A science fiction anthology series set in a futuristic city with a seamy side.

Each episode is introduced by Raven, a nightclub hostess who also makes brief appearances in the tales.

Writers:

Preston Bakshi

Spicy City (TV Series) (writer - 2 episodes)

- Sex Drive (1997) ... (writer)

- Love Is a Download (1997) ... (writer)

Preston Bakshi ...(2 episodes, 1997)

Lawrence Chua ...(1 episode, 1997)

Willie Perdomo ...(1 episode, 1997)

Douglas Brooks West ...(1 episode, 1997)

For Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network - The story of a clown and a jazz trumpet playing cockroach. Sequel to this is 'Babe, He Calls Me',

Cool and the Crazy is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi and starring Jared Leto and Alicia Silverstone. The story revolves around an unhappily married couple in the late 1950s who both lead separate affairs. The film was Bakshi's first feature-length live-action film, being primarily known as a director of animated films which heavily utilize live-action sequences, such as Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, Wizards, American Pop and The Lord of the Rings.

Cool and the Crazy first aired on the cable television network Showtime in 1994 as part of the series Rebel Highway.

COOL WORLD Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi, and starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in the animated world he thinks he created, and is seduced by one of the characters, a comic strip vamp who wants to be real.

It is an anti-war story; specifically, a parable about mutually assured destruction and nuclear weapons. The Butter Battle Book was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. This book was written during the Cold War era, and reflects the concerns of the time, especially the perceived possibility that all life on earth could be destroyed in a nuclear war. It can also be seen as a satirical work, with its depiction of a deadly war based on a senseless conflict over something as trivial as a breakfast food.

The series was a commercial half-hour format (22 minutes plus commercials), and each episode contained two self-contained 11 minute cartoon segments. It differed from the earlier incarnations of Mighty Mouse in many ways. It gave Mighty Mouse the secret identity of Mike Mouse, a sidekick in the form of the orphan Scrappy Mouse (who knows the hero's secret identity), heroic colleagues such as the Bat-Bat and his sidekick Tick the Bug Wonder, and the League of Super-Rodents,[2] as well as introduced antagonists like Petey Pate, Big Murray, Madame Marsupial and The Cow (actually a bull, because he is Madame Marsupial's boyfriend and he possesses male traits). The original Mighty Mouse villain Oil Can Harry made a couple of appearances. Pearl Pureheart was not always the damsel in distress, and many episodes did not feature her at all. Mighty Mouse's light-operatic singing was eliminated except for his trademark, "Here I come to save the day!", which was sometimes interrupted.

Unlike other American animated TV shows of the time (and Mighty Mouse's past theatrical shorts) the show's format was loose and episodes did not follow a particular formula. Episodes varied from superhero type stories to parodies of shows like The Honeymooners ("Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy") and the 1960s Batman series ("Night of the Bat-Bat" and "Bat With a Golden Tongue"), movies like Fantastic Voyage ("Mundane Voyage") and Japanese monster films (the opening of "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy"), comic books ("See You in the Funny Papers"), and even lampooned other cartoons ("Don't Touch That Dial!") and specifically Alvin and the Chipmunks ("Mighty's Benefit Plan").

The series resurrected other Terrytoons characters, but acknowledged the passage of time: perennial menace Oil Can Harry returns to chase Pearl Pureheart once more ("Still Oily After All These Years"), 1940s characters Gandy Goose and Sourpuss and 1960s Deputy Dawg are revived (Gandy and Dawg frozen in time in blocks of ice) in "The Ice Goose Cometh", "Gaston Le Crayon" has a cameo ("Still Oily After All These Years"), and Bakshi's own 1960 creations—The Mighty Heroes—appear, aged, in the episode "Heroes and Zeroes". Fellow Terrytoons characters Heckle and Jeckle also appear, in "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy".

