PAC-MAN AND THE GHOSTLY ADVENTURES

PAC-MAN AND THE GHOSTLY ADVENTURES

(Disney XD, Family Chrgd, Netflix, June 15, 2013-May 29, 2015 US
Tokyo MXTV, BS11, April 5, 2014-June 27, 2015 JAP)

41 Entertainment, Arad Animation Inc., Bandai Namco Entertainment, OLM Digital, Sprite Animation Studios

MAIN CAST:

Erin Mathews – Pac-Man, Ms. Globular

Andrea Libman – Cylindria

Sam Vincent – Spiralton, Lord Betrayus Sneakerus Spheros, President Stratos Spheros, Count Pacula

Ian James Corlett – Blinky, Sir Cumference, The Pacinator

Lee Tockar – Inky, Mr. Dome, King Obtuse, Cyclops Ghosts, Tentacle Ghosts, Fuzbitz

Ashleigh Ball – Pinky, Spheria Suprema, The Easter Pac-Peep

Brian Drummond – Clyde, Butt-ler, Dr. A.H. Buttocks, Ogle, Professor Pointybrains

            Developed by Tom Ruegger and Paul Rugg, two of the people responsible for the Warner Bros. Television Animation renaissance of the 90s, and Avi Arad, who was responsible for the majority of Marvel Comics’ television and film output since the 1990s, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures saw the return of Namco’s classic character to television since the 1980s Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

Betrayus while he was still alive.

            The computer animated series centered around an teenaged orphan Pac-Man (Erin Mathews). His parents had fought in the war against the ghosts, led by Lord Betrayus Sneakerus Spheros (Sam Vincent), who tried to conquer Pac-World. He was stripped of his corporeal form and banished to the Netherworld with the ghosts. The seal to the Netherworld was accidentally opened by Pac when he was avoiding school bully Skeebo (Matt Hill), allowing Betrayus and his ghosts access to Pac-World once again.

The Ghost Gang: Blinky, Clyde, Inky and Pinky.

            As in the video games on which the show is based, Pac had the ability to eat ghosts and destroy their ectoplasm, leaving only their eyeballs to fly off and reconstitute their forms in a regeneration chamber. This was because he was a Yellow Pac, and one of the last—if not THE last—in all of Pac-World. The ghosts were made tastier when Pac ate berries from the Tree of Life, which also give him a variety of different powers and allowed him to withstand the hostile environment of the Netherworld. Joining him directly from the games was the Ghost Gang: crafty leader Blinky (Ian James Corlett), smart and sarcastic Inky (Lee Tockar), dim-witted-though-wise and caring Clyde (Brain Drummond), and Pinky (Ashleigh Ball), who developed a crush on Pac. Unlike in the games, they only pretend to serve Betrayus; playing dumb and foiling his plans in an effort to aid Pac in exchange for access to their bodies held in the hidden repository.

Pac with Spiral and Cylindria.

            Pac lived at Maze Academy, a boarding school in the city of Pacopolis, with his friends Cylindria (Andrea Libman) and Spiralton (Vincent). They often aided Pac in his adventures along with Sir Circumference (Corlett), a goofy scientist who created a variety of gadgets to help fight against the ghosts and was in charge of the repository. The President of Pac-World was Stratos Spheros (Vincent), the younger brother of Betrayus. Cylindra and Pinky would often butt heads because of Pinky’s jealousy stemming from the belief that Cylindra also had a crush on Pac.

Betrayus amidst a horde of ghosts with Dr. Buttocks and Butt-ler.

            Serving Betrayus was the mad scientist ghost Dr. A.H. Buttocks (Brian Drummond), who specialized in monster experimentation and created a variety of devices to aid in Betrayus’ schemes. He often suspected that the Ghost Gang was working with Pac, but Betrayus chose to ignore his warnings. His brother, Butt-ler (also Drummond), served as Betrayus’ servant and sometimes spy. Specter (Brendon Ryan Barrett) was a spy ghost who was stronger and smarter than the others due to never being eaten by a Pac. Master Goo (Vincent Tong) was a calm yet cocky ninja ghost who was a master of Pac-Fu and trained Betrayus’ armies.

A mean genie.

