This special introduces Sophia, Cedric's girlfriend. She's a tall, elegant aardvark girl who ice skates (and later proves to be quite the athlete, nearly beating Cyril in the competition) She looks good in some shots but in others her arms are too short.
It's a formulaic sports episode. The episode 'Stop the Clock' had a better twist on the ending but the voice acting is great in this special. Bert gives a rousing motivational speech and it is one of Len Carlson's best performances.
Also, why does Melissa keep changing voice actors? It's very disorienting.
Fred Little once again voices Cedric and I've noticed Cedric is much more different than he is in the actual series. In this special he's almost a pushover, but in the series, though he's still quiet and unassuming, he has a strong sense of integrity and self-respect. Maybe all that time with Sophia changed him.
Also, Bert is shown to be quite lazy, yet later in 'A Night to Remember' he does a backflip, which means either the hockey game shaped him up or he's only this agile when he needs to be.
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animal_8_521 May 2006I had the presence of mind to record this hour long special for my 4 year old son back in 1986. I found the video gathering dust in the attic and watched it recently.
Yes, the voices of Rich Little, Rita Coolidge and Leo Sayers alone were enough to make this project great, but the producers went right out there and recruited Danny Gallivan, the greatest hockey play-by-play announcer in broadcast history, to portray Ferlin Fielddigger! I have worn out the section of tape featuring Gallivan's rich tone and vibrant observations during the game between the Raccoons and Cyril's Bears. "...and aren't they a brutish bunch...?" because its truly THE highlight of this program. Some trivia: Carl Banas, the voice of Schaeffer, was previously a co-star (Sgt. Byron James) in the great 1960's CBC drama "Wojeck".
I remember visiting Hinton Studios in Ottawa, Canada and watching the animators working on Raccoons in the late 1980s. Sadly, Kevin Gillis and Sheldon Wiseman had a severe falling out shortly thereafter, or else the Raccoons could have gone on indefinitely. -
geatornez8215 March 2008Technically, this came out in 1981, after the first special, "The Christmas Raccoons," which debuted in 1980. Again, it was the December of 1984 (still two years old. See my comment on "The Christmas Raccoons"). Weird thing, on Washington, DC's affiliate, they aired this one about a week or two before they aired the rerun of "The Christmas Raccoons," which, for the longest time, confused the heck outta me, but that's another story.
Okay, returning from the first special, Rich Little as the Storyteller and Rita Coolidge as Melissa Raccoon. Joining the cast as the Dan the forest ranger is Leo Sayer (though I don't think his voice fits the character).
Okay, as the story starts in this one, Tommy, Julie, and Schafer are skating on Evergreen Lake. Elsewhere on the lake, our heroes from the first story, Ralph, Melissa, and Bert Raccoon are playing hockey as well, but their fun will not last long.
As the kids and Schafer are out playing, Dan calls the kids back inside with hot chocolate, but Schafer decides to stay outside, and he goes onto the lake and meets up with Cedric Sneer, who's playing hockey. Then he meets a new character, Sophia Tutu, a swan gliding girl aardvark. Then he's asked by the Raccoons to be their goalie in their hockey game. Elsewhere, Cyril Sneer is talking to a group of bears about building what he calls The Cyril Dome, which is a giant hockey arena that will cover the entire lake.
Later, Cedric is smacking around a hockey puck, and providing his own play by play when he bumps into Sophia (literally!) They introduce each other, and Sophia goes off to work on her swan glides (musical sequence "To Have You") and we notice that Cedric has not only been shot with Cupid's arrow, he's been clobbered with it!
Back to the Raccoons and Schafer. They're playing hockey when Cyril shows up with his construction crew, and Bert challenges him to a hockey game, much to the dismay of Ralph, Melissa, and Schafer.
I'll stop there, if I go any further, I'll ruin the whole story. Now, for the Fun Stuff.
PROS:
New characters! In this we meet Cedric's girlfriend, Sophia Tutu, who, for some reason, is not a very well liked character in the "Raccoons" world (yet she's one of my favorites, but then again, I tend to like the characters everyone else hates), plus we also meet Cyril's bears, and Cyril's dog, Snag. I've heard of dogs resembling their owners, but Cyril and Snag are ridiculous!
The songs. My favorite Raccoons song of all time, "To Have You" is featured in this special.
CONS:
None come to mind at the moment, but when something comes up, I'll come back and edit this review. -
xxlittlekittenxx24 April 2003Even though the plot is certainly nothing special, 'The Raccoons on Ice' is sweet to watch. It was the second original 'Raccoons' special from the early '80s, and as each special went by, it started to feel more and more like the series.
Again, one of my favorite things about these Raccoon cartoons is the music. All the songs are soothing and give this special a nice, smooth flow. And Cyril Sneer never fails to crack me up.
I think this special had something to do with that hockey game against the Russians a year earlier. It really reminds me of it.