Fil-Cartoons

Fil-Cartoons
The Philippine equivalent of Les Studios Tex, but more infamous.
Founded: 1987 Defunct: 2001 Industry: Animation Headquarters: Manila, Philippines Key people: Jerry Smith (formerly) Parent: Hanna-Barbera

Fil-Cartoons, Inc. was a Manila, Philippines-based animation company founded in 1987 by Jerry Smith, as an overseas unit and a subsidiary of Hanna-Barbera. It went defunct in 2001.

Shows produced by Fil-Cartoons

• The Ren & Stimpy Show (season 1)
• Dexter's Laboratory (the first six episodes of season 1)
• Tiny Toon Adventures
• What a Cartoon
• Meena
• A Day in the Life of Jerry Smith

Fil-Bad Qualities

1. They are very infamous for their animation and camera error frequency, especially in The Ren & Stimpy Show in season 1.
   • Speaking of Ren & Stimpy, one of the most infamous animation errors in the series caused by them, was the scene when Stimpy has two black eye dots in "Stimpy's Breakfast Tips" that make his eyes look like he came from a Funko POP toy, except poorly thought of. John Kricfalusi wanted to do a retake in that error but kept it because he found that error funny.
2. Because of the errors Fil-Cartoons did in season 1 of The Ren & Stimpy Show, Bob Jaques hated working with them, and the horrible animation quality of the episode "Nurse Stimpy", was the reason why John Kricfalusi was credited as Raymond Spüm in that episode, which made him feel very embarrassed with the episode's animation quality. Due to these reasons, the company was fired by Spümcø after season 1.
3. The studio did not pay employee wages properly, which caused some of the employees to sleep in the studio because their wages were not helping to keep their rents.
4. The studio's work condition was poor, as they didn't have an air conditioner, according to Joe Murray, when he mentioned that one studio that didn't have an air conditioner when was looking for an overseas studio for Rocko's Modern Life.
5. They made awful ink-and-paint in shows like Tiny Toon Adventures.
6. Along with AKOM, they gave a bad name to the overseas studios in the animation industry.

Fil-Good Qualities

1. They tried to improve their animation in later cartoons they worked on like Dexter's Laboratory (only the first six episodes; Rough Draft Studios animated everything else), and some shorts of "What a Cartoon!".
2. They did a good cartoon called Meena (a cartoon from Bangladesh), along with Hanna-Barbera to UNICEF.
3. There are some good animators, such as Romy Garcia, who would later work for Toon City and WildBrain.
4. Their short film "A Day in the Life of Jerry Smith" (dedicated to studio founder Jerry Smith) shows interesting how the animation in the studio was made.
5. Their ink-and-paint and camera work on "Stimpy's Invention" was considered better than the previous episodes of Ren and Stimpy, thanks to Bob Jaques supervising the process by showing them the original pencil test. He was responsible for overhauling their production system, according to AnimaniacNZ.

Reception

Due to their poor animation in season 1 of The Ren & Stimpy Show and Bob Jaques, the owner of Carbunkle Cartoons hated working with them, Spümcø fired Fil-Cartoons from the show after their first and only season of Ren and Stimpy.

Trivia

• According to Tino Guanlao III, the reason why Glen Kennedy left Fil-Cartoons to found his own studio was because of jealousy.

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