This theme song from 1966's The Marvel Superheroes Show pretty much takes all cred away from these characters, don't you think?
Sing along:
Meet the bulky, kinda sulky, kinda hulky super hero. Altruistic and electrically transistored super hero. An exotically neurotic and aquatic super hero. The Marvel superheroes have arrived!
Superpowered from their foreheads to their toes, Watch them change their very shape before your nose. See a cane-striking super hero change to Viking super hero. A humdingin', real swingin', shield-flingin' super hero. They're the latest, they're the greatest, ultimatest super heroes. The Marvel superheroes have arrived!
I can't stop posting stuff I find on YouTube- it's just too great.
For those of you who might not know me, I'm something of a William Shatner fan, but I haven't seen TJ Hooker since it was on TV in the early 80s. This is one show that didn't age well at all. Here's the intro montage:
For those of you who might not know, I've got a group blog going with a few friends that focuses on Science Fiction and Ephemera- nostalgic blatherings from a time we never knew. There's a slight tilt towards San Francisco based screenings and events, but if you're interested in the genre, there might be something over there that'll pique your interest.
More cartoons that I grew up with. These psychedelic gems are from Sesame Street (and might help explain my generation's warped world view- and our predisposition to ADHD):
Daddy Dear
Capital I
Pinball Countdown
Yackety Yak
And this last was created by Bud Luckey, director of Pixar's Boundin': Alligator King
That's all I'm going to post here. Search on YouTube for tons more.
Here munch this! Here munch that! Soon you're not just bored, you're fat!
Thanks to ABC's catchy educational "Bod Squad" interstitials from the early 80s, I've had the song to "Watch out for the Munchies" stuck in my head for more than 20 years. I'm glad someone finally posted it to YouTube so I could hear how well I'd remembered it.
Watch out for the Munchies
Also check out this other gem from the Bod Squad:
Quickfast
Mmmm, peanut butter and cheese on a slice of toast with a glass of milk to wash it down! Sounds like my kind of breakfast... er, Quickfast. I'd love to see the rest of the Bod Squad spots- and in DVD quality! C'mon ABC, I know you're listening. Does anyone out there in internetland know who produced the animation on these gems?
Also, be sure to check out the Time for Timer shorts from the same era!
About a month or so ago, I found a couple of volumes of Clutch Cargo cartoons in a used DVD bin. I really liked the episode I saw in an Animation History class so I decided to take a chance and purchase both sets. I just recently started watching the episodes on the first disc, and I've actually enjoyed them!
For those of you who don't know, Clutch Cargo was an early television adventure cartoon in which live action mouths were superimposed over drawings of characters in a patented process called Syncro-Vox. Almost half the time, the characters have their heads turned or have something strategicly covering their mouths so the Syncro-Vox technicians wouldn't have to work too hard, I suppose. There is some animation in the show, but not much. It's about as cheap as animation production can get, but it certainly has a charm to it.
There's a lesson for me in watching these- how little can you get away with and still be able to capture the imagination of the viewer? Clutch Cargo was produced much like a radio play- nothing that happens on the screen really needs to be seen, as everything the characters do is announced, and a narrator connects scenes. The quality of the storytelling, with their outlandish plots, and the appeal of the audio production perfectly augments the strange and lacking visuals.
I enjoy Clutch Cargo (and his pals Spinner and Paddlefoot), and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes kitchy animation or would like a glimpse into television animation history. Before taking a leap to rent or buy, you might want to check out this clip and judge for yourself:
