The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“The Magic School Bus” Based on the book series of the same name written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen; Starring Lily Tomlin, Daniel DeSanto, Erica Luttrell, Tara Meyer, Maia Filar, Lisa Jai, Stuart Stone, Danny Tamberelli, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

Some of my earliest memories of reading involved those floppy little Scholastic “The Magic School Bus” books. Each one took me on a different adventures somewhere in the universe, whether it was into the great expanses of the universe or into the tiny spaces of a cell, there was always something new to explore through the eyes of kids just like me, their adventurous (and possibly psychotic) teacher Ms. Frizzle, and her impossible bus.

The book series was created when author Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen were approached by the then vice-president of Scholastic Craig Walker. Walker had an eye toward creating a children’s book series that would combine scientific education with fictional adventure stories and taxed Cole and Degen with creating such a series. What resulted was Ms Frizzle and her magic school bus.

While the original series only consists of twelve books it has had a lasting impact on children and their interest in scientific topics due in large part to the animated series adapted from them.

While the television adaptation didn’t first air until September of 1994, I don’t remember a time that both iterations didn’t exist, I can’t imagine a life without Ms. Frizzle.

Episodes of “The Magic School Bus” consisted of direct adaptations of the Scholastic books as well as new material, it differed from the source material in that some of the students were redacted, reducing the class size for television. While the original class consisted of 19 students, the animated series class only had eight regular students, leaving Alex, Amanda-Jane, Carmen, Florrie, Gregory, John, Michael, Molly, Phil, Rachel, and Shirley to the annals of print history. To make up for them the show had occasional cameos from Janet, a new character created for the animated series, and Arnold’s cousin.

“Ride on the Magic School Bus” perhaps one of the most memorable theme songs from my early years (along with the “DuckTales” and “TMNT” themes) was written by Peter Lurye, a veteran of children’s theme song writing with credits for “Eureeka’s Castle,” “Out of the Box,” and “Dora the Explorer.” The song was performed by Little Richard, of Little Richard fame and contains some of the greatest lyrics ever raspy-shouted including such gems as “navigate a nostril” and “spank a plankton too.”

The series ran for a total of 52 episodes between 1994 and 1997 and has been aired in reruns on a number of networks since then. Sadly, it seems, that aside from streaming services like Netflix, the days of “The Magic School Bus” are over, for now.

Gladly, Netflix previously announced that they’ll be updating and rebooting the series in 2016. The new show, titled “The Magic School Bus 360°” will be computer animated and will debut with 26 new episodes exploring modern scientific topics like robotics and wearable technology, presumably (hopefully) there will also be some content tackling navigating the internet with an eye toward kids. I can’t wait to once again ride on the magic school bus.

The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“Animaniacs” Created by Tom Ruegger; Starring Rob Paulsen, Tress MacNielle, Jess Harnell, Frank Welker, Sherri Stoner, and Jim Cummings. Series ran from 1993 – 1998.

“Animaniacs” was the second collaboration between Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It came on the heels of “Tiny Toon Adventures,” utilizing much of the same talent. Tom Ruegger returns as the creator of the concept and many of the characters, Tress MacNielle also returned, turning in her long ears for a skirt as the only female member of the titular main cast. The cast also included Rob Paulsen (Yakko Warner), Jess Harnell, (Wakko Warner), and Jim Cummings (Narrator) who attended January’s Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Experience.

The story goes that Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, named after the period in “Warner Bros.,” were locked in the Warner tower sometime in the 1920s where they waited patiently, silently going more and more insane (probably) until they escaped in the 1990s and promptly got their own television show. The three of them did not appear in every segment but served as the glue that held the universe together, often introducing other characters or segments even if they weren’t further involved.

The creative team behind “Animaniacs” led once again by the capable hands of Tom Ruegger used the lessons learned on “Tiny Toon Adventures” to craft a world populated with new and entertaining characters. Using the model left behind by ‘Looney Tunes” as well as a desire to keep the show both entertaining and educational, they found a balance that taught me a sizeable portion of what I know about history and living in the modern world.

