| Animalympics | |
|---|---|
 Promotional release poster | |
| Written by | Steven Lisberger Michael Fremer |
| Story by | Steven Lisberger Roger Allers John Norton |
| Directed by | Steven Lisberger |
| Starring | Billy Crystal Michael Fremer Gilda Radner Harry Shearer |
| Music by | Graham Gouldman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | Donald Kushner Steven Lisberger |
| Cinematography | Ted Bemiller Paul Nevitt (animation camera) |
| Editor | Matt Cope |
| Running time | 78 minutes |
| Production company | Lisberger Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | February 1, 1980 (1980-02-01) |
Animalympics is a 1980 American animatedsports comedytelevision film[1] directed bySteven Lisberger[2] and produced byLisberger Studios for theNBC network.[3] Originally commissioned as two separate specials, it spoofs theSummer andWinter Olympic Games and features the voices ofBilly Crystal,Gilda Radner,Harry Shearer, andMichael Fremer.[4] The film spoofs real-life sports personalities likeHoward Cosell andMuhammad Ali.[5]
The film is a series of vignettes presented as the broadcast of the first animal Olympic Games through the fictional ZOO television network. The Games combine summer and winter Olympic events.
The event is covered mostly byBarbara Warblers, a songbird, and "anchorturtle"Henry Hummel. The100-meter dash is covered in the style of adrag race by Jackie Fuelit.
Unlike the real Olympics, continents are represented rather than countries. The continents featured are North America, South America,Eurasia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia. Eurasia represents theUSSR, whereas Europe represents Western and Central Europe.
The only mention of areas other than continents includes the New York City Rats soccer team; Dean Wilson, who is from California; a Central American marathon runner named Pepé Repanosa; anAcapulco cliff diver named Primo Cabeza; marathon runner Terry Hornsby, who is fromBoulder, Colorado; René Fromage, who is from France; and Kurt Wüfner, who appears at thedownhill event just before aScandinavian is awarded a gold medal.
Although many of the segments stand alone, there are some recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of themarathon, where competitors René Fromage and Kit Mambo are the favorites to win. Both are determined to win—Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself—but they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love, culminating in the pair holding hands for the rest of the race and crossing the finish line together. Another important story is that of Kurt Wüffner, a West Germandachshundskier, and his disappearance toDogra-la during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after theslalom event.
There are even cases of players attempting to cheat in the games, only to end up losing disgracefully while their honorable opponents take home the victory. At the start of the soccer game, the New York Ratpack, led by Rizzo the "Whiz," uses underhanded maneuvers to win, yet they are overpowered by the European All-Stars Hounds, led by Rolf Shmecker, whose experience brings home the win. During the ice hockey game, the Eurasian Longhorns have rigged the entire ice rink with explosives in order to take out their rivals, the North American Kodiaks, led by their coach Bear McLane. Yet in spite of the foul play, the Kodiaks still emerge victorious due to the efforts of their star player Guy Lafluke. In the swimming event for the 100-meter freestyle lap, the largest swimmer, Ono Nono, tries to eliminate the entire competition with a tidal wave to ensure no one else wins; yet he is defeated by the young surfer Dean Wilson, who uses his own tail as a surfboard to ride the wave to the finish line first. In the boxing match, vicious brawler Janos Brushteckel is known for overpowering his opponents with excessive force, yet aspiring boxer Joey Gongolong manages to outmaneuver him with clever strategy and an out-boxer style to wear him down and ultimately deliver the winning blow. In the fencing match, Count Maurice Boar-Deaux uses underhanded tactics to take out all other fencers, only to be outsmarted by The Contessa, whose graceful moves and style help her adapt to the Count’s actions and ultimately overcome him, avenging all the players he wronged.
A minor story features analligator named Bolt Jenkins. He was "born as a handbag" and told that he would never walk again. A song during his story reveals that he lives in thesewers. After seeing a frog named Boris Amphibiensky break the world record for thehigh jump, Jenkins has an epiphany and becomes determined to break the record. Jenkins goes on to set world records in the high jump, thepole vault, and later the100-meter dash. Jenkins sacrifices his gold medal in the 100-meter dash to an African competitor named Kip Ngongo and favorite whom Jenkins considers to be his superior.