Influence

The show was considered revolutionary at the time, and, along with 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, inspired a wave of animated shows that were much zanier[3] than those that had dominated children's animation in the previous two decades. It is credited by some as the impetus for the ‘creator-driven’ animation revolution of the 1990s.[4]

It was a huge springboard for many cartoonists and animators who would later become famous, including John Kricfalusi (creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show), Bruce W. Timm (producer of Warner Bros. Batman: The Animated Series), Jim Reardon (writer for Tiny Toon Adventures and Disney/Pixar's Wall-E) Tom Minton (writer and producer for many Warner Bros. television cartoons, including Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Baby Looney Tunes and Duck Dodgers), Lynne Naylor (co-founder of Spümcø, character designer for Batman: The Animated Series and storyboard artist for Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Cow and Chicken among other work), Rich Moore (animation director for Fox/Comedy Central's Futurama and director of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph), Andrew Stanton (director of Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo and Wall-E) and others.[5]

Kricfalusi supervised the production for the first season and directed eight of its twenty-six segments.[6] Kent Butterworth supervised the second season, after John Kricfalusi's departure to work on the similarly short-lived 1988 animated series The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil. The show was licensed as a comic book series published by Marvel Comics in 1990 and 1991, which ran for 10 issues.

The Rolling Stones produced an accompanying three-minute music video, which combined live-action and animation. The live-action was directed by famous animation director Ralph Bakshi and the animation was directed by future The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi.[11] Other animators who also worked on the video included Lynne Naylor, Jim Smith, Bob Jaques, Vicky Jenson, Pat Ventura and two other unknown animators.[12]

Coonskin (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coonskin

Theatrical release poster

Directed byRalph Bakshi

Produced byAlbert S. Ruddy

Written byRalph Bakshi

StarringBarry White
Charles Gordone
Philip Thomas
Scatman Crothers

Music byChico Hamilton

CinematographyWilliam A. Fraker

Edited byDonald W. Ernst

Production
company

Bakshi Productions
Albert S. Ruddy Productions

Distributed byBryanston Distributing Company

Release dates

• August 20, 1975

Running time

89 minutes

CountryUnited States

LanguageEnglish

Coonskin is a 1975 American live action/animated crime film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem, encountering corrupt law enforcement, con artists, and the Mafia. The film, which combines live-action with animation, stars Philip Thomas, Charles Gordone, Barry White, and Scatman Crothers, all of whom appear in both live-action and animated sequences. Coonskin makes reference to various elements from African-American culture, ranging from African folk tales to the work of cartoonist George Herriman, and satirizes racist and other stereotypes, as well as the blaxploitation genre, Song of the South, and The Godfather (which was another film produced by Albert S. Ruddy).

Originally produced under the titles Harlem Nights and Coonskin No More..., Coonskin encountered controversy before its original theatrical release when the Congress of Racial Equality criticized the content as being racist. When the film was released, Bryanston gave it limited distribution and it initially received mixed reviews. Later re-released under the titles Bustin' Out and Street Fight, Coonskin has since been reappraised. A New York Times review said, "[Coonskin] could be [Ralph Bakshi's] masterpiece."[1] Bakshi has stated that he considers Coonskin to be his best film.[2]

Heavy Traffic

Directed by Ralph Bakshi

Produced bySamuel Z. Arkoff
Steve Krantz

Written byRalph Bakshi

StarringJoseph Kaufmann
Beverly Hope Atkinson
Frank Dekova
Terri Haven
Mary Dean Lauria

Music byEd Bogas
Ray Shanklin

CinematographyTed C. Bemiller
Gregg Heschong

Edited byDonald W. Ernst

Production
company

Steve Krantz Productions
Cine Camera

Distributed byAmerican International Pictures

Release dates

• August 8, 1973

Running time

77 minutes

CountryUnited States

LanguageEnglish
Italian
Yiddish

Heavy Traffic is a 1973 American adult animated comedy-drama film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi.[3] The film, which begins, ends, and occasionally combines with live-action, explores the often surreal fantasies of a young New York cartoonist named Michael Corleone, using pinball imagery as a metaphor for inner-city life. Heavy Traffic was Bakshi and producer Steve Krantz's follow-up to the successful and coolly controversial film Fritz the Cat, the first animated feature to receive an X rating. Though producer Krantz made varied attempts to produce an R-rated film, Heavy Traffic was given an X rating by the MPAA. The film received positive reviews and is widely considered to be Bakshi's biggest critical success.

(From Wikipedia)

Budget$850,000

Box office$90 million

Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American adult animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut.

Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States. It focuses on Fritz (voiced by Skip Hinnant), an anthropomorphic feline in mid-1960s New York City who explores the ideals of hedonism and sociopolitical consciousness. The film is a satire focusing on American college life of the era, race relations, the free love movement, and left- and right-wing politics. Fritz the Cat is the most successful independent animated feature of all time, grossing over $90 million worldwide.

Directed by    Ralph Bakshi

Produced by   Steve Krantz

Screenplay by   Ralph Bakshi

Based on        Fritz the Cat 
                         by Robert Crumb

Starring          Skip Hinnant
Rosetta LeNoire
Ralph Bakshi
Phil Seuling
John McCurry
Mary Dean

Music by Ed Bogas
Ray Shanklin

CinematographyTed Bemiller
Gene Borghi

Edited byRenn Reynolds

Production  company

Aurica Finance Company
Black Ink
Fritz Productions
Steve Krantz Productions

Distributed by     Cinemation

Release dates

April 12, 1972

Running time

80 minutes[1]

CountryUnited States

The Ralph Bakshi-helmed seasons 2 and 3, however, almost entirely eliminated villains from the comic book as a cost-cutting measure, choosing to instead have Spider-Man face generic, green-skinned, and magical monsters. This enabled reuse of stock footage from Rocket Robin Hood, another animated series produced by Bakshi.

Second season credits

Produced by Krantz, Animation inc

• Executive Producer and Animation Director: Ralph Bakshi

• Assistant Director: Cosmo Anzilotti

• Layout: Gray Morrow

• Animators: Clifford Augustson, Douglas Crane, Frank Enders, John Gentilella, Earl James, Martin Taras, Nick Tafuri, Terry Tarricone

• Backgrounds: John Vita, Richard Thomas

• Production Supervised by Sylvia White

• Production Manager: Jerry Schultz

• Film Editors: Howard Kaiser, George Copeland

• Animation Checking: Barbara Donatelli

• Camera: Jerry Smith, Larry Hogan

• Story Supervision: Ralph Bakshi

• Story Material: Ira Turek, Lin Carter, Fred Halliday

• C MCMLXVII Superheroes Productions inc

• Dialogue Director: Bernard Cowan

• Voices: Paul Kligman, Paul Soles, Peg Dixon

• Music and Effects Editing: Hank Goetzenberg, Inc.

• Theme Song Written by Bob Harris and Paul Francis Webster

• Music Composed and Conducted by Ray Ellis

• Produced by Krantz Animation, Inc.

• Distributed by Steve Krantz Productions (Krantz Films), Inc.

• C Krantz Films/Marvel Comics Group all rights reserved MCMLXVII

• Spiderman is a Trademark of the Marvel Comics Group. This Programs is Produced Under License of the Marvel Comics Group.

Third season credits

Produced by Krantz Animation inc

Produced by Krantz Animation inc

• Executive Producer and Animation Director: Ralph Bakshi
• Assistant Director: Cosmo Anzilotti
• Layout: Gray Morrow
• Animators: Clifford Augustson, Douglas Crane, Frank Enders, John Gentilella, Richard Hall, Earl James, Martin Taras, Nick Tafuri, Terry Tarricone
• West Coast Animation Director: Grant Simmons
• West Coast Animators: Robert Bentley, Ralph Somerville, Robert Taylor, Reuben Timmins, Karran Wright
• Backgrounds: John Vita, Bob Owen, Richard H. Thomas
• Production Supervised by Sylvia White
• Production Manager: Jerry Schultz
• Film Editors: Howard Kaiser, George Copeland, Richard Calamari
• Animation Checking: Rena Smith
• Color Checking: Barbara Donatelli
• Camera: Jerry Smith, Larry Hogan
• Story Supervision: Ralph Bakshi
• Story Material: Ira Turek, Lin Carter, Fred Halliday
• C MCMLXVII Superheroes Productions inc
• Dialogue Director: Bernard Cowan
• Voices: Paul Kligman, Paul Soles, Peg Dixon
• Music and Effects Editing: Hank Goetzenberg, Inc.
• Theme Song Written by Bob Harris and Paul Francis Webster
• Music Composed and Conducted by Ray Ellis
• C Krantz Films/Marvel Comics Group all rights reseved MCMLXVIII
• Spiderman is a Trademark of the Marvel Comics Group. This Programs is Produced Under License of the Marvel Comics Group.
• Based on an original character creation by Stan Lee