Atomic Hits - The Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Songs Of All Time!

 Fleetwood Mac, a legendary British-American rock band, was formed in London back in 1967. Initially brought together by the talented guitarist Peter Green, the skilled drummer Mick Fleetwood, and the equally talented guitarist Jeremy Spencer, the band began crafting its unique sound. Soon after, bassist John McVie joined the lineup, contributing to their self-titled debut album, which laid the groundwork for their future success. In 1968, the band welcomed Danny Kirwan as a third guitarist, adding even more depth to their music.

Retro Saturday Morning: Jana of the Jungle (1978)(NBC)

"Jana of the Jungle" is a captivating 30-minute animated series that delighted audiences on Saturday mornings, crafted by the creative mind of Doug Wildey and brought to life by the renowned Hanna-Barbera Productions. It aired on NBC from September 9, 1978, to December 2, 1978, captivating young viewers with its adventurous spirit. Originally part of the "Godzilla Power Hour," this animated gem found its place in the spotlight before transitioning into "The Godzilla Super 90."

Retro Saturday Morning | 2025 Year in Review | Classic Cartoons Remembered

Written By Ken Hulsey

As 2025 comes to a close, I can't help but reminisce about one of the standout features here at Atomic Robot: our beloved weekly Retro Saturday Morning articles. These pieces celebrate the enchanting cartoons that captivated a generation from the 1960s through the 1980s—a transformative era when cartoons transitioned from being the highlight of early weekend mornings to a delightful part of after-school programming.

Who among us doesn't recall the sheer joy of hopping out of bed on a Saturday morning, still clad in our cozy PJs, and scampering into the family den or living room? For a magical span between 6 AM and noon, the television belonged to us! It was our golden opportunity to take the reins of the television dial, a rare moment I cherished deeply. Back then, with only three major networks—NBC, CBS, and ABC—tuning in meant a treasure trove of animated wonders and live-action series tailored just for children and young adults. What bliss it was!

Retro Toy Rodeo: Mego's Planet of the Apes Fortress Playset (1975)

 Written By Ken Hulsey

One of the most unforgettable Christmas gifts I received back in the 1970s was the Mego Planet of the Apes Fortress Playset. Despite being made of laminated cardboard, this playset was a tough contender, surviving countless battles with determined human rebels and the occasional rogue mutant from the forbidden zone. For those who may not know, the Planet of the Apes toy line was a groundbreaking success, becoming the leading franchise spun off from a film series during that era. This phenomenal popularity actually set the stage for Kenner's blockbuster Star Wars toy line just a few years later.

 

Retro Toy Rodeo: Milton Bradley's Electronic Star Bird (1978)

 Written By Ken Hulsey

As Christmas draws near, it feels like the perfect time to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and remember some of the most iconic toys from our childhood. One standout that leaps to mind is the incredible Star Bird space transport, released by Milton Bradley in 1979. Riding the wave of the Star Wars phenomenon, this toy was a shining example of innovative playtime technology for its era.

Quark - From The Land Of Forgotten Television | Retro TV Rewind

Quark is a delightful American science fiction sitcom that originally graced the NBC network screens, featuring the talented Richard Benjamin in the lead role. The pilot episode made its debut on May 7, 1977, and the show was later picked up as a mid-season replacement, hitting the airwaves again in February 1978. Sadly, despite its unique charm, the series was canceled in April 1978, having left a distinct mark during its brief run.

One Of The Funniest Moments In TV History - As God As My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly!

 Written By Ken Hulsey

Just a mere 45 years ago, an iconic moment in television history unfolded that still brings a chuckle today. Picture this: the November 22, 1978 episode of the beloved sitcom *WKRP in Cincinnati*, titled "Turkeys Away." The plot revolved around a rather outrageous publicity stunt where the radio station decided to drop live turkeys from a helicopter. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Well, there's just one little hiccup with this plan—turkeys are not exactly known for their flying abilities.