            Aside from ghosts, other inhabitants of the Netherworld included Count Pacula (a play on Dracula, voiced by Vincent), a vampire who could only be summoned when two moons turned blue every 100 Halloweens; Madame Ghoulasha (Kathleen Barr), a witch who did favors for Betrayus in order to win his affections; Jean (Nicole Oliver), a genie used by Buttocks to trap Pac and keep the ghosts in Pac-World; The Easter Pac-Peep (Ball), a humanoid marshmallow chicken who became hostile due to Betrayus’ past pranks; Dentures of Doom (Paul Dobson), living dentures belonging to the Mummy Wizard (also Dobson) that brought him to life and gave him his powers; and Dr. Pacenstein (a play on Frankenstein, voiced by Erica Mendez), a mad scientist who was a talking brain in a glass jar with autonomous limbs that usually annoyed him. Aliens, known as Pointy Heads, also frequently set their sights on Pac-World; particularly their overlord, Apex (Colin Murdock), scientist Professor Pointybrains (Drummond), and minion Tip (Gabe Khouth).

Pac and his friends leaving Maze Academy.

            Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures debuted on Disney XD on June 15, 2013 in the United States. It subsequently ran on Disney XD, and later Family Chrgd, in Canada beginning on March 17, 2014, and on Tokyo MX and BS11 in Japan on April 5, 2014. The series was produced by 41 Entertainment, Arad Productions and Bandai Namco Entertainment, and was animated by Sprite Animation Studios and OLM Digitial, Inc. The theme was composed by William Anderson with lyrics by Arad, and performed by Gabriel C. Brown. The rest of the series’ music was composed by Tetsuya Takahashi, Naoyuki Horiko, Shogo Ohnishi, Reiji Kitazato, Masafumi Okubo and Kuniyuki Morohashi and often took cues from the games’ sound effects. Tetsuya Ishii was the lead character designer.

The Netherworld.

            The first season ran for 26 episodes. The second season was set to run for the same length but was instead cut in half by distributors to make a third season. The new third season aired in Japan first between January and April of 2015, while in the United States it didn’t begin until that May. Two specials were made: Santa Pac’s Merry Berry Day and Pac’s Scary Halloween, which were later broken up into the episodes “Happy Holidays and a Merry Berry Day” and “Santa Pac” and the two-part “Pac’s Very Scary Halloween”, respectively. The Halloween and second Christmas episodes first aired on Netflix in the United States. The series was written by Arad, Ruegger and Rugg, along with Ken Pontac, Marcy Brown, Dennis Haley, Michael Maurer, Jymn Magon, Cydne Clark, Bob Forward, Steve Granat, Glenn Leopold, Eric Shaw, Len Uhley, Mark Young, Alexandra Bland and story editor Sean Catherine Derek.

Pinky flirts with Pac.

            Episodes of the series have been released to DVD beginning in 2013. In Australia, 12 episodes were released between the sets The Adventure Begins and Pac to the Future. In North America in 2014, The Adventure Begins was released containing only the first episode. Following that, each release contained four episodes each: Pac is Back (initially a Wal-Mart exclusive), All You Can Eat, Let the Games Begin! (exclusive to Target), Ghost Patrol! and A Berry Scary Night. Three-episode collections Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime and Mission Impacable! were released exclusively to Redbox, with Pac to the Future going to Redbox Canada. Additional collections included Movie 4-Pac, Jurassic Pac and 8-Pac, as well as a 3-DVD collection. The series has also been made available for streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix.

            Bandai produced a line of toys to coincide with the show. They included standard figures of Pac and his friends, spinning figures, three versions of Pac with special tongue features, and plush dolls. There was also a giant Pac who could spit-up slime from his mouth, symbolizing his having just eaten some ghosts. K’Nex put out a several sets with figures to form a constructible maze playset. Video games based on the show were also published by Bandai Namco. An endless runner for mobile devices called Pac-Man Dash! was developed by M2 and released in 2013. It was available until Bandai Namco had it removed from online stores in 2017. A 3D platformer sharing the show’s name was developed by Monkey Bar Games was released for home consoles in late 2013, with a 2D platformer for the Nintendo 3DS following by Inti Creates. A sequel for the home consoles followed in October 2014. The characters from the show were also featured in the menus of the compilation game Pac-Man Museum (the games based on the show, however, were not included). 

