The Beatles Cartoon
The Beatles cartoons were screened in the US from 25 September 1965 to
20 April 1969 on ABC Television. They were then seen in
syndication and overseas. The series was also repeated in the US
in 1986 and 1987 on MTV.
Almost every song the group had recorded up to 1966 was used on
the show, even the German version of I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
Al Brodax and his King Features team
created the cartoon series in New York. Due to time constraints,
three other studios were subcontracted to help. They were Artransa
Park in Australia, Cine-Centrum in Holland, and CanaWest in
Vancouver, BC.
The Beatles themselves - the first living individuals to become
regular cartoon characters on a network TV show - did not provide the voices for their
cartoon counterparts. The voices were provided by actors,
including world-renowned voice-over artist, Paul Frees, an
American, who provided the voices of John and George.
Englishman, Lance Percival, provided the voices of Paul and
Ringo. Al Brodax decided to "Americanise" The Beatles
Liverpudlian accents so the American kids could understand them.
This led to much controversy, and the Fab Four themselves were
most displeased. The voice controversy led to the series not being
screened very much in the UK, and not until the 1970s.
Ironically, King Features won the privilege of animating the
1968 Beatles feature, Yellow Submarine.
The series performed exceptionally well in the ratings when it
first appeared. The ratings started to decline though, in 1966,
mainly due to the Caped Crusader! When the live action Batman show
premiered in 1966, kids fell in love with superheroes.
Many
copycat shows appeared such as Space Ghost, Frankenstein
Junior,
etc, and The Beatles series was never the same in the ratings.
There were other reasons, not least of which was the growth and
maturity of The Beatles' music.
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