Rayman: The Animated Series

Rayman: The Animated Series
Starring	Billy West
Country of origin	France
No. of episodes	4
Production
Running time	10 minutes
Original release
Network	UbiSoft
Release	1994 – 1995

Rayman: The Animated Series or The Rayman TV Series is a children's television series featuring the French Video Game hero Rayman. Created by Ubi Soft, the show was originally in French, but dubbed into various languages for specific countries, including the UK and Holland.

Plot Summary

Episode 1: LacMac Napping

The series opens with the a mobile circus floating in a dark forest. This circus is owned by the sinister Sir Rigatoni, and his ringmaster Admiral Razorbeard (the villain from Rayman 2). Inside the circus is a group of imprisoned performers: LacMac, a blue rabbit-looking humanoid; Betina, a human girl; Cookie, a pompous humanoid dog; and Flips, a dragonfly-like little fairy girl. LacMac is then called to perform for the customers, and after the performance, is thrown in the cageroom with his fellow performers by Razorbeard as Rigatoni laughs maniacally.

Later on, Rigatoni and Razorbeard bring in a new performer, Rayman, who can do many tricks with his limbless hands. However, Rayman is a rebellious performer, and refuses to perform for Rigatoni, ultimately ending up caged with the other performers.

It is then that LacMac demonstrates his incredible strength by twisting a strong metal wire into the shape of a dog. At Rayman's suggestion, LacMac uses his ability to bend the cagebars open for them to escape while Flips flies around the surveillence cameras, preventing Rigatoni from seeing them. They barely manage to escape Razorbeard's grasp by tearing a hole in the circus wall and jumping out while the circus crashes into the ground.

But Rigatoni doesn't give up there, enlisting the help of Inspector Grub to hunt down and capture Rayman and his friends. Meanwhile, on land, Rayman and the gang stumble across a faulty car, whose owner agrees to hand it over should they fix it. Cookie succeeds, and they all drive off for a hiding place. Unfortunately, Grub sees them and gives chase in his police car, but Rayman manages to evade Grub by making a sharp turn and causing Grub to crash into a nearby stack of crates.

Episode 2: No Parking

After escaping from Inspector Grub, Rayman and the gang stop at a park to rest for a while, but a disgruntled Cookie starts to regret joining Rayman on "this foolish adventure", and decides to write a will, believing that he will die soon. Unfortunately, he rudely shuns the playful Flips while writing, causing Flips to fly sadly into the car and cry herself to sleep under the sunroof.

However, the gang turn around to see the car being taken away by a tow-truck. At first, they are unconcerned after seeing the "No Parking" sign above them, but give chase after LacMac points out that Flips is trapped in the car. Eventually, they run into a nearby train station, where Rayman spots Inspector Grub outside. Posing as an Italian Waiter, Rayman asks Grub where the tow-truck would take a car, and Grub tells him that it is headed for the Scrapyard which can be reached by the 7 Train. Unfortunately, Grub finally realizes that the Waiter is really Rayman, and after a brief chase in the station, Rayman and the gang manage to escape from Grub by catching the 7 Train just in time.

At the Scrapyard, Rayman and the others see that the cars are being loaded on a conveyer belt and dumped into the mouth of a giant monster. Worse, Rayman sees Inspector Grub park his car outside the Scrapyard, so they all get inside a towed car and hook Grub's car to it, pulling Grub's car into the Scrapyard and leaving him with no transportation. Rayman manages to climb up the conveyer belt and save Flips in the nick of time, just as Grub finds them. Getting into a nearby steamroller, Lacmac drives away after chasing inspecter Grub with the latter, but the Lacmac doesn't seea drop below and falls off a pier. Although Rayman manages to keep them in the air with his Helicopter Hair for a few moments, he loses concentration and they all fall into a chasm.

Waking up, they all see that they actually landed in a cosy bedroom, and it is now daylight. However, what they do not know is that they are actually in the room on the first floor of the very house of Inspector Grub!

Episode 3: High Anxiety

Due to the collision they experienced earlier on, Cookie finds himself with a splitting headache, so they all borrow Betina's new Taxi and drive him to the doctor, where he is strapped to a chair and experimented on in a few hilarious moments.

After the experiment, the doctor comes out with the results, and breaks the news that Cookie has only been imagining it all and needs to be committed immediately. Cookie is then taken by the orderlies into the mental asylum basement, where he is thrown into a cell with a roomate.

In the waiting room, Rayman and the others talk about how to spring Cookie out of the asylum. Then, to their horror, Grub enters the building, and they all hide behind th chairs to see what Grub is up to. They don't hear him, so after Grub goes into the hospital, Rayman and the others pose as Grub's family and ask where he went. Unfortunately, they take a wrong turn, and end up looking all over the cells for Cookie. Eventually, Rayman and the others manage to find Cookie just as Grub finds him. Thanks to the intervention of Cookie's roomate, Rayman and the gang finally manage to escape from the asylum after a long chase given by Grub. Eventually, Grub is caught by two orderlies, who mistake him for a similar-looking patient who escaped earlier on, and is thrown into the prisoners cell as Rayman and the others finally manage to escape from the hospital.

Episode 4: Big Date

Arriving back at Grub's home, Rayman, Betina, Flips, LacMac and Cookie complain about not having anything to eat, so Rayman suggests going to the grocery store, but Cookie refuses, fearing Grub's surprising return. In order to keep an eye on things, Cookie invents a telescope that peeks through a loose floorboard to the ground floor. To Cookie's horror, he sees Grub enter the house carrying a bouquet of flowers, and immediately assumes Grub has a date, which may take his mind off them.

Strangely, Grub starts to clean his house and brush his hair, but when his date arrives, he makes a complete buffoon of himself by accidentally hitting her with her umbrella and leaving the oven on for too long, burning the meal in the process.

Feeling sorry for Grub, Rayman suggests helping him out despite being his enemy, much to Cookie's annoyance. After Grub accidentally breaks his date's nose with a bottle cap, she storms into the bathroom to fix it while Grub sulks. Initiating their plan, Rayman deliberately sets off the fire alarm, and hides behind the door as Grub comes into the kitchen, giving Rayman, Betina and Flips to quickly tidy up the living room.

As Grub comes back into the dining room with his date, Rayman, Betina and Flips sneak back into the kitchen and prepare a secret feast with the help of Cookie and LacMac after seeing Grub's messed up meal, but LacMac clumisily drops the plates and breaks them, attracting Grub's attention.

Grub goes into the kitchen just as Rayman and his friends go out. Grub then sees the feast on the table and takes it to his date as Rayman watches them from the first floor. Unfortunately, Grub foolishly ties the tablecloth to his neck and gets up to get some soda, accidentally pulling the tablecloth off the table and making a complete mess, much to Rayman's dismay.

Grub's date then storms out of the house, so Rayman, in a last ditch effort to save Grub's happy evening, Rayman poses as a mailman and delivers flowers and a "romantic message" from Grub, asking her to the movies. The date then phones Grub, and he excitedly agrees to take her to the cinema the following day.

Rayman and his friends smile in triumph.

Production

Apparently, a total of thirteen episodes were planned, but after the fourth episode was completed, the show was cancelled for unknown reasons.

The series is available on a very rare DVD, mostly found at eBay.

Reaction

The TV Show was hailed and panned by critics alike. Fans of the series often criticized the show for the total absence of Rayman's friends from the original games, such as Globox, Clark and Tarayzan. This was most probably the reason for the show's cancellation.