The show could at once be slapstick silly and enlightening as evidenced by some of its most enduring moments. While the adults of the previous generation may have had Carl Sagan, (and in my later years I’d learn to love him too) I had Yakko Warner.

The writers treated the show like a sketch comedy which allowed the format to be whatever it needed to be with some episodes being comprised of one long story while others were made up of three or more shorter skits.

The series ran for a total of 99 episodes and one feature film “Wakko’s Wish” and while it was aimed primarily at children it had a significant adult following with upward of one fifth of its viewers being over 25. “Animaniacs” is also credited with birthing one of the first internet fandoms with alt.tv.animania.

The legacy of the characters is long lived, many of its episodes remain quotable almost twenty years later, the series also introduced us to the characters of Pinky and The Brain. The characters were so popular they garnered their own spin-off series which ran for 65 episodes.

“Animaniacs,” “Tiny Toon Adventures” and “Pinky and The Brain” were highlights of the animation revival of the nineties and the influence that Ruegger and team left on a generation can’t be understated. 

The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“Tiny Toon Adventures” Created by Tom Ruegger; Starring Charles Adler, Tress MacNeille, Joe Alaskey, and Don Messick. Series ran from 1990 – 1992.

“Tiny Toon Adventures” otherwise known simply as Tiny Toons was the first project that partnered Steven Spielberg with Warner Bros. and followed a younger generation of Toons attending Acme Looniversity with dreams of becoming the next wave of “Looney Tunes” characters. Most of the characters were modeled after the familiar “Looney Tunes” cast though they weren’t necessarily related. In addition the staff of the school consisted almost entirely of “Looney Tunes” alums.

Though Babs and Buster Bunny were considered the central characters of the show, it spent a lot of time telling stories involving other characters, not always centering around or even involving either of the two rabbits.

In addition to Babs and Buster the core cast of characters included Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Fifi La Fume, Dizzy Devil, Calamity Coyote, Montana Max and Elmyra Duff, two human characters that served as this generations main villains, and finally my personal favorite Gogo Dodo, among others.

The series ran for three seasons before being cancelled in favor or another Spielberg/Warner collaboration you might have heard of, “Animaniacs.” In that time they produced 98 episodes. After production halted, there were two additional specials created, rounding the number to a flat 100, as well as feature length film entitled “Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation.”

Episodes ranged from the innocent every day musings of a cartoon world to veiled messages about growing up and doing right. It’s easy to see why these collaborations were so successful and resonate with fans more than twenty years after the shows left the airwaves.

When thinking about “Tiny Toon Adventures” it didn’t seem right to watch just one, which is why today’s edition of Saturday Morning Cartoon! is a double feature. First up is “Henny Youngman Day which features three shorter clip episodes including one of my childhood favorites “The Potty Years” featuring Plucky Duck. The second episode is “Her Wacky Highness” wherein Babs runs away to Wackyland.

“Stand-Up and Deliver”

Babs decides it’s time for her to take her act on the road and gets a gig headlining an open mic night at a local club. A famous and beloved comic, Red Rad Robin Killems, arrives and steps on the stage to Babs’ horror. She freaks out because she’s terrified of having to follow him. Luckily he sees the situation he’s created and steps in to help Babs out.

“The Potty Years”

Flashback to Plucky’s early childhood, his parents are teaching him how to use the toilet, at first he’s afraid but soon he learns to enjoy using the toilet, perhaps a little too much. Wackiness ensues.

This bit was funny as a kid, enough so that it’s more vivid in my memory than almost any other segment or episode. It’s even funnier now that I’m a parent and dealt with this situation in the relatively recent past. Luckily my kid isn’t a psychotic green duck, at least as far as I know.

“Lame Joke”

In the final segment Buster, Babs, Plucky, and Hamton are all out having  a picnic and telling jokes. Buster tells a “lame joke” the joke appears as a literal embodiment and succinctly dies after Buster tells it badly.

“Her Wacky Highness”

This episode isn’t segmented and tells one longer cohesive story. The episode opens with the kids in class, Elmer Fudd is teaching a lesson on cartoon physics when he’s called out of the classroom. While he’s gone Babs mimics and mocks him resulting in her being sent to the Principal for the third time this week. She is sent home from school for the rest of the day where her Mom becomes the third person to lecture her on having self-control.

Frustrated that no one appreciates her, she runs away to Wackyland, the home of Gogo Dodo residing in uncharted cartoon territory. Wackyland seemingly exists where the rules of cartoon physics are taken to their most extreme. Babs quickly gets the hang of living there and the local population take a liking to her. She is invited to a fancy Schmancy dinner at Wackyland Palace where she is made the Queen of Wackyland.

But things don’t stay great for long and she and her friends, who’ve come to rescue her, have to escape Wackyland before it’s too late.

The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“Star Wars: Ewoks” Episode 1.1 “The Cries of the Trees” Based on characters created by George Lucas; Directed by Raymond Lafelice; Written by Paul Dini; Starring Jackie Burroughs, George Buza, Alyson Court, and Jim Henshaw. Run time: 23 minutes; Originally aired September 7, 1985.

“Star Wars: Ewoks” ran for two seasons between 1985 and 1986 and told the story of the Ewoks and other species living on the forest moon of Endor in the years leading up to the events of “The Return of the Jedi.”

The first episode, “The Cries of the Trees” introduces us to the Warrick family of the Ewok tribe as well as the villain and evil witch Morag who holds a personal grudge against the Ewoks. Living in a global forest, the Ewoks have developed a strong bond with the trees that sustain them. Morag captures Izrina, Queen of the wisties, or fire-folk, and using dark magic converts her to her dark cause. Izrina loses her glowing orb in favor of flames and, along with her converted companions, lights the forest aflame.

Meanwhile Wicket Warrick, the series’ central character along with other young Ewoks have been mischief making all day at the expense of the adults. So when the forest fire begins they are blamed in a very Ewok who cried wolf kind of way. The adults quickly put out the flames and return home.

During the night Wicket shares a nightmare with his siblings and awake in unison to the sound of the trees calling for help. They alert the adults and the tribe uses catapults and gliders to drop water bombs on the flames and the fire-folk restoring the forest to its former peaceful state.

The younglings learn the value of telling the truth and the adults learn the value of trusting the words of children. Morag learns that the Ewok tribe aint nothing to mess with.

The series is reminiscent of other cartoons from the same era in tone and style with the added bonus of featuring Star Wars characters. Sadly, (or happily depending on your perspective) this cartoon flew under my radar as a child seeing as I was 2 months old at its debut so now, almost thirty years later I’m eating Cocoa Pebbles and watching “Star Wars” cartoons for the first time. First time for the cartoon, not first time for Cocoa Pebbles, I’ve eaten Cocoa Pebbles a lot… like, a lot! It also shows a different side of writer Paul Dini who is best known for scribing a boat load of “Batman” animated content. While his most famous work features a dark knight who punches justice into the faces of villains, this is more about cuddly bears with hoods just trying to be peaceful and maintain balance with their environment, almost no face punching at all.

As the series progresses it leaves the surface of the forest moon and include an Imperial droid called PD-28 as well as an Imperial Star Destroyer. It’s like “Gummi Bears” but with the Force, and that my friends, is a recipe for excellence.

The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“Inspector Gadget” Episode 1.1 “Winter Olympics” Created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin, and Bruno Bianchi; Directed by Bruno Bianchi, Bernard Deyries, and Toshiyuki Hiruma; Written by Jean Chalopin and Andy Heyward; Starring Gary Owens, Frank Welker, and Mona Marshall; originally aired in 1982.

“Winter Olympics” also known as “Gadget in Winterland” is the pilot episode of “Inspector Gadget” and differs from the original series in a few key ways. In the original version of this episode (included below) Gadget is voiced by Gary Owens as opposed to Don Adams who voiced the character for the remainder of the series. In addition Gadget sports a moustache which was later ditched due to claims made by MGM that the character too closely resembled Inspector Cleaseau of “The Pink Panther.”

While Gadget is still clumsy and bumbling, he needs a little less help from his niece Penny and her dog Brain than usual. It seems any luck he had left with the moustache.

This episode introduces several familiar characters and gimmicks that remain throughout the series. We meet the trio of main characters as well as the villain Doctor Claw who may or may not have a body and a face, as well as his criminal organization MAD. We also meet Chief Quimby who delivers assignments to Gadget on location. The popular gimmick of Gadget accidentally injuring Quimby when the mission papers self-destruct is also established in the pilot.

Gadget, Penny, and Brain are on vacation at a ski resort when the Olympic torch comes through. Doctor Claw attempts to destroy the event by switching out the torch bearer with one of his underlings and switching out the torch itself for dynamite. When that doesn’t work, Claw releases a hybrid franken-robot abominable snowman which he controls from his castle lair. Claw is also capable of knocking down trees and controlling gondolas and lifts with the flip of a switch or the push of a button. His apparent control over the resort is enough to make Plutarch Heavensbee blush.

It’s probably the work of childhood nostalgia but hearing a different voice come out of Gadget’s mouth is a little disconcerting. In researching for this article I found by some coincidence that Gary Owens, sadly, passed away on the twelfth. His notable works, outside of being the original voice for Gadget include “Space Ghost,” “Garfield and Friends,”  and Powdered Toast Man on “Ren and Stimpy.” Check out the In Memoriam by CitizenBot. 

Though the series made some minor changes after the pilot episode, it remained a fun story of a girl and her dog saving her bumbling yet technologically advanced uncle from the machinations of the evil Doctor Claw. And even with his bumbling demeanor who wouldn’t want to be Gadget? it’s like his whole body is Batman’s utility belt.

Go, go, gadget…

The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“Doug” Episode 4.8 “Doug’s Brainy Buddy” Created by Jim Jinkins; Directed by Ken Kimmelman and Curtis Crawford; Starring Billy West and Fred Newman; Originally aired on November 27, 1993.

“Doug” was based on drawings Jim Jinkins did in a notebook over the course of the 80’s and was inspired by Jinkins’ own life. While the show employs scenes that take place only in Doug’s imagination and are almost always larger than life, the show is autobiographical in nature and effortlessly recreates the fears and challenges of growing up in a suburban town.

Through the lens of Doug’s mind the show can explore bullying, relationships both platonic and romantic, fear, jealousy, mystery, and adventure in the way that only a kid does. Even when an episode takes a turn for the fanciful it always feels real, the fantasy always mirroring what a real kid might actually be feeling. The show begins with Doug moving to the fictional town of Bluffington where he’ll have to make new friends and navigate the local social structure and culture.

In the episode “Doug’s Brainy Buddy” Doug and his classmates receive the results of an intelligence test they had taken the week before. Doug’s best friend Skeeter remarks that he had not known it was a test and he was glad because he always freezes on tests. Doug receives and is happy with an average score, until Skeeter reveals that he received a perfect score.

Doug is unintentionally kind of a jerk about it as he insists that there must be some mistake, that those test scores can’t possibly be accurate.

Removed from the text anxiety that usually plagues Skeeter he reveals to everyone that he is in fact a genius, a fact confirmed when Doug visits Skeeter’s room and finds that his shelves are filled with books like “A Critique of Pure Reason” and “Principia Mathematica.”

Doug borrows one of Skeeter’s books and stays up all night studying it, determined to prove that he’s just as smart as Skeeter but when he gets to school the next day Skeeter isn’t there. When he finally arrives his peers tell of rumors that he had gone away to college. Skeeter confirms that he is considering leaving his school to attend college and had spent the day touring the campus.

Confronted with the fear of losing his best friend, Doug snaps in a fit of jealousy telling Skeeter that he doesn’t care if he leaves since he’s too good for them anyway. Skeeter, frustrated with Doug’s behavior, rubs his intelligence in Doug’s face.

When Doug gets home he gets rid of everything he owns that reminds him of Skeeter, treating the events like a bad breakup, when he has finished his room is completely barren.

