Pac-Man 

The adventures of the video game character and his family.

Stars:

Marty Ingels, Barry Gordon, Barbara Minkus

Cast

Series cast summary:
Marty Ingels	...	Pac-Man / ... 19 episodes, 1982-1983
Barry Gordon	...	Inky 19 episodes, 1982-1983
Barbara Minkus	...	Mrs. Pepper Pac-Man / ... 19 episodes, 1982-1983
Chuck McCann	...	Blinky / ... 19 episodes, 1982-1983
Neil Ross	...	Clyde 19 episodes, 1982-1983
Susan Silo	...	Sue 19 episodes, 1982-1983
Russi Taylor	...	Pac-Baby 17 episodes, 1982-1983
Frank Welker	...	Chomp-Chomp / ... 16 episodes, 1982-1983
Peter Cullen	...	Sour Puss 15 episodes, 1982-1983
Allan Lurie	...	Mezmeron / ... 13 episodes, 1982-1983

Storyline

An early example in a wave of cartoons based on products, this show derived it's characters and basic story from the wildly popular video game of the same name. Each episode followed the same basic plot, with little variation: Pac-Man and his family would be menaced by the ghosts until, just when things were looking grim, one of the Pac-family would chomp some power pills and save the day.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | ghost | character name as series title | hyphen in series title | ms. pac man character | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pacman

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Had two prime-time specials on ABC. Pac-man halloween and Christmas comes to pac-land.

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Quotes

Mrs. Pepper Pac-Man: What do ya got in the sack, Pac?

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Connections

Spun-off from Pac-Man (1980)

User Reviews

Nostalgia trip for video game and/or 80's geeks.

As far as animation goes, I believe that this was Hanna-Barbera's best work in the 80's. (Take that as a compliment or insult as you will.)

The storylines were nothing spectacular; they were formulaic rip-offs of Popeye, the Smurfs, and the Flintstones- Pac-Man and/or his family would be bothered by the inept ghosts, who were henchmen of Mezmeron... a vaguely Gargamel-like being whose sole purpose in life was to bother the citizens of the town the Pacs lived in. After some "drama", one or more of the Pacs (they all had their star turns, and most of the Pacs from the various video games were represented) would ingest a power pill, chomp some ghosts, and things would be safe 'til the next episode.

What set the whole series apart was the fact that everything in the show was inhuman, but led human lives. Their lives were shown in Flintstones fashion- they would do things "ordinary humans" did, but with their own twist. They would open a tin can, and pour dots out; to mow the lawn they would "chomp". It was funnier and more surreal than the Flintstones, though; everything had a drug-addled look to it, and it was quite bizarre to watch if you either weren't familiar with the concept of Pac-Man, or couldn't accept it.

To this day, I have to live down the fact that I dropped out of a school play so I could stay home one evening and watch the Pac-Man Christmas Special. So... I guess you can say that despite my critical eye, I think this series is one of the best cartoons from the 80's.