During the '90's, Saturday morning cartoons were edged off the networks and replaced by morning news. For a short time, they made their home on Sunday mornings. The WB had my favorite line-up. You could watch Superman/Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond and Men in Black: The Series. All top quality animation and a fine alternative to going to church. Where the others live on in syndication and on DVD, with ocassional new material going to DVD, Men in Black seems to have disappeared.
Based on the first MIB film and borrowing from the original comic book, the series continued the adventures of J, K and agent Elle. And it did it well. Stories were smart and funny and often took unexpected twists. Where the film series went off the rails with over-the-top special effects and a weak story in their sequel, the animated series was very consistent. Barry Sonnenfeld could have kept the film series going if he had taken a few cues from these guys.
"The Big Bad Bug Syndrome" is a continuation of the film storyline. As far as I can tell, all the MIB film actors stayed away from the animated version, except for Vincent D'Onofrio who voices "Edwin" in this.The Queen of the Bugs puts out a bounty on the MIB agent responsible for the demise of dearly-departed Edgar. Now Elle must escape from some nasty Bugs - including Edgar's brother, Edwin - looking to collect the reward.
Back and ready for action. New place, new time. Saturdays at Gorilla Tango, 1919 North Milwaukee (near Western) from 1pm to 3pm. $5. Bring in scenes. Have them read.
ONE MESSAGE. LOUD AND CLEAR
Tuesday, March 4th - get your voice heard by creating a worldwide Cyber Shout. Post on your blog, where ever you can, "Impeach Bush Now!"
Tomorrow is the Angry White Guy's birthday, so this rare vintage clip is for him. And I think he'll get a kick out of the audacity of the wildly inappropriate black stereotype. The maid sounds familiar. I think she's voiced by the same man - that's right, MAN - who played the maid on radio's Fibber McGee and Molly. The clip's a little beat up and faded, but still fun. Love the frog.
ROBOWRITERS STARTS TODAY!
Back and ready for action. New place, new time. Gorilla Tango, 1919 North Milwaukee (near Western) from 1pm to 3pm. $5. Bring in scenes. Have them read. Have some fun.
ONE MESSAGE. LOUD AND CLEAR
On Tuesday, March 4th bloggers and fans of bloggers around the world are invited to do a Cyber Shout - "Impeach Bush Now!" Join us, won't you?
Quick Draw McGraw was one of many characters in the the Hanna-Barbera cartoon stable. While individual cartoons themselves seldom rose to the level of classic, the characters themselves certainly did. Most everyone knows or has heard of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss, but few would be able to quote any storylines. The characters were known for doing one or two things and they did that one or two things over and over again. Still, the characters were fun and, as a kid, I didn't care so much about the story.
Quick Draw was a horse in the Old (south) West with a sidekick burro named BabbaLooey, often acting as the sheriff and deputy of a small town. Someone would need help and Quick Draw would answer the call. Sometimes, for no discernible reason, he would go as his alter-ego, the Zorro-esque El Kabong. There are other oddities, too. Even thought Quick Draw is himself a horse, he rode a horse. As did BabaLooey. Quick Draw also had a pet dog named Snuffles. And everyone else in the town is human.
The Quick Draw McGraw Show debuted in 1959 and tapped into the popularity of all the westerns that were on at the time. It has run in syndication ever since.
The Quick Draw McGraw Show was sponsored by Kellogg's. McGraw even appeared on boxes of Sugar Smacks. Yum... Sugar Smacks.
Still down in the dangly part of the United States, but was able to get up early enough today to post a little something, something. Some of my favorite Tom and Jerry cartoons involve music, so I was trying to track one down. Instead, I found this. Van Beuren Studios - with RKO - had their own Tom and Jerry. Humans in place of animals and more Laurel and Hardy than adversaries.
There are many arguments about the origins of the music video - The Monkees, American musicals come to mind - but I think an argument could be made for early cartoons. As early animators were still wrangling with how or if to tell a story, they often just showcased a song. And I'm a sucker for early black and white cartoons. There's something very innocent and surreal about them. In this one, Tom and Jerry operate a small diner and everyone, including the food, get in on jamming to a tune. Enjoy!
