This series ran for three seasons on PBS and, like the overwhelming majority of the shows produced for that network, was of excellent quality and had to have been assembled by people who had a love for the subject matter. The shorts that ran on the series ran the gamut from deathly serious ones like Sisyphus (a Hungarian short) to the delightful short Great (a British Academy Award winner) and every possible spot on the line between. Work from all over was featured, from The National Film Board of Canada, the Eastern Europeans, the United States, the United Kingdom, ranging from shorts done for children to things like Closed Mondays by Will Vinton. Different animation styles, from 2-D hand drawn to puppet and Claymation, were featured. The intent was simply to showcase the best short animation available to PBS. The usual suspects-Warner Brothers, Disney, MGM-weren't featured, but they didn't need the exposure. These shorts did and finally found something approaching the audience they deserved.
It's been 25 years since this first came on the air and more than 20 since it ended. Some extraordinary things have been done in the intervening years. It would be wonderful if perhaps PBS or someone would put together a show similar to this in concept to give animation like this more of an audience these days. No matter. Thanks to this show, I discovered a whole side of animation I barely glimpsed before, here and there and for that I'll always be thankful. I wish I could see some of these again,though.
It's been 25 years since this first came on the air and more than 20 since it ended. Some extraordinary things have been done in the intervening years. It would be wonderful if perhaps PBS or someone would put together a show similar to this in concept to give animation like this more of an audience these days. No matter. Thanks to this show, I discovered a whole side of animation I barely glimpsed before, here and there and for that I'll always be thankful. I wish I could see some of these again,though.