Saturday, March 10, 2018

Tooniversary: Lassie and the Rescue Rangers try to head off a Tidal Wave (1973)

Lassie's Rescue Rangers turns 45 this year. The series marked Ted Knight's return to Filmation after a four year absence (production on the DC cartoons ended after the 1968-9 season), during which time, of course, he landed his Emmy winning role as news anchor Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

As Ben Turner, Sr., the leader of the Forest Force, the human half of the Rescue Rangers, Knight uses his natural speaking voice, as he did as Ted. You might say, though, that this was a role he actually would've been happy with, since it was a rare dramatic part.

Most sources credit Filmation's grand dame of voices, Jane Webb, as Laura, Ben, Sr.'s wife, with co-producer Lou Scheimer's daughter, Erika, as daughter Susan. I think it may be the other way around, since Susan, while modeled after Marcia Brady (whom Erika was now playing on The Brady Kids), sounded like there was a bit of Webb's Betty Cooper/Barbara Gordon/Erica Lane voice. Erika's brother, Lane, and Keith Sutherland, who also joined the Brady Kids cast, are also heard here.

Also, listen to some of the incidental background music. It's also used on Star Trek and Brady Kids, and would be recycled for Tarzan and The New Adventures of Batman.

"Tidal Wave" was the next to last episode of the series, premiering 11 days before Christmas in December 1973. The Turners, with Lassie, Toothless (a mountain lion), and Musty (a skunk), head for Florida to help with emergency evacuation.


Bear in mind, too, that NBC had spun off a similar series based on their own hit series, Emergency!, the same year, and had the same lifespan as Rescue Rangers.

Rating: A.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

This show had been broadcasting 9am PST on KTV. The show did NOT age well. In fact, I couldn't help but pick apart all the things wrong in this and every other episode I saw!!

Sucks to grow up doesn't it??

The theme song still sounds great - although I only now realize there weren't any other lyrics except for the title!!

hobbyfan said...

The themes of the series are still relevant, though, aren't they?

It was cancelled after 1 season for the same reason as Yogi's Gang. Kids didn't want to be preached at on this show, even though this was more of an action series (though Toothless was a comedy relief character).