Jetlag Productions

History

Jetlag Productions started out as a small animation studio, assisting in the productions of series such as The New Adventures of He-Man and Heroes on Hot Wheels in 1990, and Conan the Adventurer in 1992, until it was approached by Joe, Ken, and Stan Cayre (known artistically as the Cayre Brothers) of GoodTimes Entertainment. The company then replaced Golden Films as GoodTimes's provider of budget animated productions, when the contract with Golden Film expired.

Under the name of their new establishment, the Cayre Brothers produced Children's Classics, a series of animated films that were very similar to those from Golden Films in style. Beginning their releases in 1994, Jetlag Productions produced a total of 17 different animated films, 13 adaptations of existing material, and four original features. All 17 films were around 45 minutes in length, and were released as direct-to-video VHS features, under the "GoodTimes" name by GoodTimes Home Video.

Their last release was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was released on April 30, 1996, just before GoodTimes turned to a new company, Blye Migicovsky Productions, for their new line of animation releases. Jetlag Productions' films were revived on DVD under a "Collectible Classics" label in 2002 by GoodTimes Entertainment. The new releases were widely available until GoodTimes filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and all assets were transferred to Gaiam.

Original works

Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle (1994), written by George Bloom

Happy, the Littlest Bunny (1994), written by Larry Hartstein

Magic Gift of the Snowman (1995), written by Larry Hartstein

Curly, the Littlest Puppy (1995), written by Larry Hartstein

Original songs

As a general rule that went unbroken in all of their seventeen animated films, each film featured three original songs performed by a variety of singers. Jetlag Productions' successor for GoodTimes Entertainment, Blye Migicovsky Productions, continued this trend in their films. The instrumental bases to these original songs were sometimes used as part of the soundtrack outside the main musical numbers, as was the case in Hercules (1995) and Little Red Riding Hood (1995), among others. Though these musical numbers were placed into the films in often formulaic patterns, there were a few exceptions: A Christmas Carol (1994) was the only film to not feature an opening musical number, while Hercules (1995) was unusual in that it ended with an instrumental version of "Son of Zeus" rather than a vocal version. Though the vast majority of the songs were performed by off-screen voices, Snow White (1995)'s "Hip Hip Hooray", Magic Gift of the Snowman (1995)'s "Sleep and Dream", Cinderella (1994)'s "(It's the) Chance of a Lifetime", and Leo the Lion: King of the Jungle (1994)'s "Out on My Own" were sung by actual characters within the films; Cinderella (1994)'s "When Love Has Gone Away" was the only duet performed by characters from the film, sung by Cinderella and the prince, respectively. The songs from Jetlag's films included "Dream On, Cinderella" from Cinderella, "Start With A Smile", "This Is Home" and "(We're) The Very Best Of Friends" from Heidi, "Never Give Up" from Hercules, "Hold Your Head High" from Black Beauty, among various others.