Quickly Doug realizes that he’s just being jealous and goes to apologize to Skeeter but when he opens his front door Skeeter is standing there. They apologize for being jerks to each other and make up because they’re best bros. Skeeter decides he can’t relate to anyone on campus and isn’t going to leave school.

Aside from everything always wrapping up in a nice little bow, the show provided an analogue for kids who were coming of age at the time. Almost any episode of “Doug” would provide at least one moment when you could say “Yeah, I get that, I’ve felt that feeling.” Or “I’ve been through something similar.” I don’t know of any modern cartoons that fill the same role.

If you have a suggestion for a future Saturday Morning Cartoon! column sound off in the comments section below.

The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.

“Invader Zim” Episode 1.1 “The Nightmare Begins” Created by Jhonen Vasquez; Directed by Steve Ressel; Written by Rob Hummel and Jhonen Vasquez; Starring Richard Steven Horvitz, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Lucille Bliss, Andy Berman, Wally Wingert, and Kevin McDonald.

Despite the feeling that “Invader Zim” is a relatively old show, “new” episodes of the series were being broadcast through 2006. While the content itself had been created several years earlier, low ratings caused the show to be cancelled before all of the produced episodes had aired. The final piece of original content to air was ironically the pilot which didn’t hit the screen until a little more than three years ago, in December of 2011.

It has always been a mystery to me why “Invader Zim” didn’t survive, it remains an unexplainable travesty to rival the likes of “Firefly” but without all of the fan fervor. The animation was sleek and stylized, setting it apart from other cartoons of the day and from just about any cartoon before or since. The writing style, defined almost entirely by creator and comic book writer Jhonen Vasquez, best known outside of Zim for “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.”

Each episode traditionally stood on its own, aside from major key elements, rather than having a detailed linear story. The first episode “The Nightmare Begins” sets the stage for the rest of the series. Members of the Irken race gather at a convention known as The Great Assigning where leaders known as the Almighty Tallest are handing down missions to a team of invaders under the banner of Operation Impending Doom II.

Zim was intentionally not invited due to previous indiscretions during Operation Impending Doom I wherein Zim began invasion tactics while still on his home planet Irk.  Despite his obvious failings, Zim proved so effective that the planet was nearly destroyed, as a result Zim was banished.

However, Zim “quits” his banishment when he hears of The Great Assigning and appears to receive his orders. In a last ditch effort to get rid of Zim once and for all, the Almight Tallest send him off the map, assigning him to an unknown planet at the edge of their known universe, a planet which turns out to be Earth. Before leaving Irk, Zim is also provided a faulty robotic companion called GIR, comprised of a robotic casing filled with trash scraps and pocket change for a brain.

The Irken signals travel the vast distance of space and are picked up by Dib, a human child who, despite the obvious technological advances of this fictional Earth, seems to be the only human being aware of the imminent alien invasion.

Zim and GIR land on Earth, create disguises so minor that Clark Kent would be jealous, and begin reconnaissance on the local population.

The series proceeds from here, chronicling Zim’s attempts at conquering Earth and Dib’s attempts to stop him. Zim’s advanced technology coupled with his severe ineptitude, along with Dib’s valiant efforts and a complete lack of support for either of them on both sides results in consistent and hilarious stalemates.

In 2010 “Invader Zim” was aired again on Nicktoons as part of a rumored attempt at reviving the series but it was eventually decided that the endeavor would be too expensive. At current it seems that studio execs succeeded where the Almighty Tallest never could, they’ve gotten rid of Zim once and for all.

Happily the internet preserves all things in perpetuity including unsuccessful cartoons and every stupid mistake you make for the rest of your life. The best advice I can offer is to focus on the cartoons. 

Say Neverbot, what do you want to do this morning? Thanks for asking everyone, let me tell you. The same thing we do every Saturday morning, watch cartoons and attempt to hold on to a small piece of our ever receding childhoods as we march unwillingly and relentlessly toward oblivion. Oh my god, is that another gray hair? I look more and more like Gandalf every day I swear to The Valar. You know what… let’s just start the episode.

