# Underdog Cartoon Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 23, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575 "2005-02-23T18:55:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/21 "2005-02-23T22:46:46Z")
I thought _Overcat_ was just a one-off. Could be wrong, though, I suppose. But SbS (anyway, if he’s Jewish, shoudn’t it be Simon _ben_ Sinister?) was the predominating recurrent villain. And Simon bar Sinister taught me how to imitate Lionel Barrymore’s voice. 😃
I believe the cavalrymen from _Go Go Gophers_ were supposed to be coyotes.
Tennessee Tuxedo’s mentor Mr. Whoopee (“Phineas J. Whoopee, you’re the greatest!”) always gave his lessons on his Three-dimensional Blackboard (3DBB to the initiated), and he _always_ had to search through his Fibber McGee-esque closet to find it. Whereupon, he would emit the victory cry that earned him his name: “WHOOPEE!”
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/22 "2005-02-23T22:48:34Z")
Always wondered what would happen if Sweet Polly Purebred were in heat…
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/23 "2005-02-23T23:10:34Z")
Wasn’t there a villain named Riff-Raff?
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### Author:  [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/24 "2005-02-23T23:17:39Z")
Simon bar Sinister’s name is one of the coolest in-jokes ever to get past a censor.
In Heraldry, a “bar sinister” is a diagonal band running from the right of the shield and symbolizes an illegitimate offspring - a _bastard_.
Simon The Bastard. Heh.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/25 "2005-02-24T00:41:44Z")
> [@JerH](#):
>
> 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).
> [@Keith Scott](#):
>
> \*n 1961 [_Bullwinkle_ producer/distributor Peter] Piech entered into a partnership…Total Television [cartoons]…were animated at [Mexican animation studio] Gamma [which also animated Ward output], hence the confusion in certain TV reference books, which mistakenly lumped the Total Television output under the Ward Productions banner. (p. 256)
>
> _Dudley Do-Right and His Friends_…[featured Ward] cartoons bookended [by] various rerun elements from both Ward Productions and Total TV…Thus began the confusing spate of shows featuring “Aesop and Son” next to “The King and Odie,” or “Fractured Fairy Tales” followed by “Commander McBragg.” (p. 242)
Cited: Scott, Keith. _The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose._ New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martins, 2000.
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### Author:  [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/26 "2005-02-24T01:47:00Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#):
>
> Wasn’t there a villain named Riff-Raff?
Yep, he was a gangster wolf.
Riff-Raff would be the other contender for Underdog’s arch-enemy, but I always like Simon better.
Of course there was that questionable relationship between Simon and Cad.
\*When criminals in this world appear
and break the laws that they should fear
and freighten all who see or hear
the cry goes out both far and near for…
Underdog\*
Anyone remember the cloud people who were stealing silver because they were clouds without silver linings?
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/27 "2005-02-24T02:28:49Z")
But the most ominous villains that Underdog had to up against were
a) The Flying Sorcerers. “I’m back to myself, but I"m not right at all, I feel myself turning back into a ball!”
b) The Mole Men, with those evil guns. Sweet Polly: “Drink water — the Mole Men are coming!”
* * *
PS — remember the version of the opening “trailer” in which Underdog has to fight a huge King Kong clone? Anyone ever see that character, or did it only make an appearance in the “trailer”?
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/28 "2005-02-24T02:43:34Z")
I remember a cat mountie (who was a total mushmouth) whose arch-enemy was the nasty _voyageur_ rat, Savoir Faire!
_Savoir Faire eez EVERYWHERE!_
Was that in Bullwinkle or Underdog?
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### Author:  [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/29 "2005-02-24T03:00:12Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> I believe the cavalrymen from _Go Go Gophers_ were supposed to be coyotes.
The leader of the fort was Colonel Kit Coyote, but I don’t know that they were all coyotes.
For a good reference for all of the older cartoons being mentioned is [Toontracker](http://www.toontracker.com) (Home of the Lost Cartoons.
It was fun going through that site for some of the cartoons I’d almost forgotten, like Clutch Cargo, Linus the Lionhearted, Roger Ramjet, etc.
Another good one site is [Don Markstein’s Toonopedia](http://www.toonopedia.com/), where you can relive some of the others, like Peter Potamus, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Breezly and Sneezly, Wally Gator, and many others not mentioned here yet.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/30 "2005-02-24T03:18:40Z")
[simon barsinister]
Simon sez: Stop being such lame-ass cartoon geeks!
