Lucky Luke (1984 TV series)

Lucky Luke is an animated television series based on the comic book series of the same name created by the Belgian cartoonist and creator of the franchise Morris. The series lasted for 26 episodes, and was co-produced by Hanna-Barbera, Gaumont, Extrafilm and FR3. In France, the series was broadcast from 15 October 1984 on FR3. In the United States, the show aired in syndication on various CBS and ABC stations.[2]

Lucky Luke
Recurring closing scene
Genre
Created byMorris
Directed by
Composers
  • Claude Bolling
  • Shuki Levy
  • Haim Saban
Country of origin
Original languages
  • English
  • French
  • German
No. of series1
No. of episodes26[1]
Production
Executive producers
  • Philippe Landrot
  • Art Scott
  • Kay Wright
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
Release15 October 1984 (1984-10-15) –
8 April 1985 (1985-04-08)
Related
Lucky Luke (1991 TV series)

Synopsis

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Lucky Luke is a solitary street-smart cowboy traveling through the Old West. Accompanied by his faithful horse Jolly Jumper and almost every episode by Rantanplan the prison guard dog (who gets lost in the West by wanting to follow Lucky Luke or find his prison), he finds himself confronted with various bandits and thugs like the Dalton Brothers, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Phil Defer.[3]

Voice cast

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Character French English (Original)
Frank Malone Albert Augier Unknown
Orwell Stormwind
Fletcher Jones
Nebraska Kid
William Dalton Jacques Balutin Fred Travalena
Jolly Jumper Roger Carel Robert Ridgely
Rantanplan (2nd voice) Paul Reubens
Frank James Unknown
Senator Pendelberry
Jasper
Sam Mountaineer
Professor Gustav Cranium
Joe Dalton (The Black Hills)
Will Coyote (Rué on Oklahoma)
Cass Casey Jean-Henri Chambois
Little John the Woodcutter Richard Darbois
Calamity Jane Micheline Dax
Cole Younger Jacques Deschamps
Professor Gurgle
Yellow Feather Leader
Phil Defer Henry Djanik
Colonel Drake Jacques Ferrière
Doctor Doxey
Captain Barrows
Jack Rabbit
Cosmo Smith
Professor Doublelap
Petit Roquet
Rantanplan (1st voice) Bernard Haller
Jack Dalton Gérard Hernandez Rick Dees
Jesse James Francis Lax Unknown
August Oyster
Barry Blunt
Waldo Badminton
Bull Bullets
Senator Wilkins
Billy the Kid Guy Pierauld
Ma Dalton Perrette Pradier Mitzi McCall
Annabelle Phelps Unknown
Lucky Luke Jacques Thébault William Callaway
Narrator Unknown
Averell Dalton Pierre Tornade Bob Holt
Joe Dalton Pierre Trabaud Frank Welker

Additional Voices

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Episodes

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No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Ma Dalton"October 15, 1984 (1984-10-15)[5]
2"The Pied-tender"October 22, 1984 (1984-10-22)
3"The Daltons In The Blizzard"October 29, 1984 (1984-10-29)
4"Going up the Mississippi"November 5, 1984 (1984-11-05)
5"Calamity Jane"November 12, 1984 (1984-11-12)
6"The Daltons Redeem Themselves"November 19, 1984 (1984-11-19)
7"Rails on the Prairie"November 26, 1984 (1984-11-26)
8"Phil Defer"December 3, 1984 (1984-12-03)
9"The Elixir of Doctor Doxey"December 10, 1984 (1984-12-10)
10"Outlaw"December 17, 1984 (1984-12-17)
11"Billy the Kid"December 24, 1984 (1984-12-24)
12"The Stage Coach"December 31, 1984 (1984-12-31)
13"The Grand Duke"January 7, 1985 (1985-01-07)
14"In The Shadow of the Derricks"January 14, 1985 (1985-01-14)
15"The Daltons' Stash"January 21, 1985 (1985-01-21)
16"The White Cavalier"January 28, 1985 (1985-01-28)
17"On the Dalton's Trail"February 4, 1985 (1985-02-04)
18"The Escort"February 11, 1985 (1985-02-11)
19"The Rivals of Painful Gulch"February 18, 1985 (1985-02-18)
20"The Singing Wire"February 25, 1985 (1985-02-25)
21"Jessie James"March 4, 1985 (1985-03-04)
22"Barbed Wire On The Prairie"March 11, 1985 (1985-03-11)
23"The Black Hills"March 18, 1985 (1985-03-18)
24"Dalton City"March 25, 1985 (1985-03-25)
25"Caravan"April 1, 1985 (1985-04-01)
26"Rush on Oklahoma"April 8, 1985 (1985-04-08)

Production

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The opening credits were directed by Philippe Landrot. This series is broadcast in installments of 5 minutes every day in access prime time, followed by a full broadcast on Sunday afternoon (on FR3). Three episodes ("The Daltons in the Blizzard", "Ma Dalton" and "The Daltons Are Redeemed") were combined in a compilation feature movie: The Daltons on the Loose.[6]

The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera in the United States.[7] During the series' production and appearance on the American television, Lucky Luke must comply with a few rules to avoid falling foul of the censorship of children's programs. First, Lucky Luke's cigarette was replaced by a blade of grass, a change that would later also occur in the comic series.[8] Another big change is that ethnic minorities are disappearing: no more Chinese launderers, no more black servants, no more “redskin”-speaking Amerindians. The Mexicans and the undertakers are also erased as much as possible from the Lucky Luke stories (some episodes, however, leave the role of the undertakers more or less intact). This adaptation will also give the animals Jolly Jumper and Rantanplan a much more important place than in the comics.

