Obscure cartoons of the past
 

As I approach the age of 51 and having gone through a history of sorts about Scooby Doo, I visted Earl Kress' blog and noticed a picture he had up of a by-now forgotten Saturday morning cartoon. At the risk of completely baffling you good folks, I now take up waxing profundity as I go through some network Saturday morning shows that even folks my age (and Boomerang) have all but forgotten:

The Oddball Couple (ABC, 1975). This DePatie-Freleng show is loosely based on Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple (the TV show of which had been canceled just weeks before). Felix and Oscar are now Spiffy, an anal rententive neatnik cat, and Fleabag, an unkempt dog.

Bailey's Comets (CBS, 1973) tries to do for roller derby what Wacky Races did for automobiles as ten roller derby teams race cross country in search of clues leading to a treasure prize. This DePatie-Freleng show did so badly audience-wise that at midseason CBS moved it to the low-clearance Sunday morning time of 9:30.

Will The Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down? (ABC, 1970) was created by Jerry Lewis himself but his cartoon voice was furnished by David L. Lander. Characters from Jerry's movies are features as he works for a job agency. Filmation did this one.

The Beagles (CBS, 1966). Leonardo-TTV (Underdog) attempts to capitalize on the success of ABC's cartoon of the Beatles with two musical canines, Stringer and Tubby, who are placed in publicity stunts by their agent. Columbia released an LP of songs from the show.

Around The World In 80 Days (NBC, 1972) is an Australian-made series version of the Jules Verne tale. Two phrases used ad nauseum were Phileas Fogg's "Remember a word to the wise is always be prepared for surprises," and Paspartout's "Fixx tricks! Fixx tricks!"

Uncle Croc's Block (ABC, 1975) was a mercifully short-lived Filmation mix of live action and cartoons. Charles Nelson Reilly was the harried host of a kids' show. The cartoons were "M*U*S*H Puppies" (a cartoon canine M*A*S*H) and "Wacky & Packy."

Mumbly (ABC, 1976). A year before he became Dread Baron's co-hort on Laff-A-Lympics, this blue Muttley lookalike was a detective who turned up at the darndest moments to baffle criminals and befuddle his boss, Lt. Schnooker. Hanna-Barbera created this segment for the second season of the new Tom & Jerry show.

The Roman Holidays (NBC, 1972). This Hanna-Barbera show tries to do to Bread and Circuses what the Flintstones did for the Stone Age. The young Precocia Holiday (voice by wonderful Pamelyn Ferdin) steals the show.

Gilligan's Planet (CBS, 1982). The castaways finally get off the island with a Professor-built rocket--and are stranded on a planet. 'Nuff said.

There's more to entail but not enough bandwidth to discuss it. If there's an under-the-radar show you recall, let's hear about it.

The only one of these that I recall ever seeing was Gilligan's Planet, and I wish I'd missed that one, too. :P

Now that I think about it, I think the only cartoons I considered to be rather obscured would have to Mighty Man and Yukk and Detention.

Both shows were interesting when I was young at the time, and looking back at them, it's hard to believe I actually recall those shows.

I remember an old cartoon from the mid to late 1980's called "Spartakus and The Sun Beneath The Sea" (Their spelling, not mine)

Synopsis courtesy of Wikipedia:

The story concerns a fictional lost city, Arkadia (named after the poetical fantasy land of Arcadia). This ancient civilization escaped a Great Cataclysm by relocating deep within the Earth, and was not aware life continued on the Earth's crust. Hoping to keep them safely away from the surface, their elders sealed all records of their past in the city's Archives. They survive by the light of an artificial sun, the Tehra, but it is dying, and something must be done. With no other options, a few Arkadian children defy the law and enter the Archives. Armed with information about the world above, they create a messenger, Arkana, and send her to find help.

She encounters two siblings from the surface, Matt and Rebecca, and brings them back through the underground strata to save Arkadia. They travel in a living spaceship called Tehrig, along with Spartakus and Bic and Bac (a couple of pangolins).

I don't really know any cartoons of THAT old age but I do know a hand full of toon shows that people either forgot or have no clue even existed. They are as follows:

Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars
Mad Jack the pirate
Oggy and the cockroaches
Stickin' Around
Creepy Crawlers
Space Goofs
Road Rovers
The Schnookums and Meat Cartoon show
Bump in the Night
Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House
Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog
Bailey Kipper's P.O.V
Bone Chillers

Okay, admittedly the last 4 shows were LIVE and not toons but I put them in there because I know there old, I know there forgotten, and there apart of my childhood too so I figured, why not?

Those I put in bold I do, in fact, remember. I barely remember Schnookums and Meat, as it wasn't very long running, and I didn't even remember there was a cartoon based around Creepy Crawlers, though I do remember the the toys.

Mainly, I wanted to comment on Bucky O'Hare, because, man alive, was that a large part of my early childhood. I loved that friggin' series more than anything, and it was probably one of my favorite action cartoons alongside Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before the Saturday morning ABC Sonic came out. I've heard there's supposedly eventual work to attempt to do a Bucky movie, but this is probably just a rumor.

I also just remembered having seen Stickin' Around, though I only remember it from it's anthology format in Three Friends & Jerry.

While these probably aren't as obscure as I'm thinking, and only as old as the ones Mr. M placed down, some other found memories I have are

Eek the Cat
Cowboys of Moo-Mesa

um...that sounds AWESOME!

It might even kick a$$ on "The Herculoids" or "Thundarr the Barbarian"

Schnookums and Meat was a sort of a variety cartoon show, it showed up in the Disney afternoon (and eventually "killed it" due to it's bizarre and more adult style humor). It followed an orange cat and a blue dog that beat the crap out of each other Tom and Jerry style, and had 2 other cartoon shows.

The other was the excellent Pith Possum series following a moronic superhero possum which reminded me of Ren and Stimpy, and Tex Avery a LONG running cowboy show loaded with weird jokes and characters. Stickin' Around I actually loved, it was a funny show and clever for a stick figure drawn toon.

It lasted quite a while and it was one of the most inventive shows i think Fox did, Creepy Crawlers WAS a toon. It was about a kid who looked like a teenaged Mighty Max who battled an evil magician with monster sized insects on each side (good and bad). It was on just as Tiny Toons was ending.

I miss the Mystic Knights as it was a very detailed and story driven LIVE show, it was a one of a kind show that featured some amazing costumes and scenery. But of course, back to the point at hand, Bucky. I too LOOOOOOVED this show, it was one of my greatest childhood shows and I still love it today.

It was the most detailed series I had ever seen and it had such a great storyline, it was like Star Wars mixed with Star Fox. I have in fact heard the word about Bucky O'Hare coming back, there are words of it floating around so while it may not be a movie, SOMETHING Bucky related is in the works.

Some people said a new series, some people said a new online series, some a movie, etc. Either way, I think there's a decent chance something for Bucky is coming and I hope so because the series was WAY too short and it deserved more episodes. Plus I'm still pissed the UK are the only ones who got the Bucky DVD pack.

I have to buy the VHS since the UK DVDs have region code 2 in their DVD players so i hope SOON, they decide to sell it in the US. Either way, I hope to see more of Bucky in some format, sooner rather than later.

Secrets Of The Cryptkeeper's Haunted House wasn't a cartoon. It was a kids' game show that ran on CBS during the 1996-97 season.

I know, I cobered that when I said "I know the last 4 shows I listed were LIVE".

I vaguely remember Bump in the Night - it was featured in Sky One's early morning line up back in the late 90s. It was a claymation show, right? About this little green monster who lived under a bed and whose girlfriend was a rag doll? And they always ended every episode with a music video made from clips of previous episodes? I can't say I remember a great deal about the plots, but one which does stand out involved a slice of toast falling behind the microwave and getting mutated into a ravenous monster. Yeah, it was wierd.

Speaking of obscure cartoons, does anyone here remember Avenger Penguins? I thought not.

Ah, you did indeed. My bad.

Some live shows from when I was a kid included:
The Magic Land Of Allakazam
The Shari Lewis Show
Video Village Jr. (a kids' edition of CBS's weekday game show)
Shenanigans (revival of Video Village Jr.)
Mr. Mayor (a one-season replacement on Saturdays for Captain Kangaroo)
Lunch With Soupy Sales
Sky King
My Friend Flicka
The Roy Rogers Show

They had a Schnookums and Meat Marathon on Toon Disney just last month actually.

I'm glad someone else remembers Mad Jack the Pirate. That was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen as a kid. It was filled with a dry humor that just wasn't the thing for kids at the time.

And Bone Chillers, I loved that one season wonder a bunch. It had a cool theme song, and excellent episodes, such as Frankenturkey, where the main characters try to cobble together a replacement turkey so the Thanksgiving mascot won't be slaughtered.

Speaking of old shows, anyone remember Ghostwriter?

Bump In The Night aired here in the States on the ABC network. The characters had been used the year before on ABC's "we'll be right back" bumpers.

The star character was Mr. Bumpy, his pal was Squishington, and the sweet rag doll was Molly Coddle.

