Rayman: The Animated Series
| Rayman: The Animated Series | |
|---|---|
| Based on |
Rayman; original characters by Michel Ancel |
| Developed by | Jonathan Greenberg |
| Written by |
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| Story by |
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| Directed by | Laurent Jennet |
| Creative director(s) | Vanessa Coffey |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin |
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| Original language(s) |
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| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 (26 planned) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Producer(s) | François Pétavy |
| Editor(s) | Alexis Nolent |
| Running time | 13 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Gulli |
| Original release | December 20, 1999 – January 10, 2000 |
Rayman: The Animated Series (also known as Rayman: The TV Series, or just Rayman) is a 3-D animated children's television series created by Ubisoft in 1999, based on the Rayman adventure game series, following the success of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. Twenty-six episodes were planned, but only four were completed when it was cancelled mid-series, leaving a fifth episode near to completion. The series was only broadcast in France, Germany and the Netherlands, but was released on VHS in North America, and later on DVD in France.
LacMac is the star of a galactic circus, run by Rigatoni and Admiral Razorbeard. He and his friends are forced to live life as circus freaks, only to be hit by whips, and generally mistreated. They only wish they can be free from their dreadful unfair lives. One night, after LacMac has just done a great performance, the circus closes for the night and Rigatoni picks up a new circus recruit, Rayman. Rayman is forced to stay at the circus because he can do amazing tricks with his floating limbless hands. He discovers that the other performers are forced to stay in this prison despite not having done anything wrong. Rayman won't take this. That night, he helps them escape. Rigatoni hires the bumbling detective, Inspector Grub, to bring the "fugitives" back. Rayman leads the circus freaks in outsmarting Grub and living in the city of Aerotropolis, the populated world the traveling circus landed on.
The series opens with the a mobile circus floating in a dark forest. This circus is owned by the sinister and cruel Sir Rigatoni, and his minion Admiral Razorbeard (the main villain of the videogame Rayman 2: The Great Escape). Inside the circus is a group of imprisoned performers: LacMac, a blue rabbit-like humanoid; Betina, who is presumably a fairy but looks more human; Cookie, a pompous humanoid mole (who always questions Rayman's ideas), and Flips, a dragonfly-like little fairy girl. LacMac is then called to perform for the customers, and after the performance, is thrown into a cage with his fellow performers by Razorbeard as Rigatoni laughs maniacally.
Later on, Rigatoni and Razorbeard bring in a new performer, Rayman, who can do many tricks with his limbless hands which he does behind Razorbeard's back. However, Rayman is a rebellious performer, and refuses to perform for Rigatoni, ultimately ending up caged with the other performers.
It is then that LacMac demonstrates his incredible strength by twisting strong metal bar into the shape of a dog. At Rayman's suggestion, LacMac uses his ability to bend the cagebars open for them to escape while Flips flies around the surveillance cameras, preventing Rigatoni from seeing them. They barely manage to escape Razorbeard's grasp by tearing a hole in the circus wall and jumping out while the circus crashes into the ground.
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