Thursday, February 9, 2012

Daytime Heroes: Roger Ramjet (1965)

Before Marvel's Captain America was adapted for television, independent producer Ken Snyder introduced viewers to his own flag-waving hero, Roger Ramjet, aided by the 4-person American Eagle Squadron.

Gary Owens, 1 year before Space Ghost, voiced Roger. Dick Beals, long the voice of Alka-Seltzer's Speedy, not only voiced one of the Eagles, but sang the show's theme song, which was composed by Ivan Ditmars (Let's Make a Deal). A year later, Beals would, of course, join Owens at Hanna-Barbera to work on Frankenstein, Jr. while continuing with Ramjet, which lasted well over 125 episodes, more than 4 years worth of material. Snyder would finally make the move to network television in 1969, producing Hot Wheels & Skyhawks for ABC, but by 1970, all three of Snyder's shows were off the air.

RetroHeroes uploaded "Drafted". Dave Ketchum (Camp Runamuck) narrates.



Roger hasn't been seen since brief runs on Cartoon Network & Nickelodeon in the 90's, but don't be too surprised if someone picks him up down the line. We can all use a good laugh once in a while.

Rating: B.

4 comments:

magicdog said...

I have caught this show - on KTV network on my dish. It pops up in between other old programming like the Lone Ranger and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.

The toon itself is OK, but watching it makes me think the creators were trying hard to recapture the humor of Jay Ward's cartoons.

Love the theme song though!

hobbyfan said...

Ditto. Today, a revival would be a standard 30 minute show, one episode, not 3-4 w/commercials. The message would still be there, but likely twisted if it falls into the wrong hands (i.e. Adult Swim).

magicdog said...

Apparently, the show also appears on ANGL2 .... also available on satellite dish!

KTV and ANGL2 are part of the Sky Angel channel family.

hobbyfan said...

A satellite service ain't helping me. One wonders if Retro (no longer available in my area) picked it up.....