“Pinky and the Brain” Episode 1.1 “Das Mouse” (8 out of 10). Created by Tom Ruegger; Starring Marice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen; Written by Peter Hastings; Directed by Liz Holzman and Al Zegler.

“Pinky and the Brain” was the result of a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. The characters were born in the related series “The Animaniacs” and their popularity spurred their own spin-off. “Pinky and the Brain” ran from 1995 to 1999, the last two years being in conjunction with another spin-off “Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.” More importantly, the series introduced the word “narf” and the phrase “Are you pondering what I’m pondering?” to the lexicon. There are few greater contributions from the world of animation.

Each episode follows essentially the same formula, with a few exceptions, wherein Brain hatches a complex plan to gain control over the world and Pinky tries, and fails, to help. The two titular characters are genetically modified, as the lyrics to the theme song point out “Their genes have been spliced” as well as “One is a genius, the other’s insane.” There has been some debate on the internets that the song doesn’t explicitly state which one is a genius and which one is insane. There is some speculation that in fact Pinky might be the genius, brilliantly thwarting the nefarious plans of the criminally insane Brain. Most fans of the show however accept the more obvious implication that it’s the other way around, though personally I like the genius Pinky hypothesis, it makes the show more interesting.

In this particular episode Brain plans to enslave a large portion of the human population by mixing the hypnotic toxins of a frog with the rare meat of crabs that inhabit the sunken Titanic and feeding it to them. Pinky suggests a free pancake jamboree. I don’t know about you but Brain’s plan sounds pretty crazy to me, and Pinky’s idea is absolutely brilliant, pancakes are delicious.

The pair have access to the toxic frog here in the lab but in order to get the rare crab meat they have to commandeer a submarine and raise the world’s most famous ship wreck. There are only two problems, a tracking signal on the sub and the locked steering wheel making it impossible for them to maneuver in any direction other than right. Pinky is told to change the tracking signal randomly while Brain plots a spiraling course toward the Titanic. Pinky’s choice of the code NARF gathers the attention of the CIA and civilian Jack McGuire who are on the alert for a fabled cold war mission known as the Nuclear Attack Readiness Formation.

While the CIA begin their misguided chase toward Pinky and Brain in their stolen submarine, Brain attempts and fails to hide the taste of the toxins in the pancake batter. Pinky offers his services and Brain accepts. Sadly Pinky also struggles to hide the taste of the toxins and approaches Brain for help, but Brain being too busy with the rest of his plan emphatically asks Pinky to cut it out, and leave him alone.

Despite the best efforts of McGuire and his CIA escort, the two mice escape their grasp and reach the wreckage on the ocean floor. Using a large inflatable, they raise the wreckage, and by popping the balloon they propel it toward the city stopping just short of their home at ACME Labs. With the final ingredient in hand, Pinky makes the pancakes and more than 10,000 people show up including McGuire and the CIA escort.

When Brain asks how Pinky was able to hide the bitter tastes he says “I did like you said Brain and cut it out.” In the end, like always, Brain’s plan for world domination failed and humanity is safe, at least until tomorrow night.

This week we’re doing a true Saturday morning cartoon, which is to say, it actually broadcast on Saturday mornings in 1983.

“Saturday Supercade” varied episode segments; produced for television by Ruby-Spears; starring Peter Cullen, Soupy Sales, Bob Sarlatte, and Billy Bowles.

“Saturday  Supercade” ran for two seasons producing a total of 97 episodes. Each episode consisted of smaller segments of various popular arcade games of the time including “Frogger,” “Donkey Kong,” “Q*Bert,” “Pitfall!” and more. Not to mention cameos from Mario himself.  

For your viewing pleasure I’ve compiled a few random segments, presented in no particular order, some of them better than others.