[/simon barsinister]
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/31 "2005-02-24T06:17:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> I remember a cat mountie (who was a total mushmouth) whose arch-enemy was the nasty _voyageur_ rat, Savoir Faire!
>
> _Savoir Faire eez EVERYWHERE!_
>
> Was that in Bullwinkle or Underdog?
That was Klondike Cat (Kat?). He’s not currently being shown with the Bullwinkle Show that runs early in the morning, so he may have showed up on Underdog.
(We’re getting Mr. Peabody, Aesop’s Fables, and Fractured Fairy Tales with our R&B around here)
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### Author:  [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/32 "2005-02-24T07:34:01Z")
Man, you people are old!
In Chicago, a new station (23) just started airing old **Bullwinkle, Underdog** , and **Tennessee Tuxedo** cartoons in January. I saw the lineup, like, twice, and now I can’t get that TT theme song out of my head!
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/33 "2005-02-24T13:51:53Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#):
>
> 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??
_Not plane or bird
or even frog.
Just little ol’ me, Underdog_
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### Author:  [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/34 "2005-02-24T14:08:39Z")
Thanks for the theme music lyrics! They were very clever; wordplay and wit were important for the Underdog universe. The animation was adequate but the characters had heart. I also remember the Go-go Gophers, and didn’t relate them to real Indians at all, but I can see why they wouldn’t be PC today.
One of the reasons I remember Underdog so vividly is that in the 70s it had one of the biggest and best
[Macy’s Parade giant balloons](http://www.nyctourist.com/macys_history2.htm) ever! It was huge and colorful and totally unbalanced, very very front-heavy. Its specialty was scaring everybody by getting caught in winds in cross-streets and diving for the ground like the Hindenberg every few blocks. We all would scream happily as his gigantic hands, each finger bigger than me and my little brothers put together, stabbed into the pavement on Central Park West a few yards from us. The balloons are better engineered these days but I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for that one.
P.S. The old Bullwinkle bathing-suit one would pratically be flying on his back by the time he reached Columbus Circle, for some reason.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/35 "2005-02-24T15:21:06Z")
\*Out west in Gopher Gulch lived Indian tribe.
Then come the pioneers, pushed them aside.
All Indians leave but two, they vow to fight.
What can two Indians do?
(Gibberish)
Go go gophers, watch them go go go.
Go go gophers, watch them go go go. \*
> [@Uvula Donor](#):
>
> In Heraldry, a “bar sinister” is a diagonal band running from the right of the shield and symbolizes an illegitimate offspring - a bastard.
Heh. Never got that when I was a kid, but it dawned on me when I strudied heraldry briefly back in the '80s.
Has anyone mentioned _Felix the Cat_? When were those made? I remember one of the villains was Rock Bottom (henchman of The Professor).
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### Author:  [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/36 "2005-02-24T15:45:11Z")
I downloaded the Underdog Theme from [this site](http://wavthis.com/TV.html). Played it for Mrs. Genghis and \*she \* got a big ol’ stupid grin on her face, too.
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/37 "2005-02-24T16:00:08Z")
Aw, Sweet Polly Purebred. . .I woulda doggied that bitch something fierce. When she bent over, that skirt would ride up the back of her legs, looking like a dirty filthy librarian.
God, she had to have it.
“Where, oh where, has my Underdog gone?”
“Right behind ya, Toots. . . RUFF!”
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### Author:  [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/38 "2005-02-24T16:11:51Z")
My high school anatomy instructor had a big walrus mustache and I always calmed him “Mr. Chumley.” He was good hearted about it and called me “Tennessee.”
“D’uh…sorry 'bout that Tennessee.”
And another poster was correct - don’t confuse Mr. Whoppee with Professor Peabody (“Every dog should have a boy.”).
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/39 "2005-02-24T16:17:11Z")
Go-Go Gopher’s theme:
-
Out west in Gopher Gulch lived Indian tribe.
Then come the pioneers, pushed them aside.
All Indians leave but two, they vow to fight.
What can two Indians do?
(ooga-booga-booga-booga Ooga-booga-BOO!)
Go go gophers, watch them go go go.
Go go gophers, watch them go go go.
Here comes the colonel with his sargeant,
Both are a-roarin’ and a-chargin’.
Go go gophers, watch them go go go.
…etc
\*
I loved that theme.
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### Author:  [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underdog-cartoon-question/291575/40 "2005-02-24T17:57:10Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> 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)?
Underdog didn’t get his powers from the pill; he was naturally super. He just took the pill in times of dire need when his powers weren’t enough.
Thanks, Shoe-shine Boy; you’re humble _and_ lovable.
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