[3] The series mostly involved the trio's efforts against the industrialist forces of greedy aardvark millionaire Cyril Sneer, who regularly tries to destroy the forest for personal wealth.

As the series progresses, Cyril becomes more of a sympathetic character, eventually becoming an antihero, becoming more responsible in his priorities and business practices.

The second season had these human characters removed as the premise shifted to an unambiguous fantasy world of a sophisticated humanoid animal version of Canada with complex transportation systems, broadcasting media and heavy industry etc.

In addition, Ralph's relatives become regular characters, especially his young nephew and niece, Bentley the insecure child technology prodigy and Lisa the statuesque athletic teenager who became an understated love interest for Bert.

Unlike many other cartoons of its time, it handled action, humour, and romance in a fairly sophisticated manner, while remaining sufficiently uncomplicated for younger viewers.

The Raccoons franchise was originally conceived by Canadian TV personality Kevin Gillis in the 1970s, while appearing in shows like Celebrity Cooks and Yes You Can.

[10] In 1984, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Disney Channel began funding on the television series, which cost about $4.5 million to make.

The series had a new wave soundtrack including the theme song "Run with Us" by cast member Lisa Lougheed.

Due to contractual reasons, Schneider's vocals on three of the songs were replaced with Frank Floyd and Hank Martin when they were released on the accompanying soundtrack album for the fourth special.

Rory Dodd, The Dior Bros. (actually Kevin Gillis and Jon Stroll under a pseudonym), and many other musicians also had songs performed, although somewhat rarely compared to the aforementioned people.

According to Jon Stroll, Frank Floyd, the frontman of the 1970s R&B funk group The Writers, was originally selected to be the main male singer for the series but backed out at the last minute.

A soundtrack for the fourth special was released in 1984, but featured vocals from Frank Floyd and Hank Martin to replace John Schneider.

Then Video Collection International Ltd. released a third tape which contained the episodes "Stop The Clock" and "The Artful Dodger" on 13 August 1990 (Cat No.

That same tape was re-released again by Video Collection International Ltd. on 22 July 1991, as part of their Children's Club range (Cat No.

The extras include character bios, a chance to create your own scene from The Raccoons and Raccoon-A-Roma DVD-ROM content, like QuickTime animated sequences.

For this release, Len Carlson also reprised his role as Bert during menus and gave in-character commentary before and after episodes.

The bonus features on set 1 were duplicated from the Canadian release, mainly the create a scene and Raccoon-A-Roma DVD ROM content.

The New York Times, in its review for their second TV special, said "the Raccoons are an adorable lot, supported nicely by an attractive production.

"[22] In 2022, series creator Kevin Gillis said that the show was seeing a resurgence of interest, speculating that it was due to the "original audience now having young families of their own and want[ing] to reach back to what helped form their early lives.