# Animal Crackers (TV series)

Animal Crackers is an animated television series produced by CINAR and Alphanim. It is based on the comic strip Animal Crackers by the American cartoonist Roger Bollen. The show was first introduced in September 7, 1997 and ended with the final episode in September 16, 2000. It lasted for three seasons with 39 episodes.

## Plot

The show that tells about a group of anthropomorphic animals that live in a fictional jungle in Africa called Freeborn.

## Telecast and home media

The show was first aired in Canada on Teletoon during its launch in 1997, but added in the U.S. on Fox Family (now Freeform) in 1998 until 2000 and the Cookie Jar Toons block on This TV from November 2008 until August 2009. In foreign countries, the show was also aired in France on La Cinquième (now France 5) and in Malaysia on TV9 and Astro Ceria. As of 2022, the show is now streaming on Tubi.

## Characters
### Major characters

* Lyle Lion (voiced by Mark Camacho): Lyle is a passive, insecure and a mama's boy, he is not what one might call "King of the Jungle". (He's more of a prince, who is incapable of being king), intent on taking philosophy classes and ordering a pizza (preferably vegetarian) than to be the dominant predator. Despite multiple failed attempts, his number one goal in life is to date Lana. Outside his love life, his other goal is to be an astronomer.
* Dodo (voiced by Teddy Lee Dillon): He is the last remaining dodo alive and is Lyle's best friend. Rash, impatient and slightly self-centered, he is extremely hot-headed and refuses to believe that he lacks the ability to fly. This leads to multiple failed attempts to take flight, sometimes using some very innovative and unusual techniques, all of which fail.
* Eugene the Elephant (voiced by Terrence Scammell): Eugene is a bull elephant who acts as an "overgrown baby" who craves attention despite his size and nature. He is rather arrogant and obnoxious and is unafraid to bully others with his size and strength to get what he wants. Some of his secret pleasures include inhaling loads of peanut butter and stomping petunias but the sight of a tiny mouse will freak him out.
* Gnu the Wildebeest (voiced by Marc Montgomery): For a "supposed" leader of a herd, he lacks any leadership qualities; rather, his traits show the exact opposite of a leader: lazy, timid and no sense of direction. Despite his nature, Gnu does mean well and is very dedicated to his herd, even though his presence there will hinder rather than help. A single father with a son he loves very much, he is a caring parent.
* Lana the Lioness (voiced by Kate Hutchinson): Lana is smart, attractive, strong-minded and the object of Lyle's affection. Lana is quite caring towards her fellow inhabitants of Freeborn and will put the group ahead of herself. She is an avid book lover and is often found with her nose in a novel. Despite showing little to no interest in Lyle's pursuits, it has been hinted that perhaps she does have a crush on him.

### Supporting characters

* Tito: a silent chameleon with no dialogue in the entire series. Often Tito can be found among the main characters, but due to his size and silent nature, he's usually either knocked aside, stepped or sat on, or used for some purpose, the characters mistaking him for an inanimate object. Despite this, Tito rarely holds any ill-will or contempt for the others and often shows to be very intelligent or at least at times on the same level as Lana, able to solve a problem or fix something when most of the other characters can't figure it out
* Lance: Another lion who competes with Lyle for Lana's attention
* Louie: Lyle's nephew. Being a cub still in diapers, Louie speaks in a manner similar to Mikey from Look Who's Talking where the audience can hear his thoughts, but the characters within the show are unaware what he's thinking. Unlike most animals on the Preserve, Louie doesn't think less of Lyle for his shortcomings, though he does show more self-awareness and intelligence than his uncle
* Bud and Edna: Two recurring human tourists, both the common stereotype of the annoying tourist couple who bumble about, usually completely unaware of what's really going on around them and making things more uncomfortable for the locals
* Junior and herd: Junior is Gnu's son (though never properly named in the series beyond 'Junior', so it is possible he shares his father's name) he is shown to be smarter and have more common sense than his father and is sometimes embarrassed by him, but understands Gnu's desire to be a leader and a good father and loves and respects him for this. The herd meanwhile don't show as much respect but are rather fittingly about as lazy as Gnu, often bailing on him whenever he calls for a stampede. Ironically, it is their lazy tendencies that keep Gnu as leader as any other leader (such as Roland the Waterbuffalo) would forcibly work them hard and into shape, which they don't want. Some of the herd have more distinct personalities, such as the gnu with a backwards baseball cap who speaks like a Californian surfer stereotype, an especially geeky gnu with an ID tag on his ear (these two can often be seen together), and a smaller gnu about Junior's age who appears to be the geeky gnu's little brother as they share similar characteristics, such as glasses and buck teeth
* Elmo the Crocodile: A somewhat passive and laid back crocodile who usually just floats in the pond. He tends to be the butt of physical pain humor every now and then as someone ends up landing on his head when jumping into the pond. Although he's as docile as any of the other animals in the Preserve, he will on the rare occasion indulge his predatory instincts by trying and failing to convince smaller animals to allow him to eat them
* Roland the African buffalo
* Lamont the Hippopotamus
* Roxanne the Ostrich (voiced by Dawn Ford)
* Grandpa Tortoise and his grandsons
* Sergeant Rhino
* Snake
* Frog and Toad

