You Know The Voice: Stan Lee on To Tell The Truth (1971)

You might not recognize him right away, since he doesn't have the glasses he'd begin sporting a few years later, but "Mr. Marvel" himself, Stan Lee, made the first of two appearances on To Tell The Truth in this syndicated episode from 1971. Stan appears in game 2, so we'll just have to navigate through the 1st game before we get to him.

Funny thing. Dick DeBartolo, a long time writer for Mad Magazine, was a writer for Truth during this period. Ya wonder if maybe Stan was trying to lure him to Marvel?

Tooniversary: Frankenstein, Jr. vs. The Shocking Electrical Monster (1966)

Frankenstein, Jr.'s 1st adventure pits the high flying robot (Ted Cassidy) vs."The Shocking Electrical Monster". Scope!

This plays better in a comic book, and Frankie would make his comic book debut about a year later, with Gold Key acquiring a license.

Rating; B--.

Rein-Toon-Ation: The New Adventures of Peter Pan (2012)

J. M. Barrie's immortal juvenile, Peter Pan, is back in all new adventures. Well, new for American audiences, anyway, as The New Adventures of Peter Pan, currently on Discovery Family here in the US, is actually a 4 year old French CGI series that was acquired by Discovery Communications.

While Peter doesn't appear on Disney's Jake & The Never Land Pirates all that often--just a 1-shot special, it would seem--his nemesis, Captain Hook, appears on both shows in fine fettle, frustrated as per usual by perpetual defeat.

Just scope the trailer. I think you'll dig the CGI version of Peter.



Rating: A.

Toonfomercial: Popeye, Olive, & Brutus shill for Soaky (1960's)

Don't know the exact date on this one, but here's Popeye (Jack Mercer), along with Olive Oyl (Mae Questel) and Brutus (Jackson Beck) shilling for Soaky soap bottles. Not pictured: Olive would later get her own bottle.



Animated by one of the studios working with King Features. I don't remember seeing any of the Soaky bottles when I was younger, but it turns out Soaky was another brand produced by Colgate-Palmolive. Hmm.

On The Air: Robin Hood: Mischief in Sherwood (2014)

Robin Hood: Mischief in Sherwood transforms the legendary outlaw, his Merry Men, and Maid Marian, into teenagers in this overseas-produced CGI series currently airing on Discovery Family. The series was originally produced in 2014 with 26 half hour episodes.

Following is a sample episode:



I get that the idea is to introduce Robin, Marian, et al to a new generation of viewers who probably have never read the original story or had seen adaptations thereof. However, ever since the change-over from The Hub to Discovery Family, the network has become an afterthought to cartoon fans, aside from anyone that follows any of Hasbro's properties with, ahem, religious fervor (i.e. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Transformers), dropping the network's stock even further.

Rating: B.

On The Air: Blazing Team: Masters of Yo Kwon Do (2006-15)

Last year, Hasbro and Discovery Communications, partners in Discovery Family, acquired a nearly 10 year old series from China, Blazing Teens. All that was needed was to make one subtle change to the title, in addition to dubbing in English voices, to make the transition to Blazing Team: Masters of Yo Kwon Do, which currently is running at least on Fridays on DF.

Call it China's answer to the American-produced Xiaolin Showdown, which bowed on WB some time prior. A group of teens under the direction of a mysterious sensei, seek to restore the balance between light & darkness.

Following is a trailer for the show, courtesy of Hasbro:



Blazing Team is one of three new animated series DF added last year. We'll be looking at the others this weekend.

Rating: B-.

Looney TV: Screwball Squirrel (1944)

The only reason an MGM character like Screwball Squirrel falls under the heading of "Looney TV" is because WB now owns the rights to ol' Screwy, who was last seen cavorting with Tom & Jerry in a DTV DVD 3 years ago.

Screwy was the creation of Fred "Tex" Avery, who was looking to develop something akin to WB legends Daffy Duck & Bugs Bunny for MGM. Sadly, Screwy lasted just 5 shorts and was presumably killed off, only to return years later in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". Dark Horse Comics acquired a license to adapt Screwy for comics, which led to a 3-issue miniseries. Unfortunately, it must not have sold enough copies to warrant any continuation.

Anyway, let's go back to 1944 and the debut of Screwball Squirrel:

Typical Tex, but in this case, badly underappreciated.

Rating: A-.