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.
Written By Ken HulseyAs 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.
Yoo-hoo! Embark on a new adventure with Huckleberry Hound! This canine is ready to bring endless fun to your Hanna-Barbera's The Huckleberry Hound Show collection. This Hanna-Barbera Huckleberry Hound Funko Rewind Vinyl Figure comes in VHS-inspired packaging with a matching character card! The vinyl figure measures approximately 3 3/4-inches tall and the collectible case measures 5 3/4-inches tall x 3 1/4-inches wide x 1 3/4-inches deep!
Surprise! Surprise! This very special item might have limited variants randomly inserted throughout the production run. If extra lucky, you could potentially receive one of these highly sought-after ultra-rare collectibles when you order this item! Please note that we cannot accept requests for specific variants upon ordering, nor can we accept returns of opened items. And the item you receive may be slightly different from the standard edition pictured. Some attached images may include a picture of the prized variant.
In case you didn't know: What is a "chase variant" and why is it so special? Well, variants are slightly different productions made in limited number and inserted into the standard production run. Kind of like a golden ticket, you just never know when you might receive one! These variants are often called chase items because they're the versions that the most enthusiastic collectors are always chasing after to get. When you purchase multiple units, it can increase your chance of landing one of these popular treasures. However, chase pieces are not guaranteed.
Josie and the Pussycats is an American animated television series, based upon the Archie Comics comic book series of the same name created by Dan DeCarlo. Produced for Saturday morning television by Hanna-Barbera Productions, 16 episodes of Josie and the Pussycats aired on CBS during the 1970–71 television season and were rerun during the 1971–72 season. In 1972, the show was re-conceptualized as Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, 16 episodes of which aired on CBS during the 1972–73 season and were rerun the following season until January 1974. Reruns of the original series alternated between CBS, ABC, and NBC from 1974 through 1976. This brought its national Saturday morning TV run on three networks to six years.
Josie and the Pussycats featured an all-girl pop music band that toured the world with their entourage, getting mixed up in strange adventures, spy capers, and mysteries. The group consisted of level-headed lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Josie, intelligent bassist Valerie, and air-headed blonde drummer Melody. Other characters included their cowardly manager Alexander Cabot III, his conniving sister Alexandra, her cat Sebastian, and muscular roadie Alan.
The show, more similar to Hanna-Barbera's successful Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! than the original Josie comic book, is famous for its music, the girls' leopard print leotards (replete with "long tails and ears for hats", as the theme song states), and for featuring Valerie as the first regularly appearing female black character in a Saturday morning cartoon show. Each episode featured a Josie and the Pussycats song played over a chase scene, which, in a similar fashion to The Monkees, featured the group running after and away from a selection of haplessly villainous characters.
Origins:
During the 1968-69 television season, the first Archie-based Saturday morning cartoon, The Archie Show, was a huge success, not only in the ratings on CBS, but also on the Billboard charts: The Archies' song "Sugar, Sugar" hit the #1 spot on the Billboard charts in September 1969, becoming the number one song of the year. Animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions wanted to duplicate the success their competitors Filmation were having with The Archie Show. After a failed attempt at developing a teenage-music-band show of their own called Mysteries Five (which eventually became Scooby-Doo, Where are You!), they decided to go to the source and contacted Archie Comics about possibly adapting one of their remaining properties into a show similar to The Archie Show. Archie and Hanna-Barbera collaborated to adapt Archie's Josie comic book into a music-based property about a teenage music band, adding new characters (Alan M. and Valerie) while dismissing others. - Wikipedia (READ MORE)
Josie and the Pussycats featured an all-girl pop music band that toured the world with their entourage, getting mixed up in strange adventures, spy capers, and mysteries. On the small-screen, the group consisted of level-headed lead singer and guitarist Josie McCoy, intelligent tambourinist Valerie Brown, and air-headed blonde drummer Melody Valentine. Other characters included their cowardly manager Alexander Cabot III, his conniving sister Alexandra, her cat Sebastian, and muscular roadie Alan M.Mayberry
The show, more similar to Hanna-Barbera's successful Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! than the original Josie comic book, is famous for its music, the girls' leopard print leotards (replete with "long tails and ears for hats," as the theme song states), and for featuring Valerie as the first regularly appearing female black character in a Saturday morning cartoon show. Each episode featured a Josie and the Pussycats song played over a chase scene, which, in a similar fashion to The Monkees, featured the group running after and from a selection of haplessly villainous characters.