Here's a little gem I just barely remember watching. The delightfully hammy and ham-fisted opening jogged a lot of memories. This was a late morning entry when channels were starting to shift to live action programing. Loosely based on the 1966 movie, this cartoon featured the Combined Miniature Detection Force (CMDF), who, after being shrunk to microscopic size, were sent on missions to stop mysterious threats to freedom. That's right, freedom! The Team consisted on Commander Jonathan Kidd, Physician Erica Lane, Guru, a mystic, and Busby Birdwell, the pilot and designer of their ship, the Voyager. The ship is very similar to the one in the film, but all the characters are different. Ted Knight (News Anchor Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) provided many of the voices.
Sometimes on Sunday morning's I would be jonesing for some cartoon action. The best one could find was very blatant christian children's programming. Davey and Goliath was the king of this, as far as having a quality that actually appealed to kids. But I also remember a cartoon called Jot. Jot was a dot, just a round ball with triangle feet. The animation style is actually kind of cool. The stories were always uber-simple, dealing with Jot doing something bad and then having to deal with the torturous consequences. Jot debuted in 1968 and ran in syndication throughout the '70s. It was drawn by UPA, most famous for their signature-style animated commercials from the 50's and '60's and most famously for the classic cartoon Mr. Magoo. It was written and produced by a Southern Baptist outfit in Dallas, so you know there's no subtlety going on here. It's fun, though. This one is about Jot stealing a cupcake and lying about it. He has an acid-trippy descent into hell because of it.
TONIGHT!
It's your last chance to see Mr. Hall and myself at Chicago Sketchfest. It's an early show, so there's enough time to catch us and one of two others without going on comedy overload.
The Theatre Building 1225 West Belmont (between Racine and Southport - three blocks west of the Belmont El stop) There is street parking available on Belmont Avenue. There is also a valet service available right in front of the theater for $8.
Tickets vary in price depending on what kind you get for the festival. For individual shows, though, it's no more than $15. You can get them at the door if you arrive early enough. For more ticket info call (773) 327-5252 or go to www.ticketmaster.com (search "Sketchfest 2008")
Nat Topping at some insightful and kind words about our show over at Clever Title.
Columbia College: My grades came in from both my history class and biology class. I got "A's" in both! That hasn't happened since my first quarter at Wright State University. Then I discovered a social life and it all plummeted from there. Unfortunately, being a part-time student, I don't get on the Dean's List. However, I found this other guy named Dean that I'm hoping will put me on his list.
SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS!
Grab a bowl of Frosted Flakes, pour too much milk (soy) into it and sit your butt on a pillow in front of the screen! Last week's was a sketch by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore making fun of an old TV show called Thunderbirds Are Go!
More early japanime. I was going to run this last week, but the new Speed Racer trailer got me jazzed for some Mach 5 action. I was actually a much bigger fan of this one. And was thrilled to see it was in color. I only remember it being in black and white, which is apparently due to our television set at the time being behind the curve. Marine Boy was the mariner version of Astro Boy except for one thing, he had no super powers. Dude just dug the ocean. He had to chew on oxygum to breathe underwater. He also had friends who helped him out a lot - a hot topless mermaid girl with strategically flowing long hair and a white dolphin. I'm sure my little boy brain worked overtime to file away images of Marine Boy and Neptina riding on the back of their phallic friend Splasher. I liked it and I didn't know why.
Here are the opening credits. Hum along to the theme song!
Here is Part One of an episode called "The Ghost Ship."
Again, I am stretching the boundaries of Saturday Mornings. I recall watching this during the week after school usually on one of the "sometimes you can get it, sometimes you can't" channels, like 43, 50 or 61 out of Cleveland or Detroit. Way before you ever regretted hearing the word Pokemon, Japanese animation was in syndication in the states. While the Japanese animators have been hitting us up with some pretty fantastic characters and stories, the most prominent pre-1980's cartoon has to be "Speed Racer."
Speed Racer first appeared on American television in 1967 and ran throughout the 70's. Apparently, they only produced the original episodes in '67 and '68.
Some interesting trivia. I assumed the "M" on Speed Racer's helmet and car stood for Mach, as in Mach 5, the name of the car. It actually stood for Milfune, Speed Racer's name in the Japanese version.
Here are the original un-remastered opening and closing credits.
And just for fun, here are the original Japanese opening credits with English subtitles. It's very different from the U.S. version and makes Speed Racer look more like Johnny Quest.Not surprising given the origin of the character. According to Wikipedia, Tatsuo Yoshida got his idea for Speed Racer after seeing two films that were very popular in Japan at the time—Viva Las Vegas and Goldfinger. By combining the look of Elvis Presley's race car driving image (complete with neckerchief and black pompadour) and James Bond's gadget-filled Aston Martin, Yoshida had the inspiration for his creation. I'll buy that. It sure fits.
