Remember Cyril Sneer? (The Raccoons)

Member Name: julwhite

Product:	The Raccoons
Date:	17/04/08 (513 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cartoon for kids

Disadvantages: Some of the episodes are a bit heavy

The Raccoons was my favourite animated series from the 1980s which was created by Kevin Gills. It was set in the Evergreen Forest in Canada and featured the characters Bert Raccoon, who wanted to protect his local environment, and Cyril Sneer, a businessman who wanted global domination.

Cyril Sneer (whose voice was read by Michae Magee) also had his son and heir to the Sneer fortune, Cedric Sneer, to help him. Cedric however was much less business driven, and was often much more interested in doing the right thing, and sometimes even helping Bert Raccoon and his friends. Cyril also had three pigs to help him, and they were fiercely loyal to him.

Bert Raccoon (whose voice was read by Len Carlson) was aided by his friends Ralph and Melissa, and also his relative (and also the love of his life), Lisa Raccoon. He was always keen to keep his forest safe and not become part of Cyril Sneer's business regime.

I remember my favourite episode, and this is going back a few years! It was when a local publisher decided to published a "Who's Who" of characters from the forest. Cyril Sneer decided that this would be a superb way of meeting new professional interests to help his business empire. However, when he tried to write hie family tree, his parents were less than revealing about his past.....

The show is known to many in the UK because it was shown on CBBC on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was however of course broadcast to many countries around the world, and I remember when in France there was an episode which had been dubbed into French I saw on television.

There were sixty four episodes made in total, made across five series from 1985 to 1992. Nearly all of the episodes have been released in the US, but there are still some to be released in the UK, apparently because of a lack in demand. This is a great shame, as I'm sure many people would like to see this series again.

If I could find fault, it would be that some of the episodes are a bit heavy, and really push the message home about the environmental impact. Although a great programme environmentally, it sometimes did get slightly political. This seemed to die down a lot however in the later episodes.

The reason that I enjoyed it was really because it was the first time that I recall being interested in something which was so pro-environment, and the fight to save the forest from Cyril Sneer. It seems as good a way as any of keeping youngsters interested in the environment, and what can happen if we don't look after it.

All in all, a great series!

Summary: The Raccoons, an environmentally aware animated series