Remember when Spike and Tyke from the Tom and Jerry cartoons had their own cartoons? I didn't think so.
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"Magic can happen to you."
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thecrow174 wrote : |
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Spike and Tyke weren't always my favorite dogs. They're part of the reason Tom's life was such a mess.
"Magic can happen to you."
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I've always believed that Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had already set the stage for their own studio by the time Spike got his own cartoon. It makes an interesting contrast to television cartoons where money was always in short supply.
Here's a cartoon that was very popular in 1977. It was like a preview of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.  The series was called "The Young Sentinels" at first, but for some reason that name bugged NBC execs so the name was changed to, "The Space Sentinels". This is classic Filmation but it points out that Filmation does better when it creates new characters and the stories were interesting too. He-Man fans have latched on to this old cartoon so I'm guessing "The Space Sentinels" may actually have a future, along with other popular Filmation cartoons. What really sets this series apart from H-B fare of the time is the sound track and the sound effects. I like it when the music suggests that something eerie is about to happen - it adds an element of suspense for me. The familiar sound effects add a nice touch of nostalgia to the whole series. |
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Awesome cartoon, Edd. Was that Bruce Lee voicing Mercury? And yes, all those familiar sound effects from the Filmation library.
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Actually I think all you guys know the voice behind Mercury.
 His name is Evan C. Kim. He's been around movies and TV for years, a veteran actor/voice actor. Evan has made appearances in several TV series but his most famous role was Dirty Harry's partner in the last film in the Dirty Harry Series, #5 - "The Dead Pool". Remember that famous R/C model car chase scene? Yep, that's Evan Kim ridin' with ol' Dirty Harry himself, Clint Eastwood. |
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Did Mr. Kim star in Kentucky Fried Movie? His face looks very familiar.
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He sure was and he was also in that awesome mini-series from 1983, "V".
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"This is not a charade. Now try again. With... feeeelllwwwwing." You love this signature.
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By 1969 every animation studio needed at least one hit Saturday morning show to boost "street cred" when trying to interest the three networks in buying new projects for future broadcasts.
While Rankin/Bass had the holiday specials nailed down, their SatAM track record was not so hot. Everyone knows that Hanna-Barbera scored a solid hit in 1969 with the introduction of "Scooby Doo". Rankin/Bass rolled out "The Smokey Bear Show" for ABC. All I can tell you is that this was proof - when it comes to SatAM cartoons the networks had either no idea of what would work, or were desperate to air anything that might work. If you know anything about kids in the 1960's a Smokey Bear cartoon does not seem like a good bet, lol. Yet no one saw Scooby Doo's potential, even H-B was surprised by Scooby's popularity. So maybe Smokey has something to say to the modern kid, or maybe not. Try the closing credits, ya know - that's actually quite a catchy theme. It's the only reason I remember this cartoon, very nice vocals and lyrics! |
