Creator / Fil-Cartoons

Fil-Cartoons was a Philippines-based animation studio. It was established in 1987 by Hanna-Barbera (specifically, Jerry Smith), and was in operation through 2001. The studio was primarily responsible for producing animation for parent company, Hanna-Barbera. Some of its employees later went to work for Toon City.

As the studio is closed, there is no official website for Fil-Cartoons, but here is a short video tour, hosted by its general manager Bill Dennis.

See also Wang Film Productions, another major animation provider for Hanna-Barbera (and its partner for several shows).

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Shows and films worked on by Fil-Cartoons:

• The Addams Family
• The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda (uncredited)
• The Baskervilles
• Bibi Blocksberg
• Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
• Capertown Cops
• The New Adventures of Captain Planet
• Columbus: Adventures to the Edge of the World (ink and paint/camera; animation by Bon Art)
• The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (uncredited)
• Daisy-Head Mayzie (with Tony Collingwood Productions)
• A Day in the Life of Jerry Smith ^Info (an in-house short film given to studio founder Jerry Smith as a retirement gift)
• Dexter's Laboratory (6 episodes)^List "DeeDeemensional/Maternal Combat", "Dexter Dodgeball/Dexter's Assistant", "Dexter's Rival/Old Man Dexter", "Double Trouble/Changes" (with Jaime Diaz Productions), "Jurassic Pooch/Dimwit Dexter", "Dee Dee's Room/The Big Sister" (replaced by Rough Draft Studios for the rest of the series)
• The Dreamstone (season 1 only, replaced by Moving Images International)
• Droopy, Master Detective (with Mr. Big Cartoons)
• Fairy Tale Police Department (with Colorland Animation) (to date, their last production)
• Fantastic Max
• Fish Police (with Mr. Big, Karen Johnson Productions and Jaime Diaz Productions)
• A Flintstones Christmas Carol
• God, the Devil and Bob (with VirtualMagic Asia)
• The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (with Wang Film Productions)
• The Halloween Tree
• Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
• Jetsons: The Movie (ink & paint; with Wang Film)
• Joseph: King of Dreams (additional animation services for Bardel Entertainment; with Wang Film, Starburst Animation, Tama Productions, Golden Bell, Canuck Creations, Mercury Filmworks, Character Builders, Heart of Texas, Spaff Animation, Studio Bihou, DKP Studios, Baku Productions, Giant Productions, Design Office MECHAMAN, VirtualMagic Animation, Blue Sunflower, Mukuo Studio, Red Rover Studios, Dynomight Cartoons, Big Fish Animation, Wild Horse Animation Group, New Vision International, Hits for Less and Ray Pang Effects)
• Juanito Jones
• The Legends of Treasure Island (season 2, replacing Jade Animation and Moving Images International)
• Mad Jack the Pirate
• Magic Adventures of Mumfie (season 1 only)
• The Magic Pudding (uncredited)
• The Mask (seasons 2-3, with Dai Won, New Vision International, Plus One Animation and Philippine Animation Studio Inc. but unknown which specific episodes they worked on. (10 solo episodes)^List "Channel Surfin'", "The Green Marine", "Magic", "Fantashtick Voyage", "They Came From Within", "To Have and Have Snot", "Mystery Cruise", "The Goofalotatots", "When Pigs Ruled the Earth", "The Aceman Cometh" (with Cuckoo's Nest)
• Meena (earlier episodes; replaced by Future Thought)
• The New Yogi Bear Show (uncredited)
• Paddington Bear (1989 Hanna-Barbera series; uncredited)
• Pigs Next Door
• The Pirates of Dark Water (with Tama Productions, Wang Film, Mr. Big and Big Star)
• Police Academy The Series (with Wang Film)
• Potsworth & Company (uncredited)
• A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (with Wang Film)
• The Ren & Stimpy Show (season 1 only; ink & paint for all episodes, animation for 2 shorts)^List "Stimpy's Breakfast Tips", "Fire Dogs" (with Carbunkle Cartoons and Lacewood Productions)
• Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (uncredited, with Wang Film and Optifex Animation)
• The Smurfs (season 9, with Wang Film and an uncredited Saerom)
• The Snorks (uncredited)
• Street Sharks (with Wang Film, Rainbow Group, Plus One Animation, Mook DLE & Hong Ying)^* At least one episode: "Fresh-Water Sharks"
• Taz-Mania (outsourced by StarToons; uncredited)
• Tiny Toon Adventures (ink & paint and camera services for Kennedy Cartoons (8 episodes),^List "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow", "Gang Busters", "Buster and the Wolverine", "You Asked For It Part 2", "Fields of Honey", "The ACME Bowl", "Best o' Plucky Duck Day", "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?" Encore Cartoons (3 episodes),^List "Strange Tales of Weird Science", "Hero Hamton", "Looniversity Daze" AKOM (1 episode)^List "The Wacko World of Sports" and Wang Film (1 episode)^List "Spring in ACME Acres"
• Tom & Jerry Kids (with Wang and Mr. Big)
• What A Cartoon! Show ^{With the exception of the following shorts} "Dino: Stay Out" (Wang), "Johnny Bravo" (in-house), "Captain Buzz Cheeply: A Clean Getaway" (Buzz Image Group), "Rat in a Hot Tin Can" (Perennial Pictures), "Fat Cats: Drip Dry Drips" (StarToons/Animation Service (HK)), "The Chicken From Outer Space" (Stretch Films), "Help?" (Cartoonia), "Godfrey & Zeek: Lost Control" (Hyun Young), "Buy One, Get One Free" (Rough Draft), "Strange Things" (Sensible Shoes), "Home Sweet Home" (Rough Draft), "Malcom and Melvin" (Bakshi Zoo Toons), and "Babe, He Calls Me" (Bakshi Zoo Toons); they also provided ink-and-paint/camera (but not the animation) for "Cow and Chicken: No Smoking" (animated domestically by David Feiss) and "Tales of Worm Paranoia" (animated by Kennedy Cartoons and Carbunkle Cartoons), and split animation duties for "Meat Fuzzy Lumkins" (with Animal Ya) and "Pfish and Chip: Short Pfuse" (with Delaney & Friends Productions)
• Wicked! (with Sae Hahn Productions and Y.R. Studio)
• Yo Yogi! (layouts; with Wang Film)
  • Boo Boo Runs Wild (with Galaxy World, Color Key Studios and VirtualMagic USA)
• Yogi the Easter Bear (uncredited, with Jaime Diaz Productions)
• Young Robin Hood (with Big Star and with Saerom during season 1)

