episode "Raccoons" television series. In 1984, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the

began funding on the television series, which cost about $4.5 million to make. In the U.S., the show was run on The Disney Channel from July 4, 1985 until August 28, 1992.''The Disney Channel Magazine'', Vol. 10, no. 4, August/September 1992: p. 36, 52. In Canada, it was shown on CBC on Monday evenings for the first season and was shown in a block consisting of ''

The Wonderful World of Disney The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward. The program mo ...

'' and Jim Henson's ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy television comedy, comedy puppet television series about interconnected so ...

'' on Sundays for the next two seasons before moving to Wednesdays in its fourth, sharing an hour block with ''

The Beachcombers ''The Beachcombers'' is a Canadian comedy drama television series that ran on CBC Television from October 1, 1972, to December 12, 1990. With over 350 episodes, it is one of the longest-running dramatic series ever made for Canadian English-langu ...

'' and then eventually Tuesdays in its fifth and final season.

Music

The series had a new wave

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

including the theme song " Run with Us" by cast member Lisa Lougheed. Season 1 ended with a different version of the song, not sung by Lougheed. "Run with Us" was performed in season 1 by Stephen Lunt. In the first season, Canadian singer Luba performed several songs, several of which were later re-recorded by Lougheed for use in other seasons. There were also several other songs performed by other musicians such as

and

who performed songs for the first special,

and Coolidge again for the second, and John Schneider and

for the final TV special. Due to contractual reasons, Schneider's vocals on three of the songs were replaced with Frank Floyd and Hank Martin when they were released on the accompanying soundtrack album for the fourth special.

Rory Dodd Rory Dodd (born Port Dover, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rock vocalist who has performed many songs written by Jim Steinman. He is probably best known for singing as the duet voice (the "Turn around, bright eyes" lyrics) on Bonnie Tyler's versi ...

, The Dior Bros. (actually Kevin Gillis and Jon Stroll under a pseudonym), and many other musicians also had songs performed, although somewhat rarely compared to the aforementioned people. According to Jon Stroll, Frank Floyd, the frontman of the 1970s R&B funk group The Writers, was originally selected to be the main male singer for the series but backed out at the last minute. Needing a replacement, they brought in Curtis King Jr. at the suggestion of backup singer Valerie Wilson. The earlier version of "Run with Us", like quite a few of the other songs from ''The Raccoons'', were never officially released. The songs from the first two specials were released on the album ''Lake Freeze – The Raccoons Songtrack'' in 1983. A soundtrack for the fourth special was released in 1984, but featured vocals from Frank Floyd and Hank Martin to replace John Schneider. Nine of the songs from the series featured on Lougheed's album ''

Evergreen Nights Lisa Dawn Lougheed (; ; born September 9, 1968) is a Canadian former singer, dancer, voice actress, and songwriter. She is likely best known for her role in the animated television series ''The Raccoons'', where she performed for the soundtrack ...

'' (1987), though Lougheed only sang some of the songs (sometimes in duets), while some were sung by other artists (Curtis King Jr. and Stephen Lunt). The French version of "Run with Us", as well as most of Luba and Lisa Lougheed's songs, was performed by the Quebecois Canadian singer Jano Bergeron with "Run with Us" being renamed in French to "Viens Vers Nous". The instrumental music was composed by Kevin Gillis and Jon Stroll and performed largely by the

National Arts Centre Orchestra The National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) is a Canadian orchestra based in Ottawa, Ontario. The NAC Orchestra's primary concert venue is Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Since its inception, the Orchestra has commissioned more ...

from Ottawa, Canada, though due to contractual reasons, they were credited as the National Raccoon Orchestra and later the Royal Raccoon Orchestra on the accompanying soundtrack albums. Most of the instrumental cues heard in the series were actually recorded for '' The Raccoons and the Lost Star'' and re-used. Only six of the instrumental tunes (two from ''The Raccoons on Ice'' and four from ''The Raccoons and the Lost Star'') have ever been released officially (they can be found on the ''Lake Freeze'' and ''Let's Dance!'' albums).

Animation

From 1979 until 1985, Canadian animation studio

Atkinson Film-Arts Atkinson Film-Arts was an animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The company is best known for producing the first two Care Bears television specials – ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' and ''The Care Bears Battle the ...

provided the animation for the four specials and first season of the series.All episodes in season 1 say in the end credits "Animation Facility: Atkinson Film-Arts". In 1986, after producing the first 11 episodes, Hinton Animation Studios took over to animate the remaining seasons of the show (seasons 2–5).All episodes in season 2–5 say in the end credits "Produced at Hinton Animation Studios Inc."

Telecast and home media

''The Raccoons'' ran on

from November 11, 1985 until March 19, 1991 in Canada. It was also broadcast in several countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as several countries in Continental Europe. In Canada, it was shown on CBC on Monday evenings for the first season and was shown in a block consisting of ''

'' and ''

'' on Sundays for the next two seasons until moving to Wednesdays in its fourth, sharing an hour block with ''

'' and then eventually Tuesdays in its fifth and final season. In the U.S., the show ran on

The Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Launched on April 18, 1983, under the na ...

from July 4, 1985 until August 28, 1992. In the late 1990s, Trio, a US cable network then partially owned by the CBC, aired repeats of the show. In the United Kingdom, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcast the series from 1985 to 1991 as part of its children's programming block Children's BBC (now called

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

). During this time, it was shown on the Saturday morning children's show

Going Live! ''Going Live!'' is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 26 September 1987 to 17 April 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Annabel Giles, Phillip ...

