Rocketship Weird Retro Captain's Blog - Weird Retro

Kids TV: The Amazing Chan & The Chan Clan

28/3/2015

It's Saturday, so time for another vintage morning kids TV animation from Hanna Barbera. Based on the fictional Chinese detective, the character of Mr. (Charlie) Chan was played by Keye Luke. The only actor of Chinese decent to ever play the character. Luke played Charlie Chan's "number one son", in the movies of the 1930s and 40s. He also played the original Kato, in the Green Hornet movie series, as well as Master Po in the 70s series Kung Fu, and Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie Gremlins.

In the animation series, Mr. Chan, his large clan of children and their dog Chu Chu solve mysteries. As with every Hanna Barbera mystery solving team, the Chan Clan had their vehicle, a van that could transform at the press of a button. In addition the series borrowed the idea of a band from animations like The Archies. So each episode featured a song, which was played over an action sequence. Ex-Archies lead singer Ron Dante provided the vocals for the songs.

Oddly, Mr. Chan had 10 children, and was supposed to be widowed. Although no wife or mother was ever mentioned, or any other relatives. The voices of the children were redubbed after production, as it was thought that their original "thick" Chinese accents were too strong for young children to understand. The original cast had been mostly ethnically Chinese and Japanese, the new cast were mostly white American, and featured an early voice role for the young Jodie Foster.

Like many Hanna Barbera animations, The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan had only one season produced, made up of 16 episodes. Originally aired from September 1972 until December that same year. Though as with many of the Saturday morning animations, it was shown on repeat throughout the 70s, and into the 80s on syndication. The show is still shown on reruns today, via Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang.

Kids TV: Hong Kong Phooey

21/3/2015

Continuing the theme of Hanna Barbera Saturday morning animations, just had to do Hong Kong Phooey. I couldn't believe like many Hanna Barbera animations that Hong Kong Phooey only lasted for one season, of 16 episodes. Originally aired on ABC between September and December 1974.

The character of Hong Kong Phooey was the alter-ego of mild mannered janitor Penrod "Penry" Pooch, who worked at a police station under the ever watchful eye of Sergeant "Sarge" Flint. Penry transforms himself into Hong Kong Phooey by going into a magic filing cabinet. When upon he'd always get stuck, and have to be released by Spot the cat.

Once transformed into the eponymous superhero, he'd fight crime by referring to his The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu. Our inept hero would usually me saved from misadventure by Spot, or as a inadvertent side-effect of his actions. Like many crime fighting animation characters, Phooey had his vehicle. The Phooeymobile, which transforms itself into a boat, a plane, or a telephone booth depending on the circumstances by banging his gong or changes automatically whenever necessary.

Each episode begins with Rosemary, the telephone operator, getting a call. Explaining the crime to Sergeant Flint, upon which Penry, transforms himself into Phooey, whom Rosemary has a crush on.

Hong Kong Phooey was voiced by Scatman Crothers. Sergeant Flint was voiced by Joe E. Ross, best known as Officer Gunther Toody in the early '60s television series Car 54, Where Are You?. As Flint, Ross revived Toody's famous "Ooh! Ooh!" exclamation. Sergeant Flint was very similar both in voice and appearance to Botch, assistant zookeeper at the Wonderland Zoo on Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch, whom Ross also voiced.

Kids TV: The Six Million Dollar Man

19/3/2015

Probably my all time favourite TV show as a little kid growing up in the 70s. One of my favourite T-shirts I wore to death had Steve Austin's face emblazoned across it, and of course I had the Six Million Dollar Man action figure. You were a no-body as a kid in the 70s if you didn't have one.

Six Million Dollar Man on TV started with a made-for-TV movie of the week, by ABC in March 1973. They had gained the rights to make the movie, after optioning the 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin. Which told the story of Steve Austin we know so well.

Steve was a former astronaut turned test pilot, that after being dragged out of a near fatal crash, was rebuilt using new cybernetic technology. The first movie was a major ratings success and was followed by two more made-for-TV movies in October and November 1973. The success of these was closely followed in January 1974 by the début of The Six Million Dollar Man as a weekly hour-long series.

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man." The lines from the opening sequence that still stick in my head some 40 years later. Every playground in the 70s had dozens of lads pretending to run in slow-motion and lift heavy objects with the "du-du-du-du-du-du..." sound effect. Even recently I was looking to buy some new trainers, and had a look to see if I could get the exact Adidas that Lee Majors, as Steve Austin wore on the show. I couldn't, but got some very close approximation Gazelles.

The massive success of The Six Million Dollar Man spawned a spin-off / cross-over show, The Bionic Woman. The show starred Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Summors, tennis star who suffered a near fatal parachute accident to become bionic. The Six Million Dollar ran for 5 seasons, and finally ended in 1978. The Bionic Woman ran for 3 seasons, from 1976 to 1978. The show made Lee Majors a huge international star, and the Bionic Man (as he was sometimes referred to), one of the biggest and most well remembered cultural icons of the 70s.

There were three subsequent made-for-television movies: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown (1989) and Bionic Ever After? (1994) in which Austin and Sommers finally marry.

