A to Z of Animation Studios: Filmation

(Or: The Studio That Proved You Could Recycle the Same Animation So Hard It Became an Art Form)

Welcome back to Animation Anarchy, where we drag the animation industry while simultaneously begging it for a job. If you haven’t subscribed to our YouTube channel, do it now before Filmation rotoscopes your soul into the same walk cycle for eternity.

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🔥 F is for Filmation

Let’s talk about Filmation, the studio that somehow animated entire shows with five drawings and a dream.

Founded in 1962, Filmation looked at the idea of fluid animation and said, “That sounds expensive.” Instead of wasting money on things like ‘frames’ or ‘quality,’ they revolutionized the industry with a strategy so cheap it deserves a tax write-off:

1. Copy. Paste. Repeat.

2. Make three minutes of new animation, then stretch it across an entire season.

3. Profit.

And somehow… IT WORKED.

What Did They Make?

If you watched cartoons in the ‘70s or ‘80s, you were a victim of Filmation’s signature cost-cutting magic.

The “Greatest Hits” (That All Looked the Same)

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe – The cartoon that defined an entire generation of kids who didn’t question why He-Man’s transformation sequence was the exact same clip every episode. Skeletor got away every time because actually animating a fight scene would have been fiscally irresponsible.

• She-Ra: Princess of Power – Same show, but with fabulous hair and slightly more dialogue. Featured the exact same animation tricks, because why fix what’s already dirt cheap?

• Ghostbusters (The One That Wasn’t The Real One) – A show that existed purely to confuse kids into thinking it was related to the real Ghostbusters. Instead of Bill Murray, we got a gorilla named Tracy wearing a fedora.

• Bravestarr – A cowboy in space. That’s it. It looked like He-Man if He-Man worked at a rodeo.

• Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle – What if Tarzan, but he never actually moved unless he had to?

• Star Trek: The Animated Series – You love Star Trek, right? Now imagine it with no budget! This show recycled so much animation that it technically counts as a Starfleet crime.

The Filmation “Magic” (A.K.A. Budget-Slashing Sorcery)

• Endless Looping Walk Cycles – He-Man, walking the same way down the same hallways for eternity.

• Lip Sync? What’s That? – Half the time, characters talked without moving their mouths. Sometimes, they didn’t even face the camera.

• The Same Five Sound Effects, Forever – You WILL hear that stock punch sound. Over. And over. And over.

• Stock Backgrounds for Days – Is He-Man in a cave? A castle? A space prison? Doesn’t matter, it’s the same rock wall.

And yet… somehow… Filmation was loved. Maybe it was the goofy charm, the ridiculous voice acting, or the fact that they gave us the greatest Skeletor memes of all time.

Either way, they made an impact. A cheap, barely-animated impact.

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🎖 Honorable Mention: Fleischer Studios (Superman, Betty Boop, Original Rotoscoping Legends)

Now let’s talk about Fleischer Studios, the polar opposite of Filmation—where they actually animated things, and it looked good.

What Did They Do?

• Superman (1940s) – If you’ve ever wondered why Superman looks so good in motion, it’s because Fleischer actually cared about animation.

• Betty Boop – Before censorship ruined everything, Betty Boop was an icon of chaotic, jazz-infused insanity.

• Popeye – A one-eyed sailor who ate spinach and committed casual felony assault every episode. Peak animation.

• Gulliver’s Travels – Proof that Disney wasn’t the only one making feature-length animated films back in the day.

• They Literally Invented Rotoscoping – Yes, the Fleischer brothers were the ones who said, “What if we traced live-action footage?” And thus, they changed animation forever.

Fleischer was the blueprint. And then Disney ate them alive.

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Final Thoughts (A.K.A. Why You Should Subscribe Before Skeletor Finds You)

Filmation wasn’t great, but it was memorable. And Fleischer? They were legendary.

Next up? G for Ghibli—the studio that makes you feel bad for never finishing your creative projects.

(Spoiler: There will be a lot of screaming about Miyazaki.) 🚀