Pac-Man (TV Series)

Not to be confused with Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures.

Pac-Man, also known as Pac-Man: The Animated Series and often referred to as Hanna-Barbera's Pac-Man by fans, is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera in association with Bally Midway and Namco. It premiered on ABC and ran for 43 episodes over two seasons from September 25, 1982, to November 5, 1983.

Pac-Man is notable for being the first animated television series based on the Pac-Man video games, and the first television series based on a video game in general.

Overview[]

Pac-Man follows the adventures of Pac-Man and his family: his wife, Ms. Pac-Man (also referred as "Pepper") and their infant son Pac-Baby; occasionally accompanied by his pet dog Chomp-Chomp and pet cat Sour Puss, who live in the Pac-Village of Pac-Land. Pac-Land is a land inhabited by spherical Pac-People, using and making round designs for many objects and locations. The people of Pac-Land regularly use Power Pellets for everyday purposes, which are the power source of Pac-Land. Power Pellets are naturally generated through Power Pellet trees in the Power Pellet Forest. Pac-Man works at the local Power Pellet forest as the chief of security, working alongside his co-workers such as Grump, Morris and others.

Pac-Man acts as the guardian of the Power Pellets, and protects the power source from a group of Ghost Monsters led by the villain Mezmaron attempting to steal them, who intend to use the energy of the Power Pellets to seize control of Pac-Land. The ghost monsters consist of Clyde, the leader and most aggressive of the ghosts; Pinky, the toughest and slow man with advanced shape-shifting abilities; Inky, the dumb and clumsiest of the ghosts often carrying around resources for the group; Blinky, the most timid and cowardly of the ghosts; and Sue, the swiftest and only woman in the group. The Ghost Monsters tend to ambush Pac-People by chasing him until they are cornered, where the Ghost Monsters chomp on their bones and cause them to deflate. By using the Power Pellets, the Pac-People are able to gain strength and use their power to eat the Ghost Monsters and combat Mezmaron, foiling their schemes and forcing them to retreat and plan out their next attempt to stop the Pac-People. Mezmaron resides in his lair located on a tall mountain outside of Pac-Land, while the Ghosts regularly live in a small shack outside of Mezmaron's lair. When the Ghosts are eaten, they escape with their eyes and retreat to either their house or Mezmaron's lair to put on a new body, where the ghosts regularly keep in a grand amount inside their closets.

Other recurring plot lines involve Pac-Baby causing trouble for Pac-Man, Sour Puss attempting to humiliate Chomp-Chomp in various ways but always failing, and the Ghost Monsters' nephew Dinky causing trouble for the Ghosts. In the show's second season, the series introduces two recurring characters: Super-Pac, a superhero from another dimension helping Pac-Land in grave situations but also inept at controlling his powers, and P.J.; Pac-Man's self-proclaimed cool nephew who often drags his uncle into various situations that frustrate or humiliate him.

Each half-hour of the show contained a short 30-second interstitial that played between the two partner segments (in season 1) or before the show's intro (in season 2) called Pac-Mania (not to be confused with the 1987 arcade game, nor an episode of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures). In the first season, these shorts either featured the Ghost Monsters attempting to catch Pac-Man but failing, or Sour Puss attempting to humiliate Chomp-Chomp but his plans backfiring. In the second season, the shorts are more varied, often featuring Super-Pac using his superpowers in various ways or P.J. trying to help Pac-Man with something.

Cast[]

Marty Ingels — Pac-Man
Barbara Minkus — Ms. Pac-Man
Russi Taylor — Pac-Baby
Neil Ross — Clyde
Barry Gordon — Inky
Chuck McCann — Pinky, Blinky, Officer O'Pac
Susan Silo — Sue
Allan Lurie — Mezmaron
Frank Welker — Chomp-Chomp, Morris
Peter Cullen — Sour Puss
Lorenzo Music — Super-Pac
Darryl Hickman — P.J
Julie McWhirter — Dinky
Jodi Carlisle (Season 1)
Paul Kirby (Season 1 & 2)
Lennie Weinrib - Pacula
Bill Callaway (Season 2)
Brian Cummings (Season 2)
Pat Fraley (Season 2)
Joan Gerber (Season 2)
Arte Johnson (Season 2)
Chris Latta (Season 2)
Kris Stevens (Season 2)
Andre Stojka (Season 2)
Janet Waldo (Season 2)

Episodes[]

Episode No.	Segment	Description	Original airdate
Season 1
1	Presidential Pac-Nappers	After a failed attempt at catching Pac-Man, the ghosts are sent by Mezmaron to hold the president of Pac-Land ransom in exchange for the Power Pellet forest.	September 25, 1982
1	Picnic in Pacland	Pac-Man and his family have a picnic at the park. The ghosts, who are having their own picnic, futilely attempt to sabotage the Pac-Family's picnic.	September 25, 1982
2	The Great Pac-Quake	Mezmaron gives the ghosts an earthquake-causing device in order to steal a map to the Power Pellet forest from the museum.	October 2, 1982
2	Hocus-Pocus Pac-Man	While Ms. Pac-Man goes out shopping, Pac-Man watches Pac-Baby. Unable to take a nap due to Pac-Baby's antics, Pac-Man tries to entertain his son with a magic trick, but seemingly makes him disappear.	October 2, 1982
3	Southpaw Packy	When the ghosts invade the Pac-Land World Series game and chomp all the players, Pac-Man and his family challenge them to a game of baseball.	October 9, 1982
3	Pac-Baby Panic	Pac-Baby ends up in a sack of Super Power Pellets, and when the Ghost Monsters steal it, Mezmaron decides to hold the baby for ransom in an attempt to get Pac-Man to tell him the location of the Power Pellet forest.	October 9, 1982
4	Pacula	After the ghosts fail yet again, Mezmaron replaces them with a vampire of his creation, Count Pacula.	October 16, 1982
4	Trick or Chomp	The Pac-Family go trick or treating on Halloween night, until the ghosts come along and spice things up.	October 16, 1982
5	Super Ghosts	Mezmaron creates a formula that makes the ghosts super-powered, and they proceed to wreak havoc on Pac-Land.	October 23, 1982
5	The Pac-Man in the Moon	When the ghosts steal the Space Shuttle, with the intent of planting Mezmaron's ultrasonic Power Pellet magnet to suck up all Power Pellets, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man must retrieve it along with the Power Pellets by going to the moon.	October 23, 1982
6	Journey to the Center of Pacland	After the ghosts fail yet again to find the Power Pellet forest, Mezmaron decides to search for it himself. But when that fails, he and the ghosts decide to tunnel underground to find the forest.	October 30, 1982
6	Invasion of the Pac-Pups	A litter of Pac-Pups who look like Chomp-Chomp are delivered by a stork to the Pac-Family's house, which prove to be an annoyance for Pac-Man (and Sour Puss).	October 30, 1982
7	Sir Chomp-A-Lot	Mezmaron creates a time machine to send the ghosts back 50 years in order to steal the Power Pellet forest without Pac-Man getting in the way. However, after Inky stupidly winds the time machine's clock back too far, the ghosts instead end up a thousand years in the past, where they have an encounter with Pac-Man's medieval ancestor, Sir Chomp-A-Lot.	November 6, 1982
7	The Day the Forest Disappeared	When Mezmaron successfully uproots and steals the Power Pellet forest, Pac-Man must retrieve it before it's too late.	November 6, 1982
8	Neander-Pac-Man	To help him fall asleep in the middle of the night, Pac-Man tells Pac-Baby the story of their prehistoric neanderthal ancestors.	November 13, 1982
8	Backpackin' Packy	When Pac-Baby's Baby Scouts troop leader (Morris) stubs his toe and is unable to lead his troop, Pac-Man fills in for him, taking his son and fellow Baby Scouts out into the wilderness to rough it. Their knowledge of the wilderness is tested when they run into the ghosts.	November 13, 1982
9	The Abominable Pac-Man	Mezmaron and the ghosts head to the Pac-Alps to find a frozen Power Pellet forest located there, and Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man follow them to ensure they don't find it. While there, both groups have an encounter with a giant snow monster, the Abominable Pac-Man.	November 20, 1982
9	The Bionic Pac-Woman	The ghosts trap Ms. Pac-Man in a roll of film, and Mezmaron has a robot duplicate of her take her place in hopes of getting Pac-Man to reveal the location of the Power Pellet forest.	November 20, 1982
10	Chomp-Out at the O.K. Corral	During a weekend drive, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Pac-Baby visit a deserted desert ghost town, where they encounter the ghosts and their little cousin, Dinky.	November 27, 1982
10	Once Upon a Chomp	The ghosts get a visit from a Fairy-Ghost Mother, who gives them a book of fairytales that, when read aloud, will cause the events of the fairytale to actually happen. The ghosts read aloud Pac and the Beanstalk (a parody of Jack and the Beanstalk) in an attempt to trap Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.	November 27, 1982
11	The Pac-Love-Boat	Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man take an anniversary cruise on a cruise ship, unaware that the ghosts are on the same cruise attempting to sabotage their special time, while Pac-Baby, Chomp-Chomp, and Sour Puss accidentally end up on the ship as stowaways.	December 4, 1982
11	The Great Power-Pellet Robbery	Mezmaron gives the ghosts a souped-up super car in order to ambush Pac-Man, who is delivering what Mezmaron believes to be a very large shipment of Power Pellets.	December 4, 1982
12	A Bad Case of the Chomps	After chomping the ghosts yet again, Pac-Man's chompers start to ache, so he and Ms. Pac-Man head to the hospital to seek treatment. The ghosts (sans Blinky, whose eyes disappeared after being chomped), wanting revenge, infiltrate the hospital in the hopes of chomping Pac-Man.	December 11, 1982
12	Goo-Goo at the Zoo	During a family visit to the zoo, Pac-Baby frees all the animals, causing them to go on a rampage and wreak havoc across Pac-Land.	December 11, 1982
13	Nighty Nightmare	The ghosts take Mezmaron's nightmare machine with the intent of shooting it at Pac-Man to give him nightmares about them, but the blast from the machine reflects off of Pac-Man's window and hits them instead, giving each of them a nightmare ending in getting chomped by Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man.	December 18, 1982
13	The Pac-Mummy	The ghosts place a hypnotic medallion of Mezmaron's making to give life to a Pac-Mummy at the Pac-Land Museum, who kidnaps Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Baby and takes them to a pyramid hideout in the desert, leaving it up to Pac-Man to save the day.	December 18, 1982
Season 2
14	Here's Super-Pac	Super-Pac makes his grand debut when he saves Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and the rest of Pac-Land from an attack by the ghosts.	September 17, 1983
14	Hey, Hey, Hey...It's P.J.	Pac-Man's cousin P.J. drops out of high school and crashes at his house, hoping to move in. Wanting to get him out of his house, Pac-Man accompanies P.J. to his high school in hopes of showing him that school can be fun.	September 17, 1983
15	The Super-Pac-Bowl	The ghosts chomp the opposing team of the Super-Pac-Bowl and take their place, using every trick in the book to beat Pac-Man's team. When all hope seems lost, Super-Pac appears to help out Pac-Man and his team.	September 24, 1983
15	Journey into the Pac-Past	When Pac-Man's washing machine is on the fritz, P.J. arrives to try and help fix it. However, P.J.'s tune-ups turn it into a time machine that transports him and Pac-Man into various periods of history.	September 24, 1983
16	The Old Pac-Man and the Sea	When the ghosts attempt to steal a shipment of Power Pellets being transported by Pac-Man and a sea captain across the sea, the two groups end up sinking into the underwater city of Paclantis, where the queen has them go up against the other in a chomp chase.	October 1, 1983
16	Public Pac-Enemy No. 1	When notorious convict Pretty Boy Pac (a parody of the real-life criminal Pretty Boy Floyd) escapes Pacatraz, Pac-Man is mistaken for him and prepared to be sent off to Pacatraz. Meanwhile, Pretty Boy hides out at Pac-Man's house and masquerades as him, but the antics of Pac-Baby, Chomp-Chomp, and Sour Puss soon make him have second thoughts about living life on the lam.	October 1, 1983
17	The Genii of Pacdad	The Pac-Family's beach vacation goes downhill when the ghosts get their hands on a genie bottle that emits a wish-granting genie, and things only get more chaotic when Super-Pac arrives.	October 8, 1983
17	Computer Packy	When Pac-Man's new computer sucks Pac-Baby into its hard drive, Pac-Man and P.J. must enter the computer themselves and rescue Pac-Man's son.	October 8, 1983
18	The Greatest Show in Pacland	The families of Pac-Baby and Dinky respectively take the two to the circus to celebrate their birthdays. When the two wind up on the big top, Pac-Man and the ghosts must put aside their differences to save their younglings.	October 15, 1983
18	Pac-A-Thon	Pac-Man and his family compete in the Pac-A-Thon games, but the ghosts soon enter, as the Pac-A-Thon rules allow anyone to complete -- including them. It's not long before the ghosts use every trick up their sleeve to cheat their way through the games and win every gold medal possible. Will Pac-Man and his family be able to stop them?	October 15, 1983
19	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Pac-Man	Mezmaron creates synthetic Power Pellets and has the ghosts test them on Pac-Man, but they appear to do nothing. But when nighttime arrives and the moon comes out, Pac-Man begins turning into a werewolf!	October 22, 1983
19	Around the World in 80 Chomps	After the ghosts fail again to find the location of the Power Pellet forest, they and Mezmaron take to the sky to search the world for another forest, which Pac-Man must thwart.	October 22, 1983
20	Super-Pac vs. Pac-Ape	An organ grinder's monkey becomes gargantuan after eating super-powered Power Pellets. When Pac-Man is unable to stop it, Super-Pac flies in to save the day.	October 29, 1983
20	P.J. Goes Pac-Hollywood	Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Pac-Baby go to see P.J. at Pac-Hollywood, where he is screening a new Pac-Hollywood flick. But when his stunt double is unable to come due to an injury, Pac-Man reluctantly becomes his cousin's new stunt double.	October 29, 1983
21	Pac Van Winkle	While hiking in the forest, Pac-Man stumbles upon a witch who gives him a potion that puts him to sleep for 20 years. When he finally awakens, he returns home to discover that in his absence, Mezmaron has managed to finally take over the Power Pellet forest, the ghosts have taken over Pac-Land and turned it into Ghost Land, and the Pac-People have been forced underground. With his now elderly wife and grown-up son by his side, Pac-Man devises a plan to retake the Power Pellet forest and save Pac-Land.	November 5, 1983
21	Happy Pacs-Giving	It's Pacs-Giving, and Ms. Pac-Man's parents arrive to celebrate with their daughter and her family. Before they eat, they tell the Pac-Family the story of the first ever Pacs-Giving.	November 5, 1983
Special
N/A	Christmas Comes to Pacland	After Pac-Man and his family chomp the ghosts during a rare snowfall, the ghosts' disembodied eyes spook Santa Claus' reindeer and causes him to crash land into Pac-Land and lose his sack of toys. Pac-Man, his family, and friends, who have never heard of Christmas before, vow to help get Santa back on his feet, with Pac-Man and Chomp-Chomp heading out to find the missing sack of toys, but will they be able to avoid the ghosts and save Christmas?	December 16, 1982

Development[]

Hanna-Barbera first tried to get the rights to make a Pac-Man series in 1980, following the monumental success of the game. The studio would finally land the rights in 1982,^[1] and the studio asked one of their writers, Mark Evanier, to be head writer for the series. Hanna-Barbera even offered Evanier a Pac-Man arcade cabinet if he accepted, but he turned the offer down, and the role went to Jeffrey Scott.^[2] Hanna-Barbera quickly cast most of the characters, except for Pac-Man himself. The studio had 174 applicants for the role, and could not decide who to choose.

Elsewhere, Marty Ingels, who besides being an actor and comedian was a talent agent, was looking for a role for one of his clients, actor Robert Culp. Meaning to call Universal Studios, Ingels accidentally phoned Hanna-Barbera, and Ingels talked to Hanna-Barbera casting director Gordon Hunt anyways. Despite having no idea what Pac-Man was, Ingels felt that his client Culp would be a good fit for the role. Hunt, on the other hand, felt that Ingels himself was a better fit, and asked Ingels to come down to the studio so he could audition for the role. Ingels refused, not wanting to be an actor anymore, but presumably still offered Culp. Hunt recorded Ingels talking, and showed the tape to executives from ABC, who aired the show, Bally-Midway and Namco.^[3] Two days later, Hunt called Ingels back, and Ingels, who was thinking the role would go to Culp, was surprised to hear that he had been chosen and that he was set to come down to Hanna-Barbera the next morning.

Ingels described voicing Pac-Man as a "dream job", saying that he could go to Hanna-Barbera in his pajamas and record three weeks' worth of voice acting in an afternoon, and that he was paid more for the role than he was doing live-action work. He mentioned that there was heavy interference between executives from Hanna-Barbera, ABC, Bally-Midway, and presumbly Namco.^[1] This would end up triggering Ingels' anxiety disorder: Ingles wanted Pac-Man to have a catchphrase like “PacapacaWowie!”. This would cause the executives, presumably at ABC, to debate amongst themselves on what it should be, with most of them proposing phrases that were only slight variations on Ingels' idea like "Pacapacaweewee” or “Pacapacawoowoo”. An executive in New York ended up nixing the whole idea, and the situation caused Ingels so much stress that he began hyperventilating while driving home.^[4] The day after Ingels landed the role, Hanna-Barbera gave him his own Pac-Man cabinet. Ingels described his portrayal of Pac-Man as "a cross between Fred Flintstone, Captain Marvel, William Bendix, Popeye," and himself.^[3]

ABC and Hanna-Barbera had high hopes for the series, even theming the 1982 Saturday Morning preview special around the series.^[5] This would end up paying off, as the show ran for two seasons, recieved a tie-in with Chef Boyardee, heavily inspired the game Pac-Land, and supposedly had double the length of its' commercial breaks on the first episode due to the number of companies wishing to advertise on the show. The first episode would also have over 20 million viewers, made up of both children and adults.^[3]

