The Raccoons was a Canadian animated series broadcast from 1985 to 1992, with three preceding television specials (The Christmas Raccoons, The Raccoons On Ice, and The Raccoons and the Lost Star) from its inception in 1980, and one direct to video special (The Raccoons: Let's Dance!) in 1984. The franchise was created by Kevin Gillis.

The series revolved around Bert Raccoon and married couple Ralph and Melissa Raccoon, of whom Bert is a friend and roommate. The series initially involved the trio's efforts against the industrialist forces of greedy aardvark millionaire Cyril Sneer, who usually tries to destroy the forest for a quick buck. However, the Raccoons would always save their forest from Cyril's schemes, with help from their forest friends including Schaeffer, a gentle Old English Sheepdog; Cedric, Cyril's college graduate son; and Sophia, Cedric's girlfriend. As the series progressed, Cyril became more of a sympathetic character, eventually becoming an antihero, becoming more responsible in his priorities and business practices.

Produced entirely in Canada, but funded by the Disney Channel (who aired the series in the USA) and fondly remembered for its fluid animation, memorable characters and New Wave-inspired soundtrack, the series itself was less "cartoon", per se, and more animated comedy-drama, appealing to all ages for many different reasons. Unlike many other cartoons of its time, it handled subjects like romance, regret and how people can change over time in a fairly sophisticated and non-condescending manner, while remaining sufficiently uncomplicated for younger viewers. By the end of season 1, the animation studio changed from Atkinson Film-Arts, who had animated the four specials and the first season of the series, to Hinton Animation Studios for the remainder of the series, and human Forest Ranger Dan and his family were phased out (although Schaeffer and Broo the Puppy, a character introduced in "Lost Star", stayed) and replaced by Ralph and Melissa's nephew Bentley, and neice Lisa, with the latter being named after and voiced by series music consultant Lisa Lougheed. Lisa also performed most of the show's soundtrack, most notably the series' ending theme that played during the end credits of every episode, "Run With Us".

The series was cancelled against Gillis' demands in 1991, due to the box office failure of The Nutcracker Prince, a film which he himself produced, and while he has written for and created other shows since, his first success story has never left his mind. Recently, he announced via an online interview that he is currently working on a reboot/revival of the series, produced by Ottawa-based studio Big Jump Entertainment, which is planned for release in 2020.

Due to the reboot fast approaching, and due to both Shout Factory and Mill Creek's consistently solid handling of many animated series and cult classics, I believe that either company would do an amazing job in bringing the complete original series to DVD and Blu-Ray, especially putting into consideration that seasons 3, 4 and 5 have never been released in English on official home media before.

Come on, Shout/Mill Creek - Run With Us and put the complete series of The Raccoons, a truly underrated animated gem, on DVD and Blu-Ray!