David Wise

David Wise (February 1, 1955 – March 3, 2020) was an American television and animation writer, tutored by writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank Herbert, Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon while attending the Clarion Workshop.

He wrote several episodes for television series, such as Star Trek: The Animated Series, The Transformers (1984), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).

He wrote two episodes of the Jem animated series that aired from 1985 to 1988.

Early life[]

Wise began experimenting with animation and live-action film at the age of seven, under the tutelage of several artists and experimental filmmakers, including Len Lye, Francis Lee, and Stan VanDerBeek. Wise created dozens of brief animations using cut-outs, scratch-on-film techniques, as well as conventional cel animation. In 1963, at the age of eight, Wise released a compilation of his experiments, titled "Short Circuit". Distributed by the Filmmakers' Cooperative, "Short Circuit" was shown throughout the world, won several awards, and was the U.S. entry in the "Child & the World" festival in Czechoslovakia. Writing in the Village Voice, filmmaker and critic Jonas Mekas called Wise "the Mozart of Cinema."

By the time he was nine, he was lecturing on filmmaking at universities and film societies (including Washington & Lee and the University of Maryland at Baltimore), and appeared on numerous television shows, including I've Got a Secret with Steve Allen as host.

Career[]

Star Trek: The Animated Series[]

At the age of sixteen, Wise abandoned film-making for writing, determined to become a professional science fiction writer. The following year, Wise sold several SF short stories to various anthologies. This led directly to his first television writing job, an episode of Filmation's animated Star Trek series entitled "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth", written in collaboration with Russell L. Bates. The series as a whole won the only Emmy any Star Trek series has won in a non-technical category, for best children's production.

Buck Rogers, Wonder Woman, He-Man and Mighty Orbots[]

After a successful stint of live-action work, writing for Glen A. Larson's Buck Rogers (the "Space Vampire" episode) and the Lynda Carter series Wonder Woman, Wise returned to animation in the 1980s, collaborating on many of the animated endeavors of that period such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Mighty Orbots.

The Transformers[]

Wise also wrote The Transformers episodes during the second and fourth seasons, including the Optimus Prime origin story "War Dawn", the comedy chase format of "Kremzeek", and the final three episodes of the original G1 series "The Rebirth". During this period, Wise also wrote scripts for Jem and My Little Pony.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[]

In 1987, Wise was given the call to develop and write a five-part animated television pilot based on an independent comic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wise helped change the darker toned black and white Mirage title into a fun, bright, cheerful animated show. Wise left after the ninth season, writing and story editing over 100 episodes.

Disney and Batman: The Animated Series[]

Wise next worked on Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and Mighty Ducks cartoons, and also wrote three episodes for Batman: The Animated Series, "The Clock King", "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", and the origin story of The Riddler, "If you're so Smart, Why Aren't you Rich?".

Other animated series and live-action projects[]

He wrote the Battletoads animated pilot episode, as well as the two-part pilot for C.O.P.S., "The Case of C.O.P.S. File 1". He wrote some episodes of Defenders of the Earth. He wrote and story-edited such comic-based series as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.s. He also developed, story-edited, and wrote most of the 26 episodes of Disney TV's Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series. During this period, he also wrote and produced the live-action film Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus, and was the first writer/story-editor on an animated interpretation of Zorro.

Go! Media Entertainment[]

He was CEO of the multi-media company Go! Media Entertainment from 2005 to 2010. Go! Media Entertainment consisted of the publishing imprint Go! Comi, and the digital entertainment division oPlay.

Other works[]

He wrote the final episode of the fourth series of the Doctor Who-related Gallifrey audio drama series for UK-based Big Finish Productions. In 2019, David was announced as part of the team developing a television series based on the life of decorated dog hero Sergeant Stubby, serving as a prequel to the 2018 animated feature film Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero.

Death[]

Wise died on March 3, 2020, after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 65 years old.

Jem episodes written by David Wise[]

Culture Clash (1987)
Renaissance Woman (1987)

External links[]

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at David Wise (writer). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the Jem Wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.