 Logo used from 1981 to 1991 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Genre | Animation |
| Founded | 1977; 48 years ago (1977) |
| Founders | Joe Ruby Ken Spears |
| Defunct | 1996; 29 years ago (1996) |
| Fate | Closed |
| Successor | Library: Warner Bros. Television Studios (throughWarner Bros. Animation) (pre-1991, exceptRambo: The Force of Freedom,It's Punky Brewster andPiggsburg Pigs!) |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 2 |
| Products | Television shows Television specials Title sequences |
| Parent | Filmways (1977–1981) Taft Broadcasting (1981–1987) Great American Broadcasting (1987–1991) RS Holdings (1991–1996) |
Ruby-Spears Productions (also known asRuby-Spears Enterprises) was an Americanentertainmentproduction company founded by veteran writers and the creators ofScooby-Doo, Where Are You!,Joe Ruby andKen Spears, in 1977, before closing in 1996. Specialized inanimation, it was headquartered inBurbank, California, with another branch inRome,Italy.
Ruby and Spears started out assound editors atHanna-Barbera and later branched out into story-writing for such programs asSpace Ghost andThe Herculoids. In 1969, they were assigned the task of developing a mystery-basedcartoon series for Saturday mornings, the result of which wasScooby-Doo, Where Are You!. They left Hanna-Barbera shortly after because "they were having a hard time moving up" and wanted to be "associate producers".[1] They were also writers and producers forDePatie–Freleng Enterprises, particularly forThe Barkleys andThe Houndcats.[2]
The company was founded in 1977 as a division ofFilmways (laterOrion Pictures) and sold in late 1981 toTaft Broadcasting, becoming a sister company to Hanna-Barbera, while Ruby and Spears were network executives at ABC supervising the Saturday-morning programming.ABC Entertainment presidentFred Silverman wanted to create competition for Hanna-Barbera, which then provided the bulk of the Saturday morning content for all three major networks. Silverman was concerned the studio was stretching their projects too thin, diluting the quality of their series, requiring competition.[3] The company's first production wasThe Puppy Who Wanted a Boy. The company's credits include theanimated seriesFangface,Goldie Gold and Action Jack,The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show,Thundarr the Barbarian,Rubik, the Amazing Cube,the 1983 version of theAlvin and the Chipmunks series,Mister T,Sectaurs,Centurions, the 1988Superman series, thePolice Academy animated series and the AmericanMega Man cartoon series.
Among the unrealized projects at the studio wereRoxie's Raiders, anIndiana Jones-style serial about a female adventurer and her allies;Golden Shield, about an ancient Mayan hero seeking to save earth in theapocalyptic year 2012; andThe Gargoids, about scientists who gain superpowers after being infected by an alien virus.[4]
Ruby and Spears' favorite Ruby-Spears-produced show wasThundarr the Barbarian.[5]
Only two pre-1991 series,Police Academy: The Animated Series andPiggsburg Pigs!, used Canadian rather than American voice talent like most of their other cartoons. Ruby-Spears was also responsible for the animated sequence in the 1988 filmChild's Play and replaying the sequence as a fictional commercial in the 1991 sequelChild's Play 3.
In 1991, Ruby-Spears was spun off into RS Holdings. Most of the pre-1991 Ruby-Spears Productions library was sold along with Hanna-Barbera toTurner Broadcasting System, which in turn merged withTime Warner (nowWarner Bros. Discovery) in 1996. The Ruby-Spears studio closed later that year, after 19 years of operation.[3] As of now, Ruby-Spears' pre-1991 library is owned byWarner Bros. throughWarner Bros. Animation. The few pre-1991 Ruby-Spears shows not owned by Warner Bros. areRambo: The Force of Freedom, which is owned and distributed byStudioCanal which also own and distribute the first three live-actionRambo films,It's Punky Brewster, which is owned byUniversal Television (but distributed byMGM Television outside the US, along with most of the pre-2004NBC Studios library), andPiggsburg Pigs!, which is owned byThe Walt Disney Company through its acquisition ofFox Kids Worldwide (now ABC Family Worldwide) in 2001.
Ruby-Spears' post-1991 library does not appear to be owned by any company; however, there are a few exceptions:Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa is now owned byWildBrain,Mega Man is owned byShochiku andSkysurfer Strike Force is owned by Invincible Entertainment Group under license from41 Entertainment, along with most of theBohbot Entertainment library.[6]
The founders both died in 2020 within three months of each other – Ruby died ofnatural causes on August 26 at the age of 87 and Spears died of complications fromLewy body dementia on November 6 at age 82.[7][8]
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34°10′21″N118°18′57″W / 34.1726°N 118.3158°W /34.1726; -118.3158
