Nelvana
Silencing a Canadian animation powerhouse.
It began in the 1970s producing for Canadian TV, and, save for a few ill-fated attempts at making features, it stayed doing that throughout the years- up until now.
While they will remain active as a distribution and merchandising company, Nelvana is ceasing activity as an animation producer, and we will all feel that loss.
It was a victim of the financial ineptitude of Corus Entertainment, its parent company since 2000, which has been in financial difficulties for several years. None the least of which was the ice melting on the cable TV production cycle that allowed the studio to thrive.
So it ends up, as so many animation studios have in the past, ceasing operations due to factors beyond its control, rather than any failures on its own part.
And- like Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, Ruby-Spears, Jay Ward, and other noteworthies this newsletter attempts to chronicle and save from the oblivion of collective amnesia, it will now be something to be spoken of only in past tenseā¦
They have a connection to Canadian comic book history. Nelvana of the Northern Lights is the name of the first female superhero. The animation company asked the estate of the creator, Adrian Dingle, for permission to use the name.
hmmm, this is interesting. I didn't know that