Saturday, December 30, 2017

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Monkeemen (1966)

Yes, even The Monkees got into the act when it came to superhero satires. Their Monkeemen personas only appeared about twice in the course of their 2 season run (1966-8).

Those personas come into play briefly in the episode, "I've Got a Little Song Here". Mike Nesmith gets swindled by a con man (Phil Leeds), and when their initial foray into crimefighting actually goes for naught, the guys come up with a better plan. Out-conning the con man.



As we all know, Micky Dolenz would later dip into the world of cartoon heroes (Wonder Wheels in particular), and Davy Jones paid a call on Scooby-Doo and his friends.

Rating: B.

8 comments:

Goldstar said...

Mickey Dolenz also voiced sidekick Arthur in the first season of The Tick animated series on Fox Kids.

hobbyfan said...

And that was his last cartoon gig of note, as he was replaced by Rob Paulsen in season 2 for no reason.

Goldstar said...

Mr. Dolenz went on a Monkees reunion tour and wouldn't have been back in time to record season 2 of The Tick. That's why Rob Paulsen replaced him as the voice of Arthur.

Mickey Dolenz also voiced Skip on Hanna-Barbera's The Funky Phnatom years earlier.

hobbyfan said...

The Dolenz toon timeline:

1971: Funky Phantom
1974: Devlin
1977: Wonder Wheels
1994: The Tick

This would be the 2nd or 3rd Monkee reunion tour around 1995. Got to see them at RPI in '86.

magicdog said...

Occasionally the guys would wear their Monkeemen costumes for romps (like "Sunny Girlfriend" in season 2) but I do wish we could have had a few more outings with them!

As for Micky's Tick VA, according to E-rod (aka the Blockbuster Buster), there was a mention that Micky was acting like a jerk to everyone during recording. Now, as a fan of the group (though not willfully ignorant of their flaws) I was surprised at this and had trouble believing it. I'm not saying he's perfect or doesn't have bad days like the rest of us, but I had never heard of this before!

In fact, E-rod included a comic con video of other VAs from The Tick who not only confirmed this, but said Candi Milo told Micky that she used to play a game called "Who Marries a Monkee" and the loser got to marry him! Personally, that sounds like something a stuck up 8th grade mean girl would say.

You can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PqmZQariGA

IIRC, Micky was going through a divorce around the early 90s as well which could have contributed to a sour disposition. Not excusing it, but I'm just saying what may have contributed to this.

hobbyfan said...

Hmm, the things you learn. Nice to have you back, Magicdog. Long time, no hear.

magicdog said...

Been busy unfortunately. It's nice to be back!

hobbyfan said...

Glad to have you back.