Peter Cullen Movies

Popular action figure G.I. Joe was reinvented in animation form in this pilot for the daily syndicated cartoon series of the same name. In keeping with the new marketing strategy established by Hasbro Toys, "G.I. Joe" was no longer an individual, but instead a team of specially trained guerilla fighters, led by Clayton M. "Hawk" Abernathy. The villains of the piece were the members of Cobra, led by Cobra Commander and his Darth Vader-like lieutenant (and frequent rival), Destro. In their first adventure, the Joes were obliged to collect three rare elements vital to a weapon that would counter Cobra's deadly M.A.S.S. device, which allowed the bad guys to transfer matter anywhere at any time for their own evil purposes. Written by Ron Friedman, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was made available as either a two-hour animated special or as a five-part miniseries, bearing the individual episode titles "The Cobra Strikes," "Slave of the Cobra Master," "The Worms of Death," "Devil's Cauldron," and "The Stake in the Serpent's Heart." The miniseries version was originally shown on American television from September 12 through 16, 1983. It was followed in 1984 by another miniseries, G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra, and in 1985 by the daily syndicated G.I. Joe series proper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Singing her way through life as life sings back at her, little orphaned Heidi (voice by Margery Gray) is bounced around from her aunt's house, to her grouchy grandfather's place, to a wealthy family in the big city, and never do the vocals subside nor does her spirit droop to anything lower than high "C," probably a fitting classification for this animated film from the Hanna-Barbera studio. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

One of the smaller residents of the 100 Acre Woods finally gets his moment in the spotlight in this animated feature, based on the characters created by A.A. Milne. As Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummins) and his pals Tigger (also voiced by Cummins), Rabbit (voice of Ken Sansom), and Eeyore (voice of Peter Cullen) set out to harvest honey from the hives in the forest, Piglet (voice of John Fiedler) is told he's too small to come along. Feeling like he often gets the short end of the stick, Piglet decides to strike out on his own, and when the honey hunters return, they can't find their friend -- only his scrapbooks of their adventures of the past. As they look through the books, Winnie and his pals realize just how much their friend means to them, and how much they've taken him for granted. They set out to find Piglet and ask him to come home, and along the way the little pig makes a big difference when his pals need him. Piglet's Big Movie includes several new songs from singer and songwriter Carly Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Produced on behalf of the National Film Board of Canada, Prologue is a story of the youth-rebellion movement of 1968. The film concentrates on Jesse (John Robb), who wanders the streets of Montreal selling underground newspapers. Despite the influence of his passive, drug-using roomie David (Gary Rader), Jesse insists upon pursuing the cause of political dissidence. Jesse heads for the fateful Chicago Democratic convention, while David moves to a commune with Jesse's girl friend Karen (Elaine Malus). Tired of trying to run away from controversy, Karen heads to Chicago for a reunion with Jesse, and a few philosophical discussions with "guest stars" Dick Gregory and Abbie Hoffman. Other members of the Intellectual Left making brief appearances in Prologue include Allen Ginsberg, Jean Genet, John Kenneth Galbraith, and William S. Burroughs. Director Robin Spry co-wrote the screenplay with Sherwood Forest (no, really). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A teenage girl learns that reaching for your dreams isn't always easy in this heartfelt drama with music. Terri Fletcher (Hilary Duff) is a small-town girl with a great love of music and a fine singing voice. Already one of the lead vocalists in her church choir, Terri has also appeared at local nightspots with some help from her older brother. When he tragically dies in an auto accident, Terri becomes all the more determined to make the most of her talent, and she's elated when she's accepted as part of a summer study program at one of California's most prestigious music schools; however, Terri attends over the stern objections of her father. As she tries to hold together her relationship with her family, she finds herself falling for one of her fellow students, Jay (Oliver James), and competing for attention against dozens of kids whose talent rivals her own. Raise Your Voice also features Jason Ritter, Rebecca De Mornay, Rita Wilson, David Keith, and John Corbett. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This program for the preschool set features Winnie the Pooh with his friends Tigger, Piglet, and Christopher Robin. Small children are exposed to the ideals in friendship while they enjoy the antics of the famous bear and his lovable comrades. Winnie the Pooh finds himself in one of his usual predicaments, only to make his way out again, with the help of his loyal companions. Singalongs provide the kids with a way to actively participate in all the fun. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Part of The Book of Pooh series, which offers preschool kids simple life lessons and scholastic pointers, The Book of Pooh: Stories From the Heart uses puppetry and computer animation to tell Christopher Robin's imaginative tales. Kids join Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger for an afternoon of storytelling and lesson learning. The program, based on stories and characters created by A.A. Milne, features six new songs. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide

The Transformers was one of several syndicated half-hour cartoon series of the 1980s designed to promote a line of toys. In this instance, the playthings, marketed by Hasbro, were tiny robots that could be "transformed" into automotive vehicles, and vice versa. It was not for nothing that the series' theme song boasted that its characters were "more than meets the eye." Basically, the series chronicled the eons-old battle between two branches of the Transformer family: the Autobots, mentored by Optimus Prime, and the Decepticons, headed by Megatron. After battling for centuries on their home planet Zobitron (also known as Cybertron), the two warring factions decided to move their battleground to another world, and in the process crash-landed on a prehistoric Earth. Released from suspended animation in 2005 A.D., the good-guy Autobots (bearing such names as Inferno, Grapple, Red, and Smoke Screen) and the bad-guy Decepticons (numbering among their ranks the likes of Dirge and Thrust) resumed their conflict as though no time had passed at all. The Autobots managed to win several humans over to their side, notably earthlings Spike and Sparkplug, and, when the battle returned to the Autobots' home planet, Marrisa Fairborne of the Earth Defense Command. Although the animation was mediocre, The Transformers boasted excellent writing and story values, thanks to the input of such fantastic-fiction specialists as Donald F. Glut and Marv Wolfman. Also, the writers did a nice job weaving the Hasbro-licensed characters into the action, rather than have them merely show up as walking and talking advertisements. Debuting in daily "strip" syndication in September of 1984, the series remained in active production for three years. After its syndicated run, The Transformers was rebroadcast by cable's Sci-Fi Channel from 1992 to 1997. The series has also spawned a number of sequels, among them Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and several Japanese anime versions of the property, released in the U.S. under such titles as Transformers: Robots in Disguise and Transformers Armada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The robotic cartoon adventure series The Transformers begins its second season with the episode "Autobot Spike," in which one of the human allies of the Autobots in their ongoing battle against the Decepticons literally loses his mind to a super-Transformer. "Autobot Spike" is one of the few single-episode storylines to be found this season. Many of the other scenarios take up two episodes or more, notably "Dinobot Island," wherein the discovery of a remote island populated by prehistoric beasts leads to a serious schism in the time-space continuum; "Megatron's Master Plan," in which the leader of the evil Decepticons does his best to turn public opinion against the Autobots; and "Desertion of the Dinobots," which finds the title characters rebelling against their enslavement by the robots and trying to claim the Autobots' home planet as their own. The best of The Transformers' two-parters during the series' second season is "The Key to Vector Sigma," a story built around a computer from the planet Alpatrian with which the Decepticons intend to bestow artificial intelligence upon their newly created flunkies, the Stunticons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fourth and final season of the original Transformers cartoon series is actually a three-part miniseries titled "The Rebirth." The age-old war between the two rival Transformer factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons, takes the combatants to Nebulos, a planet controlled by evil telepaths. In the course of events, the lines of battle are blurred when, thanks to those aforementioned telepaths, several Decepticons, disguised as good-guy Autobots, infiltrate the other side. As the climax approaches, the fate of everyone concerned rests in the hands of the Autobots' human ally Spike -- with a bit of assistance from the revivified Optimus Prime, head of the Autobots, who has merged his intelligence and resources with the "super computer" Vector Sigma. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide