The Jackson 5ive is a morning cartoon TV series produced by Motown Productions or Rankin/Bars on ABC. The cartoon is a fictional portrayal of the careers and lives of the Motown group called Jackson 5ive. It started being broadcasted between 1984 and 1985 when Michael Jackson’s career as a pop singer took flight.

The show featured the five Jackson brothers who were into pop music as a band in America that composed songs and performed. This was where the name Jackson 5ive was derived from. Later it became just the Jacksons.

Their names were Jackie Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Marlin Jackson, and Michael Jackson. They performed largely in talent shows.

The Jackson 5ive is going to be clocking 50 in the year 2021. The cartoon was initially aired on the 11th of September 1971 with about 24 episodes in 2 series. The cartoon highlighted the Motown raising group. It had its last episode aired on the 14th of October, 1972.

However, are you aware that they did not play the voices of the brother? The group was quite busy with music. They had to focus on promotion, touring, and singing. This was why Motown decided to cast actors for voice-overs and play the brothers’ role and Berry Gordy.

Berry Gordy’s character was played by a man called Paul Frees, while Donald Fullilove played Michael’s character. Edmund Sylvers played the character of Marion, Joel Cooper played Jermaine. Moke Martinez played Tito. And lastly, Jackie’s character was played by a character that goes by the name Craig Grandy. Diana Riss happens to be the only Motown start. They did a voice-over for her character.

The character that played Michael also played other roles, such as Mayor Goldie Wilson in Back to the future saga, and he did a voice-over for mushy on the movie Mulan.

Despite not being available for the production, the Jackson 5ive actively participated in the photoshoot to depict the cartoon’s character. You can almost see those pictures in the generic. A large part of the production got executed in Halas and Batchelor’s studio in London and certain parts of Japan and Spain.

By the early 80s (‘84 and ‘85), the animated series came back into small screens and became widely known after that. Michael released his album, ‘Thriller.’ After this, it went back on television for a short while in 1999. However, it wasn’t until the year 2013 that the series was released onto DVDs and Blu-ray and was made available in just the United States of America.

From time to time, the brothers released solo albums, especially Michael, and the cartoon series was a further proof and attestation to their fame and popularity. So, as we celebrate the anniversary of this cartoon, we are once again reminded of the force that this group where over the years.