Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Ripping Friends (2001)

From the twisted mind of John Kricfalusi (Ren & Stimpy), the Ripping Friends exploded onto television screens in 2001, airing on Fox. Right now, here's the intro:



14 years earlier, Kricfalusi had worked with the legendary Ralph Bakshi on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, which featured a revival of Bakshi's 1960's superteam, the Mighty Heroes. The story goes that Kricfalusi had created the Ripping Friends before introducing Powdered Toast Man to the Ren & Stimpy Show, and that the Friends were originally meant to be starring in a feature film after Kricfalusi was axed by Nickelodeon. The Friends didn't last long at Fox, as the series was quietly cancelled without much fanfare. Cartoon Network picked up the series for their [adult swim] division, but it didn't last long there, either, and hasn't been seen since being dropped by CN.

The idea was that the Friends were an extreme satire of common superhero cartoons, but the plots were a little too over the heads of the target audience. Considering that Fox also had Japanese imports like Digimon: Digital Monsters on the schedule at the time, the sudden culture shift and shock from one program to the next would be too disturbing for young viewers. It's clear from the designs, though, that Kricfalusi may have been inspired, without saying so, by the Mighty Heroes, although it would be a bit of a stretch to suggest that these were all Strong Man clones. Jimmy, the Idiot Boy, the team's mascot, had previously appeared on Ren & Stimpy, and was also Spumco's mascot.

Rating: C-.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Jerry O'Connell Slides into "My Secret Identity" (1988)

Ok, so I was being cute with the title of this post. Anyway, 2 years removed from his feature film breakthrough in "Stand By Me", Jerry O'Connell made his television series debut in this fantasy adventure series, My Secret Identity, which was produced in Canada, and imported to the US in 1988. Drunkendwarf112 uploaded the open to YouTube:



The local NBC affiliate in my home market aired Identity ahead of the NBC lineup during season 1, then moved it to the early afternoons somewhere along the way. Identity lasted three seasons, and of course we know how Jerry O'Connell has moved on since, currently co-starring in CBS' reboot of The Defenders alongside James Belushi. Derek McGrath, who co-starred on Identity, might be better known to American audiences from his appearances on Cheers, among other shows. Identity has not aired in the US since it was cancelled 20 years ago, which is weird in that you'd think a cable network like Nickelodeon or ABC Family might take a chance with this show to fill time, instead of, especially in Nick's case, shoving the trendy series du jour down the viewers' throats for hours at a time.

Rating: B-.

Tooniversary: Space Kiddettes (1966)

While Space Ghost roamed the stars over on CBS, Hanna-Barbera served another space themed series to NBC, this one with a comic bent. Space Kiddettes starred a group of school-age children who were forever on the run from the pirate, Capt. Skyhook, because one of the kids was carrying a concealed treasure map.

Unfortunately, the intro to the series is not available, but Muttley16 found a long missing commercial bumper that hasn't seen the light of day since the series ended its NBC run:



During the late 70's and early 80's, reruns of Space Kiddettes were included in an odd package that also included repeats of shows from the Jay Ward &/or Total Television libraries. The same fate befell another H-B series that aired on NBC the next year----the previously reviewed Young Samson & Goliath.

I have had an idea about rebooting the Kiddettes, taking a more serious tack, and playing it like something out of the Star Trek franchise, with the kids a little older, wiser, and more resourceful. By the same token, Skyhook would also be rebooted as a far nastier villain. Warner Bros., though, is content keeping this show under lock & key, and not even considering any ideas. Their loss, as usual.

Rating: C.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Sonic the Hedgehog (1993)

Perhaps the most successful conversion of a video game into a cartoon, Sonic the Hedgehog rocketed onto television screens in 1993. There were actually two separate series, a weekday show that was in syndication, and the more popular Saturday series that aired on ABC. Here's the open to the Saturday version:



Family Matters co-star Jaleel White was the voice of Sonic, which might have come as a bit of a shock to fans of Matters, accustomed as they were to White as the nerdy Steve Urkel. Sonic the Hedgehog lasted two seasons on ABC before being cancelled, with reruns later airing on cable. The daily series also met its end around the same time, but Sonic would return in a new, syndicated series just a few years later, Sonic Underground, which lasted about the same length of time.