## Episode list
### Season one

| Episode | Segment 1 | Segment 2 | Writer | Director | Original Airdate |
| 1 | High Gnu'n | Eu-genial | Joseph Mallozzi | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 7 September 1997 |
| 2 | Dino-Sore-As-Heck | Wilderness Training 101 | Michael Leo Donovan Joseph Mallozzi | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 14 September 1997 |
| 3 | Treasure of the Preserva Freeborna | Call Waiting | Joseph Mallozzi Michael Leo Donovan | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 21 September 1997 |
| 4 | For Goodness Snakes | Meat the Folks | Thomas LaPierre Ian Boothby | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 28 September 1997 |
| 5 | If You Can't Be'em, Join'em | Spring Fever | Paul Mullie Michael Leo Donovan | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 3 October 1997 |
| 6 | Pachyderm Pandemonium | Herd Mentality | C. Northey and Michael Palmeter Anne-Marie Perrotta and Tean Schultz | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 10 October 1997 |
| 7 | Going Quakers | Blockbusted | Rick Jones and John Handforth Patrick Granleese and Hugh Neilson | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 17 October 1997 |
| 8 | Pachy My Bags | Mommy Dearest | Ken Ross (Segment 1), Kim Segal (Segment 2) and Joseph Mallozzi (story editor) | Louis Piché and Greg Bailey (supervising director) | 24 October 1997 |
| 9 | Sherlock Dodo | Poultrygeist | Barry Julian Joseph Mallozzi | Louis Piché | 7 November 1997 |
| 10 | Lyle's Psychic Alliance | Snowed Inn | Paul Mullie Michael Leo Donovan | Louis Piché | 14 November 1997 |
| 11 | Svelte Veldt | All the Preserve's a Stage | | | 21 November 1997 |
| 12 | It's a Date | Bully for Woolly | Wayne Millett | | 28 November 1997 |
| 13 | Lights, Camera, Lyle! | Bud and Edna's Excellent Adventure! | | | 3 December 1997 |

### Season two

| Episode | Segment 1 | Segment 2 | Writer | Storyboard Director | Original Airdate |
| 1 | Sleepover | Classified Casanova | Patrick Granleese and Hugh Nielson (segment 2) | Eric Bergeron (segment 2) | 5 February 1998 |
| 2 | Eight Hooves Out | My Brother's Keeper | Barry Julian (segment 1) Jacques Bouchard (segment 2) | Gerry Capelle (segment 1) Eric Bergeron (segment 2) | 6 February 1998 |
| 3 | Lyle's Ark | How to Be a Millionaire | Rowby Goren (segment 1) Anne-Marie Perrotta and Tean Schultz (segment 2) | Julian Harris (segment 1) Gerry Capelle (segment 2) | 7 February 1998 |
| 4 | Lyle Files | The Butler Did It | Todd Swift and Thor Bishopric (segment 1) Ken Ross (segment 2) | Jean Sarô (segment 1) Eric Bergeron (segment 2) | 8 February 1998 |
| 5 | Lyle in the Fast Lane | A Wing and a Prayer | Rick Jones (segment 2) | Julian Harris (segment 2) | 9 February 1998 |
| 6 | Schooldaze | Call of the Wild | Michael Leo Donovan (segment 1) Thomas Lapierre and Joseph Mallozi (segment 2) | Eric Bergeron (segment 1) Gerry Capelle (segment 2) | 9 February 1998 |
| 7 | The Cold Scholder | The Last Dodo Egg | | | 10 February 1998 |
| 8 | Lana Tuner Overdrive | Trust Me | | | 11 February 1998 |
| 9 | Birthday Palooza | Tito in Love | | | 12 February 1998 |
| 10 | Downsizing | Gnus in Canoes | | | 13 February 1998 |
| 11 | Beauty and Eugene | Freeborn for Rent | | | 14 February 1998 |
| 12 | Horrorscope | Lights! Camera! Gnu! | | | 15 February 1998 |
| 13 | Loony Bin | That's What Friends Are For | | | 16 February 1998 |

