The Raccoons made their TV debut in 1980 with this special. It tells the story of how the Raccoons met Schaeffer, and it shows their only interaction with Julie and Tommy. So back then, they did have a purpose.
The animation has a little of that late 70's awkwardness. It's not as clean as it was in the TV show but it also has a lot of life to it at times, particularly with the Sneers. Cyril (Michael Magee doing an impression of a schoolmaster he disliked), a bell-bottom-legged, ragged-eared pink aardvark who looks like a cross between a Grinch and a Heffalump doesn't just stomp around and once in a while cock his head a little when he talks: he waves his arms, kicks stuff and jumps around madly. Cedric is really well animated as well. If he sounds different to how he does in the show, it's because he's voiced by Fred Little. In the show he's voiced by Marvin Goldhar.
Len Carlson gives a great voice performance as Bert, the slacker/housemate raccoon and by far the most interesting of the raccoons. No one is more perfect for the role than him.
It's one of those stories where it appears to be a dream and then it's not.
I find it surprising that he has other aardvarks working for him. In the series (and from The Raccoons on Ice onwards) he has a trio of pigs working for him, and a squad of bears. Maybe all those aardvarks quit after Cyril was thwarted.
In this special, Cedric is still on Cyril's "team", so to speak, but in the next special he defects to the side of the raccoons. Still, here he's the conscience of the team, trying to stop his greedy father from cutting down too many trees.
It's a pretty groovy special and I recommend it.
