Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Astro & the Space Mutts vs. Reverso (1981)

Astro & the Space Mutts have to deal with a really dyslexic villain in "Reverso". Y'think Reverso (Don Messick) might've gotten dialogue coaching from Yoda?

Space Ace (Michael Bell) should thank Astro (Messick). Imagine what might've happened if Kid Comet showed up and found Ace hitting on Jan, whom Comet would be dating later in the season.....!

Rating: B-. One of the better entries in the series, and there weren't many.

On The Air: Chicken Soup For The Soul's Hidden Heroes (2015)

Here's a hidden camera show that isn't offensive to the senses, but rather comfort food for the whole family.

Chicken Soup For The Soul's Hidden Heroes, to use the full title, launched in October as part of CBS' Litton-packaged Saturday lineup. Actress-reality show vet Brooke Burke-Charvet (Melissa & Joey, ex-Dancing With The Stars) serves as host/narrator for the lunch hour series, which follows ordinary folks doing some extraordinary things to help people.

And, too, there is the occasional celebrity profile. In this case, from November, here's animal rights advocate Beth Stern, wife of radio icon Howard Stern.



With the networks moving back to programming Saturday mornings with non-animated fare, like in the early days of television, this is the sort of show that would make a good topic for a class report, don't you think?

Rating: A.

We'll be looking at other parts of CBS/Litton's Dream Team block in the coming weeks.

Tooniversary: The Origin of Captain America (1966)

With the 3rd Captain America movie, subtitled, "Civil War", opening next week, why not take a look back to the 1966 adaptation of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's retelling of the Star Spangled Avenger's origin?



There were plans for a new series for Cap a few years ago at Fox, but they never got off the ground. 

Rating: B-.

Daytime Heroes: Mighty Mouse in Goons From The Moon (1951)

Terrytoons decided to poke fun at science fiction tropes in this 1951 Mighty Mouse entry, "Goons From The Moon". A planet-shaped meteor crashes on Earth, bearing a race of winged cats, bent on feasting on the rodent inhabitants of Terrytown.......

Tom Morrison, at the time the voice of Mighty Mouse, tells the tale using a Walter Winchell-esque reporter to move the story along. That joke got old very quickly, though. There's only so many variants on the central theme of mice vs. cats.....

Rating: B-.

From Comics to Toons: The Origin of the Incredible Hulk (1982)

When Stan Lee decided to add himself to the animation mix at Marvel by narrating The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends, you knew that Lee was going to see to it that the origins of the heroes would be told.

In the case of the Hulk, Lee and Marvel Productions took full advantage of the resources available, contrary to Canada's Grantray-Lawrence and Krantz Films, which went the cheap route 50 years ago, adapting the Marvel Superheroes Show directly off the printed page. Sixteen years later, the more definitive "Origin of the Hulk" made its way to NBC.......

Edit, 9/4/23: Had to change the video. This excerpt presents Bruce Banner's 1st transformation, circ 1982:

It's been 20 years since Da Hulkster's last series, so don't ya think he's overdue for a small screen solo series again?

Rating: A.

Animated World of DC Comics: Joyride (1977)

When The All New Super Friends Hour launched on September 10, 1977, we were, of course, still in the last days of summer. This week, schools in the home district are enjoying their spring break (the colleges had spring break last month), so why not give the kiddo's a little beach action?

The Wonder Twins made their debut in the episode, "Joyride". This has to do with a couple of boys stealing a plane, unaware it has engine issues. How the Twins' costumes magically appeared at the end of the story, when Jayna was dressed in a 2 piece bikini, and Zan in swim trunks, at the start, is one of those unsolved mysteries of animation production. Bob Hastings, who was still on All in the Family at the time or about to transition to General Hospital, is heard as the mechanic and as Corky, the would-be pilot, as Corky sounds almost like a hero Hastings played a decade earlier----Superboy!

Edit, 6/17/22: An episode title card has been located.

Another blooper, as you can clearly see in the title card. The Twins' costumes make it appear as though the picture is backwards. As Jayna would say, the production department was a little, ah, spacey during post-production editing. "Joyride" marked one of Bob Hastings' last voice jobs for Hanna-Barbera, as he had worked on Clue Club a year earlier.

Rating: A.

Tooniversary: Captain Caveman & Son (1986)

Captain Caveman returned to ABC in 1986, this time as a show-within-a-show backup feature on The Flintstone Kids. "The world's first superhero", as it was claimed 9 years earlier, had returned to the Stone Age when NBC picked him up and added him to the Flintstones mythos in 1980.

This time, Cavey (Mel Blanc) has a son, Cavey, Jr. (Charlie Adler), with whom he shares his adventures. In other words, this time around, it was even more for laughs than before.

In one instance, it was even a family affair, as Cavey's mom joined the fun for a day. Anyway, each episode opens with Fred and pals gathered in front of a TV for the show.

Here's "Greed 'Em & Weep":

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Geez, don't they look like Mr. Potato Head & family with hair?

Rating: C.