If Hanna-Barbera were the kings of Saturday morning cartoons, then I could easily argue that Lou Scheimer and his production company Filmation were the dukes. The name may not ring a bell but the barrage of animated shows and some live action will:
- Star Trek
- Archie
- The Groovie Ghoulies
- Flash Gordon
- Batman and Robin (not the Superfriends though)
- Tarzan
- The Secret Adventures of Waldo Kitty
- Zorro
- Space Academy
- Jason of Star Command
- The Lone Ranger
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
- The Original Ghostbusters
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
The last one probably nailed it for most people’s memories.
You could usually tell which programs were Filmation because of the rotoscoping (gave some actions sequences a creepy, clumsiness), very limited movement at other times, cheap-ass closeups (watch Star Trek on Netflix to see my point) to save on cel drawings and the same “tension” music through all productions. Being a kid, I wasn’t picky. The subject matters were more important. Oh, the circling names in the opening credits was another trademarked sign.
From the obit, I learned he did some voices, namely Bat-Mite and Dumb Donald. Did it save money? Probably yet cartoons weren’t part of SAG, WGA, etc until The Simpsons became a cash cow so it couldn’t have been much.
Despite Filmation being deemed a lesser animator, Scheimer’s company gave some well-respected writers their first gigs…Sam Simon and J. Michael Straczynski cut their teeth writing scripts and/or storyboards.