Norman's Ark (partially found Lithuanian-British animated series; 1995)
This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its Broken English and spelling mistakes.
The official logo for the series.
Status: Partially Found
Norman's Ark (Lithuanian: Normano arka) is a 1995 Lithuanian-British sci-fi adventure animated series created by Phil Litter. In Lithuania is considered the first hand-drawn animated series.
Main Information
Little else is known about this series, Norman's Ark was never officialy released on VHS or DVD and proofs of its existence is only on books about Lithuanian animation[1]. The 13 episodes was created and every episode have 15-minute duration[2]. With the exception of production crew and year of release, the voice actors are currently unknown. In Russia the series was broadcast from May 21st until June 6th, 1996 on ORT (now Channel One) with dub of now-defunct Selena International company. The people who watched this animated series called it "witty & funny"[3] and also noted its feature is a unusual draw and animation style[4].
Plot
The planet called Berth was exploded. On little spaceship where blue-haired brother called Norman[5] (according to another information: his name was Adam[4]) and his pink-haired sister called Norma[5] (according to another information: her name was Eve[4]) are travel with aliens and people of planet Berth from planet to planet for searching of his parents.
Production Crew
- Writer, Director & Producer: Phil Litter
- Art Direction: Valentas Aškinis & Audra Matukienė[6]
- Animators: Valentas Aškinis, Audra Matukienė[6], Ramūnas Graželis[7], Jūratė Leikaitė[8] & Skirmanta Jakaitė[9]
- Music: Mike Stanley
- Layouts: Gary Hender
- Sound Post Production: The Music Works & Ten-Pin Alley
- Editors: Lisa Harney & Mark Talbot Butler
- Voice Characterisations: Gary Martin
- Animation Studio: Vilanima Studios of Lithuania
- Production: Treehouse Productions & Alar Investments, Ltd.
Famous Plots of Episodes
NOTE: The plots are based on the stories of people who watched this animated series and may not be accurate or false.
- Yellow alien named Newton got irradiated with the space radiation during sunbathing and turned glowing green. The main characters were to find a way to make the alien normal color again[5].
- The spaceship was low on fuel. They found so called gas station planet. At the end of the episode there was a giant chasing the spaceship. The main characters were thinking that the giant is going to eat them where in reality he was going to give them a bonus cup for using the station services[5].
Search Efforts
On July 12th, 2015 now deleted user of VK published message about unknown animated series, that was broadcast on Channel One in 90s but in big part the message was ignored[10]. Later, February 22th, 2018 on Mults.info forum user Tapsik published the thread about Norman's Ark[11].
In 2018-2019 Reddit user ILWrites posted on subreddit TOMT (Tip of My Tongue) memories about this animated series with new details: brother called Norman and sister called Norma were travel with animals on red spaceship with legs, for searching of new house. After his publication, comments are filled with links to animated series that were mistaken for or looks like Norman's Ark (for example: Unysses 31) but every link from Reddit users was debunked by ILWrites[5].
On September 20th, 2022 Russian YouTuber Alexander Kulikov (aka Cooleach88) found Valentas Aškinis's page on Facebook and wrote message to him[12]. Valentas promised to Alexander that he would find the animated series on his VHS cassettes, but this never happened[12].
On May 5th, 2023 user ALEKS KV uploaded on YouTube first two episodes in Russian dub. On July 11th, 2023 user of Russian Lost Media Wiki's Discord server PrestigiousLynx4378 send mail to State Television and Radio Fund (Gosteleradiofond). Later, Gosteleradiofond replied that they have only materials, that was made before 1995.
On July 17th, 2023 same user send message to Television Centre "Ostankino". On July 18th, 2023 Ostankino replied that with this question it is better to contact the Gosteleradiofond, Gosfilmofond & Soyuzmultfilm. In August, 2023 messages were send to BFI National Archive, Central State Archive of Lithuania & Vilnius Regional State Archive, but the animated series wasn't in archives. Central State Archive of Lithuania suggested to him contact the creator or with Lithuanian Television.
Gallery
Found Episodes
Images
TV Schedule of May 27th, 1996.
TV Schedule of June 3rd, 1996.
A black-and-white screenshot of the series.
External Links
References
- ↑ The animated series' mention on book about Lithuanian animation.
- ↑ Lithuanian Union of Cinematographers page on Valentas Aškinis (in Lithuanian).
- ↑ DTF article on animated series (in Russian).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The animated series' mention on Playground.ru article (in Russian).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 r/tipofmytongue post on animated series.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lithuanian Union of Cinematographers page on Audra Matukienė (in Lithuanian).
- ↑ Lithuanian Union of Cinematographers page on Ramūnas Graželis (in Lithuanian).
- ↑ Lithuanian Union of Cinematographers page on Jūratė Leikaitė (in Lithuanian).
- ↑ Lithuanian Union of Cinematographers page on Skirmanta Jakaitė (in Lithuanian).
- ↑ The message about animated series (in Russian).
- ↑ A thread on Mults.info forum
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Alexander Kulikov/Cooleach88's tweet (in Russian).