The Crew

Two rooms, one show

ThunderCats was made the way every Rankin/Bass production had been made since the 1960s, split across the Pacific. Scripts, casting, recording and design happened in New York. The recorded tapes, the storyboards and the design sheets were flown to Tokyo, where Pacific Animation Corporation animated the episodes. Finished reels came back to New York for editing and broadcast.

The New York end was tiny. Ten people, of whom often only one was an artist. The Tokyo end was a studio formed out of Topcraft, the company that had just lost two thirds of its staff to Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata when they founded Studio Ghibli. Between them they shipped 130 half hours in four years.

Wing one

The New York room

Rankin/Bass Productions, a small office in midtown Manhattan with a hand-operated elevator. Profiles marked Profile coming are on the build list; if you knew these people or worked with them, we would like to hear from you.

• 
  Staff Artist, Writer Dennis J. Woodyard Episodes 96 to 130

  Designed the secondary characters, props and some backgrounds for the final 35 episodes, then wrote two of them. Credited on screen only as Production Staff.

  Read the profile
• Producer Peter Bakalian 1985 to 1989

  Made the phone call that brought Woodyard into the building.

  Profile coming
• Executive Producer, Co-founder Jules Bass 1985 to 1989

  The other half. Rankin/Bass made the Christmas specials that raised America before it made the cartoon that raised the 1980s.

  Profile coming
• Designer Bob Camp Mid-run

  Held the design desk before Woodyard, then left for DiC and eventually co-created Ren and Stimpy.

  Profile coming
• Supervising Producer Lee Dannacher 1985 to 1989

  Ran the New York end: casting, the recording sessions, and the hand-off to Tokyo. Hired Woodyard after a single meeting.

  Profile coming
• Original Character and Logo Design Mike Germakian Pre-production

  At Leisure Concepts, not Rankin/Bass. Designed the original ThunderCats, their weapons, their names and the logo before a frame was drawn.

  Profile coming
• Composer Bernard Hoffer 1985 to 1989

  Wrote the theme and the entire orchestral score. The reason a syndicated cartoon sounds like a film.

  Profile coming
• Executive Producer, Co-founder Arthur Rankin Jr. 1985 to 1989

  Half of Rankin/Bass. Built the transpacific production model in the 1960s that ThunderCats ran on twenty years later.

  Profile coming
• Story Editor, Showrunner Peter Lawrence The later seasons

  Ran the writing room through the back half of the run and edited both of Woodyard's scripts. Still telling the story today on the Beyond Thundera podcast.

  Profile coming
• Designer Jim Meskimen Mid-run

  Drew the New Thundera map and secondary designs, then became one of the best known voice actors and impressionists in Hollywood.

  Profile coming
• Designer Pepe Moreno Mid-run

  Shared the design load through the middle of the run and across The Comic Strip.

  Profile coming
• Design, Backgrounds Ray Shenusay Mid-run

  Concepted the new Cat's Lair and painted backgrounds. Came from the same Galaxy Rangers art department as Woodyard.

  Profile coming
• Head Writer, Story Developer Leonard Starr 1985 to 1989

  The Annie and On Stage cartoonist who developed the series bible and wrote more ThunderCats episodes than anyone. The voice of the show on the page.

  Profile coming