Unlike the recent horrible misfire of the cartoon-to-big-screen adaptation of Under Dog and the likely-to-be-rancid Alvin and the Chipmunks, the upcoming screen version of "Speed Racer" looks promising. You can tell by the trailer that the Wachowski brothers respect and honor the source material.
Nothing speaks Americana to me more than a man in a red, white and blue jumpsuit propelling himself over big things like swimming pools full of sharks on his motorcycle. What a way to earn respect!Stunts by this guy in the 60's and 70's were big news. Even bigger when they weren't successful. I'm sure it led to countless broken arms and legs from kids like me trying to jump over ditches on our bicycles. Yet, I don't recall any parental groups having a freakout over him being a horrible role model. At his peak, everybody loved him.
In "Saturday Morning Cartoons!-style," here's a tribute to the last great daredevil, the recently departed, Evel Knievel.
Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space (1972-1974)
Oh, hell, yes! What do you do with a cartoon that's only doing so-so one year? You put it in outer space the next! With only the thinnest of justifications - the gang is invited to play at a space launch and accidentally fall into a space hatch - the core cast of Josie and the Pussycats are transplanted to the outer realms of the galaxy. The lyrics to the catchy theme song are clunkily rehashed to insert the word "outer space" and other space references.
"Josie and the Pussycats" was produced by Hanna-Barbara in 1970 and looks like a smash-up of The Archies and Scooby-Doo. In fact, Josie is a character spun off of The Archies cartoon. The "gang" strongly resembles the Scoobies and Alexandra is just Veronica with a widow's peak. They thwarted bad guys and played original Josie and the Pussycats pop tunes over the credits. On a very strong plus side, one of the Pussycats was African-American and she was often the sharpest knife in the drawer. Hard to say if she was the first major African-American regular cartoon character on Saturday morning, but she is most likely the first black female.
Some trivia, a pre-Charlie's Angels Cheryl Ladd sang and provided voices for the show.
Here are the opening credits...
I'm not sure which episode this is from, but here's a scene where some of the gang have been turned into children and Valerie, the smart black chick, tries to turn them back to their right age. It features one of my pet peeves, a young person playing an older person and using the word "whipper-snapper."
As in Scooby-Doo, chase scenes were often accompanied by songs that were completely unrelated to the action. Unfortunately, I could not find any chase scenes from the outer space version of the show. So, here's one from the original...
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is currently living out the eighth season of the television series as a comic book. As innovative as this is, JossWhedon wasn't the first to continue a series in a different form. Gene Roddenberry created a fourth season of Star Trek for Saturday morning cartoons. What's amazing, is that he didn't just sell off the rights to Filmation and turn it over to some Saturday Morning schlock producers to dumb it down and give Kirk a comic sidekick alien. The scripts are intelligent and the science fiction is heady. While not fully regarded as canon, the show IS Star Trek. He assembled the original actors to do the voices, apparently through the insistence of Leonard Nimoy, and many veteran Trek writers wrote for the series. Walter Koenig (Chekhov on the series) was not asked to return, which, depending on who you ask was either a move to save some money or an opportunity for Roddenberry and the creators to add a very alien looking alien to the bridge. Koenig did, however, pen the episode The Infinite Vulcan.
While the animation and the pacing can be a little stilted, the scripts are top notch and the designs are very accurate to the original while also being very creative. Storylines and characters from the original often popped up continuing their themes and adventures. In this one, scripted by the always dependable D.C. Fontanna, the Guardian of Forever returns and it's the first time we see the effects of someone changing something in the past and how it affects the "present day" crew.
This is part one...
I recommend seeking out parts two and three. You can find them on You Tube by clicking HERE.
William Shatner is infamous for a few outtakes he did while recording this show, including one where the voice director very diplomatically corrects him on the pronunciation of the word "sabotage." You can see from this clip that Mr. Shatner doesn't take direction very well. It sickens him.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"The Westboro Baptist Church has been protesting at the funerals of U.S. soldiers because they believe what?"
12% decreeded"God hates war." - I thinks/he does in theory, but not in practice.
Nobody figured it was "God hates funerals." or "God hates flags." - I think s/he only hates it when people worship the flag.
88% know for a fact that "God hates fags."
