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!”
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.
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?
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”?
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 (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, 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.
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)
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!
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 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.
*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. *
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).
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.
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.”).
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.
