a children's film entitled Drats!. Nelvana used $8 million to finance and produce the film." The premise remained the same, centering on a post-apocalyptic rock band composed of fuzzy mutant creatures who evolved from rats after the human race was wiped out. However, instead of wiring her to the soundboard, Mok transformed Angel into a guitar, and literally played her to summon the beast. The crew felt that it would be easier to animate cartoony characters but, as the film evolved, they gradually became more humanistic, and Hollywood acquaintances encouraged them to skew the tone towards an older audience. The film was produced without a well defined script; so the crew would develop and work on sequences, leaving holes for more layers of the story to be added later. The cost of production, $8 million in studio resources, nearly put Nelvana out of business. Over 300 Nelvana animators worked on the film. The animation was of unusually high quality for the era, and the special effects were mostly photographic techniques, as computer graphics were in their infancy. Computers were used to generate only a few images in the film. Release Prior to its completion, Rock & Rule was picked up by Hollywood film studio MGM/UA in April 1983. However, they did not care about the animated feature and gave it only an extremely small limited release in theatres. Due to some scenes involving adult themes such as sexuality and profanity, the film was uniquely marketed. Alternative versions American The American distributor, MGM/UA Entertainment Company, disliked Greg Salata, who voiced Omar, and insisted that he would be re-dubbed by an actor with name recognition, along with several edits being made to the film. Paul Le Mat was cast and Omar's obscenities were written out. The prologue was also altered, giving a reason why the characters are part animal. Released through United Artists in April 1983, the revised film was unable to find an audience at the box office. It was this chopped version that quickly found its way to VHS and LaserDisc. Canadian The film was initially broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1985 (uncut and including parental warnings). In 1988, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began airing the original cut, which featured extra footage, a different, clearer audio mix, the original voice of Omar, original shots that had been replaced by alternate footage, and the shot of Zip regaining consciousness