by Hal Erickson
synopsis
One of the better-known of the many half-hour TV cartoon specials of the 1980s, Animalympics: Winter Games is distinguished as much by its stellar voice cast as by the wit of the script. The story is built around the occasion of the first Animalia Olympic Winter Games, with a wide assortment of humanized animals (who look and sound a lot like current celebrities) participating. Among the contestants is a figure-skating ostrich, a slalom-racing daschhund, and a hockey-playing bull. Every one of the athletic events depicted herein is based on a popular song, TV show, commercial or some other pop-culture reference--a fact that, happily, hardly dates the special at all. Animalympics: Winter Games first aired February 1, 1980, on NBC.
