The INSANE Story of ANIMALYMPICS: An Olympic Boycott, TRON & the Birth of Furries
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In the late 70’s Steve Lisberger had an idea for a movie that takes place inside a computer but to get the money for that film he had another idea, the Olympics but with animals… the ANIMALYMPICS!
With the backing of NBC and the Summer Olympics in Moscow on the horizon the timing was perfect… until it wasn’t.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animalympics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Silverman
https://www.retroist.com/p/animalympics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Lisberger#Lisberger_Studios
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-277/
https://animalympics.fandom.com/wiki/Animalympics_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics_boycott
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War#Soviet_exit_and_change_of_Afghan_leadership,_1985%E2%80%931989
https://dogpatch.press/2020/02/13/40th-anniversary-animalympics/
https://www.thecinemawarehouse.com/2012/09/26/animalympics-1980/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/787893482/?match=1&terms=nbc%20olympics%20%2485%20million
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympics_on_United_States_television
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-277/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/435919175/?match=1&terms=%22steve%20lisberger%22
https://www.newspapers.com/image/436839615/?match=1&terms=nbc%20lisberger
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@starchildluke
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I had this on VHS in the 90s and watched it as a kid and it had a certain melancholy to it that stuck with me. I loved it and watched it again a year or so ago and the animation still holds up
@milestrombley1466
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Animalympics ran so Zootopia can walk.
@nathanieljackson5554
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I'm glad this wasn't something I imagined. I saw it on HBO in the early 80's.
@SoozUK
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I was obsessed with this film. I watched it 500 times and I thought the songs were amazing. Kids are dumb.
@aliastheabnormal
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I think Tron is big in Japan as it was in Kingdom hearts 2. And the franchise only came back because of said games.
@jamesonstalanthasyu
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I always cry when I hear the song, "with you I can run forever".
@theprime8
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
This movie was such a big deal in my life as a kid … meant more to me than any real life sports
@thejadedenthusiast724
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Wow. I remember this! – I was very young
@frankrobyn-fuhrmeister7774
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I loved the music, the sound design and the Logo designs in 70/80ies style.
@Sharikacat
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Citing Animalympics as the starting point for furries? Calling hard bullshit on that one. Disney's Robin Hood came out in 1973, and while that probably isn't even the first, that's just the most notable example that comes to mind.
@fabiancarta
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I loved this movie when I was a kid. Watched it again a year ago on YT. It was still good.
@rl318
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Wow, I haven't thought about that movie in decades. This came on Showtime back in the mid-80s, and I recorded it on my grandmother's VCR because I was so obsessed with it.
@Kruhn
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
That was the very first video my mother rented for my brother and I.
@JanHell666
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Nice, never seen it but i saw a cartoon short movie or similar where animals played soccer.
@Opi-Wan
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Thank you for this. I love this movie.
@vincentfranklin17
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Animalympics was absolutely awesome!
In a way, it reignited my love of anthropomorphic animals, such as DC Comics Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew!
@phoule76
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
why do I feel like smoking Camels?
@Staatus_Quo
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Tron is legit cool, but man do they make bad casting choices and keep doing crap marketing. Who thought having Jarrett Letto was a good call? Dude had some bad baggage and that just made him even creeper in the film
@JackieWohlenhaus
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
This movie is 100% responsible for at least 25% of the debauchery of aging furries.
@youfuckinknowit
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
5:02 – "I know Don Ohlmeyer,
between you & me, he's an idiot"
-David Letterman
@Powherkrangunch
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I think that I saw this movie on HBO once! I'm going to have to look it up again because it's something that I'm not really familiar with. Thanks for the history lesson, though! Thanks to Animalympics, I was able to get Tron off the ground because I love Tron! It's so cool how you continue to incorporate wild humor and secret Easter eggs into every video! Love your work!
@rand43
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Loved that movie. I've watched it whenever it on came cable
@OrphenStudios
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
But then Venom Snake saved us all.
@Gloryosky
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
The Summer Olympics coverage was just one of NBC's problems in 1980. NBC could barely field anything in prime-time to compete against ABC & CBS. Johnny Carson threatened to move to ABC unless NBC offered concessions (which NBC did). Lorne Michaels left Saturday Night Live. Even in daytime, NBC lost ground with decisions like expanding Another World to ninety minutes and seeing if ninety minutes of David Letterman in the morning would work (spoiler: no), while some NBC affiliates bailed for other networks (mostly ABC). NBC needed the ad money from the 1980 Moscow Olympics to salvage something out of that year.
@NathanielSwartz
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I was so confused at first because I was thinking of Laff-A-Lympics
@robertboden2744
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
For some reason I remember watching this…must of been from rentals like the Hanna-Barbara Olympics
@michaellyndaker2438
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Been meaning to ask 14:05 how many episodes of Beyond Belief did you have to go through to get that many assets?
@C0ldIron
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
My local library had a video of this. Can't remember how many times I've watched it.
@baileykullman2790
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I am a huge fan of this movie. I watch It to this day. And the soundtrack is on my playlist.
@Lord_Orlandu
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Congratulations on your 6th decade! I have always loved animal Olympics and thank you for telling me it was the only olympics at the time amazes me. Besides ancient furries like egyptian anubus and set I think the first modern furry stuff is fritz the cat.
But too be fair we had a talking cat in Alice and wonderland, Walt disney, and the 1930's when everything was wearing gloves. I'm glad furries are so cool, it always seems new. Some of my favorite 80's furry genre is Dinosaucers! Of which I am sure you know of because the toys are hard too get.
@Higuitamax
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Never saw this, but the FORESHADOWING got me chucking. I was a Sport Billy boy.
@Dremag_Gaming
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
If anyone wants to watch this. It is currently showing on Tubi and Roku (as of this posting)
@Tremayne4260
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
HBO thankfully showed this a lot in the 1990.
@DistantThunderworksLLC
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
Watched this on HBO multiple times during its run there.
@kevinalford
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
America crushing the Soviet Union needs global condemnation. It will never happen, but it should.
@lostintranslation1957
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I vaguely remember seeing this on TV in the 80s as a kid in the UK.
@frizzotheclown
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I don't remember when I first saw this, but I do remember renting it many times from the video store.
@daviddyer3543
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
This film needs a sequel for the 2028 LA Olympics.
@marcdecrosta4238
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
How could Billy Crystal be an SNL alumni in 1980 when he wasn’t even a cast member of SNL until 1985?
Is Billy Crystal a time traveler?
@michaelryanoliver8323
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
1982’s Pandamonium. Do that weird flick nrxte
@hardcoreep
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
I remember the marathon runners, where the lioness and the goat fall in love.
@evilmothericebearkillerbir6016
December 24, 2025 at 11:57 pm
it was grate
Comments are closed.