1/20/2024 0 Comments Pac man showPac-Man, his entire Pac-Family and all their Pac-neighbours live happily in Pac-Land, a community that very much resembles our own, but with distinct Pac-twists. The premise keeps things basic, using the familiar conventions that defined the ‘ Jetsons/Flintstones ’ era of cartoons. Somewhat formulaic and enjoyably surreal, Pac-Man: The Animated Series channels enough of that ‘Saturday morning cartoon’ feeling to remain tolerable to anyone who spent their childhood mornings cross-legged in front of the TV, bowl of cereal in hand and thoughts of the schoolyard being kept at bay by a stream of colourful ten-minute slapstick adventures. Surprisingly, however, Hanna-Barbera (of Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo fame) produced Pac-Man: The Animated Series and helped make it a passable, if not outstanding little show with a brief two-season run. While that may be an impressive and interesting little nugget of trivia, being the first of its kind doesn’t bode well for the show’s actual quality. The first Pac-Man show, which debuted all the way back in 1982, was (as far as my research could tell) the earliest cartoon based on a videogame property. How do you make multiple shows based on a game with less narrative than the back of a shampoo bottle, you ask? Well, you get a little-shall we say-creative with it…. You may not be aware, but Pac-Man has tried his hand at being an animated TV star not once, but twice-roughly three decades apart. He’s certainly a figure worth celebrating, and on his 40th birthday, it feels appropriate to celebrate at the guest of honour’s expense! That’s right, like a best man’s speech full of shameful tales of youthful, drunken nights out, we’re gonna dredge up a decidedly shameful part of Pac-Man’s history: his forays into the world of TV. It was the push gaming needed to secure a permanent place in global culture, and although the industry would fall upon hard times (the 1983 US videogame crash was just on the horizon, after all), Pac-Man never faded from the public consciousness. Without the guns, violence or aggression that were (and to an extent, still are) synonymous with gaming, Pac-Man was able to appeal to a far wider audience than any game before it, drawing in diverse crowds on a scale that gaming had, until that point, simply never seen. This all changed with the release of Pac-Man in 1980. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the arcades of the early 80s, which were as uninviting as crack dens-if much safer-to anyone but adolescent males. While it can be easily forgotten among all the Fortnites, FIFAs and Farmvilles of today, gaming used to be a seriously niche hobby. He’s been with us longer than most of you reading this have probably been alive, let alone able to wrap your stubby baby-fingers around an arcade joystick. It’s the 40th birthday of one of gaming’s most iconic and beloved figures, Pac-Man. Articles // 4th Jul 2020 - 3 years ago // By Jamie Davies Comparing the Two Short-Lived Pac-Man Cartoons
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |