1988 in animation
Events in 1988 in animation.
Events
January
January 10: The Simpsons short "Grampa and the Kids" first airs and Grampa Simpson makes his debut.January 17: The first episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh airs, produced by the Walt Disney Company.January 29: The Peanuts television special Snoopy! The Musical airs on CBS. It is an animated adaptation of the 1975 musical play of the same name.March
March 2: The final episode of Maison Ikkoku airs.March 9: The first episode of F airs.March 18: Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw premiers.March 27: The first episode of Kiteretsu Daihyakka airs.April
April 11: 60th Academy Awards: The Man Who Planted Trees by Frédéric Back wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.April 16:- * Hayao Miyazaki releases his film My Neighbor Totoro.
- * Isao Takahata releases his film Grave of the Fireflies.
June
June 6: Donald Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, accuses the Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures episode "The Littlest Tramp" of depicting cocaine use. In reality, he misinterpreted the scene out of context, but the controversy eventually led to the series being canceled in October.June 22: Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit is released, which marks the debut of Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Benny the Cab and Baby Herman. The film revived public interest for the Golden Age of American animation, which will benefit many upcoming animated feature films and television series.July
July 16: Akira is released, which will later become a cult classic and largely be responsible for making anime popular outside of Japan.July 25: American child actress Judith Barsi and her mother Maria was murdered by József Barsi in an apparent murder–suicide.August
August 3: Jan Švankmajer releases his film Alice, which will become a cult classic.September
September 6: The first episode of Count Duckula airs.September 12: The first episode of Denver, the Last Dinosaur airs.September 17: The first episode of Garfield and Friends airs on CBS, based on the comic strip Garfield. September 27: The Peanuts television special It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown airs on CBS, which gained negative attention for the inter-species storyline being subjected in a Peanuts special before putting it in obscurity in the 2000s.October
October 3:- * The first episode of Anpanman airs.
- * The first episode of The Smoggies airs.October 17: The first episode of Oishinbo airs.October 20: The first episode of Charlie Chalk airs.October 29: The Michael Jackson film Moonwalker is released direct-to-video, featuring claymation in some scenes, produced by Will Vinton.
November
November 18:- * Don Bluth releases The Land Before Time. This film is generally acclaimed and became Bluth's most popular and longest running franchise to date.
- * The Walt Disney Company releases Oliver & Company.November 20: The Simpsons short "The Bart Simpson Show" first airs and Itchy and Scratchy make their debuts.November 22: Garfield: His 9 Lives premieres on CBS, it is an animated adaption of the 1984 book of the same name.
December
December 10: Garfield and Friends concludes its first season on CBS with the episodes "Forget Me Not/I Like Having You Around!/Sales Resistance".Specific date unknown
- The animation studio Spümcø is established.
- The first episode of Bobobobs airs.
- The first episode of Sharky & George airs.
- Mark Baker releases The Hill Farm.
- The Tom and Jerry cartoons by Gene Deitch are finally being televised. After over two decades, the legal issues from Rembrandt Films in Czechoslovakia were resolved.
Awards
Films released
- February 6:
- * Legend of the Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars
- * Maison Ikkoku: The Final Chapter
- * Ultimate Teacher
- * Urusei Yatsura: The Final Chapter
- February 10 - Black Tulip
- February 18 - Captain of the Forest
- March 1 - Xanadu: The Legend of Dragon Slayer
- March 11 - Harbor Light Story -From Fashion Lara-
- March 12:
- * Doraemon: The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West
- * ESPer Mami: Hoshizora no Dancing Doll
- * Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
- * Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods
- March 18:
- * BraveStarr: The Movie
- * Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw
- March 19 - Armored Trooper Votoms: The Red Shoulder Document - Roots of Ambition
- March 20 - Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats
- March 24:
- * Stowaways on the Ark
- * Treasure Island
- April 11 - The Amazing Adventures of the Musketeers
- April 16:
- * Grave of the Fireflies
- * My Neighbor Totoro
- April 21 - Appleseed
- May 1 - Westward Ho!
- May 3 - The Phantom of the Opera
- May 6 - The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound
- May 9 - Prisoner of Zenda
- May 13 - Alice
- May 25 - Mahjong Hishō-den: Naki no Ryū
- June - Toyama Sakura Space Book – His Name is Gold
- June 15 - Hiawatha
- June 20 - Project A-ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody
- June 21 - Zillion: Burning Night
- June 22:
- * David and the Magic Pearl
- * Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- June 23:
- * Katy Meets the Aliens
- * Peter Pan
- June 25 - The Tokyo Project
- July 9:
- * Bikkuriman: Moen Zone no Himitsu
- * Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
- July 10 - Alice in Wonderland
- July 16 - Akira
- July 21 - Ryūko, the Girl with the White Flag
- July 23:
- * Saint Seiya: Legend of Crimson Youth
- * Sakigake!! Otokojuku
- July 25 - What's Michael? 2
- August 12 - Watt Poe and Our Story
- September 15 - Raining Fire
- September 18 - Rockin' with Judy Jetson
- September 24 - Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
- September 25 - Maison Ikkoku: Through the Passing of the Seasons
- October 1:
- * Felix the Cat: The Movie
- * Hiatari Ryōkō! Ka – su – mi: Yume no Naka ni Kimi ga Ita
- * Kimagure Orange Road: I Want to Return to That Day
- October 16 - Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School
- October 18 - The Black Arrow
- October 25 - Demon City Shinjuku
- November 2 - Gall Force 3: Stardust War
- November 13 - Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf
- November 18:
- * The Land Before Time
- * Oliver & Company
- November 20 - Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears
- November 25 - Around the World in 80 Days
- December 2 - One-Pound Gospel
- December 10 - Care Bears Nutcracker Suite
- December 13 - Wind in the Willows
- December 21:
- * Space Family Carlvinson
- * Violence Jack: Evil Town
- * Yōsei-Ō
- Specific date unknown:
- * The Cat Who Walked by Herself
- * Crying Freeman
- * Forget Me Not
- * Lovely Fatma
- * Popol Vuh: The Creation Myth of the Maya
- * ''La table tournante''
Television series debuts
- January 10:
- * Little Lord Fauntleroy debuts on Fuji TV and ITV.
- * Tatakae!! Ramenman debuts on Nippon TV.
- January 17 - The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh debuts on Disney Channel and ABC.
- February 3 - Bobobobs debuts on TV3.
- February 13 - Osomatsu-kun debuts on Fuji TV.
- February 25 - Sakigake!! Otokojuku debuts on Fuji TV.
- March 2 - Clifford the Big Red Dog debuts in syndication.
- March 3 - Tsurupika Hagemaru debuts on TV Asahi.
- March 9 - F debuts on Fuji TV.
- March 14 - The Burning Wild Man debuts on Nippon TV.
- March 27 - Kiteretsu Daihyakka debuts on Fuji TV.
- April 2 - City Hunter 2 debuts on Yomiuri TV.
- April 5 - Wowser debuts on TV Tokyo.
- April 9 - Dagon in the Land of Weeds debuts on TV Asahi.
- April 12 - Transformers: Super-God Masterforce debuts on Nippon TV.
- April 13 - Sonic Soldier Borgman debuts on NNS.
- April 15:
- * Mashin Hero Wataru debuts on Nippon TV and Bandai Channel.
- * What's Michael? debuts on TV Tokyo.
- April 27 - Topo Gigio debuts on TV Asahi and TV Tokyo.
- April 30 - Ronin Warriors debuts on ANN.
- May 12 - Hello! Lady Lynn debuts on TV Tokyo.
- May 25 - Stories of the Sylvanian Families debuts on Direct-to-Video.
- July 2 - Ironfist Chinmi debuts on TV Asahi.
- September - Robotech II: The Sentinels debuts in syndication.
- September 5 - Tube Mice debuts on Children's ITV strand on ITV.
- September 6 - Count Duckula debuts on ITV and Nickelodeon.
- September 10:
- * ALF Tales and The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley debut on NBC.
- * A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil debut on ABC.
- * Police Academy debuts in syndication.