According to the Associated Press, the fiery message of the Westboro Baptist Church has led its followers into a fight for what they say are their First Amendment rights. The church believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. The protesters carry signs bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags." On Wednesday, the church was found liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress and jurors awarded a the grieving father $10.9 million. The church will appeal and the judgment is expected to be thrown out. Sometimes the constitution protects assholes, too.
Sorry I'm a day late this weekend. I thought Julie and I would be back from Three Oaks by mid-to-late afternoon yesterday. Turns out, we got home at 8:30pm exhausted. Damn you outlet stores!
The Beatles (1965-1969)
The Beatles, as a cartoon, aired on ABC for four years starting in 1965. It was the first cartoon to turn a live band, or celebrity, into an animated figure. The show was very popular, but quickly became an anachronism as the look of the figures didn't evolve with their flesh and blood counterparts. Enjoy!
In various forms, The Super Friends ruled Saturday mornings for thirteen years. The series titles changed from Super Friends to Challenge of the Super Friends to The All New Super Friends Hour (my favorite just for its blatant disregard to be creative)and a few others. I remember liking it a lot at first but lost interest with the original comic kid characters they added; Marvin, Wendy, The Wonder Twins and that dog with the cape that is not Super Dog, but Wonder Dog.
This is from one of the later versions of the series in 1980 simply called The Super Friends Hour. In theory they tackled some darker stuff, in this case voodoo and vampires, but it's watered down through a combination of grappling with ABC's "standards and practices" people and cheap animation. You'd think a vampire might like to bite people and suck a little blood now and again. Nope. This vampire shoots lasers from its teeth and turns people into zombies, which I guess is the voodoo part. None the less, it's dumb and fun. Enjoy!
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"When Adrian McKinnon of Montgomery, Alabama found a burglar in his home, he made him do what at gunpoint?"
10% said "Rob his neighbor instead" - Which would have been awesome, except his neighbor doesn't have anything worth having another man steal.
10% picked "Dance" - And then he laughed, spat tobacco into a spittoon, and had another shot of dead eye.
Nobody fell for "Sleep with his wife" - Seemed plausible to me. Maybe I've read too many letters to Penthouse.
80% scored mightily with "Clean up his house"
According to the Associated Press, Adrian and Tiffany McKinnon returned home on Tuesday after a week away to find that thieves had emptied almost everything the family of five owned. While Adrian surveyed the damage, the man who ransacked the place walked in the back door and nearly bumped into him. Adrian McKinnon held the suspect, 33-year-old Tajuan Bullock, at gunpoint and made him clean up the mess he made. When police arrived, Bullock complained and the police just laughed at him. I don't blame Tajuan. Sometimes that's what it takes to get me to clean up after myself. Tough love.
I heart Daffy Duck. Whenever I create a character for a show, I usually end up using elements of Daffy. I think you can see traces of the duck in my work in Soiree Dada and The Armageddon Radio Hour. In Rabbit Seasoning, he teams up with Bugs Bunny. They were the Hope and Crosby of the cartoon world. Willing to work together, but more often than not, willing to sell out the other at the drop of a hat. This cartoon has two of my favorite Daffy quotes; "Pronoun trouble." and "You're dithpicable." He also gets shot in the face half a dozen times. It's the kind of thing that would send parental watchdog groups in a tizzy and it's hysterical slapstick.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"In Brisbane, Australia, to save a man who ingested anti-freeze, doctors intravenously fed him what?"
30% picked "Oatmeal" - Must have been the real runny kind...No.
No one went for "Iced Coffee" or "Cat Food" - Which is a treat I give my own cats during those hot summer days. Not.
70% chose what many consider to always be the right answer "Vodka"
According to the Associated Press, doctors plugged an Italian tourist into a drip-feed of vodka to save him at a hospital in Australia that ran out of the medicinal alcohol it would normally have used for treatment. It worked, but he was very upset they didn't use a nice grappa.
Quite simply, the best Bugs Bunny cartoon ever. Grab your spear and magic helmet and enjoy.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"A man in Boston was sentenced for a fraud scheme where he and his wife would go to restaurants and claim what?"
50% said "They found a finger tip" - Nope. No tips. Just lawsuits.
30% picked "They were sat too close to the smoking section" - Nope. You are in the wrong answer section.
10% surmised "They were traumatized by the server" - No. If you did that, you'd have to allow servers to sue customers who traumatized them. The courts would be so clogged R. Kelly would never see justice.