 

Project U.F.O. | Season 1 - Episode 3 | "Sighting 4003: The Fremont Incident" | From The Land of Forgotten Television

 Project U.F.O. is a fascinating television series that aired on NBC in the late 1970s, specifically from 1978 to 1979. This intriguing show ran for two seasons and was inspired by the real-life Project Blue Book, which focused on the United States Air Force's investigations into unidentified flying objects. The series was the brainchild of Jack Webb, a seasoned creator known for his work on Dragnet. He extensively combed through Air Force documents to find ideas for the episodes, offering viewers a unique glimpse into the world of UFO investigations.

Retro Saturday Morning: The New Fantastic Four (1978)(NBC)

 Written By Ken Hulsey

Growing up, I was always captivated by Marvel's Fantastic Four comic book series. So you can imagine my excitement when NBC announced they were launching a cartoon adaptation featuring my beloved heroes! The series included many of the iconic elements I adored from the comics: Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, with his incredible ability to stretch his body in almost every way conceivable, the brilliant Sue Storm, famously dubbed The Invisible Girl, and the tough-as-nails Ben Grimm, who transforms into The Thing. The stories also prominently featured the Baxter Building and the Fantasticar, and even included guest appearances from other Marvel favorites like the Inhumans, Spider-Man, and the X-Men.

Remember The Addams Family's Spooky Charm? | Retro Saturday Morning

Written By Ken Hulsey

It's truly exciting to dive into the intricacies of the human mind! Over the past two weeks, I’ve been on a joyful journey researching early 1970s cartoons for my Retro Saturday Morning feature, and it’s been like a treasure hunt as I rediscover a plethora of shows that filled my childhood with laughter and good times. What’s most captivating? The astonishing speed at which our minds can reignite memories and emotions from long ago, simply triggered by a familiar image or tune.

 

Retro Saturday Morning: Remembering Godzilla's Animated Adventures!

 Written By Ken Hulsey

As many of you know, I’m a huge Godzilla enthusiast, so I thought it was about time to highlight a classic that’s been long overdue on Retro Saturday Morning. We're talking about an American cartoon that features Japan's most iconic monster, Godzilla! Back in 1978, Hanna-Barbera—famous for beloved shows like The Flintstones and The Jetsons—decided to create its own animated series featuring this legendary creature. This project, dubbed **Godzilla Power Hour**, not only spotlighted Godzilla but also featured the adventure series Jana of the Jungle. It made its debut on NBC on September 9, 1978, and ran in various formats until 1981. 

Rediscovering Land of the Lost: Your Guide to the 1970s Classic | Retro TV Rewind

 Written By Ken Hulsey

During what began as an ordinary rafting adventure, the Marshall family—Rick and his spirited children, Will and Holly—suddenly find themselves catapulted through a mysterious time portal into a fantastical realm teeming with prehistoric creatures and bizarre beings. As they navigate this extraordinary world, the Marshalls must adapt quickly to survive, leaning on surprising allies and drawing strength from each other in this tumultuous landscape. Facing daily challenges, whether it's outrunning ferocious dinosaurs or outsmarting the menacing Sleestack, a species of lizard-like humanoids, their bond as a family deepens.

Rediscovering the Magic of Wonder Woman | Retro TV Rewind

 Written By Ken Hulsey

Lynda Carter holds a special place in television history, forever cherished for her iconic portrayal of Wonder Woman during her four-year run in American prime time. This Amazonian goddess, celebrated for her strength and beauty, became the quintessential defender of freedom and captivated audiences worldwide. Lynda, a talented actress with Native American and Hispanic heritage, was a natural choice for the role that originated in DC Comics back in the 1940s. Considering her recognition as Miss World-USA in 1973, it was no surprise that her involvement would sparkle like television gold.

Rediscovering the Fun of Retro Saturday Mornings with Captain Caveman

 "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" is a beloved animated series that first made its debut on ABC in 1977, thanks to the creative talents at Hanna-Barbera. Originally part of the diverse lineup in "Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics," the show quickly gained popularity, leading it to be spun off into its own distinct series. It followed a familiar format reminiscent of the classic Scooby-Doo comedy-mystery setup, which fans of the era had come to love.