Broadcast History[]

Pac-Man aired on ABC Saturday Morning in the following formats:

The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show (September 25, 1982-September 3, 1983)
The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour (September 10, 1983-September 1, 1984)

The series would later be aired as reruns on the following U.S. channels:

USA Cartoon Express (1986-1992) - The full series was aired regularly on the channel, up until the buyout of Hanna-Barbera by Turner Broadcasting.
Cartoon Network (1995-2003) - The series was not regularly broadcast on Cartoon Network, despite Turner acquiring the rights to the cartoon. However, the show would be aired sporadically during special segments, such as the "Look What We Found!" block (in which "rare" cartoons would be unearthed from Cartoon Network's vault).^[6]
Boomerang (2002-2020) - The series was aired regularly on Boomerang from approximately 2002 to 2005. While the series was seldom aired past 2005, Christmas Comes to Pacland was often shown during Christmas blocks (with its latest airing being in 2020).
MeTV Toons (2025-present) - The series began airing on this channel in the early morning hours of February 23, 2025. Currently, it airs once per week as part of the channel's "Totally Animated 80s" block, on Sundays at 3:00 AM EST. Christmas Comes to Pacland is shown annually during the channel's "'Tis the Season for Toons" block.

Home Releases[]

DVD cover to Pac-Man: The Complete Second Season. — DVD cover to *Pac-Man: The Complete Second Season*.

Christmas Comes to Pacland received a VHS release in North America in 1988, produced by Kids Klassics. The special was the only episode in the series to receive a VHS release in the region.

The Australian company Rainbow Products Ltd. released two PAL VHS tapes in 1983: The adventures of Pac-Man and Pac-Man and family. The first tape features seven episode segments, while the second tape features six. Both releases are noted as being somewhat rare.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released the complete first season of the series on DVD on January 31, 2012; they then released the complete second season on September 11, 2012. The second DVD also includes Christmas Comes to Pacland. Both items are sold at WBShop.com and are not available in most retail stores.

Currently, both seasons are available for purchase and digital streaming on both Amazon Video and iTunes in both high and standard definition. Both seasons are sold separately as well as in a complete package. Christmas Comes to Pacland is not available however, as the special is often separated from the rest of the series. The show is also available to stream on demand in the Tubi streaming service, with Christmas Comes to Pacland once again omitted.

Trivia[]

Instance of a listing for the show erroneously depicting Ghostly Adventures stock art. — Instance of a listing for the show erroneously depicting *Ghostly Adventures* stock art.

The series would inspire the creation of Namco's 1984 arcade game, Pac-Land. Many elements introduced in the TV series would become staples within later releases of the Pac-Man series, including Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, Chomp-Chomp, Sue gaining a unique design and more.
Pac-Man is one of the earliest instances where the personalities of ghosts Blinky and Clyde are swapped, commencing the Clyde and Blinky error.
The show's initial success inspired ABC's rival CBS to create Saturday Supercade, a block of video game themed cartoons based on properties such as Donkey Kong, Q*bert, and Frogger.
The Pac-Man TV series seemed to do the most successful when it was broadcasted in Italy, receiving toys and other merchandise based on the show that weren't available in other parts of the world.
The French and Italian dubs were given alternate theme songs in their respective regions.
- While the former is a lyrical take on the show's main motif, known as "La Chanson De Pac-Man" by William Leymergie, the latter, known as "Pac-Man" by Packi contains an original melody, and additionally samples sound effects from the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man.
On current TV guides and Google, the series thumbnail and background for the Pac-Man TV series erroneously use stock art from Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures.
The Tengen Nintendo Entertainment System release of Pac-Man features the designs of this series on the box artwork. The later 1993 release by Namco features different artwork; coincidentally, this non-cartoon-themed cover was designed by former Hanna-Barbera artist Greg Martin, who also worked on the animated series.
The Pac-Man TV series was planned to be detailed in a 2003 ToonHeads episode titled "The Best of the Worst Cartoons Ever." However, the episode was ultimately scrapped at the request of Cartoon Network, mainly due to it lampooning shows that were still in syndication (including Pac-Man).^[7]
- A workprint of the episode from Jerry Beck's collection was posted online in 2022, alongside another canceled ToonHeads episode, "The Twelve Missing Hares" (which detailed racial stereotypes in Bugs Bunny cartoons).^[7]
"ZIP, CARTOON - FIJIT REWIND 02," a stock cartoon sound effect often used when a screen is rewound or fast forwarded, is actually the theme song of the Pac-Man TV series sped up and reversed.