Lou Scheimer (1928–2013)

As someone who didn't really grow up with these shows - I'm slightly too young, and the only one I've really sat through is Star Trek, just because of my own interest - this book is overwhelming. I know about half of the shows by reputation, and happily, YouTube is around so I can look up clips, so it's not too bad. But the structure of the book is highly conversational - it reads as if Scheimer cleared out his old files, extemporizing on them to Mangels as he went, and for all I know, that's an absolutely accurate description of how it was written! That allows Scheimer to deviate on to a lot of tangents (which is fine) and bring different individuals in and out of the narrative (which is harder to keep track of).

Is it worth the read? Yes - slowly. What's interesting is that if you read it from cover to cover, as I did, the details of the various deals and sales and participants blur together. However, you really build up a picture of Scheimer's outlook on the world: on business, on salesmanship, on animation, on people. It's not the perspective of a brooding genius, an egotistical maniac, or any of the other stereotypes we've been trained to expect from people who are successful in the media. Scheimer seems to have been a guy who liked people, who wanted to work with good people to make a good product, and who was well-liked in return. That's...kind of cool, actually? His story may not be riveting page by page, but it's hard not to be impressed by the way he chose to live his life, and there are plenty of fun anecdotes along the way.

I started the book looking for some specific information about a couple of projects. I finished with a lot of respect for Lou Scheimer and significantly more interest in his body of work. It's easy to criticize the limitations of Filmation and its animation, but like most internet criticism, it's often made without understanding context. Now that I know more about Filmation and Scheimer's strategies to keep his animation made in the United States, all I have now is admiration. Well, that and a surprising new affinity for He-Man (which was forbidden in my house when I was little! ;) ).… (mais)