Episodes never had the same design, which was explained by the services of several subcontracted animation studios (in the United States, Spain and Australia). Three episodes of this series (Les Dalton dans le blizzard, Ma Dalton et Les Dalton se rachètent) were assembled together for the theatrical release Les Dalton en cavale.[9] In some episodes of the French dub, comedian Bernard Haller was replaced by Roger Carel. Jacques Thébault, who was the voice of Lucky Luke, had dubbed James West in Mystères de l'ouest and Pierre Trabaut who did Joe Dalton had voiced Loveless, James West's enemy.

The series was first broadcast in the United States in 1983. In France, lit was broadcast on FR3 in five-minute episodes in a 7:55pm timeslot from October 15, 1984[10] to April 12, 1985,[11] later in 26 weekly episodes on Sundays from October 20, 1984[12] to April 14, 1985.[13] during FR3 Jeunesse. The rerun started on October 27, 1985[14] and ended on April 13, 1986 on the same channel.[15] Its rerun received a further rerun with the five-minute episodes airing on weeknights in a prime access slot, followed by a late-afternoon rerun of the full-length episodes on Sundays (on FR3). This rerun started on January 5, 1987[16] and ended on June 28, 1987.[17] It was repeated again from October 3, 1988[18] to April 2, 1989.[19] Outside France 3 it gained further reruns from October 16, 1996 on Arte, and in 2008 on Gulli.[20]

In Quebec, it premiered on December 29, 1984 on Télévision de Radio-Canada.[21]

A second series was produced eight years later, in 1991, under the hands of IDDH located in Angoulême.[7] A third series, produced by Xilam, followed in 2001.

Home media

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The complete series was released in October 2010 by Citel Vidéo in 5 volumes. The episodes are in disorder:

  • Ma Dalton (episodes 1, 6, 19, 22 and 13)
  • The Diligence (episodes 12, 10, 2, 7, 3, 4)
  • Calamity Jane (episodes 5, 9, 24, 26, 23)
  • Billy the Kid (episodes 11, 15, 18, 8, 14)
  • Jesse James (episodes 21, 25, 20, 17, 16)

References

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  1. ^ "La première série d'animation Lucky Luke librement accessible en ligne".
  2. ^ "LUCKY LUKE-1984". mubi.com (published 2 December 2022). 13 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Lucky Luke (1984)". simkl.com/tv. 11 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Lucky Luke". watch.plex.tv/show. 13 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Afleveringen" (in Dutch). mijnserie.nl. 2 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Lucky Luke (Serie de TV)" (in Spanish). filmaffinity.com/es. 13 November 2023.
  7. ^ a b "La première série d'animation Lucky Luke librement accessible en ligne". actualitte.com (in French). 24 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2022..
  8. ^ Frédéric Potet (15 April 2021). "Lucky Luke sort de l'ombre". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  9. ^ "Lucky Luke – Das große Abenteuer". Kino.de (in German)..
  10. ^ "FR3 15/10/1984 19:55:00 00:05:00 Hors la loi Lucky Luke"..
  11. ^ "FR3 08/04/1985 19:55:00 00:05:05 Dalton City Lucky Luke".
  12. ^ "FR3 20/10/1984 18:56:11 00:24:28 Hors la loi Lucky Luke"..
  13. ^ "FR3 14/04/1985 18:45:00 00:24:34 Dalton city".
  14. ^ "FR3 27/10/1985 16:45:00 00:24:20 Le pied tendre Lucky Luke"..
  15. ^ "FR3 13/04/1986 16:45:00 00:24:34 Dalton city Lucky Luke".
  16. ^ "FR3 05/01/1987 17:31:07 00:05:00 Hors la loi Lucky Luke".
  17. ^ "FR3 28/06/1987 17:20:00 00:24:24 La caravane Lucky Luke".
  18. ^ "FR3 03/10/1988 18:05:21 00:24:22 Sur la piste des Dalton Lucky Luke".
  19. ^ "FR3 02/04/1989 08:25:54 00:24:26 Le fil qui chante Lucky Luke".
  20. ^ "Lucky Luke (série 1)". planete-jeunesse.com (in French). Retrieved 10 August 2022..
  21. ^ "L'homme qui tire plus vite que son ombre". Ici Radio-Canada. Vol. 19, no. 1. 29 December 1984. p. 6..
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