Underdog was one of my favorite childhood cartoons. We were discussing something here at work and someone said “Even Underdog had a weakness”, but we now can’t remember what his weakness was. Didn’t he have something like kryptonite that took away his “powers”?
I also loved “Tennesee Tuxedo” and “Mr. Know-it-All” which were also part of the Underdog hour (or was it a half hour?).
They don’t make cartoons like that anymore…sigh
It’s been ages since I’ve seen the cartoon but didn’t Underdog get his superpowers from some type of pill? If that’s the case, then his weakness would’ve been having the effect of the pill wear off at some inopportune time (or maybe this was some other superhero)?
As for “Tennessee Tuxedo”, did you know this was an educational segment of the program developed in response to criticism (most notably by then-FCC chairman Newton Minnow) that children’s programming in the early 60’s was empty and vapid?
The secret compartment of my ring I fill
With an Underdog super energy pill
I remember at least one episode where Underdog was weakened and in restraints, he needed help from Sweet Polly Purebred to reach the pill.
This statement may look false to some, but it isn’t. Let me explain.
If memory serves me right, a man named Peter Piech ran a company called Producers’ Associates for Television, which distributed both Jay Ward and Total TV shows, so Mr Know-it-All (a Ward production) probably would have appeared along side Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo (both Total TV productions).
Mr. Know-It-All was a Rocky and Bullwinkle bit - not part of the Underdog mythos.
Sorry, didn’t see mobo85’s response. That would make sense, though I don’t ever remember Bullwinkle mixed up with the Total TV products. I seem to remember from a history of Jay Ward Studios that the Mexican animation facility they used later did stuff for Total TV (and presumably other creators).
There was an educational segment of Tennesee Tuxedo, you’re just getting the name wrong. He was Mr. Whoopee, a scholarly avuncular fellow in glasses and a moustache. Typically, Tennessee and Chumbly would head off to see Mr. Whoopee when they needed help figuring out how to perform one of their harebrained stunts. Mr. Whoopee would give them a quick lesson and send them on their way.
All I have to say is that Underdog ranks up there with the best cartoon theme songs of all time.
Speed of lighting
Roar of Thunder
fighting all who
rob or plunder
Damn. . . I haven’t heard that in years and years (and years and . . . ). I’m sitting here with a big stupid ol’ grin on my face.
(Folks are going to wonder what I’m getting away with).
Or how about this:
*It’s a bird…
It’s a plane…
It’s a frog…
…a frog!!!
There’s no need to fear
UN-derdog is here!*
Thanks for the reminder about the pill…I knew there was something I was forgetting about Underdog’s super powers.
OK, maybe Mr Know-it-All was on Bullwinkle…I guess what I’m thinking of is the pompous guy who would always tell outlandish stories of his famous exploits. Was that Commander Flagg or something like that? He was on the Underdog show, I’m pretty sure.
And how about *Go Go Gophers]/i]? Anybody remember that one??
That would be *The World of Commander McBragg*.
I absolutely hated Tennessee Tuxedo but it was because I had just moved from Memphis to upstate New York the fall that show debuted and everyone called me that. I didn’t even have an accent!
Go Go Gophers was part of that show! They were Indians, weren’t they?
Go Go Gophers watch em go go go
Yep, they were indians. There was also a couple of U.S. military types who were (foxes, dogs, I don’t know).
And just to make Genghis Bob smile
*When in this world
the headlines read
of those whos hearts
are filled with greed
who rob and steal
from those who need
to right these wrongs
with blinding speed goes…
Underdog*
(When I was in college, there was a radio show that talked about comic books and they always used this song as the show opener. I taped it once and had this song on a mixed tape for years.)
Commander McBragg, as I recall.
Ayup. On the plus side, Bullwinkle is played each morning at 6:30 in these parts. So I get to show my daughter what cartoons were like when they were good. Not the animation, mind, but the cartoons themselves.
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog, just little old me [crash]
Underdog
And let’s not forget his arch enemy…
Simon Bar Sinister (right up there with Snidely Whiplash as the coolest bad guy names in cartoons)
Anyone ever see the one where he had created these phone booths to control peoples minds and Underdog unkowingly used one of these to change?
I thought his arch enemy was Overcat…or am I thinking of another cartoon?
So Underdog was basically a pill-popping version of Popeye? At least Popeye got his powers from leafy green (albeit canned) vegetables…
Actually, they were indian-gophers (hence the title) whose tribe consisted of just the two of them. They were opposed by a dog-cavalry led by a short, uptight Teddy Roosevelt-clone and his laconic second-in-command whose voice and manner were similar to Gary Cooper.
Anyway, I doubt you’ll ever see Go Go Gophers broadcast again. Aside from the fact it was only mildly funny at best, the show is now so screamingly un-PC that only a programmer with a gigantic death wish would ever consider airing it.
And people wonder why many of the kids who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s became so excessively attracted to drugs?
No cite, but I once read in a newspaper article that in the earliest days of the “Thimble Theater” comic strip, Popeye got his strength from garlic. Fortunately for the olfactory sensibilities of America’s parents, it was changed to spinach at some point.
He was a secondary villain like Popeye’s Seahag. (Hmm… Simon bar Sinister must have been Jewish).
I play bass and I always play the Underdog theme as my soundcheck riff. 