### Season three

| Episode | Segment 1 | Segment 2 | Writer | Original Airdate | Original air date (Teletoon) |
| 1 | Look Who's Not Talking | Paris, Freeborn | | 17 February 1999 | August 28, 2000 (2000-08-28) |
| 2 | Eugenius | Citizen Eugene | | 18 February 1999 | August 28, 2000 (2000-08-28) |
| 3 | Dial-a-Phobia | Time Flies But Dodo Doesn't | | 19 February 1999 | August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29) |
| 4 | A Rumor of Her Own | Prime Time Crime | | 20 February 1999 | August 29, 2000 (2000-08-29) |
| 5 | Dustbusters | Freeborn Online | Jacques Daviault & Wayne Millett (Segment 2) | 21 February 1999 | August 30, 2000 (2000-08-30) |
| 6 | Stop in the Name of Lana | Starstruck | | 5 September 1999 | August 30, 2000 (2000-08-30) |
| 7 | Volcano Madness | Love Is Blind | | 6 September 1999 | August 31, 2000 (2000-08-31) |
| 8 | Wishing Well | Eu've Got Mail | | 7 September 1999 | August 31, 2000 (2000-08-31) |
| 9 | Message in a Bottle | Fame, Fortune, Madness | | 8 September 1999 | September 1, 2000 (2000-09-01) |
| 10 | Storyteller | Animal Court | | 9 September 1999 | September 1, 2000 (2000-09-01) |
| 11 | Boo | Fountain of Youth | | 10 September 1999 | September 14, 2000 (2000-09-14) |
| 12 | Brand New Gnu | Boyz Night Out | | 11 September 1999 | September 15, 2000 (2000-09-15) |
| 13 | Fool's Gold | Near Myths | | 12 September 1999 | September 16, 2000 (2000-09-16) |

## Crew

* Micheline Charest – executive producer
* Ronald A. Weinberg – executive producer
* Christian Davin – co-executive producer
* Cassandra Schafhausen – producer
* Nadja Cozic – director
* Louis Piche – director
* Pascal Pinon – director
* Katell Lardeux – line producer
* Justine Hyun Van Phong – line producer
* Lesley Taylor – line producer
* Natalie Dumoulin – associate producer
* Jan Van Rijsselberge – animation supervisor
* Heidi Blomkvist – timing director
* Sebastian Grunsta – timing director
* Alan Jeffery – timing director
* Jean Pilotte – timing director
* Pascal Pinon – co-director
* Greg Bailey – supervising director
* Andrew Gryn – talent coordinator
* Eric Theriault – background design
* Wayne Millett – background design supervisor

### Writing credits

* Roger Bollen – comic strip
* Joseph Mallozzi – writer
* Ian Boothby – writer
* Wayne Millett – writer
* Jennifer Kierans – writer
* Pierre Colin-Tiebert – writer
* Thomas LaPierre – writer
* Jacques Bouchard – writer
* Jacques Daviault – writer
* Patrick Granleese – writer
* Hugh Neilson – writer
* Maureen Neilson – writer
* Michael Palmeter – writer
* Gerard Lewis – writer
* John Handforth – writer
* Ken Ross – writer
* Amy Jo Cooper – writer
* Greg Van Riel – writer
* Kim Segal – writer
* Rick Jones – writer
* Natalie Dumoulin – writer
* Heidi Foss – writer
* Lynn Mason – writer
* Brian Cameron Fuld – writer
* Rowby Goren – writer
* David Acer – writer
* Michael Leo Donovan – writer
* Bryan Michael Stoller – writer
* Anne-Marie Perrotta – writer
* Daniel Baldassi – writer
* Michael F. Hamill – writer
* Barry Julian – writer
* Tean Schultz – writer
* Thor Bishopric – writer
* Todd Swift – writer
* Vigeland Rubin – writer