The Three Stooges head West again in "Pals & Gals", a remake of "Out West". Shemp's leg is buggin', and a doctor recommends a vacation out West. The finale, with Moe turning a meat grinder into a repeating rifle, works again.
Daffy Duck may be happy the US is winning World War II, but he's not interested in serving his country.
However, when he gets a call from the draft board, patriotic joy turns to fear in "Draftee Daffy":
Along with Bugs Bunny Builders (previously reviewed), Batwheels is part of the foundation of Cartoon Network's Cartoonito morning block.
Launched nearly 2 years ago, this series isn't so much educational, but more of an informercial for a proposed toy line and, based on some of the chase scenes in the opener, a video game.
Batman (Ethan Hawke) has given the Bat-computer sentience, and a female personality, to boot. In turn, after Batman, Robin, & Batgirl are captured, the computer and her assistant, M. O. E, set out to program the Batmobile and the rest of the Bat-vehicles with sentient personalities of their own.
I should point out that the Batgirl used here is Cassandra Cain, and Robin is Duke Thomas, otherwise The Signal in the comics.
Our voice cast also includes Tom Kenny, Leah Lewis (Nancy Drew), and, though not heard from in the opener, Gina Rodriguez (ex-Jane The Virgin) as Catwoman.
Let's take a look at the opener.
Yep, Tom & Jerry as cops.
The boys are assigned a ride-along with a rookie officer, Katy O'Kitty (Kathy Gori, Hong Kong Phooey, Valley of The Dinosaurs), and end up jealous when it turns out that Katy is a far more capable officer, and is versed in karate.
Here's "The Police Kitten":
1955's "This is a Life?" is a parody of Ralph Edwards' seminal This is Your Life, with Elmer Fudd (Arthur Q. Bryan) in the Edwards role as MC, and Bugs Bunny is the unsuspecting subject in this clipfest.
From Season 9 of Saturday Night Live:
The Three Stooges are resurrected in this skit, as embodied by Joe Piscopo, Tim Kazurinsky, and Gary Kroeger. Here, the boys are running a karate school. Host du jour Betty Thomas (Hill Street Blues), Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, & Mary Gross are among the students.
Talk about your loose adaptations!!
The Adventures of Kit Carson, which ran for four seasons (1951-5) aired in the early evening on Tuesdays during this period. One could imagine that it could've also landed a Saturday morning berth, too, had anyone thought of it.
The fictionalized adventures of Carson (Bill Williams) and his sidekick, El Toro (Don Diamond, later of F-Troop), kept the kiddo's tuned in over those four years, but those same kids would learn later on that the real Carson wasn't a lawman after all.
Let's check a sample episode.
44 years ago, J. M. DeMatteis introduced The Creature Commandos as a World War II super-team in the pages of Weird War Tales (1st series). When the book was cancelled a couple of years later, the Commandos went into limbo before DC began tinkering with the concept.
Later this year, Warner Bros. Animation, under the aegis of James Gunn, will launch a 7 episode Creature Commandos series, airing on Max. Set in the present, and following the events of season 1 of the live-action Peacemaker, Gunn has the Commandos now under the command on the ground of Rick Flag, Sr. (Frank Grillo), whose son was associated with the Suicide Squad. Flag, though, like his son, answers to Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, one of three actors reprising from "The Suicide Squad").
Now, meet the 2024-5 Commandos:
Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk, Resident Evil, Harley Quinn) was for many years a minor foe of The Batman, but hasn't been seen much in recent times.
The GI Robot (vocal effects by Sean Gunn) was actually a rotating backup feature with the Commandos in the pages of Weird War Tales in the 80's.
Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour, Stranger Things) is a modern day reboot of the 70's DC version of the Frankenstein monster, and had sprung from the pen of writer Grant Morrison.
The Bride (Indira Varma) is Eric's companion. After a sort.
Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao) is an amphibious scientist. Think the Creature from the Black Lagoon with a Ph.D.
Princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova) appears to be a new character.
John Economos (Steve Agee) was Waller's right hand man dating back to the 1980's Suicide Squad, and, as with Waller & Weasel, is the last carryover from "The Suicide Squad".
More recent collections of the Commandos, not their WWII exploits, should prep you for the show.
Stay tooned.
Warner Bros. didn't acquire DC Comics until sometime in the 70's, maybe sooner, so Superman was ripe for parody in every way possible.
Enter Bugs Bunny as "Super-Rabbit" in this 1943 farce.
Daffy Duck is an Allied courier sent to deliver military secrets after another pigeon has fallen victim to a Nazi spy (Sara Berner).