When I think of Bump in the Night I think of that show and a long forgotten Halloween special set in New Orleans. It only aired once back in the 90s, and no one remembers it, I can't find a trace of it. It had this actor that reminded me of Kyle Chandler and was about an evil spirit in the form of a giant green ghost baby running rampant during Mardi Gras. It aired on NBC in either '96 or '97.

Actually, the cowboy figure in this series was Tex Tinstar. Tex Avery in real life was the famous cartoon maker for Warners and MGM; in cartoon form he was the star of DIC's The Wacky World Of Tex Avery in 1997.

Thanks a lot, Ccook, I almost went the rest of my life without remembering that show. If only there were a way to bury Genghis and Khannie, Pompeii Pete and Power Pooch forever.

Bump in the night was a fantastically awesome show, I loved it. They had it on ABC and aired it along the likes of Super Human Samurai Syber Squad, Tales from the Crypt keeper, and SATam Sonic the hedgehog. The show also had a super strict robot named Destructo and a Closet monster made out of clothes.

I still have some episodes of it taped, my favorite was "Made in Japan" where Squishington (the blue blob) got a really cute, tiny, robot from a cereal box and it had a heart on its chest. Only every time he turned around or took his eye off the bot, it changed into a super buff scary looking robot that freaked him out.

I actually don't recall the Halloween episode at all but I DO recall their Christmas special "Twas the Night before Bumpy" (which I own on tape still), Mr. Bumpy was traveling around the world to find Santa's sleigh so he could have all the toys for himself. Sorry about mixing up the "Tex" names, Tinstar is the right one.

Bone Chillers I truly loved because it was a comedic horror show that was not aimed to be scary as Goosebumps yet had WAY COOLER monsters and costumes then Goosebumps. Frankenturkey was definitely one of the best, I also loved the first episode with the haunted sketchpad that brought things to life.

Another good one was the episode with Mr. Stump, the plant monster gardener and the buggy lunch lady who grew maggots inside of people through her food. Mad Jack is actually one of the more recent toons that I remember vividly, see when I recall a show I recall EVERYTHING that was on.

Fox at that time was airing Oggy and the cockroaches, Spy Dogs, Godzilla: the series, and the short lived Mr. Potato head show around the same time as Mad Jack. Mad Jack was a much more adult toon, it was similar to Ren and Stimpy where the humor was so weird and yet so smart it worked on many levels.

The dialog was especially genius. I remember this line especially:

"I am your conscience"

"My con what? I'm not good with new words"

"How can you leave that poor soul back there?"

"Well it's very simple really I simply walked out and left, and now i am going back to my ship where I'll turn my crews skulls into attractive candle holders and"

"But he was your friend"

"Fre, fre, I'm sorry, these new words are really throwing me" 8D

I'm curious - does anybody else here remember a Hanna-Barbera cartoon called Monster Tails? I haven't seen a trace of it since the early 90s, but I have fairly vivid memories of this show nonetheless and would positively leap at the opportunity to see it again. I believe that it was originally broadcast as a segment on the early morning variety programme, Wake, Rattle and Roll, alongside Fender Bender 500 (a recycled version of the Wacky Races), but I seem to remember it also being shown independently at one point in the UK. There seems to be very little information available about it online, and I've yet to see anybody post so much a tiny clip from this show over on You Tube. Plus, I'm guessing a DVD release some time in the future would be totally out of the question.

To maybe jog your memories a little, Monster Tails followed the misadventures of a group of domesticated animals who resided in a Transylvanian mansion with Igor's son, Igor Jr, whilst their owners - each a renowned horror icon - were off in Hollywood making movies. Each pet shared in some of the characteristics and monstrous abilities of their masters. Dr. Veenie is obviously my favourite, since he was Dr. Jekyll's dog (and he constantly had to contend with his own psychotic alter ego, Mr. Snyde), and there was also Franken-Mutt, faithful undead companion to Frankenstein's monster (though what very little information there is online seems to be divided as to whether his name was Franken-Mutt or Franken-Hound), Elsa, the Bride of Frankenstein's animal counterpart (who actually consisted of a parrot's brain transplanted into a dog's body, so I'm honestly not certain which species she should be classified as), Catula, Dracula's vampire kitty, high-strung mummified canine Mumfrey, and finally Angel, who was voiced by our own Candi Milo, a phantasmal goldfish belonging to the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

I've no doubt whatsoever that if I ever do get to see it again, it'll inevitably turn out to be one of those shows that isn't nearly as good as I remember it being, but then I really don't care either way. In theory the basic concept will always be awesome, and much of the stuff about who each of the animals was modelled upon went completely over my head at that age, and it's only with hindsight that I've been able to piece most things together. On top of which, I believe that the Veenie-Snyde dynamic was my very first introduction to the spell-binding world of Jekyll and Hyde - I owe it to this cartoon to give it my time if I ever come across it again.

