My 3-year-old likes that show. It’s pretty good. It’s aimed at a preschool audience.
I saw the live-action show once on a local channel that replays old TV shows (stuff like Mr. Ed and Inspector Gadget). It was pretty corny. The gorilla (or rather, a guy in a gorilla suit) was in the show, along with two bumbling guys who were trying to catch ghosts.
I loved that show!
Spencer, Tracy and Kong, and if I remember right Tracy was the gorilla. The other two were stalwarts from the old F-Troop series, Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker.
Right in one. Even some of the guest stars reprised their roles (Stanley Adams as Cyrano Jones, Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd, Mark Lenard as Sarek).
And sure, the animation was rather mediocre, but they could get away with more in a cartoon than they could in a live-action series at the time (believable-looking alien crewmembers, more detailed planetary civilizations).
And the writing was several cuts above most kidvid fare at the time. How many 70s-era Saturday morning cartoons do you know of that had a Shakespeare quote for an episode title?
The only other real drawback was the MUSIC. It really grated at times. (And the “ending-the-episode-on-a-funny-note” music could REALLY set your teeth on edge.)
As for Walter Koenig, he made up for his absence by writing an episode.
Someone upthread mentioned the 1966 Lone Ranger cartoon that was similar in tone to The Wild Wild West. There was another one I liked as a kid. Like Star Trek, this was also made by Filmation; like Star Trek, it had rather limited animation but good writing. Since this was at the height of the “every-kids-cartoon-MUST-have-an-educational-component” kick, every episode tied in with some historical fact; the tag-end of every ep had the Ranger explaning more about it. One story had to do with Mark Twain’s original manuscript for Tom Sawyer while another was about the Transcontinental Railroad and the driving of the Golden Spike.
This was also one of the first treatments to give Tonto perfect English. And the best part of all…it featured the voice of William Conrad for the Ranger.
Men in Black: The Series was another excellent one. It was an adaptation of the 1997 film. It even had one episode in which the Wormy Guys sold a script about MIB to a Hollywood studio which is made into a movie starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
Laurel and Hardy- appalling.
Since I mentioned Filmation’s Lone Ranger, I should also mention Filmation’s Tarzan (which was often paired with the LR cartoon in Saturday morning packages).
No “me Tarzan” business here. Tarzan spoke perfect, articulate, dignified English (and his voice actor was quite good). In fact, many Burroughs fans have said that (limited animation aside), this series was closer to the spirit of the original stories than the Johnny Weismuller movies.
So that’s three Filmation cartoons based on other properties that served their sources pretty darn well. I guess that given the track record of other live-action-into-kidvid cartoons, we should be grateful they didn’t make Silver and Scout talk, or put Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a rock band.
I would definitely watch “Little Dexter” or “NCIS Babies”.
How 'bout “The Little Bang Theory” though?
“The Flintstones/Sopranos Family Show”
“Scooby-Doo and the Game of Thrones” (ruh-roh!)
“Beetlejuice” and “The Real Ghostbusters” were both excellent.
The Tales from the Crypt cartoon came along right at the time when I had started watching the ‘adult’ series (with parental permission, even!)…I only remember watching an episode or two. I think it was OK.
Are you kidding? Shelly v. the Chickens, Leonard and his Hugging Machine, “When Will Daddy Be Back?” and servant choreography? That shit never gets old.
Nm
IIRC, the Real Ghostbusters did something quite similar–the GBs were technical consultants on a movie about them. (Peter quipped, “Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis? Sounds like a law firm.”) The ep ended with the boys at the premiere…which went into a live-action clip of the beginning of the movie. Very nice way of papering over the inconsistencies between the cartoon and the movie.
I agree that TRG was an excellent cartoon. This was another kids’ cartoon with writing that was a cut above the average. You tell ME how many kids’ cartoons had an episode revolving around HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos!