Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Skyhawks (1969)

Independent producer Ken Snyder (Roger Ramjet) sold a pair of series to ABC in 1969. He'd obtained a license from Mattel to do a series based on their Hot Wheels line of toy cars, but his other series, Skyhawks was loosely based on the 50's live-action series, Sky King.

Skyhawks, unfortunately, lasted just one season due to poor ratings, while Hot Wheels was forced off the air due to FCC concerns about it being a glorified infomercial for Mattel. Michael Rye, who was the original cartoon voice of The Lone Ranger, but is better known to toon fans for his years of work on Super Friends, narrates the opening sequence, uploaded by Muttley16 to YouTube:



In case you wonder, the theme song was composed and performed by Mike Curb & the Curbstones. Too bad this show was lost in the mists of time, as it could pick up a new audience today if someone had the stones to acquire it.

Rating: B.

Animated World of DC Comics: Static Shock (2000)

Static Shock was shuffled in and out of the Kids' WB! lineup from 2000-2004, largely because the network had more series than room on their schedule allowed. In addition, with the network's Saturday lineup centered around Japanese import Pokemon, and later, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kids' WB! was not about to give either one of those series any hiatus, so shows like Static Shock were rotated in and out, usually without any advance explanation.

One of the most popular episodes of the series was a 2-part season 3 episode that premiered in March 2003, a crossover with Justice League, which debuted several months earlier on Cartoon Network. Static was voiced by Phil LaMarr (ex-MadTV), who was also the voice of Green Lantern John Stewart on Justice League.

Here's the open:



Rating: A.

Toon Sports: Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics (1977)

To say that Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics was the centerpiece of ABC's All Star Saturday lineup in 1977 would be a gross understatement.

ABC had only 3 programs between 8 am (ET) & 12 Noon: The All-New Super Friends Hour led off, followed by Laff-a-Lympics, with the returning Krofft Supershow to keep the kids entertained until lunch. Laff-a-Lympics, as the title implies, was a parody of the Olympics, but at the same time, it allowed ABC to poke fun at themselves, having previously presented the short-lived Almost Anything Goes (and its Junior version) and the periodic Battle of the Network Stars specials, which had three-team formats, just as Laff-a-Lympics did.

Much has been made of the controversial decision to transform Mumbly, who'd debuted a year earlier as part of the Tom & Jerry Show, replacing the Great Grape Ape, into a villain as a member of the Really Rottens. The deal was, Hanna-Barbera had lost the rights to former Wacky Races villains Dick Dastardly & Muttley to game show moguls Merrill Heatter & Bob Quigley, who co-produced Races in 1968. Dick & Muttley wouldn't return until the mid-80's, when they appeared on Yogi's Treasure Hunt. To replace the cult favorite bad guys, H-B created the Dread Baron as an analog for Dastardly. Marvel Comics solved the problem in their Laff-a-Lympics comic book by explaining that Dastardly and the Baron were in fact brothers, something that hasn't really been exploited since. It could be said that Mumbly & Muttley might actually be related as well. Given what we know now, it can be assumed that Dastardly & Muttley's animosity toward Yogi Bear was supposed to have originated during the Laff-a-Lympics.

Jeffreyocoburn uploaded the open, which presents Snagglepuss in a yellow blazer similar to what ABC's sportscasters wore in those days, to YouTube:



And, here's another, this one for the complete 2 hour show, narrated by Don Messick:



The series is back on the air, currently running on Boomerang just for this week, something the network snuck onto the schedule with no promotion, and sharing space with the ill-advised 1979
Super Globetrotters series. Da Boom's programmers couldn't be bothered to run any advertising, but then the network is treated as a red-headed stepchild, even by their bosses!

Rating: B+.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Jabberjaw (1976)

If it was possible to give a shark the personality traits of two comedy legends, Jerome "Curly" Howard (Three Stooges) & Rodney Dangerfield, would that shark become a hero? Hanna-Barbera seemed to think so in 1976, with returning creators Joe Ruby & Ken Spears dreaming up such a concoction embodied by Jabberjaw.

With DePatie-Freleng's Misterjaw sharing space with the Pink Panther over on NBC, ABC decided they wanted their own cartoon shark. Unfortunately, Jabberjaw was cancelled after 1 season, as in addition to the titular shark being a hybrid of the two comedians in terms of attitude, he was also saddled with the stigma of his series being another carbon copy of Josie & the Pussycats, moreso than the more likely Scooby-Doo, who'd moved over to ABC that season. Jabber's main gig was being a drummer in a rock group, but we rarely get to see them perform. Maybe it's just as well, as bubblegum pop had been out of style for a while.

You all know the open, I'm sure:



The last time anyone saw Jabber and the band, Cartoon Network rebooted them as a reggae/punk ensemble a few years back in one of their lame interstital skits. If you watch Boomerang, you're bound to find it floating around. Kind of like Jabber himself.

Rating: B.

From Comics to Toons: Cadillacs & Dinosaurs (1993)

Writer-artist Mark Schultz's series Xenozoic Tales was adapted for television in 1993 under the title, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, by which point Schultz had brought the book over to Marvel Comics from its original publisher, Kitchen Sink. Rather than produce Cadillacs themselves, Marvel licensed the series to Canadian animation giant Nelvana. Meanwhile, the company also passed on doing a book based on the TV show. Topps, better known for Bazooka gum and trading cards, had experimented with expanding into comics at the time, and aquired a license to adapt Cadillacs back to comics form. Weird, isn't it? Set in the 26th century, Schultz's vision may have been inspired by Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park before that became a movie. Sadly, Cadillacs was cancelled after 1 season, after which Nelvana would try again, this time with a different comics publisher, but that's for another time.

Here's the open to Cadillacs & Dinosaurs:



Rating: B.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Brown Eyed Girl (1967)

From the archives of American Bandstand comes this classic by Van Morrison. The clip is taken from when reruns of Bandstand aired on VH1 some years back, and includes Morrison being interviewed by Dick Clark. Midnightleandro uploaded "Brown Eyed Girl" to YouTube:

Saturtainment: Name Your Adventure (1992)

In 1992, NBC went to an all-live-action Saturday morning lineup, producing virtually the entire lineup in house, most with the aid of producer Peter Engel, who already had the network's new flagship series, Saved By The Bell, which began its 4th season on the network. One of Bell's stars, Mario Lopez (now the host of the syndicated magazine series, Extra) was given his first taste of doing his own show, hosting Name Your Adventure, in which teens got the chance to fulfill their wildest dreams, which sometimes included meeting other NBC stars, such as Jonathan Brandis, the teen heartthrob from Seaquest D. S. V.. Adventure lasted three seasons, and Lopez was joined by actress Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and co-host/director Jordan Brady. Submitted for your approval is a clip of Brandis' appearance on the show:



Too bad no one wants to try reviving this show.

Rating: B.