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I remember reading somewhere that the production was, at the time, USD $1,000,000 per episode. The only source I could find now is a comment on amazon, stating
the entire production cost $65 million dollars or $1 million dollars per episode ref thanks @Valorum
Is there a reputable source for this figure?
The show's creator, Robert Mandell indicated in an interview with Starlog that his show wasn't dramatically more expensive than comparative shows in its market-space. Where it differed was that they were making enough shows (65 episodes) to go into immediate syndication and that the studio were planning to make their money back from overseas syndication rather than a tie-in to a major plastic toy brand.
"The syndication marketplace was just starting to explode in '84 because of the sucess of "He-Man & The Masters of the Universe". He-Man really set the trend for producing animation with heavy toy company involvement. Toy companies have always been involved in Saturday morning animation, but never to the extent that they were producing 65 half hours of animation. It's an extremely expensive endeavor. The average cost per strip has been somewhere near $15 million, which is a phenomenal amount of money - it's like the budget for a major motion picture. Most companies that get involved are really looking for the big toy hit, because it's the only way a financier can expect a return."
