The Raccoons: 40th Anniversary of the Beloved Canadian Classic
On CBC-TV (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Television) in the fall of 1985 (after its summer premiere on the Disney Channel in the United States), a brand new Canadian animated show was released among young audiences. This new show was The Raccoons and revolved around a group of anthropomorphic animals made up of raccoons Bert, Ralph, and Melissa, and their supporting cast of animal friends, who live peacefully in the woods and have fun and wacky adventures, often thwarting the threats of deforestation from the greedy pink anteater and canny businessman Cyril Sneer.
With the catchy theme song, fun and appealing character designs, and a strong environmental message throughout its five seasons, the show resonated with so many children in Canada before it was eventually broadcast in a total of 180 countries around the world. Regarded today as one of the most iconic shows from the eighties and nineties, it’s also a staple in Canadian animation history, and with the talented team of animators and writers who worked on the show and its creator supporting his characters years after its production ended, it’s still an iconic show that has managed to remain recognisable and resonates with the themes of environmentalism today.
Bert Raccoon (centred) with Ralph (left) and Melissa Raccoon (right)
The Raccoons was created by Kevin Gillis, who worked on Celebrity Cooks during the late seventies, providing his singing talents for the show’s host, Bruno Gerussi. During this time, he also came up with the concept of a brand new show, and Gary Dunford, a writer who wrote an episode of the Canadian comedy series The Beachcombers, briefly joined to assist Gillis. Once the story and characters were cemented, Gillis pitched his idea to an Ottawa-based lawyer named Sheldon S. Wiseman, who saw potential in the idea. However, rather than starting out with a series, they agreed to produce a half-hour Christmas special called The Christmas Raccoons that would introduce everyone to the beloved characters as they try to save the trees of the forest from being sawed down by the greedy Cyril Sneer.
The Christmas special was followed by three other television specials, all of which were broadcast between 1980 to 1984. While Gillis would direct and write these specials, he was simultaneously the host of sports television show Yes You Can (1980 to 1983). Despite being busy juggling these two jobs within the television industry, Gillis’ efforts with his characters paid off as he and Wiseman finally decided the time was right to give the characters their own show. In order to get the budget to produce the series, though, CBC and the Disney Channel made a deal to finance the over four million dollar budget, for the first season, and allow them to produce in Canada, but Disney was allowed to broadcast the show in America.
Kevin Gillis, the creator of The Raccoons (Photo Courtesy Run With Us Productions)
The animation would be handled by Atkinson Film-Arts, an Ottawa-based animation studio that was responsible for all four television specials, as well as adapting iconic toys and merchandise for their own specials, like Care Bears. As well as experienced animators to handle the new show from their previous efforts, the writing team also had some talented individuals who also worked on some episodes of The Care Bears and Babar that helped to create some of the storylines and including Mary Crawford and Alan Templeton. With this combination as well as Gillis’ shared credits with the catchy theme song Run with Us, the third week of the show’s initial airing saw it earn more than two million viewers alone and became the ninth most popular show in Canada in 1985.
The popularity saw it continue its production for another four seasons, but Atkinson Film-Arts was replaced after the first season with Hinton Studios, which Wiseman and Gillis set up to resume production. Despite the change of studios, the show’s popularity meant that the newly formed studio had a strong IP to work with and allowing animators to show off their talents. For six years, the show ran across sixty episodes and five seasons, before ending its run in early 1991.
Over thirty years have passed since that last episode aired, and during the global pandemic, Kevin Gillis contemplated the idea of reintroducing audiences, old and new, to his beloved creation after getting messages from adoring fans requesting a way to introduce it to their children, especially with the environmental themes still holding significance after all these years. Gillis kept the original 35mm footage for all episodes of the show as well as the four television specials after all these years and with his support, the show was restored for HD quality and would be re-introduced to long time fans and a new generation for streaming services around the world in 2023.
The Raccoons’ antagonist Cyril Sneer
While the television specials have introduced the characters five years prior, the show really cemented Gillis’ creation and demonstrated the many talented individuals that worked on the show who years later, should be proud of such a fun and entertaining series even after all these years that can still resonate with the environmental themes today. It stands out as not just a prime example of eighties Canadian animation, but a show that resonated with the generation worldwide.
The Raccoons is now available in 4K on ITV X.