Who else remembers the 1960s Lone Ranger cartoon ?

Cafe Society
1

Back when Saturday Morning *was *Saturday Morning, there was an animated versiuon of The Lone Ranger that ran for a couple of seasons in 1967 or thereabouts. This being the same time the original *Wild Wild West *was being broadcast, the storylines often had the Ranger and Tonto facing old-timey renditions of Mad Science like ray-guns, hovercrafts, robots and man-eating plants, or actual monsters and supernatural menaces.

I seem to recall one episode (it was a half-hour show with three segments in each) about a bad guy who’d had the paws of a grizzly bear grafted onto his arms, which was pretty weird for a cartoon adventure show (one that that wasn’t Jonny Quest), and plenty scary to an imaginative 8-year old.

And there was a recurring character who was either a blatant rip-off of, or direct homage to, The Wild Wild West – Tiny Tom, a little archvillain who was either a precocious J.D. or a vicious midget like TWWW’s Dr. Loveless. He was always trying to take over the world with robotized toy soldiers or something equally bizarre.

The animation was limited, but drawn in a dark, gritty style that suited the rest of the cartoon excellently.; while the stories were fairly simple they were also pretty imaginative.

There’s a handful of episodes on You-Tube, but none of the ones I recall vividly and would like to see again.

Obviously this is one of those cartoons which I dug as a kid for its own sake but now have distinct, grown-up interests in. So I’m just throwing it out to whoever else might’ve seen it – does anyone else have fond memories of this cartoon? Was it really as good and as weird as I remember it? Tiny Tom – a midget, or a kid? And what about that guy with the bear claws instead of hands?

2

I have memories of it, but not fond. I wasn’t into westerns as a kid – even souped-up sci-fi westerns like Wild, Wild West and the curiouisity that was the animated Lone Ranger.

3

My favorite bit:

“What the hell do you want Tonto for, anyway?”
“To perform an unnatural act.”

What? Oh, never mind.

4

I remember it well. There were even segments that were solo adventures for Tonto. I was a big fan of The Wild Wild West, so this cartoon appealed to me.

5

This is the only Lone Ranger I really remember, and I can’t even remember that.

There’s talk they’re going to try and make a new movie.

6

I remember it well. Came on just before the Road Runner.

They were fond of using Grieg’s Ase’s Death as theme music when things were quiet/ominous.

7

Ah, Tiny Tom…I remember his “Speedy The Alka-Seltzer Boy” voice well.

IMDB doesn’t list it, but I am 100 percent certain that Dick Beals did “Terrible Tiny Tom’s” voice.

8

The 60’s cartoon was, unfortunately, my introduction to the character. I say “unfortunately” because that weird-ass cartoon probably gave me the wrong idea about what the Lone Ranger was supposed to be like.

In any case, here’s a sample of the series courtesy of YouTube.