Pac-Man (2013 TV series) (Johnsonverse)

Pac-Man is an American traditionally animated series based on the video game franchise of the same name by Bandai Namco Games. It was produced by Johnson Television Animation in association with Bandai Namco and ran on WBC from September 21, 2013 to December 19, 2020. It follows Pac-Man and his family facing off against Mezmeron and a team of ghosts.
== Plot ==
The series follows the adventures of Pac-Man, his wife Ms. Pac-Man, and their children Jr. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man, as they face off against Mezmeron and a team of ghosts (mostly the Ghost Gang, Binky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde; other ghosts are common as well, with Sue being the most recurring ghost not a part of the Ghost Gang). 
== Characters ==
* Pac-Man (Eric Bauza) is the protagonist.
* Ms. Pac-Man (Cree Summer) is Pac-Man's wife.
* Jr. Pac-Man (Kath Soucie) is the elder child of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
*Baby Pac-Man (Stephanie Sheh) is the younger child of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
* Shadow/"Blinky" (Chuck McCann from 2013 to 2017, Bill Fagerbakke from 2018 to 2020) is the hot-blooded, short-fused leader of the Ghost Gang, and the sanest of the four; they’re also the least eccentric member of the Ghost Gang.
* Speedy/"Pinky" (Tom Kenny) is a rather mischievous member of the Ghost Gang who ironically isn’t as fast as Blinky (though their motor mouth makes up for that); they’re also rather eccentric in comparison to Blinky, though not as much as Inky or Clyde.
*Bashful/"Inky" (Billy West) is a somewhat immature, goofy, and unpredictable member of the Ghost Gang.
* Pokey/"Clyde" (Brian Cummings) is the biggest, slowest-witted member of the Ghost Gang. He's also very sensitive.
* Sue (Debi Derryberry) is a sly, somewhat snarky ghost who is closer than most other ghosts to the Ghost Gang, and has gained a lot of intelligence since her original appearance in Ms. Pac-Man. She is also crushed on by Pinky, Inky, and Clyde (particularly the latter, who is the only male of the otherwise genderless Pac-Ghosts), all of whom she has mixed feelings about; in turn, she crushes on Blinky, who doesn't notice her feelings in the slightest. She’s also lacking in many of the Ghost Gang’s eccentric qualities.
*Tim (Pat Fraley)
*Funky (Phillip Wilburn)
*Spunky (Grey Griffin)
*Kinky (Gregg Berger)
*Orson (Frank Welker)
*Pyro (Rob Paulsen)
*Gully (Doug Lawrence)
*Woody (Mark Hamill)
*Lily (Rachael MacFarlane)
*Coral (Chris Latta)
*Zero (Patrick Pinney)
*Bupkus (Cathy Cavadini)
*Nada (Cheryl Chase)
*Mezmeron (Peter Cullen) is the true leader of the ghosts. He seeks to take over Pac-Land by taking all of the Power Pellets. A common theme throughout the series is characters both good and evil trying to discern his exact intentions for Pac-Land; in the final season, he revealed that all he was trying to do was end the segregation between the Pac-People and Ghosts, and prepare both races for an even bigger threat.
*Erwin (Maurice LaMarche) is introduced in the final season as the true main antagonist of the series. He is a short, gray, megalomaniacal humanoid with a desire for destruction. His ultimate goal is to destroy both Pac-Land and the Ghost Zone for their resources, at which point his own people could build an army to take over the world and exterminate all other races on the planet to make themselves feel better about their diminutive statures.
*Super-Pac (Lorenzo Music)
== Production ==
The series evolved from a concept for a series called Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. This series sought to modernize the franchise, including a modern setting, portraying Pac-Man as a school-aged teenager instead of an adult hero, and dispensing with most of the side characters in favor of new characters. Among the new proposed characters included a purple Ms. Pac-Man stand-in named Cylindria (at the time the concept was scrapped, Andrea Libman had already been cast in the role, suggesting that the series' voice acting would be contracted to Ocean Group in Vancouver, Canada), Pac-Man's best friend Spiral, his aunt Spheria, and Lord Betrayus, a flamboyant villain whom Samuel Vincent had already been cast as.
The series would have also portrayed the four ghosts as allies of Pac-Man, often going behind their master's back to help him; the series would have portrayed Blinky, Inky, and Clyde as male and Pinky as female, while the final series portrays the gang as having Blinky, Pinky, and Inky be non-binary while Clyde stays male.
This concept was rejected due to taking too many liberties with the established Pac-Man mythos. The series underwent a full overhaul to closer resemble the Hanna-Barbera series, including the use of traditional animation instead of computer animation, Pac-Man having a family, Sue appearing as a fifth ghost (also remaining female), and having Chuck McCann and Lorenzo Music reprise their respective roles as Blinky and Super-Pac (after McCann passed away in 2018, Rob Paulsen took over the role). In addition, every ghost who had ever appeared in a prior Pac-Man game (sans Yum-Yum) were added to the series to boost the ranks of the Ghosts, along with additional ghosts created for the series.
Category:Johnsonverse