Collection: Filmation Associates Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Filmation Associates was a production company founded in 1963 by Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland, and Norm Prescott. For 27 years they ruled Saturday mornings with their amazing TV shows like The Archie Show, Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, Fantastic Voyage, the Ghost Busters, Fat Albert and many more. Filmation Associates also played a major role in children animation with their theatrical films: Oliver Twist, Pinocchio and the "Emperor of the Night, Journey Back to Oz", and "Treasure Island". Also, many well-known artists like Eddie Fitzgerald got their start with Filmation Associates before it was closed in 1989.

Filmation Associates, like other producers of Saturday morning cartoons,  had its stock company of voice-over actors. Some of the most famous included Larry Storch, Dallas McKennon (best known as the voice of Archie in the Archie cartoon and as Cincinnatus, in the Daniel Boone TV series), Bud Collyer, the original radio voice of Superman, reprised the role for Filmation for their late 1960s version of the Man of Steel; Adam West and Burt Ward (who recreated their roles as "Batman and Robin" from their 1960's live-action series for Filmation's 1977 animated incarnation), Jane Webb, and good friends and colleagues Edward Asner and Linda Gary (Gary voiced a majority of Filmation's work in the 1980s), along with John Erwin (voice of Reggie Mantle, and later the voice of He-Man), Alan Oppenheimer (character actor in TV and film), Ted Knight, George DiCenzo (John Blackstar, Hordak, Bow on She-Ra), Melendy Britt, Howard Morris, Pat Fraley, Charlie Adler, Ed Gilbert, Susan Blu, Erika Scheimer (daughter of Lou Scheimer), and even Lou Scheimer himself (either uncredited, or under the pseudonym of "Erik (sometimes "Eric") Gunden").

Filmation Associates was more concerned with quantity rather than quality; however, it did make a number of attempts to rise above the standard animated fare and produce reasonably well-written cartoons. The best-known example of this is its animated adaptation "Star Trek: The Animated Series", which included scripts contributed by well-known science fiction writers and starred most of the original cast. Also, the scripts were written by the same people who had written for the live action show tended to be quite sophisticated and won Filmation their first Emmy Award. Other favorably remembered Filmation series included a 16-part animated serial of "Flash Gordon", originally intended as a movie for theatrical release, Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All". The original film edit was only aired thrice on NBC years after the series was cancelled. "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" was another hailed series created by and starring Bill Cosby with an explicit educational focus. "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" based on the popular line of Mattel toys, opened up a vibrant new North American market for first-run television animation or animation in the 1980's. The animated adaptations of the "Archie Comics" characters were also noteworthy for the original pop music produced for it, particularly the song "Sugar, Sugar", which was a #1 hit single.