Redartz: Welcome to another 'animated' discussion of cartoon goodness! It's a double treat today. Everyone loves cartoons, and everyone loves monsters. So how much cooler can it be to have animated monsters? Let's find out...
We will look at four shows, spanning the mid 60's to the 80's, beginning with the earliest. That show would be "King Kong", running from 1966 through 1969. This show was my first exposure to Anime, in a sense; it was produced by Toei Animation of Japan for Rankin/Bass productions. Accordingly, the animation was a bit different from anything I'd seen before, but I liked it.
Rather than being portrayed as a monster, in this show Kong is a friendly, likeable pal to the Bond family, particularly young Bobby. In the best Jonny Quest tradition, the Bond family (led by Professor Bond, those scientists were pretty adventurous) travel the world getting into scrapes, which require Kong's assistance (and of course the big fella isn't so friendly to the various evildoers the Bond family encounter). One major foe in the series is a character by the name of Dr. Who, a bald fellow with no relation to the Dr. with the Tardis.
This show was part of the dynamite ABC Saturday morning schedule in 67-68, which also included Spider-Man and the FF. Coincidentally, some of the same voice actors from that Spider-Man series also worked on King Kong.
This show also featured a very cool intro, which we present above. Not a show you hear much about, but it was good viewing, and had dinosaurs- so you just had to watch.
A few years later, a different group of monsters popped up on Saturday mornings. These were the "Groovie Goolies", comic takes on the classic Universal monsters Frankenstein, Dracula and Wolf Man. It ran from 1970-71, and was produced by Norm Prescott/Lou Scheimer; the studio responsible for the popular Archie Show. "Goolies"was actually very similar to the "Archie" cartoon, with songs, jokes, and skits. And it actually also featured Archie Comic's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch- who commonly bantered with Drac, Frankie and Wolfie.
"The Groovie Goolies" was funny, sometimes corny, but always amusing. They made great use of many other monsters as well: mummies, witches, ghosts, Napoleonic skeletons, and so on. (Quick side question: does anyone else find it odd that the Comics Code prohibited such monsters for years, but on tv cartoons they were considered acceptable?). Incidentally, one of the tunes featured in the show's musical segment became a top 40 hit: "Chick-a-Boom", recorded by Daddy Dewdrop. I still hear it occasionally, and visualize those Goolies.
Moving ahead a few more years to 1978- another Japanese/US joint effort hit the small screen: Godzilla. A tandem effort from Toho Ltd. and Hanna-Barbera, this show ran until 1981, presented in several formats (varying from half-hour episodes to 90 minute shows with other features- "The Godzilla Super 90").
As this was the late 70's, violence was taboo on Saturday mornings, so the big lizard served as rescuer of his friends, a team of scientists on a research boat. Kind of like King Kong, actually. Additionally, there was the 'nephew' of Godzilla: a small creature called "Godzooky" who served as comic relief, often in his attempts at flight.
Godzilla wasn't my favorite show by any stretch, but I did watch it. Especially when it was teamed with Jonny Quest under the 90 minute format. "Jana of the Jungle" was the third feature; later Godzilla was paired with the "Harlem Globetrotters" and "Hong Kong Fooey". Don't ask me why...
Finally, 1980 brought a short-lived gem: Drak Pack. Produced by Hanna-Barbera, it ran on CBS for less than a season. Nonetheless, it earned a warm spot in my memory due to the characters and the voice acting.
The Drak Pack were three guys (Drak, Frankie and Howler) who appeared as normal humans, but when called into heroic action, took the identities of the descendants of the classic monsters. Count Dracula himself served as the team's advisor, he apparently was Drak's ancestor. The show's action largely followed the "Scooby Doo" formula of chases and escapes, usually involving "OGRE".
"OGRE", the Pack's chief opponents, were a team of villains led by "Dr. Dred"; memorably voiced by Hans Conreid. Dred had several underlings, among them Mummyman, Fly, and Vampira. My favorite by far, though, was "Toad", a short humorous bumbler voiced by Don Messick. To my final breath, I will smile remembering Toad's frequent self-deprecating outburst: "Bad Toad, Baaaaaad Toad!".
Another show not frequently remembered , but you can see a few on YouTube, and the show was released some years ago on DVD. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look. Fun stuff.
So there you have four of Saturday morning's most 'monstrous' offerings. What did you think of them? Worthy tributes to those classic film monsters, or forgettable imitations? Are there other cartoon monsters you enjoyed? Tell us all about it...
