Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation Paperback – December 4, 2012

Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation is Scheimer’s 2012 autobiography, which he wrote with Andy Mangels. Scheimer co-founded Filmation in 1962, and he was the only one left when the sale to L’Oreal shut the company down in 1989. As such, this book also serves as a comprehensive history of Filmation, which is best known for such cartoons as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and Star Trek: The Animated Series.The book begins with Scheimer’s parents’ immigration to the United States and his childhood and schooling; from the foundation of Filmation onward, Scheimer keeps things mostly chronological but largely gives a show-by-show account of events. I only have one real complaint about the way the book is laid out—it would have been nice to get more information on the animation process earlier in the book so that certain portions would be easier to follow.The book has a very conversational tone, which makes it extremely engaging. Scheimer’s personality really comes through unfiltered, and by all accounts, he was quite a character. He never met a tangent he didn’t like, but most of what he has to say is so interesting that it’s easily forgiven (e.g., his dad purportedly punched Hitler in the face).Scheimer heavily emphasizes his passion and vision for animation throughout the book. He was a trailblazer, he says, for incorporating racial diversity into children’s cartoons, and for producing material that communicated values, morals, and instruction. He was also committed to keeping animation jobs in the United States when most studios were sending large amounts of work overseas (this is, in fact, one of the primary reasons for Filmation’s well-known and oft-maligned stock animation system.This is a huge book—8.5” by 11”, and almost 300 pages—and it’s kind of unwieldy. It’s worth wrestling with, though, because of the vast number of pictures. Contrary to what its Amazon page would lead you to believe, however, the book is not in full color. Only pp. 209–224 are; the rest are in black and white, so caveat emptor. The book really could have done with some serious copyediting, especially to clean up Scheimer’s serial misuse of “I” when he should have used “me” and the redundancies in the writing (Mangels, isn’t that your job?).For me, at least, the production and editorial knocks on the book are readily forgivable. Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation gave me a new appreciation for Scheimer, for Filmation, and for some of the cartoons I grew up with; I’m grateful simply that the book exists.If any of the Filmation shows you grew up with are still meaningful to you as an adult, odds are you’ll find Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation well worth your time.

BOTTOM LINE: If you grew up watching ANY of the dozens of cartoons & live action series that Filmation created during its 25+ year history... this book is for you. If you never saw a single episode of ANY of these shows but are interested in the animation business and, specifically, the struggle to keep American animators working in a time when everyone was shipping their work overseas in an effort to maximize profit... this book is for you. If you think you'd enjoy reading about how a wide-eyed young boy stuck to his ideals, through good times & bad, and grew up to found and run a company that indirectly helped raise an entire generation of kids in turn... this book is for you. In short, this book is for you. :-) 5 STARSTHOUGHTS: Lou Scheimer found his niche in life and stuck with it, eventually helping to co-found one of the most prolific animation studios in U.S. history. And he was the lone hold-out who kept American animation going strong on our shores until, eventually, an 11th-hour business salvation deal, (which Lou truly believed would rescue Filmation and keep it going strong for several more years), sadly turned out to be nothing of the kind... and he had the business ripped away from him, causing the end of U.S.-based animation. Probably forever. Still, the story found within these pages is mostly a great (and happy) one, with lots of fascinating details and first-hand insight into the beloved shows that Filmation produced for almost three decades; packed with behind-the-scenes trivia and personal tidbits, interwoven in a easy informal style that will keep you whirring through to pages right up to the final sentence. This book is fascinating, fun and funny, and will be of interest to both Filmation fans & casual cartoon watchers alike. Please note: despite the description on this product page, only a handful of the pictures inside are in color. But in the end, it's the stories contained within that are important here, not whether a certain number of pages are in color or black & white. Absolutely worth buying if you grew up watching Filmation shows. "Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation" is a self-contained slice of motion picture, television & animation history and comes very highly recommended.

With the exception of some minor typos, this book is grand. Beyond the sometimes salty language of Lou Scheimer--who does warn you ahead of time, this book is fantastic. Scheimer gives you the inside scoop as he saw things at the time, often trying to be inclusive and attentive to the politics of the day and the educational content kid programming should have. He is proud that Filmation was a pioneer in many respects—ahead of Disney or Hanna-Barbera—by including minority and female characters in its cartoons and later, real-life productions. Fat Albert, Ark II, Shazam!, The Archies, Tarzan, Gilligan’s Island, are just a few of the productions made by Filmation under Scheimer. The writing is easy to read, well written (even when Lou wanders off) and humorous with down-to-earth talk. Plenty of cartoons and celeb photos. The book also details about the workings of behind the scenes to many of its productions and challenges face with the capricious TV networks, as well as lawsuits against Filmation by former employees. Scheimer is surprisingly frank, though civil, about letting readers know who he liked and not liked working with. However, most important, Scheimer feels great pride that Filmation was spearheading the animation/kid programming industry by being very attentive to promote diversity and reflect the America that was growing and now has intensely diversified racially and ethnically. In his productions, minorities and women also had positions of power. Scheimer, who is of Jewish background, understands what it feels to be left out. This is a great book due to its nostalgic content, the stories behind the stories, and fun read. Highly recommend this affordable book that frequently slapped me in the back of my head as it brought fond memories back.

Imperdível para quem Ama desenhos clássicos, junto com a Hanna Barbera melhor estúdio de cartoons🤟😃

Excelente libro

Tante tante info in bianco e nero, ma alcune di pessima qualità....sembra un libro di fotocopie

Filmation Studios produced the most entertaining, well drawn morally uplifting cartoons and live action TV shows of the 1960s to 1980s.In this book, Andy Mangels documents everything the company owner Lou Scheimer could possibly think of to tell us about the rich history of this company's work in pioneering syndication and great television. 3800 members of my facebook group "Filmation Fan Nation" can't be wrong. This book is well worth buying for any Filmation fan.The company began its career animating the best known DC comics characters of the 1960s, and went on to adapt the Archies, My Favorite Martians, Lassie, Star Trek, Tarzan, Mighty Mouse, Flash Gordon, "Gilligan's Island", the Lone Ranger, the He-Man toy line, as well as creating great shows of their own like "Space Academy", "The Super 7", "Blackstar", and "Mission Magic".In this book, Lou gives much detail of how the company strived to keep animation produced in the US, providing work for their many staff and a visual quality of art that lept off the screen at you.Author Andy Mangels worked with Lou and other Filmation former staff in the 2000s to bring many of the old programs to DVD releases with new interviews and commentaries, and their collaboration in this book is a real page turner.

The company is misleading. Said book was listed and available and then a week later said unavailable while they charge your credit card. Avoid them and Abe books.