“Frogger”

The need to adapt this into a series makes about as much sense as turning Battleship into a movie. The game consists entirely of a frog jumping first across a street, and then across a river. There are no villains to speak of, except maybe cars and alligators. At least Mario has a rich cast of characters and a loose motive to pull from. Plumber saves princess from evil dragon turtle is at least the beginning of a story, frog hops across street, is not. But that didn’t stop them, they filled in a story wherein Frogger (a strange name for a frog) is a reporter/detective. It’s sort of like “Scooby-Doo” except Shaggy is the main character and also he’s a frog.

Unfortunately this is the only clip of the show I could find, except for the theme song, and it’s pretty obviously incomplete. Since the show isn’t available for streaming or physical sale anywhere at the moment, this is all you get to see unless you’ve got some VHS tapes stashed somewhere.

“Donkey Kong”

This show has a strange feel to it as well. When I was a kid and I played “Donkey Kong” I was always under the impression that Mario was the hero and DK the villains. After all, you play as Mario (or Jumpman, depending on how old you are or how big of an ass you are), dodging obstacles, climbing higher, all in the service of saving Pauline from a giant, presumably dangerous, ape.

PART ONE

PART TWO

But in the show it seems pretty clear that DK is the hero. He’s not very smart but he accidentally bumbles his way into helping people. He doesn’t come off as all together or badass, just sort of stupid with a shallow inclination toward good, like he isn’t really thinking about what he’s doing.

Meanwhile Mario and Pauline follow him just trying to mess up his day. All DK is trying to do is bumble through his day accidentally saving a few dozen people and Mario and the Pauline just can’t let him alone. They even try to stop his wedding. The only explanation is that despite the suggestions made by all of the games at the time, Mario and Pauline are the villains of this show. Mario is like a drunk once-was obsessed with capturing an ape, damn the consequences. Even after DK saves the day (again!) Mario is nipping at his heels in seconds, literally saying “You’ve done your good deed and now you’re mine!”

What a dick.

The last segment I have fore you today is…

“Q*Bert.”

Of the three franchises, “Q*Bert” is probably the least known, so good thing it’s the best cartoon. I’m not sure exactly what it is that pulls this one together. Maybe it’s these particular characters work with this style of animation or maybe it’s just that they’re more interesting, I don’t know. But something about it puts it above the other two series. It’s probably just that a Q*bie (I’ve decided the species Q*Bert belongs to must have been called Q*bies) looks pretty creepy with a black cloak over its snout. Like a droopy crow or something.

BOBBY’S WORLD Episode 1.3 “Adventures in Bobby Sitting” (6 out of 10) Created by Howie Mandel; Starring Howie Mandel, Kevin Smets, and Gail Matthius; Originally aired September 22, 1990.

“Bobby’s World” follows the adventures and overactive imagination of a young boy named Bobby Generic. The show was created by Howie Mandel pre-baldness and fist bumps. Mandel also provides the voices for Bobby and his father Howard who is a cartoonized version of Mandel himself.

Each episode is bookended by live action segments of Mandel as Bobby’s father, both the cartoon version and real version of Mandel sport a signature mullet.

In this episode Bobby’s parents leave for the evening to attend his sister’s recital and leave the boys (Bobby and his brother Derek) home with a Natalie the babysitter. As the evening progresses, Bobby and Derek find ways to entertain themselves while simultaneously torturing the babysitter. We see most of the evening through the eyes of the young Bobby’s fantasies which include a game show, a hike up an ice cream mountain, and a parody of the “Friday the 13^th” series featuring a plunger wielding slasher called Mason.

In the end the kids learn to work together to avoid trouble with the parents, which all kids know are the real villains.

Other notable characters are Bobby’s dog Roger and Uncle Ted who always reminded me of an animated John Candy with a penchant for noogies. Though Mandel states the character is based on Tino Insana who provides the voice.

Many of the episodes featured or ended with musical numbers, my favorites of which are “Under the water the fish don’t stink,” “I was at the bottom of the pool,” and “This is a short song, about a world without mom’s.”

Mandel has stated that the inspiration for the show include memories from the childhood’s of he and his friends as well as a choking incident involving cake which provided the inspiration for Bobby’s voice.

In 2006 Mandel indicated a desire to re-launch the show, though nothing has surfaced as of yet.