Rein-Toon-Ation: The Fantastic Four (1978)

Marvel Comics' "First Family of Superheroes" returned to television in The New Fantastic Four in 1978. This time, DePatie-Freleng, which would later be acquired by Marvel as its television arm, produced the series. The emphasis was on "new", even though it doesn't show up in the title.

A popular, unsubstantiated rumor claims that Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, was written off the series before it began out of fear that young viewers might consider emulating his exploits. Storm, though, was replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. (Frank Welker), who would later make the transition into the FF's comic book. The lineup change may have actually doomed the series before it really took off, and it didn't help that the original series, produced by Hanna-Barbera 11 years earlier, had returned as part of the syndicated Hanna-Barbera's World of Super Adventure block.

The casting of the remaining FF members reads like an all-star team. Mike Road (ex-The Herculoids) was cast as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. At the time, Road was also doing commercials on-screen for Fireman's Fund, an insurance company. Ginny Tyler (ex-Space Ghost) was Reed's wife, Sue (The Invisible Girl), and Ted Cassidy was cast as Ben Grimm, the orange-skinned Thing. Cassidy was also working for H-B at the same time, on another NBC series, The Godzilla Power Hour. He had the lead as Godzilla, and also voiced Montaro, the shaman-mentor to Jana of the Jungle. Co-creator Stan Lee was the series' principal writer, and as announcer Dick Tufeld's narration suggests, Lee may have written some of the original scripts with plans to use them in the comics. In fact, some scripts were either adapted from the comics or the original 1967 H-B series. As we all know, Lee would go on to serve as narrator for NBC's Marvel-produced adaptation of The Incredible Hulk in 1982, along with season 2 of Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends.

Edit, 6/18/22: Had to change the video. Here's the intro.



Amazingly, the NBC affiliate in my home area refused to air the series. Fortunately, at that time, the cable system had a secondary NBC affiliate, WKTV of Utica, on the roster, which was the only way I was able to watch the show. I'd not be surprised to find that a number of other stations opted against this version of the FF, leading to its quick cancellation after just 1 season.

The Thing would return the next year, and return to H-B as well, but with a very uncool twist, having been de-aged into a shape-shifting teenager. I previously covered that sad story a year ago, if you want to go back and refer to it......

Rating: B.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Mighty Orbots (1984)

Japan has given us quite a few cartoon classics over the years, including Gigantor, Speed Racer, Astro Boy, & Voltron, Defender of the Universe. The latter series was partially responsible for Fred Silverman's Intermedia Entertainment and MGM hooking up with a Japanese studio to create Mighty Orbots, which gave the Super Friends some company in the action-adventure department of ABC's Saturday morning lineup in 1984.

Voltron had bowed a year earlier, part of a new wave of Japanese anime hitting American television. The Transformers were making the transition to television around this time, as well. Unfortunately for the Orbots, Tonka, now part of Hasbro, filed suit, claiming copyright infringement, resulting in the series being cancelled after 1 season. 'Tis a shame, as this was one of the best animated series of the decade.

Edit, 1/5/25: Due to copyright claims, we have to change the video again. Here's an extended intro, with narration by Gary Owens.



Regrettably, because of the litigation, the series probably will never see the light of day on DVD.

Rating: A.

The Animated World of DC Comics: The Atom vs. the "Invasion of the Beetle-Men" (1967)

From the Superman-Aquaman Hour of Adventure comes this, pardon the pun, short starring the "world's smallest superhero", the Atom. The Tiny Titan (Pat Harrington) battles with some alien bugs in "Invasion of the Beetle-Men":



Pat Harrington is better known to viewers from his star turn as handyman Dwayne Schneider on One Day At A Time during the 70's & early 80's, but before that, he was quite busy doing cartoons, initially as DePatie-Freleng's Inspector, and then signing on with Filmation. He was also heard on Journey to the Center of the Earth, which also bowed in '67, over on ABC. It's too bad only three Atom shorts were made, but they were all gems.

Rating: A-.

Rein-Toon-ation: Heyyy, It's The King! (1977)

Heyyy, It's The King! was a component of NBC's 1977 anthology series, C. B. Bears, which we discussed a few days ago. The King (Len Weinrib) was clearly modeled after Fonzie (Henry Winkler) from ABC's iconic Happy Days, but the rest of his crew weren't exactly on a par with Richie Cunningham and his buds from 50's Milwaukee. Of course, as we noted before, Fonzie would become a cartoon star himself in 1980.

Right now, scope out "The Blue Kangaroo", as The King and his pals are looking to win a big meet.



Rating: B-.

Saturday Morning Ringside: Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling (2008)

What do you get when you take an aging wrestling legend, a group of celebrities with nothing better to do, and mix them together? One of the silliest reality TV series to ever hit the air, that's what!

Hulk Hogan was already well established in reality TV, with Hogan Knows Best getting played into the ground on VH1. That series spawned a spin-off vehicle for Hogan's pop singer-daughter, Brooke, which wasn't quite as successful. Kind of like Brooke's attempts at reaching the pop charts. In 2008, Hogan and his former boss at WCW, Eric Bischoff, who produced the aforementioned series for VH1 through his production company, decided to go in a different direction.

It had been 4 years since the WWE's last cycle of Tough Enough aired as a component of Smackdown. Bischoff & Hogan decided to turn the concept on its ear by putting 8 celebrities through their brand of wrestling boot camp. Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling aired on VH1's step-sister channel, CMT (Country Music Television), with "preview screenings" airing at 2 pm (ET), well before the official broadcast would air (8 ET). In case you wonder, viewers on the left coast conceivably could see the show at 11 am (PT), hence the idea for including this show in our archives. As I noted in reviewing Hogan & Bischoff's latest project, Hulk Hogan's Micro Championship Wrestling, over in The Land of Whatever, the result of CCW's lone season was spoiled by the National Enquirer well before the season ended in December. Maybe the tabloid felt an obligation to their readers was more important than honoring a commitment to withhold the result, I don't know, but it killed whatever interest people might've had in the series. As I noted, former NBA star Dennis Rodman ended up the winner.

The Associated Press has their own channel on YouTube, and uploaded this excerpt from an interview with Hogan promoting the show.......



After the series ended, actors Danny Bonaduce (ex-The Partridge Family), Todd Bridges (ex-Diff'rent Strokes), & Dustin Diamond (ex-Saved by the Bell) took some independent bookings, but it's not certain whether or not they continued their mat careers or opted to sign autographs. These days, Bridges, like Hogan, has a reality show gig on TruTV. Diamond is doing stand-up comedy, and Bonaduce has turned up in TNA from time to time. Rodman? Probably sold his title belt and used the money to open a business he'd know something about, like opening a tattoo parlor.

Another Hogan crony, Bubba the Love Sponge, who overstayed his welcome in TNA a year ago, was the commentator calling the matches. As we'd later learn, he does have a face for radio.

Was it fun? Well, for a while, yeah, but if you've seen one reality show, you've just about seen them all. Hogan's trying to disprove that with MCW, and I hope for once it works, but the fact that CCW failed in the long run suggested that Bischoff put it on the wrong channel.

Rating: C+.

From Comics to Toons: Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot (1999)

Big Guy & Rusty, the Boy Robot started as a comic book miniseries created by writer Frank Miller and artist Geof Darrow in the mid-1990's. In 1999, the book's publisher, Dark Horse Comics, decided to get into the TV business, following industry giant Marvel in that direction. Dark Horse co-produced the Big Guy cartoon with Sony's animation arm, Adelaide, and the series was sold to Fox. Unfortunately, that was the year that Pokemon had strengthened its grip as the top cartoon on American daytime television, and Fox overhauled its lineup less than 2 months into the season, so Big Guy's 1st season was just six episodes. The series was brought back after more than a year away in January 2001 as a mid-season replacement.

At first glance, Rusty looks like he was created in the images of Alka-Seltzer's old mascot, Speedy, and the iconic mascot namesake of the Big Boy restaurant chain. He was designed to be Big Guy's successor, but isn't quite as experienced or can be entrusted to carry out an assignment solo, so Big Guy (actually a man in a suit, not quite unlike Iron Man) is brought out of retirement to mentor Rusty.

Following is a sample episode:



Since its cancellation, the series has not resurfaced anywhere, and that's a shame.

Rating: B-.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: C B Bears (1977)

Citizens Band (CB) radios were the rage in the mid-70's. Hanna-Barbera decided to try to cash in with the C B Bears, a one hour series that aired on NBC in 1977.

The titular bruins starred in just one episode each week, leaving room for the following segments:

Heyyy, It's The King!: Funny animal comedy inspired by Happy Days and the growing popularity of Fonzie, who would make the transition to cartoons himself 3 years later.

Posse Impossible: Introduced in a backdoor pilot on Hong Kong Phooey 3 years earlier.

Blast-Off Buzzard: Hanna-Barbera's answer to the wildly popular Road Runner, only in this case the title bird is doing the chasing, his prey being a snake.

Shake, Rattle, & Roll: A trio of ghosts, inspired after a fashion by Harvey Comics' Ghostly Trio.

Undercover Elephant: An elephant as a bumbling private detective? Yep.

The series lasted just one season, and had the misfortune of being slotted in the lead-off position on NBC's schedule, opposite stablemates Skatebirds (CBS) & The All-New Super Friends Hour (ABC). You can guess which one survived at the end of the season.

Bill Woodson, who also was the narrator on Super Friends, is the announcer. Hewey1972 uploaded the intro for the 30 minute version:



Daws Butler used the same voice, a mimic of Phil Silvers, for Hustle that he used for Hair Bear (Help! It's The Hair Bear Bunch!) 6 years earlier. The heard but never seen Charlie, a female this time, marked this as a sendup of Charlie's Angels over on ABC. Parents didn't get the joke, obviously.

Rating: B.