Gulliver's Travels (1985 TV series)

Gulliver's Travels (also known as Gulliver's Travels: Adventures In Lilliput) is an American animated TV series created by former Fleischer animator, Shamus 'James' Culhane and former Warner Bros. storyman Cal Howard, based off the 1939 Paramount/Fleischer feature film of the same name. The show was produced by Paramount Television Animation, and is co-produced with Marvel Productions, in association with NTA/Republic Pictures and Fleischer Studios. The show premiered November 16, 1985 on CBS and ended April 11, 1992 before its cancellation.

Premise
The show mainly focuses on the Lilliputians and Blefascunians, most notably the Lilliput town crier Gabby. Gulliver is only shown in flashbacks, albeit stock footage from the 1939 feature itself. Events after the original film, both David and Glory have been officially married after combining 'Faithful' and 'Forever' as one song together at their wedding.

Development
In the early 1980s, some Paramount animators began production for a new television series. Two of them requested for a new series based on the film Gulliver's Travels.

During production, some new characters were added, as well as the film's old characters, such as Gabby, Prince David, Snitch and the other Lilliputian and Blefascunian habitants who Gulliver meets with. Gillis developed Gabby's personality to be more friendly and focused, and sometimes grumpy instead of just plain clueless and an unapologetic know-it-all. He even made Gabby and Snitch best pals, which was a start.

Writing
One of the main writers was the creator of The Raccoons, Kevin Gillis. The other writers were included such as Doug Booth, Cal Howard, Dan Dalton, Sam Simon, Jack Hanrahan, Jeffrey Scott, and Darson Hall.

Voices
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Animation
Animation has been outsourced to PTA's Australian and Canadian subsidaries, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS Entertainment), Wang Film Productions, AKOM Production Company (around 1987), Sei Young Animation Co. Ltd (for the pilot episode), and Hanho-Heung-Up Co. Ltd (for the last two seasons). Gulliver's movements, also David and Glory's too, as well, were rotoscoped from live-action footage, like the original film. Including the new character, Lisa.

Gulliver's Travels was made with a higher production value than standard television animation. It had a higher cel count than most TV cartoons. Gulliver's Travels characters often move fluidly, and do not regularly stand still and speak, as in other television cartoons.

Music
The show shifts between classic orchestral and New Wave music. The classic orchestrals were composed by Robert J. Walsh, while the New Wave music was composed by Kevin Gillis and Jon Stroll.

Episodes
List of Gulliver's Travels (1985 TV series) episodes

Characters from the film

 * Murray Crunchley as Lemuel Gulliver (flashbacks)
 * Jack Wagner (season 1), Bill Farmer (season 2-5) as Gabby
 * Ken Samson as King Little
 * Jeffrey Tambor as King Bombo
 * Maurice LaMarche as Prince David, Mayor of Lilliput
 * Britta Phillips as Princess Glory
 * Frank Welker as Sneak
 * Carl Banas as Snoop
 * Townsend Coleman as Snitch

Original Characters

 * Lisa Lougheed as Lisa (debuted in Season 4)
 * Charlie Adler as William the Giant
 * Joe Alaskey as Michael the Cat
 * Billy West as Vincent the Woodpecker
 * Tress MacNeille as Lilly the Mouse
 * Cree Summer as Sally the Dog

Trivia

 * This was Marvel's first collaboration with Paramount Television Animation.
 * Paramount never used Toei Animation at all for this show due to frame rate problems. It instead heavily relied on its Australian and Canadian subsidaries, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS Entertainment), Wang Film Productions, AKOM Production Company (around 1987), Sei Young Animation Co. Ltd (for the pilot episode), and Hanho-Heung-Up Co. Ltd (for the last two seasons).
 * There were some changes that were different from the 1939 animated feature itself:
 * Unlike the original, Gabby and Snitch are best friends.
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