As a child of the 80s, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see Lou Scheimer in person at the Filmation and Lou Scheimer: Celebrating a Generation of Animation and TV Heroes panel. What kind of person would I be today if I hadn’t gotten my daily dose of moral fiber from He-Man and She-Ra, courtesy of Filmation? The crowd clearly loved Mr. Scheimer and his work, so when moderator Andy Mangels revealed that Lou is currently battling Parkinson’s disease, and Lou quipped, “Battling? I’m losing!” you could feel the heartbreak in the audience. At that point, I think everyone just wanted to tell him how much his work has meant to all of us over the years. There’s never enough time in this things to really get the kind of details you want, but the panel of Filmation collaborators shared several stories about the creative, but budget-impaired years at Filmation. As one panelist said, “Lou stretched every penny, just to keep animation jobs in the US.” The panel ran a little long, so there wasn’t time for audience questions, which I think may have been a good thing. I don’t think I could have handled the emotions. Andy Mangels has a book coming out in September, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, that should answer all the questions I’ve ever had about Filmation, so I’m looking forward to that.
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