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The Beatles (cartoon series)

The Beatles
Beatlescartoons1.jpg
John, Ringo, George, and Paul as cartoon characters.
Genre Comedy, cartoon series, children's, rock music
Created by Al Brodax, Sylban Buck
Written by Dennis Marks
Jack Mendelsohn
Heywood Kling
Bruce Howard
Voices of Paul Frees
(John, George)
Lance Percival
(Paul, Ringo)
Theme music composer The Beatles
Opening theme "The Beatles Opening Theme" (1964)
Ending theme "The Beatles End Theme" (1964)
Composer(s) The Beatles (songs)
Country of origin United States, United Kingdom, Australia
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 39
Production
Executive producer(s) Al Brodax
Producer(s) Jack Stokes
Running time 18 min
Production company(s) King Features Syndicate
Artransa/Graphik
Canawest Studios
TVC London
Release
Original network ABC
ABC (Australia)
ITV (United Kingdom)
Audio format Monaural
Original release 25 September 1965 – 9 May 1969
Chronology
Followed by Yellow Submarine
(1968)
External links
Production
website
www.kingfeatures.com

The Beatles is an American animated television series featuring representations of the popular English rock band of the same name. It ran from 1965 to 1969 on ABC in the U.S. (only 1965 to 1967 was first run; later transmissions were reruns). The series debuted on September 25, 1965 and ended on September 7, 1969. A total of 39 episodes were produced. The series was shown on Saturday mornings at 10:30 AM EST until the 1967 third season when it was moved to 12:00 PM EST. For the fourth season, which consisted of reruns, the series was shown at 9:30 AM EST on Sunday mornings. Each episode has a name of a Beatles song, so the story is based on its lyrics and it is also played at some time in the episode. The original series was rebroadcast in syndication by MTV in 1986 and 1987 and on the Disney Channel beginning in 1989 on Fridays at 5 PM. The series was a historical milestone as the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people.

The series consisted of short animated stories that essentially were intended to set up the visual illustration of Beatles songs that were played in their entirety. In addition, there were sing along sequences with simpler imagery complementing the full lyrics of particular songs.

The series became notorious for its static depiction of the band in their early "moptop-and-suit" look as depicted in the live action film, A Hard Day's Night, even though the band moved beyond it during the series' run. The producers did attempt to acknowledge the band members' contemporary appearances with photographs of them in the series' title sequences during its production run.

The band members themselves had nothing to do with the series' production beyond the use of their music recordings. American actor Paul Frees did the voices of John and George while Lance Percival (of the Carry On series) did the voices of Paul and Ringo. Frees had been the voice of Boris Badenov in the Rocky and Bullwinkle series. At first, the Beatles disliked the series. It is reported, however, that the band members enjoyed the cartoons in later years. Their views of the cartoon series discouraged them from participating significantly in the later animated feature film, Yellow Submarine. Only when the band saw and were impressed by the Yellow Submarine's finished footage did they realize the film was a more ambitious creation. As a result, they agreed to appear in a short live action epilogue for it. In fact, Yellow Submarine producer Al Brodax and director George Dunning were involved in the production both of the animated series and of Yellow Submarine.


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