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Archive for the tag “Saturday Matinees”

18 Sep 2021

Universe Of Evil

Hey kids (of all ages), it’s Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!

Hanna-Barbera’s take on the Justice League of America were kinda’ phoning it in by the end of the Disco Decade. Although the WORLD’S GREATEST SUPERFRIENDS had a full hour time slot (albeit as the 8AM curtain-jerker), only eight half-hour episodes were made for the series. The rest was recycled from earlier Super Friends shows.

I picked this one because it features a concept that has been recurring since the DC Multiverse was established in the early 1960s, and which has been beaten like the proverbial deceased equine in recent years… Alternate versions of our superheroes — including Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman — who are, in fact, villains. From October 1979. More from the Old Horseman.

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10 Jul 2021

The Frickert Fracas

Hey kids (of all ages), it’s Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!

Not long ago, my weekday upload for grownups was an episode of WAIT TILL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME featuring an appearance by Jonathan Winters. Like Don Adams and Phyllis Diller, Winters had also guest starred on Hanna-Barbera’s top Saturday Morning ‘toon… But, in his case, he also brought along the same Granny Maude Frickert character to both shows.

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? (Basically ersatz DOBIE GILLIS characters crossed with the old I LOVE A MYSTERY radio show plus a semi-anthropomorphic dog thrown-in for good measure.) was a big hit for the studio in 1969. Not only did it get a second production season, which was kinda’ rare for Saturday Morning Cartoons, but is spawned a slew of follow-up series, one-shot video features, and even big-budget live-action movie adaptations.

Scooby and the gang also became the go-to template for many of HB’s ‘toons through the ’70s, as YOGI BEAR had been for the ’60s. Just rename the Meddling Kids, and swap-out the dog for a semi-anthropomorphic car, phantom, cat, shark, or even a goofier-looking dog, and there’s your new show. Heck, even the Justice League got a pair of Meddling Kids and their dog when HB took over the superheroes’ license with SUPER FRIENDS.

Scooby’s second program, the NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES, had the mystery adventures extended to an hour-long, and featured guest stars. And what a mixed-bad that lot was! Sometimes real people, like Cass Elliot, Davy Jones, or Jerry Reed, voiced by their real-world selves. Sometimes fictional characters, like Batman, the Addams Family, or the cast of other HB Scooby-esque cartoons. Sometimes a splitting of the difference, with the onscreen personas of real people voiced by impersonators, as with the THREE STOOGES and LAUREL AND HARDY due to the originals being retired or dead. From September, 1972. More from the OldHorseman.

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12 Jun 2021

Bungle In The Jungle

Hey kids (of all ages), it’s Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!

A couple weeks ago we covered SNUFFY SMITH, and a fortnight earlier we hit BEETLE BAILY. These two were part of King Features Syndicate’s follow-up to their successful batch of made-for-television POPEYE shorts, created to capitalize on the popularity the Sailor Man had enjoyed with the release of his earlier Paramount theatrical pictures to TV. Now we see KRAZY KAT, the third wheel of the “King Features Trilogy”, and it’s an odd one for a couple reasons…

First, Snuffy and Beetle were current funny papers strips in the ’60s. (And still are today, for that matter!) The KK strip ended almost two decades before these cartoons were produced. Kids had no clue who these characters were.

Second, KK was just odd by nature. The cat was non-binary gendered way before it was trendy. Mostly treated as female here, it was way more ambiguous in the source material… Instead of chasing and trying to exterminate the mouse (Ignatz), the cat is in love with the rodent, and takes his constant attempts to murder her with a brick to the braincase as some kind of S&M show of affection. Meanwhile, the bulldog, rather than menacing the cat like a normal canine, is in love with KK, and acts as a cop to protect her from the mouse!

This weirdness predates the start of the KK newspaper strip in 1913, as the Krazy and Ignatz were spun-off from the earlier DINGBAT FAMILY strip, where they were originally a fringe element. Never a huge hit, their series managed to stand-out with its avant-garde content and format. Maybe that’s why KFS decided it was suitable for TV in the Beatnik-Early Hippie era.

KK’s history in animation goes back the to the primordial silents in 1916. These early works reflected the general weirdness of the comic strip. But, in the 20s, animated KK devolved into a knock-off of FELIX THE CAT, who was the first really big animated cartoon series star. Despite transitioning to talkies, these ‘toons petered-out at the end of the ’30s.

Aside from a few tribute cameos, this series was the last new KK material created to-date. From 1963. More from The OldHorseman.

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22 May 2021

Trapped By Loki

Hey kids (of all ages), it’s Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!

A couple weeks ago we covered the not-so-jolly green giant’s animated debut. But he wasn’t alone. Marvel’s other popular superguys were part of the wheel show. Including fellow Avenger, Thor.

I suppose you can only have just so many comic book heroes get their powers by alien origin, Mystical Eastern training, science accidents, or super-tech before it dawns on writers to say “Screw it! Let’s just recruit mythical gods!”

The Norse god of thunder was well suited for the gig, and had already been used in DC comics back in the ’50s. Marvel’s version traded in the traditional red beard for a clean-shaven fellow with blonde locks, but kept the mythical backstory for the most part.

Still, superheroes of the era had to have a wimpy alter ego and some sort of weakness. In this case, the awesome immortal’s other self was a lame (literally) Dr. Donald Blake. Not only did Thor have to live as Blake when not saving the day, but he would involuntarily revert into that mortal form whenever Thor was separated from his signature war hammer for over sixty seconds!

Of course, he also got an ersatz Lois Lame (figuratively). We’ll not go into what has happened with her in our current, godforsaken, woke era!

Several attempts at live-action TV series starring Marvel characters were made in the 1970s. But Thor didn’t get a shot then. The only one of the bunch who really made it was the HULK. TV movie follow-ups to his series beginning in the late 1980s were used as tryouts for other Marvel characters, starting with Thor. Like the Hulk, he was considerably different from his four-color print incarnation. Unlike Ol’ Greenskin, his TV version didn’t succeed and was never heard from again.

He has, however, been a smashing success in the current MCU live-action blockbuster movies. But his on-screen career started with these humble, barely animated adventures. Lifted pretty much directly from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY comics, and produced by what was left of the old Paramount unit that did the theatrical POPEYE shorts, as well as some of the King Features TV output.

From 1966. More from The OldHorseman.

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