Weird Retro Fact: The dialogue spoken Lee Majors during the opening credits, is based upon the real communication of test pilot Bruce Peterson, prior to the M2-F2 crash on May 10, 1967. "Flight com, I can't hold her! She's breaking up! She's breaking..." Peterson's aircraft hit the ground at approximately 250 mph (402 km/h) and tumbled six times. But Peterson survived what appeared to be a fatal accident. Actual footage from the crash was also used in the opening.

Kids TV: Inch High, Private Eye

17/3/2015

On a bit of a nostalgia roll with these Hanna Barbera Saturday morning animation series from the 1970s. Inch High, Private Eye "The world's biggest little detective", appeared in 1973, and ran for 13 episodes until 1974. It received regular syndicated into the 80s, and more recently on cable and satellite cartoon TV channels. The titular character of Inch High, Private Eye was literally a one inch tall detective. He would solve mysteries with the help of his niece Lori, her boyfriend, the muscular Gator (who reminded me of the comic strip character Lil' Abner) and their dog Braveheart. As with most formulaic animation series characters that solved mysteries, they had a special vehicle, in their case the Hushmobile. The Hushmobile, was a streamlined car that makes virtually no noise while being driven, making it perfect for following criminals unnoticed.

Inch High, Private Eye worked for The Finkerton Detective Agency (a wordplay lampoon of The Pinkerton Detective Agency), and his boss was of course the cantankerous A. J. Finkerton, constantly dreamed of the day that he will find a reason to fire our thumb-sized hero. He was married to Mrs. Finkerton, another regularly featured character. Despite his less than intimidating size, Inch is a gun-ho, no nonsense P.I. who takes what he does very seriously.

Popular voice actor Lennie Weinrib (also the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf, and the original Scrappy-Doo) was the voice of Inch High. His voice was a perfect blend of comedy legend Jack Benny and Don Adams' Maxwell Smart character from Get Smart. In fact, Inch High can often be heard exclaiming "Now cut that out!" or "Sorry about that, Chief!", signature catchphrases of both Benny and Adams, respectively.

Kids TV: The Funky Phantom (1971)

15/3/2015

The Funky Phantom was one of the plethora of Saturday morning cartoons that appeared during the early 70s. Produced for Hanna-Barbera by Australian production company Air Programs International in 1971 for ABC.

The show followed the formula of the time, with a group of teenagers, and spooky comedy horror theme, a side-kick animal and in this case the eponymous ghost the funky phantom. All driving around in a cool custom jalopy. Think Fangface, Captain Caveman, or Scooby-Doo. They all pretty much followed the same formula. Even the 1970s live-action TV show Ghost Busters, that was later made into an 80s animation series, followed this same well trodden path. Where Scooby-Doo blazed the trail in 1970, Funky Phantom followed close behind.

The Funky Phantom of the show was a Revolutionary War-era ghost named Jonathan Wellington "Mudsy" Muddlemore. While hiding from Redcoats during the revolution, Mudsy and his cat Boo had hidden in a clock. Unfortunately the pair got stuck inside and eventually died in there, until three teenagers stumbled across the clock and released them by setting the hands to midnight. Thus begins the show, in a slightly macabre and creepy fashion. The rest is as formulaic as you would imagine from a Hanna-Barbera animation, as the gang get caught up each week in a series of misadventures. Accompanied by their ghostly friends and that 70s canned-laughter track, that animations of the period always seemed to have.

The show only ran for 17 episodes, which were regularly repeated right into the 80s. The voice of Mudsy was done by Daws Butler and was identical to his voice work for the character Snagglepuss, down to the use of Snagglepuss's catchphrases. The voice of Skip, was provided by Mickey Dolenz, the drummer and singer of manufactured 60s band The Monkees.

Kids TV: Help!... It's The Hair Bear Bunch!

8/3/2015

First shown between 1971 and 1972, this Hanna-Barbera animation was a regular on Saturday morning TV programming throughout the 70s and into the 80s on the BBC in the UK, but apparently not hardly seen in the US after it's cancellation by CBS in 1974. Making it a firm childhood favourite for many Brits, but a slightly obscure series in the Hanna-Barbera canon for many on the other side of the pond.

The show's original run was a short 16 episodes, from September 1971, to January 1972. It featured the 3 eponymous "hair bears": The leader Hair Bear, an afro-haired, fast-talking, cool-dude of a bear. Square Bear, the laid-back, gentle giant. And Bubi Bear, A hyper, double-talking bear that speaks in a bizarre gibberish. The bears were always scheming, planning escapes from the zoo, and get-rich-quick schemes. All the while being pursued by Mr. Peevly and his side-kick Botch.

I loved the "Hair Bear Bunch" as a kid, it was one of my all time favourite Saturday morning shows, along with The Banana Splits. Mad-cap mayhem all the way for me as a kid in the 70s. Help!... It's The Hair Bear Bunch!, was one of the first ever animations to use a canned-laughter track, which became the standard of so many Saturday morning animation shows during the 1970s.