Remembering the Excitement of Emergency +4 on NBC | Retro Saturday Morning

This week on Retro Saturday Morning, we're diving into a classic from 1973! One of the standout shows of the time was *Emergency*, which focused on the exciting lives of two firemen/paramedics, Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto, played by the talented Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe. The show not only captured viewers' hearts but also inspired an animated series featuring Johnny and Roy, along with four enthusiastic youths—Carol, Matt, Jason, and Randy—and their adorable pets: Flash the dog, Charlemayne the myna bird, and Bananas the monkey. Seriously, what was it about the '70s and having a monkey in every show? 

Remembering the Fun of Retro Saturday Mornings with Speed Buggy | Retro TV Rewind

Speed Buggy is a delightful Saturday morning cartoon that aired on CBS from September 8, 1973, to August 30, 1975, and was created by the talented folks at Hanna-Barbera Productions. Much like the beloved Scooby-Doo Where Are You!, Speed Buggy takes viewers on exciting adventures with its lively cast including an adorable anthropomorphic fiberglass dune buggy named Speed Buggy (voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc), his enthusiastic driver Tinker (voiced by Phil Luther Jr. and inspired by Jim Nabors' character Gomer Pyle), and their friends Mark (voiced by Michael Bell) and Debbie (voiced by Arlene Golonka). 

Intergalactic Refugees Flee Cylon Empire | Battlestar Galactica (TV 1978-1979) | Retro TV Rewind

Written By Ken Hulsey

Battlestar Galactica (TV 1978-1979)

Directed By: Richard A. Colla & Alan J. Levi
Written By: Glen A. Larson
Cast: Richard Hatch as Captain Apollo, Dirk Benedict as Lt. Starbuck, Lorne Greene as Commander Adama, Herb Jefferson Jr. as Lt. Boomer, Maren Jensen as Athena, Tony Swartz as Sgt. Jolly, Noah Hathaway as Boxey, Terry Carter as Col. Tigh, Lew Ayres as President Adar, Wilfred Hyde-White as Sire Anton, John Colicos as Count Baltar, Laurette Spang as Cassiopeia, John Fink as Dr. Paye, Jane Seymour as Serina, Ray Milland as Sire Uri, Anne Lockhart as Sheba, Ed Begly Jr. as Ens. Greenbean, Patrick Macnee as Imperious Leader (Voice), Jonathan Harris as Lucifer (Voice), Janet Julian as Lt. Brie, Sarah Rush as Flight Cpl. Rigel.

No TV series that lasted only one season can boast a bigger fan base than Battlestar Galactica. The series that Newsweek Magazine dubbed "Son of Star Wars" still, decades later, hosts hordes of loyal, die-hard fans. What is the appeal of the series so many years after it left the airwaves in 1979? It was a popular series revived by the Sci Fi Channel as a new reinvisioned series. This fleet-on-the-run story, based loosely on Mormonism, may be more popular today than it was then. As a fan of the show from its original airing, I can tell you that the series left a lasting impression. I can still remember being that eleven-year-old boy who tuned in every Sunday night with joy for a new episode of Galactica. Star Wars had come to TV, or at least the next best thing. Remember, there were no DVDs or VCRs in the late 1970s.

Retro Saturday Morning: Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1975) | Retro TV Rewind

Star Trek: The Animated Series, originally titled Star Trek and The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, continued the voyages of the USS Enterprise following the original live-action show. NBC's interest in reviving Star Trek came after they discovered, through their updated Nielsen rating system, that the original series had actually been one of their most successful shows, particularly with their coveted male 18-45 demographic. This realization came too late, as Paramount had already cleared out most production assets, making a live-action revival cost-prohibitive at approximately $750,000. Instead, NBC commissioned an animated version.

Kingdom Of The Spiders (1977) - Creepy Crawly Sci-Fi | Dimension Pictures | Retro Cinema Rewind

 Written By: Ken Hulsey

It is always entertaining to see how the cast from the original "Star Trek" television series tried to move on after the show got the ax. Many of the cast members continued to look for jobs in the industry. DeForest Kelley starred in the giant rabbit flick "Night of the Lepus," and Walter Koenig actually began writing episodes for TV series, including "The Stranger," which introduced Enik on "Land of the Lost." Nichelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner all attempted singing careers—the less said about that, the better.

