Atkinson Film-Arts was an animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The company is best known for producing the first two Care Bears television specials – The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine – and the four syndicated specials that inspired The Raccoons (as well as first-season episodes of the show itself). Atkinson also produced the Christmas specials The Little Brown Burro, Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas and The Trolls and the Christmas Express and the 1986–87 series The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin (with DIC Entertainment).
They also worked on the 1981 science fiction anthology movie Heavy Metal and The Body Electric, an animated movie featuring music composed by the Canadian rock band Rush.
The company acquired one of Canada's oldest film studios, Crawley Films (and its Graphic Films subsidiary), in 1982 for the price of just C$1.
In 1987, the company was renamed Crawleys Animation. It produced the special The Nightingale (with Shanghai Animation Film Studio) and 13 episodes of Dennis the Menace along with 11 episodes of COPS for DIC, and worked with French studio Belokapi on a series Y's the Magnificent (which was cancelled during production and never broadcast), before shutting down in 1989 because of debt problems.
Filmography[]
Television specials[]
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1978 | The Little Brown Burro |
| 1979 | The New Misadventures of Ichabod Crane |
| 1979 | Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas |
| 1980 | The Christmas Raccoons |
| 1981 | The Trolls and the Christmas Express |
| 1981 | The Raccoons on Ice |
| 1983 | The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings |
| 1983 | The Legend of Hiawatha |
| 1983 | The Raccoons and the Lost Snow |
| 1984 | The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine |
| 1985 | The Body Electric |
| 1985 | Rumpelstiltskin |
| 1985 | The Velveteen Rabbit |
| 1985 | For Better or For Worse: The Bestest Present |
| 1986 | The Tin Soldier |
| 1986 | Babar and Father Christmas |
| 1987 | The Nightingale |
Television series[]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1974-79 | The Letter People | animation |
| 1985–86 | The Raccoons | Season 1 (11 episodes) |
| 1985–86 | OWL/TV | animation |
| 1986–87 | The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin | Seasons 1–2 (65 episodes) |
| 1988 | Dennis the Menace | Season 2 (13 episodes) |
| 1988 | COPS | Season 1 (11 episodes) |
Direct-to-video films[]
| Year | Title | Distributor |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | The Raccoons: Let's Dance! | Embassy Home Entertainment |
| 1987 | Meerkats | Ammex Productions |
Feature films[]
| Year | Title | Distributor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Heavy Metal | Columbia Pictures | "Harry Canyon" and "B-17" segments |
Short films[]
| Year | Title | Co-production with |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Santa | |
| 1974 | Yesterday's Farm | Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada |
| 1975 | Camp Roofless | Department of National Defence |
| 1975 | Amenita | Pyramid Films |
| 1976 | Let's Talk Business | Department of Regional Economic Expansion |
| 1976 | Propst[r]ike | Transport Canada |
| 1977 | Post and Beam Construction (slide film) | Canadian Wood Council
Eastern Forest Products Laboratory |
| 1980 | Wood Construction (slide film) | Canadian Wood Council
Eastern Forest Products Laboratory |
| 1980s | Things That Go Bump: Client/Counselor Relationship and Other Things That Go Bump | Canadian Employment and Immigration Commission |
| 1981 | Groups That Work: Part One | Canadian Employment and Immigration Commission
Telescene Productions |
| 1981 | Groups That Work: Part Two | Canadian Employment and Immigration Commission
Telescene Productions |
| 1983 | A Piece of Sunshine | Ontario Hydro |