Stickin' Around was awesome, as was Bump in the Night. I remember that even after YTV stoped showing BitN they would still show the X-mas special XD I remember decorating the tree while watching it XD

This past weekend I rediscovered an obscure favorite of mine. Boomerang is running The Cattanooga Cats (ABC, 1969-71) weekends, and within it is a feature that is run twice per show, Motor Mouse & Auto Cat. Think Tom & Jerry with Formula One engines. Motor Mouse is a cycle-riding rodent that lives in the Spin-Your-Wheels garage, where it's Auto Cat's job to get rid of him.

The Cattanooga Cats was pretty banal outside of Motor Mouse.

Not so much obscure as frequently passed over, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. The animated series inspired by the hilarious seventies B movie spoof was a laugh and a half. Picking up not too long after the original film, the show dispalyed the trademark humor that made the movies famous and jokes that would make the Zuckers and Abraham and the SNL writers green with envy. It was a real fun watch in both my early childhood, my preteen years, and on up to my actual teens. Fox seemed to break out every few years when they wanted to fill some space.

The cartoon was much better than the movie, (attack of the killer tomato)

while in contrast Toxic avenger was a better B movie than cartoon.

but yet Ed Grimley (Martin Short) was great in both skit comedy and in cartoons.

Monty

I had NO idea how fondly people remember the Ed Grimley cartoon until I started a fansite for it. I think more than 50% of people who email me are Australian and around 30, stats I find interesting. ;)

Boomerang now runs The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley late night weekends.

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (one of the charter shows on Fox's Saturday morning line-up in 1990) had the voice of John Astin reprising the role of Dr. Gangrene, whom he played in the sequel Return Of The Killer Tomatoes. Of curious note, the closed caption during the theme gets the last line wrong. The last line is "Can Wilbur get rid of that dumb parachute?" while the caption reads it as "Can Wilbur get rid of that tomato shoot?"

Boomerang has Ed Grimley? Man, stupid Cox making it a digital cable only channel.

We don't get Boomerang. I will pay someone to make me copies of all 13 episodes of Ed Grimley. No, I will. I will.

Please. :P

I'm guessing Ed isn't on DVD, then?

No, I'm the only person who's made an Ed DVD set, and I used pretty old VHS transfers.

I can't believe I didn't remember this show. But as soon as I heard the theme song the whole thing started rushing back to me. Especially the Count Floyd bits.

If there's any other show I still like but is not known, it would have to be Spider-man Unlimited

The story is that Peter Parker/ Spider-Man heads to outer space to rescue John Jameson, who disappeared during outer-space (along with Venom and Carnage) in order to clear his own name. He finds John in an alternate planet similar to Earth, except its filled with both humans and anthromorphic humanoids, created by its ruler, the High Evolutionary. When Spider-man learns that John won't leave until its ruler is overthrown, he decided to stay on Counter-Earth for now.

The show was different from its predecessor is that the quality of the animation is different, more science fiction elements, plus, Spider-Man has an entirely new look, and some of the characters he meets bores similarities to certain villains Spidey had fought, but with different personalities.

It's a shame that it ended with just one season and in a cliffhanger, as I was hoping to see how it ends.

Hopefully, though, the upcoming Spectacular Spider-Man doesn't suffer the same fate.

You know it;'s funny Emperor but your probably the only person I know that actually liked that show. Everyone I have talked to about it spits on the show's name with the utmost passionate hatred for it. It wasn't the greatest in my opinion but I did like Spidey's new suit and I LOVED the new Venom and Carnage.

Other obscure cartoons I loved, Road Rovers and Earthworm Jim. Road Rovers was really a weird show, I mean coming out of total left wing territory, I really loved the idea of different dog breeds mutating into walking talking dogs. They had an interesting storyline and I sadly never got to see the final end to it.

I also am really upset Earthworm Jim is forgotten due to Freakazoid's shadow. Jim came on right after Freakazoid and while I loved that show, I thought Jim was a hilarious program considering it was based off a video game. Homer Simpson's voice actor (Dan Castenelleta or something) did a kick ass job voicing Jim.

They had some great one liners in there and I loved seeing those ridiculous trademark villains of his like Bob the Killer goldfish and Evil the Cat.

Thanks for the comment, Mr. Marshmallow. Somehow, I had a feeling most Marvel fans would despised Spider-Man Unlimited.

Back on topic, I can't believe I forgotten about those shows. They were fantastic to watch, including Road Rovers. :D