Pac-Man
- This article is about the TV series. For the character, see Pac-Man (character).
| Pac-Man | |
|---|---|
 First season title card. | |
| Created by | Jeffrey Scott |
| Network | ABC |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Original release | September 25, 1982—November 5, 1983 |
| Starring | Marty Ingels Barbara Minkus Russi Taylor Frank Welker Peter Cullen Allan Lurie Neil Ross Susan Silo Barry Gordon Chuck McCann Darryl Hickman Lorenzo Music |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Producer(s) | Kay Wright Iwao Takamoto |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Jeffrey Scott Donald Dougherty |
| Director(s) | George Gordon Bill Hutten Bob Hathcock Carl Urbano Rudy Zamora Oscar Dufau John Walker Ray Patterson (supervising) Gordon Hunt (voices) |
| Second title card | |
 Second season title card. | |
Pac-Man is an American animated action-comedy television series produced Hanna-Barbera for ABC's Saturday morning children's programming. It ran from 1982 to 1983, airing 42 episodes that spanned two seasons. The TV series is an adaptation of the Namco video game Pac-Man, which debuted in arcades two years before the cartoon's debut.
Pac-Man protects his family and all of Pacland against the evil Mezmaron and his lackeys, the Ghost Monsters.
The entire series has been released on DVD.
Production
Development
Casting
By 1982, Marty Ingels had switched careers from acting to casting other talents, such as Robert Culp. This incidentally led him into contact with voice director Gordon Hunt, who thought he was perfect for the role.[1] According to the memoir of Ingels's wife, Shirley Jones, Hanna-Barbera had auditioned 173,000 people, but only Ingels had the right voice, winning the role "with his evocative Brooklyn accent, his comedian's perfect sense of timing," making him "Pac-Man incarnate" described to Ingels by Hunt. Ingels would come to the studio in his pajamas and do three week's worth of episodes in one afternoon. He also made more money than he made in his entire career as a comedian.[2]
At one point when discussing a catchphrase he wanted for the character ("PacapacaWowie!"), which became a major problem with executives who for some reason came up with a dozen other alternatives, leading to Ingles having a panic attack.[3]
Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin, credited as musical director, with musical supervision from Paul DeKorte.
Episodes
| Title | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | September 25, 1982 |
| 1x02 | October 2, 1982 |
| 1x03 | October 9, 1982 |
1x04
|
October 16, 1982 |
| 1x05 | October 23, 1982 |
| 1x06 | October 30, 1982 |
| 1x07 | November 6, 1982 |
| 1x08 | November 13, 1982 |
| 1x09 | November 20, 1982 |
| 1x10 | November 27, 1982 |
| 1x11 | December 4, 1982 |
| 1x12 | December 11, 1982 |
| 1x13 | December 18, 1982 |
| 2x01 | September 17, 1983 |
| 2x02 | September 24, 1983 |
| 2x03 | October 1, 1983 |
| 2x04 | October 8, 1983 |
| 2x05 | October 15, 1983 |
| 2x06 | October 22, 1983 |
| 2x07 | October 29, 1983 |
| 2x08 | November 5, 1983 |
Special
| Title | Original air date |
|---|---|
| Christmas Comes to Pacland | December 16, 1982 |
Cast
- Marty Ingels as Pac-Man
- Barbara Minkus as Pepper Pac-Man
- Russi Taylor as Pac-Baby
- Frank Welker as Chomp-Chomp
- Peter Cullen as Sour Puss
- Allan Lurie as Mezmaron
- Neilson Ross as Clyde
- Susan Silo as Sue
- Barry Gordon as Inky
- Chuck McCann as Blinky and Pinky
- Darryl Hickman as P.J.
- Lorenzo Music as Super-Pac
Merchandise
Home media
On March 12, 2012, the Warner Archive Collection released Pac-Man: The Complete First Season on DVD, and then Pac-Man: The Complete Second Season on September 11, 2012.
Reading material
In 1983, Little Golden Books published three children's books based on the series: Pac-man and the Ghost Diggers, Ms. Pac-man's Prize Pupil, Super Pac-Man.
In 1984, the French comics company Eurédif published two series, Pac-Man Journal and Pac-Man Special.
References
- ^ Marble, Steve (December 20, 2016). "Gordon Hunt, director, voice actor and father of Helen Hunt, dies at 87". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
- ^ Jones, Shirley, Leigh, Wendy (July 25, 2013). Shirley Jones: A Memoir, page 260. Gallery Books. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
- ^ Korkis, Jim (March 29, 2013). "Animation Anecdotes 103". Cartoon Research. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