Every episode of the show would find the Pussycats and crew en route to perform a gig or record a song in some exotic location. Somehow, often due to something Alexandra did, they would accidentally find themselves mixed up in an adventure/mystery. The antagonist was always a diabolical mad scientist, spy, or criminal who wanted to take over the world using some hi-tech device. The Pussycats would usually find themselves in possession of the plans for an invention, an item of interest to the villains, a secret spy message, etc., and the villains would give chase. Eventually, the Pussycats would formulate a plan to destroy the villain's plans and bring them to justice, which result in a final chase sequence set to a Pussycats song.
The Pussycats would succeed in capturing the villain and get back to their gig/recording session/etc. The final gag always centered around one of Alexandra's attempts to interfere with/put an end to The Pussycats' performance and/or steal Alan away from Josie. - From Cartoon Network (READ MORE)
Trivia:
full album and and two 45-RPM singles were released by Capitol/EMI Records in connection with the show. Neither of the Josie & the Pussycats singles - "Every Beat of My Heart" and "Stop, Look, and Listen" - became chart hits like the songs from another Archie Comics series, The Archie Show (1968). Four further Pussycats 45s were relegated to the status of mail-in prizes on the back of Kellogg's cereals. - From IMDB (READ MORE)
Here is a great article about Josie and the Pussycats:
How Valerie In Josie and the Pussycats Was Almost Not African-American!
From CBR
When I picked Patrice, Hanna and Barbera called me down to the office....They said good news and bad news: We’re going do the show but we can’t use Patrice because she’s black. I said I can’t do that because it’s against my religion. I can’t tell her Patrice she can’t do it because she’s black. About three weeks later they called me down. I said, “You got a new show?” They said, “No, we’re going do Josie and the Pussycats.” I said, “Don’t do that to me. I won’t do it unless Patrice does it. Just paint the storyboard black.”
Hanna-Barbera’s “Josie and the Pussycats” on Records
From Cartoon Research
Behind the music, there was Danny Janssen, already well-versed in bubblegum/franchise pop with Bobby Sherman and The Partridge Family. These songs were not afterthoughts (as Saturday morning pop seemed to become as the’70s progressed) but well-crafted songs with tight backing from top musicians.
The Capitol LP did not include several of the familiar songs from the TV show, including the theme song (adapted by Hoyt Curtin, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera from a piece of incidental music from The Jetsons). The trio also offered their musical take on some popular tunes of the day, including Bread’s “It Don’t Matter to Me,” which provides an interesting connection: it was written by Bread’s lead singer David Gates, who also penned the theme to H-B’s animated feature, Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear. In addition to the LP, Capitol released two Josie singles for radio play and four singles available only through mail order with box tops from Kellogg’s cereals.
The four singers were chosen from hundreds, and would have toured had all the grand plans come to fruition. Cathy Dougher was a classically trained theatrical musical and opera vocalist. Cherie Moore (Cheryl Ladd) was, according to the album notes, “an accomplished actress and dancer” who as a singer “appeared as the ‘warm-up act’ for Jack Benny at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.
Of course, Moore (her name changed to Cheryl Ladd) became an international star when she took the place of Farrah Fawcett on Charlie’s Angels and relaunched her singing career based on the higher profile that series afforded her. But the one singer who not only most firmly gave the trio its vocal sound, but deserved greater stardom was the amazing Patrice Holloway, most notable at the time for having written the hit “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” for Blood, Sweat and Tears.
In the series' original opening sequence, Alexandra attempts to blow up the band... but, like Wile E. Coyote, is herself blown up. When edited for re-broadcast, this sequence, coming toward the end of the theme song, is replaced with more footage of Josie and the Pussycats dancing... but, because the sound of the explosion is part of the theme track, the explosion itself has been left intact. - From IMDB (READ MORE)
Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles is an American Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1966. It premiered September 10, 1966, on CBS, and ran for two seasons.
Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles is an animated television show, produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS in 1966. Each half-hour consisted of one Frankenstein Jr. story and two with the Impossibles. It ran for two seasons before complaints about violence in children's television led to the series' cancellation.
Frankenstein Jr.
Frankenstein Jr. is a giant flying humanoid robot. He and his young master, Buzz Conroy, battle monsters and confront mad scientists. Buzz and Frankenstein Jr. later made a cameo appearance in an episode of Yogi's Space Race.
The Impossibles
The Impossibles are a trio of rock 'n' roll guitarists who are secretly superheroes. Coil Man has springs for arms and legs, Fluid Man can change his body into water, and Multi Man can duplicate himself as many times as needed. Their powers were later given to three of the Super Globetrotters.
And now a word from our sponsor:
And now a great outside review from Horror Buzz
And so the Impossibles, ordinary singing group, become the Impossibles crime fighters in the war against crime…
There is a joy and beauty in the timelessness of cartoons to a child. By the time I was growing up in the 70’s, I had no idea that so many of the programs I loved and treasured had actually come and gone before I was even born. One such cartoon treasure is Hanna Barbera’s Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles. The beauty of these Saturday morning cartoons is that they made the transition to afternoon cartoon series seamlessly. And these were beautiful cartoons that walked the line between horror, hero, and humor so very well.
Frankenstein Jr. was the story of a father and son scientist team who create a super crime fighting robot. The boy Buzz Conroy (Dick Beals) would control and “energize” the powerful robot (Frankie, played by Ted Cassidy) with the use of his energizer ring, while his father Professor Conroy (John Stephenson) would monitor their “demon detector” and remotely figure out how to fight and defeat the demon du jour. Yes folks there were monsters on Saturday morning all the time for our action hero’s to fight. No wonder I love them so much today.
Get ready to rock out! This boxed set contains 3 figures, a range of accessories, and a retro play set diorama that recreates the Pussycats' iconic stage!
Josie and the Pussycats featured an all-girl pop band that toured the world with their entourage, getting mixed up in all sorts of adventures and mysteries.
The Josie and the Pussycats 5 Points Boxed Set includes:Josie – the level-headed leader and co-founder of the Pussycats who is known for being cool, calm, and collected during moments of chaos. Josie comes with a pair of interchangeable arms so that she can hold her signature instrument, a guitar. Melody – the bubbly and sometimes absent-minded cofounder of the Pussycats who is known for speaking in a sing-song voice. Melody comes with a pair of interchange arms and legs so that she can sit and play her signature instrument, the drums. Valerie – the main songwriter of the Pussycats who is known for being quick-tempered. Valerie comes with a pair of interchangeable arms so that she can hold her signature instruments, tambourines. Accessories incldudes:1x pair of interchangeable Josie arms
1x guitar 1x pair of interchangeable Melody arms 1x pair of interchangeable Melody legs 1x drum set 1x pair of interchangeable Valerie arms 2x tambourines 3x display bases
5 Points are Mezco's upgrade to the articulated action figures of yesteryear. These highly detailed, poseable action figures feature some of pop culture's most familiar faces, both old and new.
5 Points Josie and the Pussycats Boxed Set is packaged in a collector-friendly box, designed with collectors in mind.
Hanna-Barbera's team of stone-age superheroes appear on their very own 'Toon Tumbler with this awesome image from The Herculoids! PopFun's expanding line of 'Toon Tumblers barware features large images, brilliant colors, and more of your favorite comic and cartoon characters than any other line of glassware. Measures about 5 3/4-inches tall. Hand wash only. Not dishwasher safe. Do not microwave. For ages 14 and up.Company: PopFun Merchandising
Uncle Scrooge seeks a fountain of youth, but when he discovers it isn't quite what he bargained for, it's up to Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie to turn him back into his old self! And when Launchpad (Shockingly!) makes a mistake while flying, the next candidate to be Scrooge's pilot is… Dewey?! 28 pages, full color.
"Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!": Ranger Smith has Yogi and Boo-Boo sent to the San Diego Zoo; Yogi escapes; Yogi's girlfriend Cindy goes looking for him and is kidnapped by a circus owner; Yogi and Boo-Boo travel to save Cindy and bring her home. Based on the 1964 film.
I was a teenager in the 80s and I honestly never heard of this. (Or maybe I'm just so old now that I forgot about it?)
From Crunchyroll
Tsuburaya Productions announced today that a Blu-ray disc of Ultraman USA, its co-production anime film with Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1987, will be released on September 26, 2018.
The film was inspired by the concept of Tsuburaya's long-running Ultraman tokusatsu superhero franchise,but its story was set in the US and featured three American protagonists, who transform into Ultraman Scott, Ultraman Chuck, and Ultrawoman Beth. Mitsuo Kusakabe (Kirby: Right Back at Ya!) served as director.
Under the title Ultraman: The Adventure Begins, its English-dub version was first aired in the US in October 1987, then its Japanese-dub version was screened as part of the "Ultraman Festival" event along with two episodes of Ultraman and Ultraman A in April 1989. Short introduction anime footage of Ultraman Kid were also attached to the beginning of each episode.
Its VHS was released in September 1989, then its laser disc was added in July 1991, but no DVD or Blu-ray have been officially released. The film's original 35mm film is digitally remastered in Hi-Vision resolution for the Blu-ray, and both the 75-minute Japanese and 78-minute English versions are included in the disc. In addition, the Ultraman Kid anime footage used in "Ultraman Festival" also comes as a bonus content. The price is 7,800 yen (about 72 US dollars).
I wonder if we will be able to get this here in America? I will have to see if I can dig up anything on that.
Bring back the golden age of Saturday Morning cartoons! From Hanna-Barbera's Secret Squirrel Show, this bucktoothed squirrel is the James Bond of the rodent world. Standing approximately 3 3/4-inches tall, Secret (aka SS, aka Agent 000) appears just as you remember him in a purple fedora covering his eyes and a trench coat.
It was 50 years ago this coming Sunday that the Jetson family first jetpacked their way into American homes. The show lasted just one season (24 episodes) after its debut on Sunday September 23, 1962, but today “The Jetsons” stands as the single most important piece of 20th century futurism. More episodes were later produced in the mid-1980s, but it’s that 24-episode first season that helped define the future for so many Americans today.
It’s easy for some people to dismiss “The Jetsons” as just a TV show, and a lowly cartoon at that. But this little show—for better and for worse—has had a profound impact on the way that Americans think and talk about the future. And it’s for this reason that, starting this Friday, I’ll begin to explore the world of “The Jetsons” one episode at a time. Each week I’ll look at a new episode from the original 1962-63 series, beginning with the premiere episode, “Rosey the Robot.“
(More After The Break)
Futures Redux
Five decades after its debut, not a day goes by that someone isn’t using “The Jetsons” as a way to talk about the fantastic technological advancements we’re seeing today. Or conversely, evidence of so many futuristic promises that remain unfulfilled. Just look at a handful of news stories from the past few days:
In fashion. (“Who better than the Jetsons to be inspired by for an out of space theme?”)
Johnny Depp talks about the West Memphis Three emerging from prison after nearly two decades. ( ”By the time you came out, it’s ‘The Jetsons.’ It’s a whole ‘nother world.”)
James Cameron talks about the future of interactive movies. (“There might be a certain amount of interactivity, so when you look around, it creates that image wherever you look,” Cameron says. He concedes it is far off: “You’re talking ‘Jetsons’ here.”)
The future of cars, as depicted at the Los Angeles Auto Show. (“Considering that 2025 is only 13 years away, you would think that nobody’s going to go ‘Jetsons’ with their presentation, but the LAASDC doesn’t roll like that.”)
The sound of kitschy futurism in modern music. (“Silencio allows Sadier’s various musical influences to breathe and linger, without being upstaged by the motorik propulsion, and ‘Jetsons’ kitsch, of the Stereolab formula.”)