Animalympics was commissioned byNBC in 1978, as the network intendedLisberger Studios to create it as two hour-long specials to be paired alongside coverage of both the1980 Winter Olympics and theSummer Olympics then held inMoscow. But after theSoviet Union hadinvaded and gained control of Afghanistan, thenUnited States PresidentJimmy Carter decided toboycott the Moscow Summer Olympics. Because of this, NBC canceled itsOlympic coverage and theAnimalympics Summer special.[6]
However, from its conception, producerDonald Kushner and director Steven Lisberger intended the project as a feature-length theatrical release (complete withDolby surround sound via 35mm film), even though the Winter Olympics special was already considered for anAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film nomination.[7]
Among those who worked onAnimalympics were art director/animatorRoger Allers, animation directorBill Kroyer, and animatorBrad Bird. Allers, who animated Kit Mambo, the lion star ofAnimalympics, went on to directThe Lion King.[8] Kroyer later wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated shortTechnological Threat and the animated featureFernGully: The Last Rainforest. Bird went on to work as story editor on the animated sitcomThe Simpsons, and later achieved even greater success writing and directing the animated filmsThe Iron Giant,The Incredibles, andRatatouille. Director Lisberger went on to conceive, co-write, and direct the science fictioncult classicTron, which some of theAnimalympics crew were involved in. Its soundtrack supervisor was Michael Fremer, who was involved inAnimalympics as a co-writer, voice artist, dialogue/music track editor, and sound mix supervisor.[9]
| Animalympics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | March 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Studio | Strawberry Studios North and South; A&M Studio, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 35:00 | |||
| Label | UK version –Mercury US version –A&M | |||
| Producer | Graham Gouldman | |||
| Graham Gouldman chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Animalympics | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [10] |
A&M Records in the US andMercury Records in Europe released anAnimalympics soundtrack album, which has long been out of print.[11] The music on this soundtrack was written and produced byGraham Gouldman, who performed the tracks himself along with other members of10cc (Gouldman is the bassist and co-founder of the band).[12] The soundtrack was recorded primarily inStrawberry Studios North and South, used extensively by 10cc, as well as in Los Angeles.[13]
Pieces of classical music play in the film. "The Hut on Hen's Legs (Baba Yaga)" fromPictures at an Exhibition byModest Mussorgsky plays during Tatyana Tushenko's floor exercises. "March to the Scaffold" fromSymphonie fantastique byHector Berlioz plays during the couple's figure skating. The third movement fromSymphony No. 4 byJohannes Brahms plays during Dorie Turnell's skating performance.[14]
All tracks are written byGraham Gouldman.[15][16]
Side 1
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Go for It" | 3:38 |
| 2. | "Underwater Fantasy" | 3:19 |
| 3. | "Away from It All" | 2:36 |
| 4. | "Born to Lose" | 4:08 |
| 5. | "Kit Mambo" | 4:19 |
Side 2
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Z.O.O." | 3:15 |
| 2. | "Love's Not for Me (Rene's Song)" | 2:47 |
| 3. | "With You I Can Run Forever" | 4:07 |
| 4. | "Bionic Boar" | 3:07 |
| 5. | "We've Made It to the Top" | 3:44 |
Per vinyl liner notes[16]
Despite the 1980 NBC premiere being cancelled midway,Lisberger Studios prepared a theatrical version for overseas markets by editing together theSummer andWinter Olympic Games sections, alongside other additions and changes to increase its run-time for theatrical exhibition. ThoughAnimalympics never found a theatrical distributor in the U.S.,Telepictures did acquire US home video and pay-TV distribution rights to it shortly after the NBC cancellation. It eventually received a full US TV premiere on NBC affiliateWPTZ on July 4, 1982.Animalympics also aired in its theatrical form onHBO[17][18][19] andShowtime nationwide in summer 1984,[20] as well as intermittently during the early-to-mid-1990s onThe Disney Channel.[21]
The film was released on VHS byWarner Bros.,Family Home Entertainment, andUAV Corporation.[22][23][24]
On April 3, 2018, Hen's Tooth Video released the first-ever region 1 DVD.[25] In 2019, Austrian[26] label Winkler Film released a remastered DVD alongside the first-ever Blu-ray release worldwide.[27]