10% nailed it with "They ate glass"
According to the Associated Press, Ronald Evano was sentenced to more than five years in prison for his role in a multistate insurance fraud scheme in which he and his wife intentionally ate glass fragments and collected more than $200,000 in compensation. Evano asked the judge for mercy, saying in court that he and his wife are members of the minority Roma community, and needed the money to pay for dowries and other costs associated with the marriages of his sons under cultural practices. You know, let your sons eat their own damn glass. How else are they going to learn to make it in this world?
Here's an unusual cartoon that I barely remember. It ran for one year as a part of a Mighty Mouse series. It was created by a young Ralph Bakshi(later of Wizards and Fritz the Cat fame and mentor to John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy). I remembered the heroes, particularly Rope Man and Coo-Coo Man, but I couldn't recall anything else about them, including the title! I actually stumbled across them while looking for a different cartoon.
The damned thing about this cartoon is that it looks great. The characters, including the villains, were all very clever and original. It's just very poorly written. All the stories follow virtually the same story structure - City in trouble, Mighty Heroes called to help, Mighty Heroes ineptly battle the bad guy until they somehow turn it around, bad guy gets caught. They never spend any time developing the characters or their relationships. We never learn about their origins or why they are even together. All the heroes seem to be of an even peer status and don't seem to have any feelings either way about each other. And even though they all have a unique ability, they don't seem to have a unique perspective.
The dialogue is atrocious, mostly made up of "To the rescue!" "Up, up and away!" "I'll get him!" "Take that!" etc.
So, why include it? Well, like I said, it looks great And if you are at all a Ralph Bakshi or John K. fan, it's interesting.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY Yesterday, I asked...
"A man in Morrisville, North Carolina was charged with assaulting a government official when he did what?"
12% thought "Gave a dirty look to a cop" - That's right. He punched the cop with his eyes. Um, no.
12% picked "Flashed a cop" - Boy, if you could sue someone for assaulting their eyes, none of us would get any work done. So, no.
1% chose "Hit a cop with his car" - The darn thing was, he hid the car in his shoe. No.
75% hacked up the right answer "Coughed on a cop"
According to The News & Observer, when Morrisville police officer Chris Gill handed him a ticket, Kent Kauffman coughed. Next thing Kauffman knew, Gill was charging him with assault on a government official. A Wake County judge will decide the intent behind Kauffman's cough, because he doesn't have anything better to do with his time, apparently.
Two things I didn't know about one of my favorite cartoons growing up.
One - that they only produced one year's worth of cartoons and it aired in prime time. Which means the networks threw the reruns onto Saturday mornings, because I would have been too damn young to appreciate it in 1964.
Two - that Tim Matheson was the voice of Johnny Quest.
Johnny Quest was exactly who every kid in the world wanted to be. Johnny had a dad, Dr. Benton Quest, who was a brilliant scientist who had his own lab and private jet. The muscle of the outfit and pilot of the jet was the ultra-cool Roger "Race" Bannon. Johnny's best friend was Hadji, an Indian boy who was also a snake charmer. And then there was Bandit, their dog, who pulled his own weight and didn't overload the series with a case of the cutes. I think what I liked most about it is that all the human characters were pretty good role models for being a male. Dr. Quest, although the smart one, wasn't a wimp. Race wasn't macho, he was a man's man. Johnny and Hadji were smart without being obnoxious. They were curious, made mistakes, and took responsibility for their actions. All while having kick ass adventures like fighting giant one-eyed robot spiders. And they all treated one another respectfully, honoring the dynamics of father-son, adult-child relationships without any condescension from the adults or derision from the kids.
The series also featured some of the best to come out of Hanna-Barbera's studios, often emulating the look and feel of an adventure comic book. That might explain why they only produced a year's worth of episodes. Pre-computers, animation was done by hand and very expensive.
Here are the opening credits, which features one of the best ever cartoon theme songs and a glimpse of all the cool monsters in the series.
The closing credits kick some butt, too, featuring a few scenes from the original test pilot.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"A new Nigerian state governor is having domestic problems caused by what?"
50% answered "Not spending more money on furniture" - Nope. They got plenty of places to sit and won't be embarrassed if dignitaries unexpectedly pop by.
25% thought is was "Not allowing the in-laws to move in" - Nope. Let the in-laws fend for themselves.
12% picked "Not showing affection in public" - No. Given his religion, this probably isn't an issue.
13% got it right with "Not naming one of his wives 'First Lady'"
According to BBC News, Adamawa State Governor MurtalaNyako has four wives, all rivals for the title of "First lady"- and the accompanying perks. Ten polygamous governors in the mainly Muslim north have the same problem. At a news conference, Governor Nyako said that as a Muslim "all my wives have equal status." Bill Clinton is now considering a political career in Nigeria.
Appearing as a part of the George of the Jungle show was the very inventive, very funny, very pun-heavy and slightly sarcastic Super Chicken. It's as if Jay Ward (creator/producer of Rocky and Bullwinkle) and his co-horts just decided to see how weird they could get with the whole super hero thing. Super Chicken's sidekick is the most unlikely match-up, a lion named Fred. A chicken and a lion? Yep. And Super Chicken does all the heavy lifting. Although it ran for three years on ABC, they only produced one season's worth of original material. A very cheap way the networks saved money figuring kids will watch anything and don't care if it's a rerun.
This is an episode, complete with the wonderful theme song, called One of Our States is Missing.
Thanks for the suggestion, Henri!
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"In New Mexico, 33 Lea County inmates set fires and broke toilets and windows after being told what?"
44% picked "They would have to quit smoking" - No. The smoking helps keep the prison population down. Besides, having nicotine patches become the standard of currency just doesn't sound very prison-y.
11% thought it was "They could no longer wear make-up" - No. They can still wear make-up. Just no glitter.
11% rightfully thought a small riot might be caused by "John Tesh would be performing there" - No, Tesh is no Johnny Cash. . Although he once shot a man. Just to watch him die. Or was it to put the guy out of his misery at one of his concerts? One of the two.
34% got justice with "They would only get one sausage at dinner"
According to the Associated Press, Lea County inmates set fires and broke toilets and windows after being told they would be allowed only one sausage at dinner. Jail officials said the inmates began yelling and banging on their doors in what they described in a news release as a "temper tantrum." Bring in John Tesh. That will calm them down. Or teach them to never complain, again.
I hesitated putting Scoob on Saturday Morning Cartoons. With the movies and the many permutations, I kind of feel Scooby and the gang, well, sold out. I loved the original series, which ran from 1969 to 1972. Then it became Scooby-Doo movies and featured special guests. This show was horrible. Some of their mystery-solving co-stars included The Three Stooges and The Harlem Globetrotters. Both acts were more fun live because you were seeing people act like cartoons. Not so interesting when I know the only skill involved in making that ball move (or ball ping hammer for the stooges) belongs to the sweat shop animators at Hanna-Barbera. Of course, the two worst infractions against cartoonkind was the introduction of Scooby's nephew, Scrappy-Doo (I mean, really, does the comic relief need comic relief?) and a version of the show that had all the main characters as children (or puppies).
Still, I loved this show.It combined several of my favorite elements; scary movies, mysteries and comedy. I also had a crush on Velma. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premiered on September 13, 1969. The full names of the human characters were; Daphne Blake (hot!), Freddy Jones (Is that an ascot? Are you a cowboy?), Velma Dinkley (Hotter than Daphne!), Norville "Shaggy" Rogers (in the classic beatnik/hippy mold), and Scooby "Scoobert" Doo. They traveled around in a green van known as "The Mystery Machine" and solved many scary mysteries along the way. Not sure what they did for money. And as pat and formulaic as the show became, I have to give the animators credit. The monsters looked good.
Here's the opening credits with the original version of the theme song.
The same folks who did the theme song also provided music for the chase scenes. Basically, an original pop song that had absolutely nothing to do with the story. The creators were trying to cash in on The Archies phenom, but I don't think they ever produced a song that made the charts. Here's an example of one of their chase scenes from the second season. And note the reveal of the real monster - usually some mild-mannered character who realistically wouldn't be able to fill out that monster costume they using to scare the whomevers away.
Wish the Scooby gang would rip the fake dyed beard off of Osama bin Laden and reveal Dick Cheney cussing at those meddling kids.
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Yesterday, I asked...
"In a meeting with our president, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun challenged Bush to do what?"
50% answered "Visit his country" - No. He saw what happened when Bush "visited" Iraq.
16% picked "Pull out of Iraq" - No, but he did express concern about Bush not using a condom.
Everyone wisely avoided "Swap wives" - He was more interested in Bush's daughters, anyway.
The correct answer, which 34% knew, "End the Korean War"
According to the Associated Press, Roh challenged Bush to make a declaration to end the Korean War. That conflict ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, so the two sides technically remain at war. Who knew? We actually do have three wars going on. I thought it ended when M*A*S*H went off the air.
I'm glad Roh kept pushing Bush on it. It made Georgie get his pissy look.