Unconfirmed:

• Darkwing Duck (IMDb lists Fil-Cartoons as having involved, likely providing uncredited ink & paint, camera services for Kennedy Cartoons)
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ink & paint services for Walt Disney Animation UK, uncredited)
• Timeless Tales From Hallmark: Jerry Smith is listed as a production supervisor, which is often a giveaway that he supervised episodes at his studio Fil-Cartoons. And Hanna-Barbera used them quite heavily during this period. They are not listed in the end credits though.

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Tropes associated with Fil-Cartoons:

• Animation Bump:
  • Many of their What a Cartoon! shorts.
  • Compared to the rest of the series, Season 3 of The Mask is easily the most fluid and expressive.
  • The earlier Dexter's Laboratory episodes is much more fluid than Rough Draft, which uses limited animation for their episodes.
• Depending on the Artist: Their style tended to be cruder but more offbeat and free style than standard studios at the time, meaning a lot of their episodes produced this for respective shows. The episodes they produced for Dexter's Laboratory and The Dreamstone in particular contrast greatly with the work of other studios.
• Deranged Animation: Present in a lot of their What a Cartoon! shorts, but especially the ones directed by Pat Ventura.
  • Also many moments in Capertown Cops, especially the intro sequence.
  • Urpgor is generally characterised by this individually in The Dreamstone but Fil-Cartoon's episodes animate him especially bizarre.
• Line Boil: In the What a Cartoon! short "The Kitchen Casanova".

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