1944's "Plane Daffy" has been described as a propaganda film. Narrated by Robert C. Bruce.
Singer-songwriter David Loggins, a cousin of Kenny Loggins, scored his only Top 40 hit in 1974 with "Please Come to Boston", an earnest ballad of heartache that landed him on The Midnight Special:
One inventive way Sesame Street went about teaching its young audience about numbers was through a series of sketches which began airing in 1972.
The Number Painter, aka The Mad Painter, is an ordinary schlub who just like painting numbers here, there, & everywhere, but not to everyone's liking.
Paul Benedict, 3 years before landing the role of Harry Bentley on The Jeffersons, is the Painter.
Monsterpiece Theater compiled all 10 sketches. Stockard Channing appears in some of the skits.
Here's the Three Stooges, playing cops again, this time in 1953's "Tricky Dicks". Benny Rubin co-stars.
The tables are turned, for a change, for Popeye in 1936's "Never Kick a Woman".
Seeing a woman at a sporting goods store working a heavy bag, Popeye decides to teach Olive self-defense, against her wishes. Things change when the woman, presumably the store manager, makes a play for Popeye......
The Three Stooges swap out a failing diner for a failing racehorse, with surprising results, in "Playing The Ponies":
There was a time when Nestle had a mascot for their candy products to complement the Nestle's Quik (later Nesquik) Bunny.
Hans The Chocolate Man surfaced sometime in the 60's, and lasted into the early 70's. Here, Hans (Paul Frees) schools a child on the $100,000 Bar.
Paramount's Famous Studios served up "Rabbit Punch" as part of its Noveltoon line in 1955. As these shorts were incorporated into The New Casper Cartoon Show 8 years later for ABC, these were rechristened, Harveytoons.
Moe Hare & Tommy Tortoise square off in the boxing ring in a take-off on Aesop's classic The Tortoise & The Hare, which WB had parodied with Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle on a couple of occasions.
You've heard about it, and you've probably seen it. Bugs Bunny Builders recasts Bugs and friends as a construction crew in the town of Looneyburg in this Cartoonito entry for Cartoon Network & Max.
In the opener, Mayor Foghorn Leghorn (Jeff Bergman) hires Bugs (Eric Bauza) and the gang to create a "Splash Park".
By 1975, Quaker continued to experiment with expanding the Cap'n Crunch line of cereals. Unfortunately, Punch Crunch, and its mascot, Harry Hippo, didn't last very long. In fact, I think they were gone within a year's time.
Here, the Cap'n (Daws Butler) introduces Harry (Bill Scott) and Punch Crunch:
Shemp Howard essays a dual role in 1953's Three Stooges entry, "Up in Daisy's Penthouse", a remake of 1937's "3 Dumb Clucks". The plot? The boys all play brothers this time, with Shemp playing his own father, who is newly divorced, and set to remarry, unaware his new love is a bit of a golddigger........
Seems the crooks in these shorts aren't any brighter than the Stooges. Just comes with the territory. Joe Palma stands in when Shemp, as his pop, slaps the Stooges.
Rating: B.
On the average, Josie & The Pussycats usually ran into your garden variety mad scientist, such as Dr. Strangemoon in "Strangemoon Over Miami":
The Three Musketeers are shanghaied aboard "The Moorish Galley". As if that'll stop them............
The Outfield was one of those bands that came & went in the early years of MTV.
"Your Love" was in heavy rotation in 1986, but its follow-up, "All The Love in The World"? Not so much. Both songs landed the band on American Bandstand in May of '86. The usual interview with Dick Clark is sandwiched in between songs.
For the 2nd straight year, Dick Clark (American Bandstand) was called on to host ABC's Saturday morning preview special in primetime. The freshman class of 1983:
Rubik, The Amazing Cube.
Monchichis.
The Littles.
Scooby & Scrappy-Doo was rechristened The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, and would have that title for 2 seasons (1983-5).
Super Friends was actually off the air to start the season. By the time the ABC affiliate in the 518 resumed airing cartoons around Christmas, the series returned just in time.
We've reviewed all of the freshmen series, including the interstitals with Menudo.
Frank Welker is our announcer, after appearing on camera the previous year.
ABC's Bod Squad animated PSA's turn 50 this year. "Yuck Mouth" was the first of these, with animation by DePatie-Freleng, and the song written by Schoolhouse Rock's Lynn Ahrens. Scatman Crothers (Hong Kong Phooey) sings as Yuck Mouth.
Brownsville Station raced up the charts 50 years ago with the lively rocker, "Smokin' in The Boys' Room", which got them on The Midnight Special:
