Celebrity Toons: That Girl in Wonderland (Saturday Superstar Movie, 1973)

 From season 2 of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie:

That Girl had been in syndication for a while, first-run production having ended 3 years earlier, when Rankin-Bass was asked to adapt the series into a 1-shot that one YouTuber said was a pilot.

Marlo Thomas reprises as Ann Marie, and is the only cast member returning for "That Girl in Wonderland" (italics mine).

This wasn't Marlo's 1st rodeo with Rankin-Bass. You'll recall she and papa Danny worked with R-B on "Cricket on The Hearth" 6 years earlier (which Danny co-produced). Forgive the poor video quality.

No rating. Just a public service.

George Lowe (1957-2025)

 George Lowe, the 2nd man to essay the role of Space Ghost, after the iconic Gary Owens, passed away on Sunday.

Lowe and the creative staff on Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast and its sister series, Cartoon Planet, took great pleasure in deconstructing Space Ghost and his adversaries in a parody of late night talk shows that served as the inspiration for [adult swim], which launched in 2001, well after Coast had reached its creative peak.

Lowe has also been heard on such shows as American Dad, and reprised as Space Ghost one final time on Jellystone a couple of years back.

Rest in peace.

Retro Toy Chest: Spellbound (1975)

 In the mid-70's, entertainer Jerry Lewis entered into an agreement with Hasbro for a series of board games, for which he'd do the commercials. He figured, since he bombed with an animated cartoon, board games can't be too worse.

Unfortunately, none of the Lewis games Hasbro produced survived the decade.

In this 1975 bit, Jerry is joined by Billy Barty (Sigmund & The Sea Monsters) and narrator Joe Sirola to plug Spellbound. 

Keep in mind that this was after Aurora had hired Don Adams to promote their Skittle line of games.

Tooniversary: Waldo Kitty as Robin Cat (1975)

 There was a time when episodes of The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty were plentiful, but, those videos were deleted a ways back. Now, they're back.

Part of the reason that Waldo Kitty was cancelled was because the estate of James Thurber objected to the unauthorized adaptation of Thurber's work, specifically, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which had been a movie with Danny Kaye years earlier, and remade with Ben Stiller 12 years ago.

Here, Waldo (Howard Morris) imagines himself as Robin Cat as "The Sheriff of Sherwood":

Rating: B.

Saturtainment: The Magnificent 6 1/2 (1969)

 Remember when ABC & 20th Century Fox brought Here Come The Double Deckers to the US in 1970? Well, a year earlier, the creators of Double Deckers had developed a series of short features for British cinemas in the mold of Hal Roach's legendary Our Gang, and the 7 protagonists were the prototypes for the Double Deckers.

The Magnificent 6 1/2 enjoyed a modest four year run in the UK theatres, with the cast changing with each series of shorts. Three of the shorts were packaged for import to the US for The CBS Children's Film Festival, later in 1969, and three more in 1973.

"When Knights Were Bold" was one of the 1969 shorts imported to CBS.

I'm only seeing this for the first time today, so, no rating.

Toon Rock: Skat Strut (1991)

 MC Skat Kat returned with his own CD in 1991. That was the good news for cartoon fans. The bad? The lone single, "Skat Strut", bombed, failing to crack the top 40 despite regular airplay on MTV. The song samples Earth, Wind, & Fire's 1981 hit, "Let's Groove". In an unintended homage to a certain Golden Age series of animated shorts, Paula Abdul pops out of an inkwell to create some mischief, as she returns the favor to Skat after he'd debuted on her "Forever Your Girl" CD 2 years earlier.

But, if you thought that was it for Skat, it wasn't. Seth MacFarlane brought Skat in for a guest shot on American Dad 15 years ago.

Rare Treats: US of Archie on record (1974-5)

 Concurrent with the series, Peter Pan Records was licensed to adapt the US of Archie into audio dramas, featuring the show's cast (Dallas McKennon, Jane Webb, John Erwin, Howard Morris, and guests).

Two episodes on each album. The music, however, is not the same as the original soundtrack from the show. 

You probably remember the format. Each episode started with a vignette in the then-present, with Archie taking us back to the days of the gang's lookalike ancestors.

