Wacky Races was the original, featuring a bunch of goofy auto racers. This had two spinoffs: The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, where she and the Ant Hill Mob fought the Hooded Claw, and Dastardly and Muttley In Their Flying Machines, in which the duo were World War I pilots who always failed in their mission to “Stop That Pigeon.”
The King Kong theme still pops into my head from time to time.
And then there’s The Mighty Mightor. IIRC he’d stand with his club raised over his head and yell, ‘MiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighTOR!’ I went to a friend’s house and I thought I heard him mimicking the stone-age super hero. Actually he’d hurt his toe and his grandmother was putting mercurichrome on it. He was yelling ‘My toe!’ (But little kids sometimes have trouble with Rs, so I mis-heard.)
Wow, I remember the Wheeled Warriors cartoon from my youth, as well as the toys (which I was never into), but I didn’t realize that J. Michael Straczynski was the creator!
He also wrote the majority of The Real Ghostbusters episodes that followed the 1984 movie, including some heavy topics for a children’s toy cartoon: a doorway to hell in the New York City subway system, Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian monsters, Ragnarok (the Norse “twilight of the gods”), and a game show where unlucky contestants had to keep the devil from winning their souls.
Oh man, I remember waking up a lot earlier than I usually did one Saturday with my brother. We turned on the TV (this is the 80s) and saw some old looking cartoon. It turned out to be the freaking Jackson 5, and they got into some trouble because of Michael. It was the only episode we caught ever, but at the end, the rest of the kids chanted, “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Michael!” implying that it was a recurring theme. Weird, weird stuff.
A more recent one for all you Futurama fans out there, was called Project GeeKeR. It was about a man(ish thing) created by an evil scientist and imbued with incredible powers, but before he could be programmed in their use he was stolen. So he tries to figure out how to do things, and occasionally can, but more often ends up doing things like growing fingers everywhere on his body. The Project man is voiced by Billy West, and though I’ve heard BW do other voices that sound different, this one sounds pretty much exactly like Fry. I guess Bill thought that the cartoon was obscure enough that he could just recycle the voice. Anyway, there are external links through the wiki page that have some eps posted.
It was really funny at times. The best joke I could remember was about how someone had created a shrink ray that made things small and stored them in a bag. However, the objects retained their original mass, so the creator warned “Don’t suck in anything you can’t hold,” to which someone else responded, “Words to live by, I’m sure.”
The thing that no one else believes me on (apart from my brother, who also saw it) wasn’t a cartoon but an ad during the cartoons. It was for OJ cereal, and this cartoon cowboy was riding amongst his herd of little orange balls. He cracked his whip and said, “Round 'em up, boys!” and someone said “OOooooooJaaaaaaay!” in a really deep voice. We never ate this cereal, but I swear it existed at one time.
Oh, and does anyone else remember Nintendo cereal? It was fruity, and came packaged in the same box with Chocolaty Zelda bits. Delicious…
Omigod. I do remember that!
AAAUUUGH!!! I played that clip to see what it was (I’m at work) and the word “sperm” seemed to echo and echo in this office. Thank Bejeezus I share an office with a french guy and a German guy who don’t automatically understand everything they hear in english. (and the french guy’s on leave)
I don’t remember that episode at all but I’m sure it would have freaked my parents out. There was another children’s show I barely remember, but my friend from childhood does called ‘Hot fudge’. Wondering if that rings a bell with anyone. It might have been just a local thing in the Philadelphia/ Delaware/NJ area, though. Anyone from that area in the 70’s would of course remember Captain Noah and Wee Willy Webber. Wasn’t there another guy on channel 48 though, that lived in a submarine? Or is that memory a result of the brain cells a damaged in college?
Anyone besides me watch Fireball XL5?
Fearless Fly anyone? Milton the Monster?
I do loves me my misspent youth.
My Mom would never buy us an actual Winky Dink set, so my brothers and I improvised- we’d put a sheet of Saran Wrap on the TV and draw on the Saran wrap with crayons.
Years later, I saw an actual Winky Dink set. Know what it was? Basically, crayons and a roll of Saran Wrap.
I did, along with Supercar with Mike Mercury (whenever anyone talks about a scientist character named Beaker, I think about this, rather than a Muppet). Two of the Anderson’s Supermarionation puppet efforts before Thunderbirds.
There are lots of other, much more obscure cartoons from circa 1960. I give you:
Spunky and Tadpole
Colonel Bleep
Dodo, the Kid from Outer Space
and those SynthaVox wonders, Space Angel and Clutch Cargo
http://www.toontracker.com/spaceangel/spaceang.htm
http://www.toontracker.com/clutchcargo/cargo.htm
Oh, yeah. I remember Fearless Fly. didn’t he fight some guy called Prof. Goo-fee?
Indeed he did. Although I remember it as Dr. Goo Fee, but your memory may be more accurate than mine.
*There’s a prehistoric monster
came from outer space,
sent here by the martians to destroy the human race.
the FBI is helpless,
he’s twenty stories tall,
what can we do who can we call?
Call Tobor, the 8th Man!
Call Tobor the 8th Man,
Quick call Tobor, the mightiest robot in the laaaand.*
From memory thankyouverymuch.
Each cartoon would end with the Wizard talking to Tooter in a sweet Yiddish accent,
“Alvays, alvays I tell you Tooter: Be just vat you is, not vat you is not. Folks vat do this, is the happiest lot.”
As a bonus, in The Matrix, when Neo is fleeing the agents near the end, he shouts for help into the phone, “Mr. Wizard!” just like Tooter did every time he had to be magically yanked out of trouble.
"High atop on Horror Hill
In a secret laboratory
Professor Weirdo and Count Kook
are in their monstrous glory…
Six drops of the essence of terror…5 drops of sinister sauce
When the stirring’s done can I lick the spoon?
Of course ha! ha! of course!"
I remember The Beatles cartoon – highlight of my Saturday mornings for a year or so. As was Jonny Quest. Loved the one with the guy who kept komodo dragons on a leash.
Did anyone else ever watch Birdman? Space Ghost?
*Tomfoolery * (c. 1970) did animations of nonsense verseby Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll.
I couldn’t remember any of this but remember the monster arising and saying, “I’m Milton, your brand new son!”
Another cartoon I remember that must have been around 1976 was the Laff-a-Lympics, with an Olympic theme.
I remember Space Ghost … and FRANKENSTEIN JUNIOR!! Junior…junior…junior
There were a bunch of filler cartoons on CBC of which I only have vague memories. One had a dragon named “Mango” and perhaps took place in a garden?
I also used to watch a french cartoon show on the weekends called “Bagatelle”. It was an hour of various cartoons of many styles and subjects but I enjoyed Tintin the most. 