Sonic's still around, of course, as Sega continues to produce video games, and there is the long running comic book from Archie Comics, now well over 200 issues and still going strong. The last Sonic TV series, Sonic X, was imported from Japan by 4Kids for Fox, and lasted three years before Fox discontinued its Saturday morning schedule. Archie made a comics version of this show, too, but it was cancelled after a couple of years.

I've never played the game, but judging from the TV show, one can gather that Sonic was created with a literary legend in mind, particularly Robin Hood, as Sonic and his Freedom Fighters are trying to overthrow the evil Dr. Robotnik. They would succeed in doing that at the end of the series.

Rating: A-.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: The Zeta Project (2001)

The seminal 60's crime drama, The Fugitive, has been the inspiration for a number of series that followed, some of them on Saturday mornings. The most recent example was The Zeta Project, a futuristic science-fiction series that surfaced on the Kids' WB! as a mid season replacement in 2001, after being spun off from Batman Beyond. Interestingly, series creator Robert Goodman never made a deal with DC to adapt his series to comics, which would've helped immensely.

Here's an intro:



Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show) voiced the title character, forever on the run from his former bosses at the National Security Agency, led by Agent Bennett (Kurtwood Smith, That 70's Show), serving as Lt. Gerard to Zeta's Dr. Kimble, if you will. Bader currently is the voice of the Dark Knight in Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave & the Bold, and as is the case there, Bader's characterization is light years removed from his live-action work. Sadly, Zeta was decommissioned after 2 seasons. Given how Kids' WB! tended to shuffle their lineup at a moment's notice without advance notice to the newspapers and cable companies, the series wasn't given a fair opportunity to find an audience. Like so many series from that period, it languishes in the WB vaults, waiting for someone to give it a home.

Rating: B-.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Ozzy & Drix (2002)

Ozzy & Drix is an all-animated spin-off from the movie, "Osmosis Jones", and spent 2 seasons in and out of Kids' WB!'s Saturday lineup, since the network had more series than they had room for, and shuffled series in and out, with the only constants at the time being anime imports Yu-Gi-Oh! & Pokemon. Now, let's meet the heroes in the open:



Phil LaMarr (ex-MadTV) takes over for Chris Rock as the voice of Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, while Jeff Bennett (Johnny Bravo) steps in for Saratoga native David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) as Drix. Amazingly, given how our heroes took up residence in the body of a teenager, they could've made a case for this show getting the FCC's E/I designation, but no effort was really made to explain to kids how dangerous adult habits like smoking can be at such a young age. Well, 30 years ago, they would have. Sadly, as much as this was a hoot to watch, it languishes today in the WB vaults, as Cartoon Network has shown no inclination to pick up the series. Nor has anyone else for that matter.

Rating: B+.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Space Stars (1981)

NBC had a potent lineup in 1981. The Smurfs were introduced to American audiences for the first time. The rest of the lineup, however, was dominated by superheroes for the first time in years. Space Stars was supposed to have aired a year earlier, but was held back because of a writer's strike in Hollywood. The series marked the returns of two of Hanna-Barbera's super adventure series of the 60's, Space Ghost and the Herculoids, plus two new features, Teen Force and a spin-off from The Jetsons, Astro & the Space Mutts. Following is a sample open, narrated by Michael Rye (the voice of Green Lantern & Apache Chief on Super Friends), plus a teaser, narrated by Keene Curtis:



Unfortunately, there are no Teen Force episodes available on YouTube at present, largely because when Space Stars aired on USA in the late 80's, the segment was deleted from the show, along with Astro & the Space Mutts, for time constraints, more than anything else. The Force, however, would frequently team with Space Ghost, and that was largely due to Kid Comet dating Jan, one of Space Ghost's proteges. You wonder why they didn't try to complete the double date and have Jace paired with Elektra. Boomerang & Cartoon Network have ignored the Teen Force as well, and it's their 30th anniversary year!

Actor Keene Curtis (ex-The Magician, later of Cheers) served as the narrator for all the segments, and to my knowledge it's his only cartoon credit. Regrettably, Space Stars was cancelled after 1 season, and NBC replaced it with The Incredible Hulk the next year, among others. A pity, considering the lack of respect accorded the Teen Force since.

Rating: B+.