A day after we reported that classic Atari title PONG would be getting a make-over in 2012, another vintage game gets a revival – this time as a computer generated cartoon. Namco-Bandai’s Pac-Man is set for a big return in late next year after Disney bagged the rights to bring the 80s yellow icon back to the future in a regularly televised series titled “Pac-Man – The Adventure Begins”.
It’s not the first time Pac-Man was seen on screen outside of the popular video game, which helped define an era for arcade and Atari players. In 1982 Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio behind The Flintstones, Yogi Bear and Top Cat, made an animated series of Pac-Man. But there were no mazes to be bested by the spherical hero, who had clearly at this point settled down and come to terms with his pill-popping addiction, starring as a hat-wearing family man, appearing on screen with his Pac-wife, Pepper and their Pac-Baby who all lived in Pac-Land. However, the ghostly foes from the games did carry over as the main antagonists, who are given names in this cartoon – Inky, Blinky, Pinky …and Clyde!
Disney XD is now in possession of the rights to Pac-Man’s next television exploits which will hit screens around 30 years after the Hanna-Barbera show. The new CGI series will be overseen by Avi Arad, founder of Marvel Studios and Rick Unger who produced childhood faves such as the original X-Men cartoon series, as well as Biker Mice from Mars and with these names onboard the new Pac-Man series looks to throw off the daft hat and be more action-based and fast-paced and maybe just offering a little something for us older viewers!
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