Here's "The Great Divide", with Erwin and, I assume, McKennon, doubling up as Lewis & Clark.

To be honest, I didn't know these albums had even been released.

For educational & entertainment purposes only, so, no rating.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Everlasting Love (1974)

 Carl Carlton's best known hit was 1974's "Everlasting Love", which landed him aboard the Soul Train.

I think host-executive producer Don Cornelius gave artists the option to lip sync or perform live at the taping. Carlton chose the former with what looked like an extended version of "Love".

From Comics to Toons: The Fantastic Four vs. The Terrible Tribunal (1967)

 The Fantastic Four are up against it when three foes---Klaw, Blastaar, & Molecule Man---arrange for them to be brought before "The Terrible Tribunal" in a flashback laden episode.

Rating: B.

Literary Toons: Space Strikers (1995)

 Saban & UPN took Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and turned it into a futuristic space opera, Space Strikers, as part of the nascent UPN's 1st weekend block. Unfortunately, it lasted just 13 episodes, and quickly cancelled.

Let's just skip ahead to the series opener.

No rating. Just a public service.

Toon Rock: Digging in The Dirt (1992)

 No, Stephen Johnson didn't direct Peter Gabriel's "Digging in The Dirt", off 1992's "Us", but the claymation mixed into the video sure does make it seem like another Johnson production.

Toon Sports: The Ski Resort Road Race (Wacky Races, 1968)

 As we're in the final stages of a cold snap here in the 518, let's check this winter-themed episode of Wacky Races.

Dick Dastardly (Paul Winchell) makes some ill-advised moves to try to trap the competition, and karma comes calling at the end of the race......

Dick, Muttley, Penelope Pitstop, and the rest of the racers are returning to comics in April, as Dynamite is producing an extra-sized 1-shot. This should get you comics fans interested.

Rating: B.

Toonfomercial: Hi & Lois for the Salvation Army (1972)

 Hi & Lois is still appearing in newspapers across the country, even after co-creators Dik Browne & Mort Walker had passed on. Their sons, Chance & Greg, respectively, are keeping the strip running.

In 1972, King Features Syndicate licensed the Flagston family to appear in ads like this next one for the Salvation Army.

Fun fact: Lois is the sister of Mort Walker's most famous creation, Beetle Bailey.

Toonfomercial: The Yellow Pages comes to life (1957)

 UPA produced this simple, short spot to promote the Yellow Pages back in 1957. Under 30 seconds, short, and to the point.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Kissin' (1968)

 We've previously included "Kissin'" in reviewing the season finale of The Archie Show. This time, it's being showcased on its own. You'll see why after the video.

The Archies' 1st album was released on RCA-Victor, so it seems Don Kirschner still had a contract with RCA (Colgems, the Monkees' label, was distributed through RCA). "Kissin'" was one of a number of tracks on the album written by Mark Barkan & Ritchie Adams, who were credited with some of the music on NBC's Banana Splits that same year. Prominent 60's hitmaker-producer Jeff Barry also wrote some cuts and produced the album before following Kirschner to Hanna-Barbera.

Saturtainment: The Aqua Velva Quartet (1976)

 When I was growing up, Aqua Velva after shave was part of the JB Williams Co., makers of Sominex & Geritol.

In 1976, their ad agency came up with a bit in which a fan (Vic Tayback), an umpire, a concession vendor, and Pete Rose, then with the Cincinnati Reds, sing the praises of the product.

Silly, but fun.

Valentoons: Love Light (1968)

 From The Archie Show comes a goofy dance of the week, "The Surfer", followed by "Love Light". Just in time for Valentine's Day.

Coming Attractions: AXS gets into the anime business

 AXS-TV, now an arm of Anthem Entertainment, is getting into cartoons.

Specifically, anime.

Starting Thursday, the network will debut a 1 hour anime block, beginning at 10 pm (ET), in back of TNA Impact.

As the above ad notes, Fate Stay Night makes its American debut. My Hero Academia will make its AXS-TV debut the following week, presumably at 10:30 pm. The block then replays at midnight.

This might be worth watching.