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“The Adventure Begins, Part I” (6/15/13) – Pac accidently unleashes ghosts on Pac-World and they manage to steal the Tree of Life.

“The Adventure Begins, Part II” (6/15/13) – When Pac and his friends fall into a trap, Pac pretends to have a crush on Pinky in order to be set free and escape with the Tree.

“No Pets Allowed…Especially Monsters!, Part I” (6/19/13) – Betrayus sends an army of cloned monsters after Pac.

“No Pets Allowed…Especially Monsters!, Part II” (6/20/13) – Dr. Buttocks creates a machine that makes monsters giant, forcing Pac to go on a size-changing adventure.

“All You Can Eat” (6/21/13) – Learning Pac’s weakness is food, Betrayus has his ghost minions feed Pac until he’s too full to eat ghosts.

“President Possessed!” (6/24/13) – Buttocks possesses President Spheros and turns the town against Pac.

“Is Zit You Or Is Zit Me?” (6/25/13) – When stress causes Pac to get a lot of zits, Betrayus sends ghosts to make sure Pac is nice and constantly stressed.

“Pac To The Future” (6/26/13)- Sir Cumference’s vehicle sends Pac back in time where he ends up babysitting himself as a baby.

“Heebo-Skeebo” (6/27/13) – Skeebo wants to be a hero so he steals Pac’s berries, which Obtuse and Betrayus want as well.

“Mission ImPacable!” (6/28/13) – Pac tries to gain some self-control over his eating just as Betrayus wants him to eat a ghost with a chip that will let him control Pac.

“No Body Knows” (7/1/13) – When President Spheros discovers slug cams in the roundhouse, Sir Cumference worries Betrayus may have discovered the repository.

“Seems Like Old Times” (7/2/13) – Sir Cumference needs a very dangerous Netherworld item for his latest invention, but he worries he isn’t the freedom fighter he used to be.

“Betrayus Turns the Heat Up” (7/3/13) – Buttocks creates a super furnace that increases the already high heat in PacWorld; a heat that threatens to dry out and kill the Tree of Life.

“Pac-Pong Fever” (7/5/13) – Betrayus challenges Pac’s aunt to a pac-pong game, believing she cheated him out of a victory many years ago.

“Driver’s Pac” (7/22/13) – As Pac and his friends learn to drive, Buttocks creates a giant drill to burrow into the netherworld that could sink the entire city.

“Jinxed” (7/23/13) – Buttocks discovers the ghosts have been helping Pac, and Betrayus sends for a curse from the netherworld to turn Pac into a jinx.

“Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime” (8/31/13) – Pac and his friends discover a strange artifact that belong to his parents, and Buttocks discovers it holds the key to the secret of the Tree.

“Planet Pac” (9/14/13) – Buttocks lures in a planet-sized ghost to destroy PacWorld, but Betrayus discovers it would destroy the netherworld as well.

“Stand By Your Pac-Man” (9/21/13) – As Pinky and Cylindria fight for Pac’s affections, Betrayus summons the being who killed every other yellow pac: the Pacinator.

“PacLantis” (9/28/13) – Pac and his friends learn Betrayus plans to find PacLantis and the berry bush of youth, which could reanimate Betrayus back into his original form.

“Jurassic Pac” (10/5/13) – When Fuzbit finds a dinosaur bone, Buttocks uses his machine on it to create an army of radio-controlled dinos.

“A Berry Scary Night” (10/12/13) – It’s Halloween and Betrayus and his minions call upon Count Pacula to drain Pac.

“The Great Chase!” (10/19/13) – Betrayus possesses his mother as she visits President Spheros and Pac.

“Robo Woes” (10/26/13) – A giant alien robot named Apex seeks to take over PacWorld by kidnapping President Spheros and rendering the Power Berries powerless.

“The Spy Who Slimed Me” (11/2/13) – A spy ghost possesses Aunt Sphera’s dog in order to infiltrate Sir Cumference’s lab and conquer both PacWorld and the netherworld.

“Invasion of the Pointy Heads” (11/9/13) – Apex returns and proposes an alliance with Betrayus to lead an all-out assault, but Apex ends up betraying him in order to rule by himself.

Season 2:

“Ride the Wild Pac-Topus” (6/9/14) – Buttocks rigs various carnival rides in an attempt to steal a key Pac is guarding.