Sci Fi Saturday Morning: The New Adventures of Flash Gordon (1979 - 1982 NBC)

 

The animated series 'Flash Gordon' (1979 - 1982 NBC) was originally conceived as a live action film for television, but it soon became clear that live-action would be cost prohibitive, so an animated film was instead commissioned. The results were so well received that it was decided not to air it as a film, but instead as a series. The film was heavily re-edited to play as a weekly serial and many additional episodes were ordered. After the series was canceled, the original version of the film (which included a lengthy prologue and other scenes that were never seen in the series) aired under the title 'Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All.'

As the show was originally conceived for prime time rather than Saturday mornings, the first season was more violent and featured 'sexier' women than other Saturday-morning shows of the period. It also ran as an updated version of an old-style chapter play, with one overarching serialized story rather than separate, self-contained episodes. The second season was made more kid-friendly and abandoned the serialized format for two 11-minute mini-episodes, a miscalculation as the show's ratings then plummeted severely, leading to cancellation.

Dino De Laurentiis became a "ghost" producer on the series when Filmation developed monetary problems completing the animation involving the use of computers to create the spaceship animation, one of the first uses of computers in traditional animation. Since DeLaurentis was seeking the rights for the use of the Flash Gordon property for a live action film, and Filmation held the rights for all filmed media for the Flash Gordon characters, Filmation and DeLaurentis came to a deal. In exchange for the funding to complete the animation on the series, DeLaurentis would get the live action film rights to Flash Gordon while Filmation would retain the rights to animated projects featuring Flash Gordon.

The animated series first season follows, more or less, the traditional Flash Gordon mythos, opening with the launch of the rocket ship carrying Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov from somewhere in the Eastern Hemisphere (or at least the opening scene shows the ship clearing Earth's atmosphere above Europe and the Middle East). The series actually opens with the crash of the Terran ship into an ocean on Mongo after being attacked during the final approach to the planet.

In the opening scenes, after being captured by Ming's Gill Men, Gordon, Arden, and Zarkov meet King Thun the Lion-man and Prince Barin of the forest-kingdom of Arboria. This coincidence (meeting reigning royalty of two different realms by apparent chance) sets much of the tone of the series, in which it must be concluded either that logic is irrelevant, or that Destiny is at work in the arrival of Flash Gordon on Mongo. It is later revealed that an earlier king of all Mongo, more powerful than Ming, was named Gor-dan, and that he strongly resembled Flash. When he asks Zarkov why this is, Zarkov simply replies that there are some things even science can't explain.

The remainder of the first season consists of the adventures of Gordon and company across the face of Mongo, in traditional pulp style passing from one near-death situation to another with a cheery disregard for probability or logic, and a definite sense of fun. The protagonists meet Emperor Ming almost immediately, and Ming is revealed as being the classic archetype of the Evil Overlord. Flash later gains the aid of King Vultan, ruler of the Hawkmen and the bandit chieftain Gundar, the Desert Hawk as friends and allies, and also gains the attention of many of Mongo's female monarchs, such as the adventurous Queen Undina of Coralia, the kindly, smoky-voiced Queen Fria of Frigia, Azura, the powerful but delusional Witch-Queen of Syk, former lover of King Gor-dan who believes Flash is his reincarnation, and the strong-willed Queen Desira of Tropica. But the most notable of these admirers was, of course, Princess Aura. Violence is somewhat limited but not completely absent. Flash carries a ray pistol after the fifth episode, but uses it only occasionally, to set a stump aflame and attract attention, to bring down an avalanche on an attacking monster, to blast through a wall, and occasionally to stun but not kill adversaries. Prince Barin and his men are armed with "ice arrows" that freeze whatever they hit. Most other forces, including King Vultan's Hawk Men, the Frigian "snow troopers," and the royal guard and desert tribesmen of Tropica are armed with conventional ray weapons that disintegrate whatever they hit, as are Ming's forces, mainly composed of robots, although led by human officers. Ship to ship combat does result in the shooting down of several fighters on both sides, and there is a limited amount of hand-to-hand fighting in certain scenes.

Also Check Out:

Retro Saturday Morning: The Batman/Superman Hour (CBS)(1968-69)

Retro Saturday Morning: Josie and the Pussycats (1971-72)(CBS)

Retro Saturday Morning: Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles (1966-67)(CBS)

Retro Saturday Morning: Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974)(CBS)