Pac-Man (TV series)

Pac-Man is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and based on the Namco video game franchise of the same title. It premiered on ABC and ran for 44 episodes over two seasons from September 25, 1982, to November 5, 1983. It was the first cartoon based on a video game.

It was the highest-rated Saturday morning cartoon show in the US during late 1982. Upon its debut, it was watched by an audience of over 20 million children in the US, in addition to adults. The show also inspired the 1984 arcade game Pac-Land.

Plot
The show follows the adventures of the title character, Pac-Man, his wife Pepper Pac-Man (Ms. Pac-Man), their child Pac-Baby, their dog Chomp-Chomp and their cat Sour Puss. The family lives in Pac-Land, a place in which the geography and architecture seem to revolve primarily around sphere-like shapes. Most episodes of the series center around the ongoing battle between the Pac family and their only known enemies, the Ghost Monsters: Blinky, Inky, Pinky, Clyde, and Sue. They work for Mezmaron, whose sole mission is to locate and control the source of "Power Pellets", which serve as the primary food and power source for the city, and also is the deus ex machina in virtually every episode. The second (and final) season later introduces Super-Pac and Pac-Man's teenage cousin P.J.

Influence
The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create Saturday Supercade, which featured other video game characters from the golden age of video arcade games.

Some of the next Namco games were based on or influenced from the cartoon. Pac-Land and Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures are major examples. Also, the Tengen release of the original Pac-Man arcade game for the Nintendo Entertainment System features box art based on the cartoon.

Controversy
As the first season aired, scenes of Pac-Man "chomping" the Ghost Monsters and being "chomped" himself were considered too "violent". These scenes were toned down in subsequent episodes to provide less direct scenes of the characters "chomping" one another.

Main

 * Marty Ingels as Pac-Man
 * Barbara Minkus as Pepper (Ms. Pac-Man)
 * Russi Taylor as Pac-Baby
 * Allan Lurie as Mezmaron
 * Neil Ross as Clyde
 * Susan Silo as Sue
 * Barry Gordon as Inky
 * Chuck McCann as Blinky, Pinky
 * Peter Cullen as Sour Puss
 * Frank Welker as Chomp-Chomp, Morris, Adult Pac-Baby
 * Darryl Hickman as P.J. (Season 2)
 * Julie McWhirter as Dinky (two episodes from seasons 1 and 2)
 * Lorenzo Music as Super-Pac (Season 2)

Additionals

 * Bill Callaway (Season 2)
 * Jodi Carlisle (Season 1)
 * Brian Cummings (Season 2)
 * Patrick Fraley (Season 2)
 * Joan Gerber (Season 2)
 * Arte Johnson (Season 2)
 * Paul Kirby
 * Chris Latta (Season 2)
 * Kris Stevens (Season 2)
 * Andre Stojka (Season 2)
 * Janet Waldo (Season 2)
 * Lennie Weinrib (Season 1) – Pacula (ep. 7)

Season 1 (1982)
Aired as part of The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show.

Season 2 (1983)
Aired as part of The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour.

Pac-Man Halloween Special
The Halloween special consisted of two segments from the show, "Pacula" and "Trick or Chomp". The special aired in primetime on ABC on October 30, 1982. It has been replayed on channels like Cartoon Network and Boomerang during Halloween in later years until 2014.

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land
In this Christmas special, Pac-Man and his family help Santa Claus (voiced by Peter Cullen) after he crash lands in Pac-Land (after the reindeer were startled by the floating eyes of the Ghost Monsters after Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Baby chomped them). Mezmeron was the only character from the cartoon that is not in the special (although his lair, which is covered in snow, appears). It was shown every December on the Boomerang Christmas Party until 2014.

Broadcast history
Pac-Man aired on ABC Saturday Morning in the following formats:
 * The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show (September 25, 1982 – September 3, 1983)
 * The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour (September 10, 1983 – September 1, 1984)

Since the original run, reruns have turned up on the USA Cartoon Express on USA in the 1980s, Cartoon Network from 1995 to 1999, and Boomerang from 2000 to 2014. The Christmas-themed episode aired each year as part of The Boomerang Christmas Party, an annual marathon of classic Christmas cartoons, but is no longer seen on the channel's rotation. In the United Kingdom it was first Broadcast on TVAM as a part of the Roland Rat show.

Home media
In 1982, Worldvision Home Video Inc. (under Rainbow Products Ltd.) distributed a Pac-Man and Family VHS in Australia (catalogue number RCV 9019) and featured the episodes, Pacula, Trick or Chomp, Super Ghosts, The Pac-Man in the Moon, Invasion of the Pac-Pups, and Journey to the Center of Pacland. In 1988, the special Christmas Comes to Pacland received a VHS release in the United States.

In 2012, Warner Archive released both seasons of Pac-Man on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. The first season was released on January 31, followed by the release of the second season on September 11. The Christmas themed episode is included on the Season 2 DVD despite airing during the show's first season.

Despite Warner Bros. Discovery holding a majority of the rights to Hanna–Barbera, this program is not available on the Boomerang app or Max. However, the series has been airing on WBD's WB TV FAST channel Cartoon Rewind on Amazon's Freevee since April 2024. It's also available for purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The Christmas themed episode was available on the Boomerang app but was later removed in 2023.