“Meanie Genie” (6/10/14) – Pac is tricked into finding a genie whose wishes turn out to be problematic.

“Cave Pac-Man” (6/11/14) – Pac discovers a prehistoric Cave Pac-Kid while attempting to stop Mt. Packinely from erupting.

“Cosmic Contest” (6/12/14) – When the constant battles awaken an ancient napping alien race, three teams are made to compete in a race to settle the conflict once and for all.

“That Smarts!” (6/16/14) – A brainy berry leads to a giant robot battle between Pac and Buttocks while Betrayus spires on Sir C’s romantic getaway with Spheria and becomes depressed.

“Pac-Mania” (6/17/14) – Pac gets a TV show based on his life, but the fame doesn’t seem worth he and his friends being made to look like fools.

“Rip Van Packle” (6/23/14) – A wormhole sends Pac 70 years into the future where Betrayus rules Pacworld.

“Spooka-Bazooka!” (6/24/14) – Buttocks puts Pac out of a job by inventing a bazooka that can catch ghosts, but it secretly puts its user to sleep for 100 minutes to allow Betrayus to invade.

“The Pac Be With You” (6/30/14) – A ninja ghost trains Betrayus’ army, prompting Blinky to train Pac with a new fighting technique.

“The Shadow of the Were-Pac” (10/8/14) – Were-Pac attacks threaten the President’s spookiest Halloween party.

“Cap’n Banshee and his Interstellar Buccaneers” (10/14/14) – A summer cruise is interrupted by ghostly pirates from outer space.

“A Hard Dazed Knight” (10/15/14) – Buttocks develops an armor coating that allows a ghostly army to avoid being eaten by Pac.

“Happy Holidays and a Merry Berry Day” (12/2/14) – When Pac’s parents return from a top-secret mission, Pac goes to great lengths to hide them from his friends.

Season 3:

“Peace Without Slime” (1/31/15 JAP, 5/18/15 US) – Betrayus rigs the Pac-World election to get Obtuse into power while Cylindria and Skeebo run for class president.

“The Ghost Behind the Throne” (2/7/15 JAP, 5/19/15 US) – Pac and his friends smuggle the Tree of Life and the repository out of the Round House before Obtuse can be sworn in.

“Nerd is the Word” (2/14/15 JAP, 5/20/15 US) – Betrauys and Buttocks send Butt-ler to spy on Pac and his friends, but their kindness towards him leads him to betray his evil masters.

“Bride of the Griner” (2/21/15 JAP, 5/21/15 US) – Grinder builds a girlfriend for himself which Buttocks steals and plans to use for his next evil plot.

“The Legend of Creepy Hollow” (3/7/15 JAP, 5/22/15 US) – When Skeebo scares Pac and his friends with the legend of Hugefoot, Betrayus has Buttocks build a robot version of the myth.

“Easter Egg Island” (2/28/15 JAP, 5/26/15 US) – The Pac-Peep has kidnapped all the ghosts from the Netherworld, prompting Betrayus to ask for Pac’s help to retrieve them.

“The Wizard of Odd” (3/14/15 JAP, 5/27/15 US) – A space worm summoned by Buttocks sends Pac and Fuzbitz to an alternate dimension.

“Indiana Pac and the Dentures of Doom” (3/21/15 JAP, 5/28/15 US) – If an evil mummy is reunited with his cursed dentures, it could spell the end for Pacworld.

“Honey, I Digitized the Pac-Man” (3/28/15 JAP, 5/29/15 US) – Sir C sends Pac into cyberspace to stop Buttocks’ deadly computer virus.

“Pac’s Very Scary Halloween – Part One” (4/4/15 JAP, 10/4/16 US) – Dr. Pacenstein invites Pac and his friends to his castle for a Halloween dinner and ends up trading bodies with Pac.

“Pac’s Very Scary Halloween – Part Two” (4/11/15 JAP, 10/4/16 US) – Spiral and Cylindria try to get help from Count Pacula to stop Dr. Pacenstein.

“Santa Pac” (4/18/15 JAP, 9/5/15 US) – Pac has to save Santa-Pac and his round-deer after they’re kidnapped to the Netherworld.

“New Girl in Town” (4/25/15 JAP, 5/29/15 US) – Betrayus plans to use the President’s beautiful niece to seduce Pac and lead him to the repository.