Early in Filmation's history, Scheimer
also contributed a number of guest or secondary voices for the various
productions. Amongst these was the voice of N'kima,
Tarzan's monkey companion in Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976–81).
Scheimer played a significant role in the creation of the cartoon He-Man and
the Masters of the Universe and Bravestarr. Aside from being the executive producer, he was
also co-credited for the series' musical score under the pseudonym "Erika
Lane" (which combined the names of his daughter Erika and son Lane), and it had also been used as a character name
on the 1967 Filmation series Fantastic Voyage. He became a voice actor for the show (as he had done for many of his
company's previous productions), going under the pseudonym "Erik
Gunden". The last name was taken from his father's original surname:
"Gundenscheimer" (which was later shortened to Sheimer). The first
name was Lou's middle name, which he was not given by his parents, but instead
by his wife Jay, who felt that he should have one. Scheimer's contribution to
the cast was in fact most notable as he voiced several supporting characters,
including Orko (and other
characters with a similar Smurfs-voice), Stratos, King
Randor and others. The reason producer Lou Scheimer performed the voices for so
many supporting characters was that the 'official' voice actors were contracted
to perform no more than three different voices per episode. And since there
were usually only three regular cast members working on each show, Lou would
fill in the rest of the male cast. This is also why his wife Jay and
daughter Erika did various
small parts in the first season of He-Man. During the second season
of He-Man, and all of She-Ra, Erika Scheimer received an onscreen credit as an
actor and also directed the voice actors, and she and her father would record
the remaining voices on their own later, because Lou did not see himself as a
'proper' actor and was ashamed of recording together with the other voice
actors due to severe budget restrictions. The animated series also pioneered a
type of programming known as first-run syndication.
Also a first was the storyline being based on an action figure toy; prior to this time, FCC regulations
had prohibited any type of children's programming being based on a toy.
Scheimer transformed He-Man from a graphically violent version
of Conan the Barbarian into
a pro-social character, who imparted a life lesson to impressionable viewers in
each episode. Scheimer's
daughter Erika also performed supporting female voices and occasional
voice-acting for young boy characters. She would later star in the follow-up
series She-Ra, which Scheimer also produced. Lou was also credited for helping to compose
the theme music for both the He-Man and She-Ra series,
under his pseudonym 'Erika Lane'. In the late 1990s, Scheimer returned to the
field of animation. A Dutch investment company, Dreamweavers, NV., approached
Lou with a concept based on an off-kilter Dutchman's renderings of characters
aimed at young adults. Scheimer went into production on Robin and the
Dreamweavers, an animated feature film. Robin, the first human ever born in cyberspace,
battled the evil siren Triple XXX who desired an earthly body and gained power
through mankind's baser carnal desires. The film, however, was never
distributed. Also, this animated movie is an adult animated movie like
any Ralph Bakshi movie. Scheimer
also provided consultation work for Gang of Seven (G7) Animation. The Lou
Scheimer Gallery at the ToonSeum, a museum of comic and cartoon art in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is named in his honor.