Tag: Clive Smith

At Fan Expo Canada, There’s Gonna Be A Rock And Rule Reunion! Will There Be Surprises?

…. and the book that’s also out to reveal the behind the scenes of the production is there to preserve that special piece of animated Canadiana punk rock history! It’ll only complement what’s said during the Rock and Rule Reunion.

rock and rule reunion behind the scenesThis year, FAN EXPO Canada is hosting a prime time Saturday reunion panel and special screening of Nelvana’s 1983 animated cult classic, and yes this is Rock And Rule reunion that won’t be visiting other events. It’s a one-off special event that also includes a screening of the classic.

And Verne Andru, credited on the film as Verne Andrusiek, will take the stage alongside director Clive Smith and fellow Nelvana co-founders Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert to talk about this unique piece of animated history, and for Hirsh, he will have his new memoir, Animation Nation: How We Built a Cartoon Empire, ready, and Loubert’s appearance is being billed as a rare, historic one. Even Andru’s new book, Rock & Rule Behind The Scenes, is ready to dive into the history of, and serve as an archive for those long-time fans.

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Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes Bonus Cut! And Captain Cannabis (Part Two)

Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes continues with Verne Andru tackling long-standing fan debates, from production myths to lost material, while outlining how his documentary aims to preserve a fragile piece of Canadian animation history.

Verne Andru and Captain Cannabis
Part one of our interview can be read here.

Support Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, and get some wild extras!

In part two of our interview with Verne Andru, we look at questions fans hope the documentary will answer. Long-time fans have burning questions, and given that most of the original material was lost to a fire that Verne confirmed, what remains needs to be more than a nostalgia hit. It is a chance to look back at how technologies merged to create the cult work that Rock and Rule became, right as Hollywood was running its own experiments with transitional optical effects in films like Tron and The Last Starfighter.

What is the biggest myth about Rock & Rule that you want to address?

The studio said that the launch failed because of MGM/UA not backing it. While there may be some truth to that, it misses the point that they delivered an unfinished film years late and millions over budget. It was Nelvana’s fault, nobody else.

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Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, The KickStarter. An Interview with Verne Andrusiek (Part One)

Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes dives into the legacy of the cult Canadian animated film through Verne Andrusiek’s firsthand insights, exploring its production struggles, analog artistry, and why a true restoration may never happen.

Fan Expo Vancouver Rock and RuleView the Kickstarter here

Verne Andrusiek is just one of the amazing talents who helped breathe visual life into a seminal Canadian animated classic, Rock and Rule. For the later part of his entertainment career, he went by the shorter version of his last name, and not everyone made the connection. With this Nelvana Entertainment film recognized as a cult work in the Canadiana hall of fame, anyone asking for a release will be in for a disappointment. A remaster is not likely to happen. What Verne preserved at home, though, will become part of the backbone of Rock and Rule Behind the Scenes, a video documentary that includes interviews with the directors and writers of this project. He announced this project to folks visiting his booth during Fan Expo Vancouver 2026!

With a crowdfunding campaign launching April 6, 2026, he also hopes to put some long-running fan debates to rest. He put it this way: “I became a bit of a jack-of-all-trades over my career going from music to electronics, art, film and computers in large part due to times, the 1950s through to 1980 were a period of dramatic change when not much of anything we take for granted today existed. Basically, if you wanted something you had to figure out how to do it yourself because there were no off-the-shelf solutions.”

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