Kids TV: Sapphire & Steel (1979 - 1982)

3/3/2015

I loved Sapphire & Steel as a kid, the creepy British sci-fi fantasy TV show. Joanna Lumley and David McCallum played a pair of interdimensional agents, assigned to keep order in time and space. They were elements in human form, repairing weaknesses in time. In the series, "time" is like a corridor that surrounds everything, and in places malignant forces can break through. Some of these creatures are from the very beginning and ends of time itself, and the eponymous heroes would do battle with these forces in each of their "assignments". Turning up in the most random, and often deserted of places to solve the time crisis. Often "deserted" due to budget constraints, more than anything.

The thing that made Sapphire & Steel so creepy, and intense, and therefore awesome, was its minimalism. Due to its small budget, special effects, cast and settings were kept to a minimum. Which only added to its uneasy creepiness, and forced the show to be story driven, rather than relying on all the production bells and whistles that most sci-fi shows had. There were 34 episodes made, divided into 6 "assignments". The one that stands out the most is the assignment that featured the "faceless man", in the second series.

The man that has appeared in every photograph ever taken anywhere in the world! Wow that freaked me out as a kid. The guy looked like he'd just stepped out of a René Magritte painting. Even to this day, if I'm honest with myself, I look for the faceless man in photographs sometimes.

The over-dramatic introduction to each show, explained a little of what the series was about. Showing the time corridor, running through space. The show would later explain that there were 127 operatives in total, including 12 transuranic heavy elements, which cannot be assigned where life exists. Although they are described as elements, many of the code names are non-elements, such as Sapphire, Steel, and Jet. But hey, who cares, this sci-fi not science!

Even though the show was very dark, the merchandising and spin-off material was aimed directly at kids. There was a regular comic-strip in the TV show based kids magazine / comic book Look-In, and two annuals were produced, both aimed firmly and squarely at children. Back then, they didn't patronise us, they just wanted to scare the life out of us.

Kids TV: Jamie And The Magic Torch

28/2/2015

A tripped-out British TV show from the 70s. Think a AA battery powered Alice In Wonderland, featuring a little lad (Jamie) and his per dog Wordsworth. The show told the stories of Jamie and Wordsworth's adventures in Cuckoo Land, where they would go after lights out, by way of his magic torch. There were two very memorable things about the TV show, that it was really trippy and it had a rocking theme tune. Even to this day, some nearly 40 years after it was first shown, I still find myself singing the theme tune randomly to myself.

The show first ran from 1976-1979, and was repeated during the 1980s, on ITV in a lunchtime slot.

The series was created by Cosgrove Hall, who would go on to produce the kids cartoons Dangermouse and Count Duckula. The series was written and narrated by Brian Trueman, who both wrote and narrated a number of children's TV shows during the 70s and 80s, including the weird Chorlton And The Wheelies. The awesome theme music was written by Joe Griffiths, who also did the theme tune for Chorlton And The Wheelies.

Kids TV: Dick Spanner, P.I. (1986)

26/2/2015

Mild-mannered robot private detective Dick Spanner was the suitably square-jawed titular hero of Dick Spanner, P.I., a tongue-in-cheek British series produced the Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson. The series was made up 22, 6 minute episodes, that followed two story arcs, "The Case Of The Human Cannonball" and "The Case Of The Maltese Parrot". The show parodied hard-boiled detective noire movies. Set in a highly stylized, futuristic universe, the tongue-in-cheek show has Dick cracking jokes as he's immersed in the bizarre mysteries.

The programme was originally broadcast in the UK as a segment of the cult Sunday morning magazine TV show Network 7 on Channel 4, and was later repeated in a late night slot.

The series was created, co-written and directed by Terry Adlam, who worked on the special effects for the Anderson series Terrahawks in the 1980s. The voice of Dick Spanner, was provided by Canadian actor Shane Rimmer, who was the voice of Scott Tracy in the most famous Anderson series of the 1960s, Thunderbirds. Another piece of trivia about Rimmer is that he has appeared as a bit-part actor in more James Bond movies than any other actor.

Kids TV: The Ghost Busters

21/2/2015

Before the eponymous 1984 movie, there was the 1975 Saturday morning kids TV show, The Ghost Busters. Only 15 episodes were filmed of this slapstick comedy show, featuring Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch as Kong and Spencer, along with Tracy the gorilla. The characters they played were similar to those they had played in the popular late 1960s satirical sitcom F Troop. However in The Ghost Busters they played bumbling paranormal investigators, that paid homage to the Golden Age of monster movies. The formulaic show, had the gang invariably coming up against a parody of one of the classic Universal monsters. Filled with bad sets, over-the-top acting and the cringe-worthy laughter track, so much a feature of 70s TV comedy. Unrelated to the famous 1984 movie, Filmation revived the characters from the 1975 show in a 1986 animation series.

In fact to make the 1984 movie, the makers had to obtain that rights to use the name "Ghostsbusters", and would call their subsequent 1986-1991 animation series The Real Ghostbusters. Sometimes referred to as Filmation's Ghostbusters, to avoid confusion, the series ran for 65 episodes. Reviving the characters of the live-action TV show, as their animated sons. Like The more famous Ghostbusters catchphrase of "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!", each episode of Filmation's version used the catchphrase, "Let's Go, Ghost Busters!"