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#4 First Things First Part 3

Understand that except for animated films in the early days of animation and the notable exceptions of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Flintstones and, later, The Jetsons, in the early days of television’s animated series, there were few animation ‘writers’ around. Most of the ‘writing’ was done by animation artists who wrote a few lines here and there to keep the ‘story’, such as it was, moving along.


Then, in 1981, a Frenchman named Jean Chalopin changed everything with an animated series entitled Ulysses 31. The storyline pitted a spaceship crew struggling against divine entities. Imagine asking animators to write a few lines here and there to keep that story moving along!


While the series was successful in Europe, it wouldn’t be until 1986 that Ulysses 31 aired in America. No matter. By then Jean Chalopin had completely changed the concept of animated television series.


Jean was a visionary. I was fortunate – actually blessed -- to work with him during The Golden Age of Television Animation. He sensed children wanted to be shown a story and that they had become more sophisticated than children from previous generations. So, he sought writers who could tell stories.


I was one of them. Here are a few of the many series I wrote for Jean: The Littles, Care Bears, Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater, The New Adventures of He-man, M.A.S.K., Super Mario Brothers Super Show, Popples, The Bots Master, King Arthur & The Knights of Justice, Lady Lovely Locks, The Get Along Gang.


And that’s just the tip of my iceberg!

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