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Animalympics is a 1980 American animated sports comedy television film FilmAffinity directed by Steven Lisberger 27 Things We Learned from the 'Tron' Commentary - Film School Rejects and produced by Lisberger Studios for the NBC network. Originally commissioned as two separate specials, it spoofs the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and features the voices of Billy Crystal, Gilda Radner, Harry Shearer, and Michael Fremer.
The event is covered mostly by Barbara Walters, a songbird, and "anchorturtle" Henry Kissinger. The 100-meter dash is covered in the style of a drag racing by Jackie Fuelit.
Unlike the real Olympics, continents are represented rather than countries. The continents featured are North America, South America, Eurasia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia. Eurasia represents the USSR, whereas Europe represents Western and Central Europe.
The only mention of areas other than continents includes the New York City Rats soccer team; Dean Wilson, who is from California; a Central American marathon runner named Pepé Repanosa; an Acapulco cliff diver named Primo Cabeza; marathon runner Terry Hornsby, who is from Boulder, Colorado; René Fromage, who is from France; and Kurt Wüfner, who appears at the Alpine skiing event just before a is awarded a gold medal.
Although many of the segments stand alone, there are some recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of the marathon, where competitors René Fromage and Kit Mambo are the favorites to win. Both are determined to win—Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself—but they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love, culminating in the pair holding hands for the rest of the race and crossing the finish line together. Another important story is that of Kurt Wüffner, a West German dachshund skiing, and his disappearance to Shangri-la during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after the slalom skiing event.
There are even cases of players attempting to cheat in the games, only to end up losing disgracefully while their honorable opponents take home the victory. At the start of the soccer game, the New York Ratpack, led by Rizzo the "Whiz," uses underhanded maneuvers to win, yet they are overpowered by the European All-Stars Hounds, led by Rolf Shmecker, whose experience brings home the win. During the ice hockey game, the Eurasian Longhorns have rigged the entire ice rink with explosives in order to take out their rivals, the North American Kodiaks, led by their coach Bear McLane. Yet in spite of the foul play, the Kodiaks still emerge victorious due to the efforts of their star player Guy Lafluke. In the swimming event for the 100-meter freestyle lap, the largest swimmer, Ono Nono, tries to eliminate the entire competition with a tidal wave to ensure no one else wins; yet he is defeated by the young surfer Dean Wilson, who uses his own tail as a surfboard to ride the wave to the finish line first. In the boxing match, vicious brawler Janos Brushteckel is known for overpowering his opponents with excessive force, yet aspiring boxer Joey Gongolong manages to outmaneuver him with clever strategy and an out-boxer style to wear him down and ultimately deliver the winning blow. In the fencing match, Count Maurice Boar-Deaux uses underhanded tactics to take out all other fencers, only to be outsmarted by The Contessa, whose graceful moves and style help her adapt to the Count’s actions and ultimately overcome him, avenging all the players he wronged.
A minor story features an alligator named Bolt Jenkins. He was "born as a handbag" and told that he would never walk again. A song during his story reveals that he lives in the Sanitary sewer. After seeing a frog named Boris Amphibiensky break the world record for the high jump, Jenkins has an epiphany and becomes determined to break the record. Jenkins goes on to set world records in the high jump, the pole vault, and later the 100-meter dash. Jenkins sacrifices his gold medal in the 100-meter dash to an African competitor and favorite whom Jenkins considers to be his superior.
The film spoofs real-life sports personalities like Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali. Control Nathan Rabin 4.0 #118 Animalympics — Nathan Rabin's Happy Place
However, from its conception, producer Donald Kushner and director Steven Lisberger intended the project as a feature-length theatrical release (complete with Dolby Stereo via 35mm film), even though the Winter Olympics special was already considered for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film nomination.
Among those who worked on Animalympics were art director/animator Roger Allers, animation director Bill Kroyer, and animator Brad Bird. Allers, who animated Kit Mambo, the lion star of Animalympics, went on to direct The Lion King. Kroyer later wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated short Technological Threat and the animated feature . Bird went on to work as story editor on the animated sitcom The Simpsons, and later achieved even greater success writing and directing the animated films The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. Director Lisberger went on to conceive, co-write, and direct the science fiction cult classic Tron, which some of the Animalympics crew were involved in. Its soundtrack supervisor was Michael Fremer, who was involved in Animalympics as a co-writer, voice artist, dialogue/music track editor, and sound mix supervisor.
Pieces of classical music play in the film. "The Hut on Hen's Legs (Baba Yaga)" from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky plays during Tatyana Tushenko's floor exercises. "March to the Scaffold" from Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz plays during the couple's figure skating. The third movement from Symphony No. 4 by Johannes Brahms plays during Dorie Turnell's skating performance.
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On April 3, 2018, Hen's Tooth Video released the first-ever region 1 DVD. In 2019, Austrian label Winkler Film released a remastered DVD alongside the first-ever Blu-ray release worldwide.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
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