Jetlag Productions was a Japanese-American

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

studio that specialized on developing several animated films based on popular fairy tales and public-domain literature, and original productions during the 1990s. Its films were animated in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

by KKC&D Asia and Animaru Ya, among other South Korean companies. They were originally released directly to VHS through the GoodTimes Home Video

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

company. With the introduction of DVD, the films were later distributed via a newer department of the same company, GoodTimes Home Entertainment. The movies in Jetlag's catalogue were dubbed into many different languages and distributed by international departments of the GoodTimes corporation. Since 2005, the Gaiam company has held the copyrights to Jetlag Productions' animated films following GoodTimes Entertainment's bankruptcy.

History

Jetlag Productions started out as a small animation studio, assisting in the productions of series such as ''

The New Adventures of He-Man ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' is an animation, animated series which ran in Broadcast syndication, syndication in the second half of 1990 while Mattel released the toy line He-Man, an update of their Masters of the Universe line. The cartoon s ...

'' and ''Heroes on Hot Wheels'' in 1990, and '' Conan the Adventurer'' in 1992, until it was approached by Joe, Ken, and Stan Cayre (known artistically as the Cayre Brothers) of GoodTimes Entertainment. The company then replaced Golden Films as GoodTimes's provider of budget animated productions, when the contract with Golden Film expired. Under the name of their new establishment, the Cayre Brothers produced ''Children's Classics'', a series of animated films that were very similar to those from Golden Films in style. Beginning their releases in 1994, Jetlag Productions produced a total of 17 different animated films, 13 adaptations of existing material, and four original features. All 17 films were around 45 minutes in length, and were released as

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 ...

VHS features, under the "GoodTimes" name by GoodTimes Home Video. Their last release was ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', which was released on April 30, 1996, just before GoodTimes turned to a new company, Blye Migicovsky Productions, for their new line of animation releases. Jetlag Productions' films were revived on DVD under a "Collectible Classics" label in 2002 by GoodTimes Entertainment. The new releases were widely available until GoodTimes filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and all assets were transferred to Gaiam.

Title listing

Fairy tale and short story adaptations

* ''Cinderella'' (1994), based on

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , , ; 12 January 162816 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his ...

's fairy tale and also on The

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

's 1697 and 1812 fairy tale * ''The Jungle Book'' (1995), based on the "Mowgli" stories from

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

's 1894 short story collection * ''Little Red Riding Hood'' (1995), based on

's fairy tale and the Brothers Grimm's 1697 and 1812 fairy tale * ''The Nutcracker'' (1995), based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story * ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1995), based on

's fairy tale and the Brothers Grimm's 1697 and 1812 fairy tale * ''Snow White'' (1995), based on the Brothers Grimm's 1812 fairy tale

Myths and legends adaptations

* ''Pocahontas'' (1994), also known as ''The Adventures of Pocahontas: Indian Princess'', based on the life of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

* ''Hercules'' (1995), based on the legendary hero from

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

Literary novel adaptations

* ''A Christmas Carol'' (1994), based on

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

's 1843 novella * ''Alice in Wonderland'' (1995), based on

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's 1865 novel * ''Black Beauty'' (1995), based on Anna Sewell's 1877 novel * ''Heidi'' (1995), based on Johanna Spyri's 1880 novel * ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), based on

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's 1831 novel

Original works

* ''Happy, the Littlest Bunny'' (1994), written by Larry Hartstein * ''Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle'' (1994), written by George Bloom * ''Curly, the Littlest Puppy'' (1995), written by Larry Hartstein * ''Magic Gift of the Snowman'' (1995), written by Larry Hartstein

TV series

* ''

'' (1990) * '' Heroes on Hot Wheels'' (1990) * '' Conan the Adventurer'' (1992) *'' The Bots Master'' (1993)

Music

Unlike its predecessor, Golden Films, Jetlag Productions did not rely on familiar classical compositions as the soundtrack to their films (the only exception would be ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

'', which featured a variation of

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

's " Morning Mood"). Instead, a variety of original compositions were created from scratch, produced by Andrew Dimitroff.

Original songs

Jetlag Productions incorporated original songs across all 17 of their productions. Each film featured a set of three original songs. While the inclusion of musical numbers followed a certain formula, there were exceptions to this rule. For instance, "A Christmas Carol" (1994) departed from the typical opening musical number, and "Hercules" (1995) concluded with an instrumental rendition of "Son of Zeus" rather than a vocal performance. Despite the prevalent use of off-screen voices for most songs, a few films featured in-character performances, such as "Hip Hip Hooray" from "Snow White" (1995), "Sleep and Dream" from "Magic Gift of the Snowman" (1995), "(It's the) Chance of a Lifetime" from "Cinderella" (1994), and "Out on My Own" from "Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle" (1994). An exception to this trend was the

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

"When Love Has Gone Away" from "Cinderella" (1994), sung by the characters of Cinderella and the prince. Among the many songs featured in Jetlag's films were notable titles like "Dream On, Cinderella" from "Cinderella"; "Start With A Smile", "This Is Home", and "(We're) The Very Best Of Friends" from "

"; and "Never Give Up" from "Hercules".

Musicians

The composers and lyricists involved in original soundtracks. Among these credits, the following artists were credited as: * Music producer: Andrew Dimitroff * Composers: Nick Carr, Ray Crossley and Andrew Dimitroff * Lyricist: Joellyn Cooperman

Credited musicians

* Ray Crossley * Andrew Dimitroff * Milcho Leviev * Mel Steinberg * Leslie Woodbury

Uncredited vocalist performers

* Kathleen Barr (as the singing voice of Tooey in ''Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle'' (1994), performing "Out on My Own") * Garry Chalk (as the voice of Leo in ''Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle'' (1994), performing "I'm a Really Nice Guy") * Wendy K. Hamilton-Caddey (for songs such as "A Little Bit of Magic", "The Season of Love", "Keep Christmas in Your Heart", and "Land of Pocahontas", among others)

External links

{{Authority control Anime-influenced animation American animation studios Companies established in the 1990s