. In the late 2000s, repeats of the show aired on Boomerang UK. Embassy Home Entertainment released the specials and Season 1 on home video from 1982 to 1987. Embassy also released the specials on

Laserdisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

, CED and

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

formats. Other distributors, such as Catalyst and GoodTimes Home Entertainment also released the Raccoons specials and episodes on VHS. In the United Kingdom, Embassy Home Entertainment released the four Raccoons specials on VHS in the mid-1980s, before the distribution rights went to Channel 5 Video (a division of Polygram Video) in 1986. They re-released the four specials on video, and released another video called ''The Raccoons Big Surprise'' with two Season 1 episodes "Surprise Attack" and "Going It Alone" (Cat. No. CFV 05042). Then, three videos with Season 2 episodes were released, the first two were released by Picture Music International (PMI) that included "Double Play" and "The Sweet Smell of Success" on volume 1, released in 1988 and then "Blast from the Past" and "Power Trip" on volume 2, released in 1989. Then

Video Collection International 2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide and the Woolworths (United Kingd ...

Ltd. released a third tape which contained the episodes "Stop The Clock" and "The Artful Dodger" on 13 August 1990 (Cat No. VC1191). That same tape was re-released again by Video Collection International Ltd. on 22 July 1991, as part of their ''Children's Club'' range (Cat No. KK0019). In 2003, Morningstar Entertainment released the show on DVD for the first time. Two 9-episode boxsets were released, each containing three discs that were also available separately. The discs were released without any region coding in

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

format. The first set contained nine of the ten episodes from

season 2 Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album), 2014 * ''2econd Season'', an album by Unk, 2008 * "Season 2", a song by Phoenix from ''Alpha Zulu ''Alpha Zulu'' is the seventh studio album by French indie pop band Phoenix, released on 4 ...

(omitting "Stop the Clock") and the second set contained the first nine episodes of

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. The extras include character bios, a chance to create your own scene from ''The Raccoons'' and Raccoon-A-Roma DVD-ROM content, like

QuickTime QuickTime (or QuickTime Player) is an extensible multimedia architecture created by Apple, which supports playing, streaming, encoding, and transcoding a variety of digital media formats. The term ''QuickTime'' also refers to the QuickTime Pla ...

animated sequences. For this release, Len Carlson also reprised his role as Bert during menus and gave in-character commentary before and after episodes. Both sets are now out of print, and no North American DVD release has come out since then. A 2-disc Region 2

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

DVD release of the complete series 1 was released in the UK on September 17, 2007 through Fabulous Films Ltd. The bonus features on set 1 were duplicated from the Canadian release, mainly the create a scene and Raccoon-A-Roma DVD-ROM content. Fabulous Films later released a DVD entitled ''Three Adventures With The Raccoons'' on April 7, 2008. This DVD contained the first three episodes of Series 1 ("Surprise Attack", "Going It Alone" and "A Night to Remember") with no extras.

Series 2 Series 2 could refer to: * Apple Watch Series 2, a smart watch by Apple * Aston Martin Lagonda Series 2, the automobile model * Aston Martin V8 Series 2, the automobile model * BMW 2 Series, the automobile model line * GeForce 2 series, line of nVi ...

was released on April 20, 2009 by Fabulous Films Ltd. in another two-disc set. DVD extras on the set include character model sheets and a documentary. In September 2009, MORE Entertainment released an 8-disc DVD set in Germany, containing all 60 episodes (7–8 per disc) and no extras. The language track is German only. Later, in November 2013, MORE released a DVD featuring all four Raccoons specials. As with the previous complete series set, the only language track is German. In December 2009, the first season of ''The Raccoons'' was released on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

in Canada. It was also released on

in the U.S. in April 2010. The first two seasons were released on DVD to

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in the U.S. in early-2010 and in Canada in August 2011. As of June 2020, the 4k remastered full-episode series is now available on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Since March 27, 2023, the series in its 4K remastered form aired in repeats on Boomerang Canada.

Reception

''The Raccoons'' was well received by critics. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', in its review for their second TV special, said "the Raccoons are an adorable lot, supported nicely by an attractive production." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' praised the third special, ''The Raccoons and the Lost Star'', calling it "a rollicking good adventure filled with space-age animation, high-tech gadgetry, lilting tunes, a lovable sheepdog, and the delightful Raccoons team." In 2022, series creator Kevin Gillis said that the show was seeing a resurgence of interest, speculating that it was due to the "original audience now having young families of their own and want ngto reach back to what helped form their early lives." The show was nominated for many awards, including a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

for ''Best Sound'' and ''Best Writing'', and won the Gemini for ''Best Animated Series''.

Legacy

In 1990, Bert and Lisa were named the mascots of the Canadian Olympic team. That year, the Canadian Junior Olympics were held. Its theme song " Run with Us" was also featured in the 2011 film ''

Hobo with a Shotgun ''Hobo with a Shotgun'' is a 2011 exploitation black comedy action film directed by Jason Eisener and written by John Davies. Based on Eisener's fictitious trailer of the same name from ''Grindhouse'' (2007), it is the second feature-length adap ...

.'' In January 2022, the show was featured in the premiere episode of '' Son of a Critch''. Children's novels based on the series were published by

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

-based publisher Candy Jar Books in 2024.

Notes

References

External links

*
The Unofficial ''Raccoons'' Home Page

The Raccoons page on Big Jump Entertainment

The Raccoons Official Instagram page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raccoons, The 1980s Canadian animated television series 1980s Canadian children's television series 1985 animated television series debuts 1985 Canadian television series debuts 1990s Canadian animated television series 1990s Canadian children's television series 1992 Canadian television series endings Animated television series about mammals Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming BBC children's television shows Canadian children's animated comedy television series Canadian children's animated drama television series CBC Television original programming Television series about raccoons Television shows set in Canada Children's television series about talking animals Fictional raccoons Anthropomorphic raccoons