Teenage Toons: High School USA (2013)

Fox recently announced the termination of its Saturday late night cartoon block, with plans to move what they have left into the primetime block. Good luck with that. They may need to slip Seth McFarlane a few C-notes to cede some space.

Anyway, one of the network's 1st entries was High School USA, which has 0 to do with a movie of the same name from a few years back, but, as you will see in the trailer, this satire is designed in the image of the Archie cartoons from the 60's & 70's, but with more mature content that wouldn't even get past the censors on Sunday nights.

I had posted the first episode, "Bullies", but it was taken down by YouTube. I have to have a Hulu account to get it back on here, so we'll go with the trailer. I caution that there is some mature content, uncensored, on this video:




Would [adult swim] take a chance? Considering the creative personnel came from there, maybe.

Rating: B.

Animated World of DC Comics: Batman & Robin demonstrate the Heimlich Maneuver (1980?)

Here's an early 80's health tip from Super Friends, in which Batman (Olan Soule) & Robin (Casey Kasem) demonstrate the Heimlich Maneuver.

Enough said.

Toonfomercial: Pollution in space? (1973)

Here's a rarely seen PSA spun from the animated Star Trek, produced by Filmation & Paramount for the Ad Council. Voices of George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, & William Shatner.



I can't even remember if I'd seen this the first time around.

From Comics to Toons: The Maxx (MTV Oddities, 1995)

MTV's Oddities was supposed to be an anthology series that featured two concurrent serials. However, the final product wasn't how it was drawn up in the blueprint.

Writer-artist Sam Kieth's The Maxx became the 3rd Image comics series to be adapted for television, after Savage Dragon (USA Network) & WildC.A.T.S. (CBS), all within a single year's time (1994-5). Like the others, it wasn't as successful on the air as opposed to the printed page. Also, it aired in primetime, around 10 (ET), due largely to its mature subject matter. The psychological drama would've been too intense for younger viewers anyway.

No one's ever been able to explain why The Maxx wasn't ready when Oddities launched. Maybe Kieth wanted the half hour all to himself. He was, after all, given an executive producer's credit, along with MTV's Abby Terkuhle. Maybe it was just the process of transcribing Kieth's printed artwork into animated form for television. Oddities' other feature, The Head, wasn't quite as dark, a diametric opposite of Maxx, which would have formed a perfect karmic balance had the two features aired together, as originally planned.

Edit, 12/10/22: Had to change the video. In its place is a sample clip from a Liquid Television fan channel:



Overall, Image would have 1 more series make it to television, and that was Spawn, which landed on HBO for three short seasons (1995-7). The Maxx faded from shelves well after the MTV series ended, and the cartoon is available on DVD in case you're interested in scoping it out from the beginning.

Rating: B-.

Getting Schooled: The Incredible, Indelible, Magical, Physical Mystery Trip (1973)

Believe it or else, the ABC Afterschool Special did spawn a spin-off.

The Time For Timer interstitals began after the microscopic fellow made his debut in 1973's The Incredible, Idelible, Magical, Physical Mystery Trip, and a sequel less than a year later, The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red's Head.

You might say the Farrelly brothers used this as inspiration for their movie, "Osmosis Jones", which in turn led to a Saturday spin-off of its own, Ozzy & Drix, several years later. On this Mystery Trip, Timer (Len Maxwell, ex-Batfink) leads a pair of youngsters on a guided tour of their uncle. In the live-action portion, Hal Smith (Davey & Goliath, ex-The Andy Griffith Show) plays Uncle Carl, while Kim Richards (ex-Nanny & The Professor) plays his niece. However, they used other actors when the kids turned animated. Don't ask. Let's scope it out.



For the sequel, another Len (Weinrib, that is) took over the role of Timer. Better singer, I'll grant, and the role would be his for the remainder of Timer's appearances. Maxwell, meanwhile, dropped out of sight, or so it seemed, save maybe for some commercial work, until MTV hired him for Celebrity Deathmatch in the 90's. Maxwell acquits himself well as a singer, too, as you can tell.

Aside from the opening & closing to the 1st season of The Pink Panther Show (1969), DePatie-Freleng didn't do much for live-action, and this would be the end of their live-action output. The sequel, which they also did, was fully animated.

Rating: B.

Tooniversary: Peppa Pig (2004)

England's Peppa Pig made her debut 10 years ago, and emigrated to the US about a year or so later on Cartoon Network, which really didn't know what to do with her. Gee, there's a shock for you, but then, the network didn't really put a lot of promotion into their short-lived Tickle U morning block, which also featured Gerald McBoing-Boing and Krypto the Superdog, both of which have previously been reviewed. Currently, Peppa makes her American home on Nick Jr.(check your listings).

Four seasons have been produced over the course of 7 years (2004-11), and the animation looks as though Peppa and her family came from the pages of a children's book, though I have yet to verify if this is the case.

So what has been the problem? For one thing, it's been difficult for any of the cable networks to make hay with a foreign-produced cartoon. Nick, for one, was looking for something to complement their hit series, Dora the Explorer, and while Peppa Pig hasn't been quite as popular here as her countryman, Fireman Sam, for example, the fact that the series has stayed in production for as long as it did should say something.

Here's a sample compilation:



Parents, your kids will love this.

Rating: A.

Toon Legends: Ruff & Reddy (1957)

History tells us that Ruff & Reddy was Hanna-Barbera's 1st series after breaking away from MGM. The dog & cat combo appeared in primetime on NBC for 3 seasons (1957-60), and the serialized format of their adventures was duplicated by Jay Ward, not once but twice (Rocky & His Friends & Hoppity Hooper), and others, such as Cambria (Space Angel & Clutch Cargo).

Ruff (Don Messick, who also narrated) was the cat, and Reddy (Daws Butler, using the same voice he'd use for Huckleberry Hound) was a bulldog. Somehow, I had envisioned Reddy having a stronger, tougher voice, but what did I know?

My first exposure to Ruff & Reddy was a brief---and I do mean, brief---cable run in the late 80's-early 90's, well before the introduction of Cartoon Network. Most unenlightened types might think Ruff & Reddy was a rip-off of Rocky & His Friends, due largely to the serial format, but the truth is, Ruff & Reddy came first by 2 full years.

The fact that CN & Boomerang have repeatedly ignored the series should tell you something about the lack of interest in H-B's storied history at those networks. Their loss, as usual.

Here's the opener, "Planet Pirates":



No rating. I didn't see enough of these shorts back in the day to form a credible opinion.