Toonfomercial: Remember Kraft Fudgies? (1971)

 Ah, yes, there was a time when Kraft wanted to a piece of Tootsie Roll's action with mini-candies, competing with Hershey's.

However, Kraft's Fudgies didn't last beyond the 70's. This ad is from 1971.

Sounds like either Peter Thomas or Mason Adams as the narrator.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: The Most Beautiful Girl (1974)

 Country singer Charlie Rich topped the pop, country, & easy listening charts with 1973's "The Most Beautiful Girl", released in August 1973. 8 months later, after the song hit #1, Rich appeared on The Midnight Special:

The follow-up, "A Very Special Love Song", peaked at #11 on the Hot 100.

Toon Legends: The Archies meet Robert Blueford (The Archie-Sabrina Hour, 1977)

 Riverdale is chosen for a movie shoot with actor Robert Blueford (John Erwin in a dual role, using his Dick Tracy/He-Man voice). Of course, Betty & Veronica want to be in the movie, starstruck as they are, but Reggie has other ideas......

Unfortunately, no sign of Sabrina.....

Rating: B+.

A Stooge lip-synching? Soitenly!! (Puttin' on The Hits, 1980's)

 Mark "Smittee" Smith was one of many Curly Howard mimics over the years. His fame was such that he was a contestant on Puttin' on The Hits (date of appearance not known at this time), and was a winner.

Smith "performs" Jump 'n' The Saddle's "Curly Shuffle" in protracted, edited form. The segment is joined in progress, it appears.

Daytime Heroes: He-Man in The House of Shokoti (1983)

 "The House of Shokoti" is the only 2 part episode of He-Man & The Masters of The Universe during its Filmation run.

It begins when a strange pyramid-like structure rises out of the sand.....

Rating: B.

Tooniversary: Fat Albert in Superdudes (1985)

 Fat Albert and the gang learn something about living out some fantasies when they try helping their friend, Dexter, fulfill his fantasy of cosplaying as his favorite superhero.

Here's "Superdudes", written by Paul Dini.

The series was nearing its end here.

Rating: B-.

Toon Rock: I Don't Want to Grow Up (1995)

 The Ramones play in front of an animated background in this clip for 1995's "I Don't Want to Grow Up":

Anyone think this is the subconscious anthem of a certain nut in Washington?

Toon Sports: Sabrina in Basketball Game (1969)

Originally produced for The Archie Comedy Hour, this next item was brought back for Sabrina's solo series 2 years later.

Anyway, old rivals Riverdale & Crosstown meet on the court, and chaos erupts when Crosstown's players decide to use some dirty tricks. Since high school basketball season is winding down over the next few weeks, "Basketball Game" seems appropriate.

Silly fun, but these days, it's rare for a high school team to reach 100 points, as Riverdale did, and here in the 518, two teams did that this week.

Rating: B.

Teenage Toons: Archie & friends find a not-so-deserted island (1977)

 Archie (Dallas McKennon) is given a yacht by Mr. Lodge for an afternoon. What follows offers callbacks to "The Wizard of Oz" and Gilligan's Island, among other things.

In memory of John Erwin (Reggie/Mr. Green/others), who has passed away at 88.

The Lockers groove for Schlitz Malt Liquor (1976)

 The Lockers, featuring, among others, Fred Berry, Toni Basil, & Adolfo Quinones (Shabba-Doo), are shopping for some Schlitz Malt Liquor in this ad from March 1976, six months before Berry starred on What's Happening!.

That time C-3PO & R2D2 appeared on Sesame Street (1980)

 As part of the promotion for "The Empire Strikes Back", "Star Wars" droids R2D2 (Kenny Baker inside the suit) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) made 2 appearances on Sesame Street. The following video is a fan compilation from those two episodes.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits (Revisited): Celluloid Heroes (1974)

 The Kinks scored a hit in 1972 with their homage to Hollywood's early years, "Celluloid Heroes". Ray Davies sings in this performance from 1974 on The Midnight Special:

Toons After Dark: The Point (1971)

 "The Point", a film adaptation of a story set to music by Harry Nilsson, debuted as an ABC Movie of The Week in February 1971.

