Animated World of DC Comics: Hawkman makes A Visit To Venus (1967)

It's been a while since Hawkman was showcased here, so we'll fill the void with "A Visit To Venus". It wouldn't surprise me one iota if writer George Kashdan had borrowed a plot device from a sci-fi movie or two......



It's a pity Hawkgirl, Hawkman's wife, wasn't included in these cartoons.

Rating: B.

It Should've Been on a Saturday: Galtar & the Golden Lance (1985)

Galtar & The Golden Lance was part of the first season of the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera anthology block in 1985, but, regrettably, was cancelled after 1 season, due mostly, methinks, to a backlash over everyone and their brother trying to copy the success formula of Filmation's He-Man, which was in its 3rd & final season. The cancellation prevented a proper closure to the storyline involving Galtar, Princess Goleeta and her brother, Zorn, and the evil Tormack, who had in his possession a sword that belonged to Goleeta's family, which, coupled with Galtar's lance, would make its owner invincible in combat.

JediJuggernaut uploaded the open & close:



Personally, I felt this was also a bit of a knockoff of Ruby-Spears' Thundarr the Barbarian, except Goleeta wasn't a sorceress, and Zorn had mental powers.

Rating: B-.

Sunday Funnies: The PJ's (1999)

Claymation animator Will Vinton is, of course, best known for the California Raisins commercials and Saturday morning cartoons in the 80's. In 1999, Vinton joined forces with another 80's icon, actor-comedian-singer Eddie Murphy and actor-turned-filmmaker Ron Howard to produce a primetime claymation series which borrowed from a number of other sources, and, in turn, may have accidentally inspired an unrelated feature film based on a TV classic.

The PJ's was a mid-season replacement series when it bowed on Fox in January 1999, with the debut airing on a Sunday night, followed by a weekly run on Tuesdays, coupled with the far more successful King of the Hill. Murphy (ex-Saturday Night Live) served as co-executive producer (with Howard, Vinton, and others), co-created the series, and starred as the voice of Thurgood Stubbs, building superintendent, who wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, especially when it came to carrying out his duties.

Set in an inner-city housing project, The PJ's took inspiration from shows like The Honeymooners, The Jeffersons, and from Murphy's "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" skits from his SNL run in the early 80's, among others. In truth, while Stubbs wasn't quite as bright as, say Ralph Kramden or George Jefferson, he was a natural leader, like the iconic sitcom characters of past generations. After 2 seasons on Fox, the series shifted to WB for its 3rd & final season, and as a result, swapped studio support, as Warner Bros. replaced Touchstone Television (Disney) as a packager, in conjunction with Vinton & Murphy's respective production companies and Howard's Imagine Entertainment, better known for its big screen successes, such as the Oscar-winning "A Beauthiful Mind" & "Apollo 13".

The PJ's merits mention because today, MTV2, sharing cable rights with TV One, and presumably also its own step-sister networks BET & Centric, aired a 3-hour marathon of the series. Here's the open:



Methinks this might've been a sort-of inspiration for the feature film version of Honeymooners having an African American central cast a few years back, headlined by Cedric the Entertainer. Of course, the movie bombed. At least we're thankful Thurgood, a modern day Fred G. Sanford, is back among us.

Rating: B.

Proof that the Ghostbusters can deal with mortal threats, too.......(1986)

From the 1986 animated Ghostbusters series comes this PSA in which one of the team's juvenile helpers is confronted by a drug dealer who looks like a reject from another cartoon.........



Enough said.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: GI Joe Sigma 6 (2005)

Hasbro decided to bring GI Joe into the 21st century, trailing behind their other major franchise, the Transformers. Thus, the first----and so far, only----Saturday morning GI Joe series, subtitled Sigma 6, debuted on Fox in 2005. Nice idea, but apparently, a lot of older fans of the long running franchise didn't like that this series appeared to have been produced in Japan, as has been the case with recent Transformers incarnations, starting with 2001's Robots In Disguise, which also aired on Fox. And like Robots In Disguise, Sigma 6 was cancelled early, before the series was completed. Currently, it airs on The Hub, which is choosing to run it weekdays, rather than as a weekly entity, despite the fact that there aren't enough episodes to justify a 5-day-a-week schedule, the same mistake made over and over again by cable programmers unable to properly align their lineups.

Russ Velazquez uploaded the open:



Count me among those who wasn't digging the anime look to this show. Consequently, the franchise has bounced around since the end of Sigma 6. In 2009, a miniseries, Resolute, written by British comics writer Warren Ellis, aired on [adult swim], and also was done in an anime style. Until today, I didn't even know about that project. After The Hub launched in 2010, Hasbro's newly launched cartoon studio brought out the most recent series, Renegades, which owes its existence more to the feature film version of another 80's icon, The A-Team, than continuing the GI Joe legacy. I'm reading on a message board elsewhere that Hasbro isn't exactly keen right now on another GI Joe series, perhaps waiting to see how the forthcoming feature film, "GI Joe: Retaliation", does at the box office first. I'll have something to say about Renegades another time.

Rating: C.

Game Time Extra: Meet William Hanna (To Tell The Truth, 1975)

It isn't that often we get to meet the creative forces behind our favorite cartoon characters. In 1975, with Hanna-Barbera at the height of its popularity on Saturday mornings, William Hanna was invited to appear on the now-syndicated To Tell The Truth, which, as you'll see, was hosted during this period by Garry Moore, who took over after Bud Collyer passed away 6 years earlier. A couple of years later, Moore himself was forced to step down due to illness, passing the baton to baseball player-turned-broadcaster Joe Garagiola, but that's another story.

Hanna is easily recognizable if you've seen pictures of him, or have seen the specials produced in later years celebrating H-B. Yogi Bear (Daws Butler) serves as guest announcer, and Daws is heard briefly speaking in his own voice before morphing back to Yogi. Uploaded by Garry Moore Fan to YouTube:



I'm reserving a rating on Truth for when I do a full review in The Land Of Whatever down the road.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: One Less Bell To Answer (1972)

The Fifth Dimension's "One Less Bell To Answer" was actually released in 1970 on Bell Records (home to Tony Orlando & Dawn, the Partridge Family, & Edison Lighthouse), but that didn't stop Don Cornelius from booking them to appear on Soul Train during its first season.