Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Frankenstein Jr. (1966)

Frankenstein Jr. may have gotten top billing for his half-hour CBS series with The Impossibles, but it was the middle feature on the show. As we know, Moby Dick got the same treatment the very next year, which only goes to prove that in some cases, size doesn't always matter!

Anyway, Frankenstein Jr. (Ted Cassidy, ex-The Addams Family) was a 30-foot tall robot created by juvenile scientist Buzz Conroy (Dick Beals), who was also Frankie's partner in crime-fighting, but didn't bother with a mask & tights, although he did put a domino mask on Frankie, just for fun. Together, the two fought an array of campy villains.

Here's a rarely seen bumper that leads to Frankie's adventures.



10 years later, NBC would acquire the rights to Frankenstein Jr., this time coupling Frankie with Space Ghost reruns as a mid-season replacement. This time, Frankie was relegated to second banana status, but for those of us who didn't get to see the cartoons the first time, it was a welcome treat.

Rating: B.

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