Multiple versions of the film have been produced, with different performers as the father who tells the story to his young son. In the original ABC broadcast, it was Dustin Hoffman. However, the version circulating on YouTube features Ringo Starr as the father/narrator. Our cast also includes Buddy Foster (Mayberry RFD), Mike Lookinland (The Brady Bunch), and toon vets Len Weinrib, Joan Gerber (Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp), and, of course, Paul Frees.

I think Nilsson's story was also released as a book, and the animation would reflect this.

No rating. I didn't see the complete movie when it first aired.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: I Wanna Be Your Lover (1980)

 I think this might've been Prince's 1st appearance on American Bandstand. Here he is with "I Wanna Be Your Lover":

Coming Attractions: A cartoon about weather detectives

 PBS is already laying the groundwork for a new series launching this summer.

Weather Hunters springs from the mind of Al Roker (The Today Show), who will voice Al Hunter, whose daughter is an aspiring weather detective.

Screencap courtesy PBS Kids/animesuperhero.com

Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary) and Holly Robinson-Peete add some additional star power. Actress-singer Yvette Nicole Brown performs the title song.

Weather Hunters debuts in July.

Toonfomercial: Alice in Wonderland shills for Jell-O (1956)

 The Mock Turtle & the Gryphon were characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland that were left on the cutting room floor in Disney's adaptation.

However, Disney opted to use them after all, along with Alice herself, to make a pitch for Jell-O in 1956. Sterling Holloway narrates.

Coming Attractions: Captain Planet returns to comics

 While Captain Planet was on TBS and syndication in the early 90's, Marvel Comics had a license to adapt the series, which lasted a year on the shelves.

Dynamite Entertainment is hoping for more than that to mark the Captain's 35th anniversary.

In April, Captain Planet joins Dynamite's star-studded lineup of licensed titles, but, given the problems that Diamond Distributors, which owns Dynamite, is having of late, having recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it's not guaranteed.

Writer David Pepose, already having reimagined Space Ghost, hopes to do the same with Captain Planet.

To remind you of the glory days, here's a clip of Captain Planet (David Coburn) battling Captain Pollution (Coburn again).

Come April, you'll see that the mullet has been replaced with a beard. So 21st century. The new book debuts during Earth Day week in late April.

Toons You Might've Missed: All About Dogs (1942)

 Here's a non-series Terrytoon that might not have been seen much on television, outside of a rare backup feature 

"All About Dogs" is a documentary short that is similar to some of the one-shots that WB would produce around the same time.

Rating: A.

Tooniversary: A complete episode of The Oddball Couple (1975)

 Spiffy (Frank Nelson) and Fleabag (Paul Winchell), aka, The Oddball Couple, encounter a leprechaun (Don Messick) and a talking plant with an attitude.

Rating: B.

Another channel bites the dust, as Universal Kids gets ready to say goodbye

 Chalk it up to the law of diminishing returns.

Universal Kids, which began life as Sprout, a children's network that was launched by PBS, will say goodbye in March.

Currently, Universal Kids doesn't have a lot of original programming (sound familiar?), with only a handful of shows on the roster. Relaunches of Woody Woodpecker and Inspector Gadget, for example, didn't get very far.

This all began with Spectrum Cable's decision to drop the fading channel March 6. NBC-Universal-Comcast decided that there was no use in fighting that, and capitulated.

Some of the shows will resurface on streaming sites, and it's unlikely that any of them will turn up on cable anywhere else.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Tooniversary: Mighty Mouse meets Bad Bill Bunion (1945)

 As Heckle & Jeckle postulated, you could do anything in a cartoon. Terrytoons really believed in that axiom, such that while Mighty Mouse maintained an office in a big city high rise, there were still Old West-style outlaws for him to catch, such as "Bad Bill Bunion". Might as well say Terrytoons had a nexus of realities before Marvel Comics came up with the phrase.

Rating: B.

Daytime Heroes: The series premiere of BraveStarr (1987)

 BraveStarr was Filmation's final series, and one of their best. Unfortunately, it lasted 1 season.

In the opener, Thirty-Thirty (Edmund Gilbert, ex-The Hardy Boys-Nancy Drew Mysteries) has a dispute with Marshal BraveStarr (Pat Fraley, fresh from Ghostbusters), and goes back in time.

Rating: A-.

You Know The Voice: Paul Lynde (1973)

 I've been waiting for this one for a looooooooooooong time.

In 1973, Paul Lynde, fresh off his self-titled sitcom, and Temperatures Rising, and soon to be heard in "Charlotte's Web", made this commercial for Manufacturers Hanover bank.

Paul would stick around on Hollywood Squares for another few years before leaving due to a dispute, then returning when the series went into syndication on location in Las Vegas in 1980.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: You Can Do Magic (1982)

 70's hitmakers America, now a duo, made a modest comeback on the charts in 1982 with "You Can Do Magic", off "View From The Ground", their 3rd album for Capitol.

Let's go back to December 1982 and American Bandstand:

Tooniversary: Fraidy Cat in A Semi-Star is Born (1975)

 "A Semi-Star is Born" was the series finale of Fraidy Cat, after production was discontinued due to ABC cancelling Uncle Croc's Block.

Fraidy (Alan Oppenheimer) ends up in a home for retired animal stars. Sounds like Oppenheimer & Len Weinrib did all the voices.

Per Wikipedia, there were 5 unproduced episodes.

No rating. Just a public service.

Sunday Funnies: Captain Simian & The Space Monkeys (1996)

 While Genndy Tartatovsky was preparing Dial M For Monkey as a back-up feature on Dexter's Laboratory, the folks at Hallmark Entertainment wanted to one-up by creating an entire team of simians as a team of astronauts.

Captain Simian & The Space Monkeys wasn't exactly Star Trek meets "Planet of The Apes", and lasted one season, despite a cast that included Jerry Doyle (Babylon 5) as Captain Simian, and Michael Dorn (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as his nemesis, Lord Nebula. Maurice LaMarche, Frank Welker (coincidentally the voice of Monkey as well), Jeff Bennett, and David Carradine (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues) also contributed.

Let's check a sample episode:

No rating. Just a public service.

Tooniversary: Anti-Cats (1950)

 Seeing as how we're experiencing a cold snap here in the Northeast, it'd be appropriate for this Mighty Mouse entry, "Anti-Cats".

Even though this has 1 cat, and it's entirely done in pantomime, it's more about MM doing the "humanitarian" thing for his fellow rodents, who are looking for shelter.....

Rating: A-.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Hollywood Swinging (1974)

 To today's audiences, "Hollywood Swinging", or, at least, the opening bars, serve as the jingle for New Balance sports shoes, as endorsed by Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.

"Hollywood" was a single by Kool & The Gang in 1974, which landed the band on The Midnight Special.

On The Air: Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go! (2021)

 You're familiar with Thomas The Tank Engine from British shorts being shown on Shining Time Station and its own stand-alone series. In 2021, Canada's Nelvana was given a license to adapt Britt Allcroft's books into a fully animated series, airing first on Cartoon Network as part of its Cartoonito block before moving to Netflix last year. 

With the news that Allcroft has passed away, I thought it might be a good idea to find something to post, and happened across this series, which I was not aware had been on the air until now.

In "Choo-Choo Check-In", Thomas and his, well, girlfriend, Kana, are pushing exhaustion, and it's having an effect on their work.

We'll defer a rating in memory of Allcroft.

Literary Toons: The Wizard of Oz (1933)

 Six years before the live action "Wizard of Oz", an animated version was produced in Canada. We have no information on voice actors, and we all know the story.....!

Plus: An INA Insurance toonfomercial adapting Rapunzel from 1963, narrated by Edward Everett Horton in the style of Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tales:

Adapting a literary classic into an 8-9 minute cartoon is hard, and this was treated like standard short subject fare of its day.

The INA ad boasted animation vets like Irv Spector, and it appears to have been done by Ed Graham's studio.

"The Wizard of Oz" gets a B.

Toon Rock: Happy New Year (2012)

 The following is an excerpt from an episode of Phineas & Ferb.

As 2025 begins, let this be a harbinger of good things to come.