As far as animation goes, I believe that this was Hanna-Barbera's best work in the 80's. (Take that as a compliment or insult as you will.)
The storylines were nothing spectacular; they were formulaic rip-offs of Popeye, the Smurfs, and the Flintstones- Pac-Man and/or his family would be bothered by the inept ghosts, who were henchmen of Mezmeron... a vaguely Gargamel-like being whose sole purpose in life was to bother the citizens of the town the Pacs lived in. After some "drama", one or more of the Pacs (they all had their star turns, and most of the Pacs from the various video games were represented) would ingest a power pill, chomp some ghosts, and things would be safe 'til the next episode.
What set the whole series apart was the fact that everything in the show was inhuman, but led human lives. Their lives were shown in Flintstones fashion- they would do things "ordinary humans" did, but with their own twist. They would open a tin can, and pour dots out; to mow the lawn they would "chomp". It was funnier and more surreal than the Flintstones, though; everything had a drug-addled look to it, and it was quite bizarre to watch if you either weren't familiar with the concept of Pac-Man, or couldn't accept it.
To this day, I have to live down the fact that I dropped out of a school play so I could stay home one evening and watch the Pac-Man Christmas Special. So... I guess you can say that despite my critical eye, I think this series is one of the best cartoons from the 80's.
The storylines were nothing spectacular; they were formulaic rip-offs of Popeye, the Smurfs, and the Flintstones- Pac-Man and/or his family would be bothered by the inept ghosts, who were henchmen of Mezmeron... a vaguely Gargamel-like being whose sole purpose in life was to bother the citizens of the town the Pacs lived in. After some "drama", one or more of the Pacs (they all had their star turns, and most of the Pacs from the various video games were represented) would ingest a power pill, chomp some ghosts, and things would be safe 'til the next episode.
What set the whole series apart was the fact that everything in the show was inhuman, but led human lives. Their lives were shown in Flintstones fashion- they would do things "ordinary humans" did, but with their own twist. They would open a tin can, and pour dots out; to mow the lawn they would "chomp". It was funnier and more surreal than the Flintstones, though; everything had a drug-addled look to it, and it was quite bizarre to watch if you either weren't familiar with the concept of Pac-Man, or couldn't accept it.
To this day, I have to live down the fact that I dropped out of a school play so I could stay home one evening and watch the Pac-Man Christmas Special. So... I guess you can say that despite my critical eye, I think this series is one of the best cartoons from the 80's.