How Kevin Gillis created The Raccoons, 1985

In 1985, the co-creator of the cartoon The Raccoons tells CBC's Midday about the "crazy idea" that led to the origins of the series.
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[@Suddenlyits1960]

Cyril Sneer was definetly one of the coolest character designs in the show.

[@AlanEricFan]

I loved how all the characters were complex, and Cyril's evolution over the years from tyrant to environmental advocate was really interesting.

[@johnnyballenatl]

The Raccoons was an immediate hit on the Disney Channel here in the States; so much so, they added another popular CBC children’s show to the schedule: Under The Umbrella Tree.

[@shendaraalshedir1933]

Omg CBC, you made me cry! My four kids are now 36-42, and l miss this show sooo much because I will never forget the happy hours watching this religiously with my babies!! I was/am SO proud that 🇨🇦produced this wonderful family series with humour, fun & some good moral lessons over violence, explosions & weapons. Moral quality. I even LOVED the song, "Run With Us!"- and my family sure did!!👍🏻 This l call a family series not a kids show because, CBC if you relaunched the original series, * I WOULD* watch it again as a 61-year old, lol! Hate living in Ottawa, but it sure produced something good here. GREAT memories!! THANK 💐 YOU KEVIN GILLIS, thank ❤️ you soooo much! 🤗💖🌈☮️🇨🇦

[@vixenlover2369]

Found this show online 5 years ago. One of my favorite shows of all time.

[@davidbirch98]

I just found this cartoon while looking for cartoons for my daughter to watch. Im 45 and i love it!!!!

[@sheika_mc]

I used to love this show. Thanks for bringing back the memory

[@applegal3058]

I loved this show as a kid! ❤

[@theinsanelogic]

Watched it every week with my family!

[@Wildcock23]

Oh, this is wonderful. I grew up on “The Raccoons” in the late 80s on The Disney Channel… from nearby Minnesota

[@AlanEricFan]

Me too- I'm from Indiana. I happened to discover them in reruns on the Disney Channel. By chance it was the very first episode, so I got to watch them all pretty much in order.

[@MonkeyspankO]

Great memories as an immigrant kid in rural Canada, nothing but fuzzy rabbit ears as my window to urban Canada.

[@thomasecallaghan1111]

Loved watching this as a kid in England. Great voices and music to sing along to 🦝🦝

[@TerryOnTuesday]

It's making a comeback, and I'm involved....ssshhh!

[@lionocyborg6030]

The Raccoons _made_ 2006 for me when it began airing on Boomerang (I somehow missed it when it aired elsewhere earlier in life) until late that same autumn. It came back in 2007 for the same time period (up till about halfway through season 3) before stopping again and it was never on the air in the UK since then, forcing me to watch the specials and the rest on youtube in 2008 until I got a bootlegged DVD of the full series last year to replace my recorded DVDs and season 1 official DVD. Still waiting on the official full series DVD & Blu-Ray remaster to come out as well as New Adventures. It's like waiting for Half Life 3.

[@IgorsDen]

The full series (including the original 4 specials) has just been added to Britbox in the UK, remastered and in HD. It looks great.

[@sonicguyver7445]

I grew up with this show way back when. Rediscovered it on a CBC station back in college. It was on just before reruns of Degrassi High. It still stands up too. Sure some things seem dated but the messages and themes are presented in a way that still carries. The animation and music are worlds beyond anything you see anymore.

[@Nephalem2002]

I’m sad I wasn’t alive when this show was on TV. Its a very good show. Pisses me off more that they ALSO TOOK IT OFF TELETOON RETRO.

[@alexandergillingham2592]

Same

[@teddybeer6206]

This is one of three shows that helped me learn English. The other two being Garfield and Friends and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987). And almost 40 years later, this series is STILL being shown on TV.

[@mysticwolf75]

This show has always been very special to me. As a kid, I only saw a handful of episodes (I live in the Buffalo southtowns and sometimes we could pick up CBC). But when my Grandpa got cable in 1991, he would occasionally get the Disney Channel preview weekend, and I was actually able to see one or two episodes when I stayed over for the weekend (at this point, it wasn't on CBC anymore, only the Disney Channel). So for me, seeing any episodes was a special treat and I really looked forward to spending time with Ralph, Melissa, and Bert (as well as Bentley sometimes). I had always hoped for a full DVD release of the series, as I had only seen episodes from the first three seasons. Finally, a few years ago, I found someone selling a bootleg copy of the series on DVD - having mostly been recorded off TV, the quality isn't always great, but at least I can finally watch the episodes whenever I want, and finally got to see the last two seasons. I will still buy a commercially released copy, if that ever happens, but I'm so glad to have the series in some format, at least. The Raccoons still holds a special place in my heart.

[@AlanEricFan]

I discovered them in reruns on the Disney Channel. It quickly became my favorite cartoon! I'd record the episodes on vhs and watch like 5 a day for a while hahaha. You could say I was obsessed. I'd love to see a new DVD release.

[@mysticwolf75]

@@AlanEricFan My Grandpa was able to record a bunch of them for me back in the early 90s when he got cable, so I at least had a VHS tape full of episodes. I'm so glad I got that bootleg DVD set of the series, but I'll still gladly pay for a proper DVD or Blu-ray release, as I'm sure the picture quality will be much better than the bootlegs!

[@jameswalkerparden30]

I love the raccoons and a big fan timeless and Magical

[@OsagieGuobadia]

I never watched this animated show before. I noticed that Kevin Gillis was the co-creator of "Atomic Betty" in the 2000s and aired on Cartoon Network Fridays in the United States. : )

[@trevorsheehan1757]

Dose Kevin Gillis live in Canada?

[@OsagieGuobadia]

@@trevorsheehan1757 Yes, Kevin Gillis lives in Canada. He was born in Chesterville, Ontario. : )

[@Kit_Bear]

You seriously need to binge watch this show.

[@OsagieGuobadia]

If I have the time. : ) @@Kit_Bear

[@x225w]

Such a great show, it's so funny the ending theme Run with Us was the ending theme for Hobo with a Shotgun

[@Kit_Bear]

They used it without Kevin's permission.

[@thefishfin-atic7106]

i remember fondlhy wathing this cartoon, and still holf its lessons true to my heart

[@rebellefleur435]

omg!!! memories!!!!

[@ArturoEspinosa-tj6oe]

The Raccons is the best cartoons series l ever seen before.

[@denelson83]

I primarily remember Kevin Gillis from a different CBC show, "Yes You Can".

[@the-NightStar]

I WOULD have chastised that lady reporter for dunking on American cartoons, but then I remembered that this was 1985. When the kind of crap that was running at the time was Transformers and G.I Joe and garbage like that. So.... even though I guess we were a long way off from the revival of the 90's that brought quality and actual effort back to american tv animation again, I can't say she's entirely wrong, either. Although they weren't really violent... they just appeared to be that way on the surface, but in actuality why US animation was REALLY bad in the 80's was due to no one caring about animation as an art-form, but just as bad toy commercials with no substance. But all the "violence" was really just imagined. In actual fact, shows like those, like G.I Joe and Transformers and others were always constantly censored, dumbed down, and made too safe by paranoid parental groups and stuffy network executives that made sure there was no real conflict or any kind of actual story in those shows. Really they were just dumb and stupid because no one involved cared. But Kevin Gills was ahead of his time. The Racoons was like Ducktales or other, smarter cartons. This show was about 3-4 years ahead of it's time.

[@Suddenlyits1960]

I remember when the first Christmas special came out it was a huge success. I read somewhere that the first two specials were the most watched Christmas specials in the 1980s. They had great character designs and voice actors. Carl Banas was doing voices for Arthur Rankin Jr and Jules Bass back in their "videocraft" days. He voiced the Wizard in "tales of the wizard of oz". Hes 94 now and still going strong. Michael Magee's Cyril Sneer voice was superb! It fit the way the character looked. I truly hope that Kevin Gillis wont remake this series,but if he does i hope he will keep the exact same character designs and animation style as the original series as well as the exact same personalities and writing.

[@bradjames891]

My favorite cartoon from The Disney Channel!

[@RhiannaBarr]

Kevin a,so wrote ALL of the songs on the specials and the series.

[@Kit_Bear]

And what a fantastic job he did too.

[@Da1Dez]

Why is it we never see any footage of the actors recording the character voices!? Give us one shot of Len Carlson doing Bert at least!

[@WakoDoodle]

This show, along with : the moomin's, The adventures of Binky Bill and Tabaluga; were the first ever cartoons on Cartoon Network UK. Back when Sky Tv started here. This was before the later series "Flying Rhino Junior High" and a bit later: all the cartoon network cartoons like dexter's laboratory, ed edd n eddy, etc.. this was among the first 4 cartoons I could watch on demand. Before I used to watch BBC and hoped shows like sonic SatAm, Arthur and The Magic Schoolbus were on when I was; as I was very young and never woke up at the right time. But this show was my favourite next to The Moomins. Great music, beautiful animation and a message that was pretty obvious but something we still need to learn today. Especially with more Cyril Sneers in the world atm ^^

[@cesarmanilla8066]

Kevin Gillis Talks About The Anime & Manga Version Of The Nutcracker Prince Named Return Of The Nutcracker Prince & The 2022 Animated Movie Remake Named Clara’s Nutcracker

[@TheBasedCanadian]

Back when CBC was watchable

[@jimt.626]

When did Cyril Sneer go good? What season?

[@barontaylor7139]

What happened with Cedric’s mother or Tommy and Julie’s mother?

[@RhiannaBarr]

Cedric’s mom died I think

[@cesarmanilla8066]

The Nutcracker Prince (1990) Is Back From The Anime & Manga Version Of The Nutcracker Prince Named Return Of The Nutcracker Prince & The 2022 Animated Movie Remake Named Clara’s Nutcracker Please

[@NorthSea_1981]

This series was also shown here on German TV in the late 80s/early 90s. This series wasn’t perfect by any means, often quite mediocre, but massively enjoyable nonetheless.

[@mikef.795]

The flaccid snout was really off-putting

[@the-NightStar]

Grow up

[@BlueCometDude]

I don’t like The Racoons, but at least it’s more original than other animated shows at the time (the rest are based on toy lines)

[@the-NightStar]

disliked

[@Kit_Bear]

You should slap yourself for saying that.

[@alexandergillingham2592]

One of my favorite shows!!!

[@user-mt2vf8bm1v]

oh, its Ubermarginal!