- September 12:
- * Denver, the Last Dinosaur debuts in syndication and on FR3.
- * Stoppit and Tidyup debuts on BBC One.
- * The New Yogi Bear Show debuts in syndication.
- September 17:
- * Fantastic Max debuts on BBC 1 and in syndication.
- * Garfield and Friends, Superman, and The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy debut on CBS.
- September 19 - C.O.P.S. debuts in syndication.
- October 1 - Dino-Riders and RoboCop: The Animated Series debut in syndication.
- October 2:
- * Marvel Action Universe debuts in syndication.
- * New Grimm Masterpiece Theater debuts on ANN.
- October 3:
- * Anpanman debuts on Nippon TV.
- * The Smoggies debuts on Global Television Network, Antenne 2, and Radio-Canada.
- October 9 - Himitsu no Akko-chan debuts on Fuji TV.
- October 13 - Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon debuts on TV Tokyo.
- October 17 - Oishinbo debuts on Nippon TV.
- October 20 - Charlie Chalk debuts on BBC1.
- October 21 - This Is America, Charlie Brown debuts on CBS.
- November 9 - The Ratties debuts on ITV.
- December 27: - Barney debuts on BBC1.
- Specific date unknown:
- * Mama Ohanishi O Shikikasete debuts on Nippon TV.
- * Nikonikopun debuts on Nippon TV.
Births
January
January 7: Robert Sheehan, Irish actor.January 12: Andrew Lawrence, American actor.January 21: John Early, American comedian and actor.January 29: Clifford Chapin, American voice actor.February
February 2: Zosia Mamet, American actress February 13: Erica Mendez, American actress.February 20: Rihanna, Barbadian singer and actress.February 22: Marieve Herington, Canadian actress and singer.February 29: Joel Kim Booster, Korean-American actor and producer.March
March 10: Ego Nwodim, American actress and comedian.March 12: Aleks Le, American actor.March 27:- *Brenda Song, American actress.
- *Piotr Michael, American actor.
April
April 10: Haley Joel Osment, American actor.April 13: Katie Lucas, American writer.April 14: Chris Wood, American actor.April 22: Deven Mack, Canadian actor.May
May 1: Nicholas Braun, American actor.May 5: Skye Sweetnam, Canadian singer, actress and music video director.May 9: Oliver Grainger, Canadian former child actor.May 13: Caroline Ford, English actress.May 16: Jermaine Fowler, American actor, comedian, producer and writer.June
June 1: Cody Ruegger, American former voice actor and son of Tom Ruegger.June 2: Awkwafina, American actress.June 7: Michael Cera, Canadian actor and musician.June 9:- *Lauren Landa, American actress.
- *Mae Whitman, American actor.
- June 30: Sean Marquette, American actor.
July
July 12: Christine Marie Cabanos, American actress.July 15: Aimee Carrero, Dominican actress.July 19: Cherami Leigh, American actress.July 24: Joe Pera, American comedian, writer and actor.July 25: Mamoudou Athie, Mauritanian-American actor.September
September 5: Shion Takeuchi, American television writer, storyboard artist and producer.September 8: Shannon Chan-Kent, Canadian actress and singer.September 12: Carlos Lopez Estrada, Mexican-American filmmaker.September 15: Chelsea Kane, American actress and singer.September 29: Mario Jose, American singer.October
October 4: Melissa Benoist, American actress.October 21: Mark Rendall, Canadian actor.October 27: Dylan Hoffman, American technical director and rigging artist,.October 28: Edd Gould, English animator,.November
November 8: Matt Braly, American animator, director, writer, and producer.November 22: Jamie Campbell Bower, English actor.December
December 1: Zoë Kravitz, American actress and singer.December 8: Tru Valentino, American actor December 14: Vanessa Hudgens, American actress and singer.December 31: Chris Niosi, American voice actor.Deaths
January
January 3: Patrick McGeehan, American actor, dies at age 80.- January 7: Marilyn Schreffler, American actress, dies at age 42.
- January 30: Homer Brightman, American screenwriter and comic writer, dies at age 86.