This week’s column will be a slight throwback to my two-part “New Year, New Me” articles that examined cartoons that were based on live-action TV shows. (You can check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) In researching that, I came across mention that there had been an animated version of Lost in Space in the ’70s, but upon further examination, it turns out that this was actually a one-off hour-long pilot for an ongoing series that never materialized.
It aired on a series called The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie a part of ABC’s Saturday morning lineup from 1972-1973. The show was designed as something of a kids’ counterpart to the primetime ABC Movie of the Week. This anthology was unique in that it wasn’t the product of one animation studio but of several. Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and Rankin/Bass all contributed installments as did other studios.
The majority of these “movies” were based on live-action programs or featured established cartoon characters, although a few drew from other inspirations. It also appears that many were intended as pilots which could have led to ongoing cartoon series… and a few succeeded.
In fact, it appears that the first episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie was already well-received by the network and it debuted one week before the launch of the regular series The Brady Kids. In the ABC SSM, entitled “The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island,” viewers were introduced to the animated versions of Greg (Barry Williams), Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Peter (Christopher Knight), Jan (Eve Plumb), Bobby (Michael Lookinland), and Cindy (Susan Olsen). Their parents and Alice the maid did not appear. The Brady’s dog Tiger, who disappeared after Season 1 of the sitcom, was replaced by a bigger, shaggier pooch named Mop Top.
In the movie/pilot, the kids embark on a balloon race around the world and wind up on… well, a “Mysterious Island,” where they encounter Marlon, a magical myna bird, and the pandas, Ping and Pong, who would accompany them back to their home and would be featured throughout the rest of the ongoing series. They also run afoul of an abominable snowman.
The Brady Kids and “The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island” were produced by Filmation. The Brady Kids went on to run for two seasons consisting of 22 episodes, including “Mysterious Island” which was split into two episodes and aired as the first two episodes of the regular run.
The entire series of The Brady Kids including “Mysterious Island” was released on DVD, most recently in the release of The Brady-est Brady Bunch TV & Movie Collection.
The second ABC Saturday Superstar Movie also led to an ongoing series — “Yogi’s Ark Lark” from Hanna-Barbera Productions which led to Yogi’s Gang. “Yogi’s Ark Lark” featured Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo-Boo as well as the Jellystone Park custodian Noah Smith, who embark on a flying version of Noah’s Ark, traveling around the world and even into space, in search of a better world, devoid of pollution, deforestation, and other harms that mankind has caused the planet.
This featured an all-star cast of Hanna-Barbera characters: Atom Ant, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, The Hillbilly Bears, Hokey Wolf and Ding-A-Ling, Huckleberry Hound, Lambsy, Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har, Magilla Gorilla, Moby Dick, Peter Potamus and So-So, Pixie and Dixie, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Ruff and Reddy, Sawtooth the Beaver (Rufus Ruffcut’s pet beaver on Wacky Races), Secret Squirrel, Snagglepuss, Squiddly Diddly, Top Cat and his gang (Benny the Ball, Spook, Choo-Choo, Fancy-Fancy, and Brain), Touché Turtle and Dum Dum, Wally Gator, and Yakky Doodle and Chopper. There was also an unnamed dinosaur.
This led to the cartoon Yogi’s Gang which ran for one 13-episode season starting in 1973. It was rerun on the USA Cartoon Express, and later on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang. Individual episodes were included on the DVD sets Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Volume 1 and Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2. The entire series is available on-demand from Warner Archive and includes “Yogi’s Ark Lark.”
The third ABC SSM hailed from Rankin/Bass Productions — “Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters.” This was a regular cell-animated take inspired by the 1967 stop-motion special Mad Monster Party? (right). That special was the sole Halloween special that Rankin-Bass produced in the same style as the studio’s various other holiday specials, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Mad Monster Party? was notable because it featured the voice of Boris Karloff as the mad scientist Baron Boris von Frankenstein.
Karloff passed away in 1969. For “Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters,” Bob McFadden voiced the lead character, with Allen Swift providing most of the other voices. Bradley Bolke and Rhoda Mann provided the rest.
The plot revolved around the upcoming wedding of Frankenstein’s Monster and his Bride, and scenes featured the monsters frightening the other guests at their lavish hotel and the Frankenstein Monster’s bachelor party.
“Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters” did not lead to an ongoing series, nor does it appear that it was ever released on home video.
The Nanny and the Professor was a sitcom that aired on ABC for three seasons from January 1970 to December 1971. Richard Long played a scientist and widower, Professor Harold Everett, who hires a mysterious nanny to care for his kids. Juliet Mills played this nanny, Phoebe Figalilly, who was somewhat similar to Mary Poppins, although on this series, Phoebe’s powers are never explicit and the viewers and other characters are left to decide whether or not this Nanny actually has magical abilities.
David Doremus, Trent Lehman, and Kim Richards (whom some of you may know as one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) played the kids, Hal, Butch, and Prudence, respectively.
The “Nanny and the Professor” ABC SSM varied from the sitcom in that it is clear to viewers that Phoebe actually does possess magical powers, although it still seems a secret from the rest of the characters on the show.
The episode was created by Fred Calvert Productions. The cast of the live-action series reprised their roles. This was the only installment of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie that got a sequel. In 1973, “The Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus” aired as part of Season 2.
It does not appear that The Nanny and the Professor live-action sitcom has ever been released on home video and it isn’t well-known today. It isn’t likely that the animated movies will ever resurface.
One of the more successful ABC Saturday Superstar Movies appears to be “Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter,” created by King Features Syndicate and Filmation. Not only did this picture feature Popeye and his regular supporting cast including Olive Oyl and Brutus (more often known as Bluto), but many more.
Much like “Yogi’s Ark Lark” this movie featured a gaggle of guest-stars culled from the King Features Syndicate pantheon of comic strips: Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Bringing Up Father, Flash Gordon, Henry, Hi and Lois, The Katzenjammer Kids, Little Iodine, The Little King, Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom, Prince Valiant (cameo), Quincy, Steve Canyon, Tiger, and Tim Tyler’s Luck.
Unlike “Yogi’s Ark Lark,” however, these characters all hailed from different creators with unique art styles and remarkably, the animators managed to keep each character fairly faithful to the source material.
The plot of “Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter” involves the evil genius Professor Morbid Grimsby who schemes to eliminate laughter by getting rid of the newspaper “Sunday Funnies.” (Just an observation, I don’t think I’ve ever so much as cracked a smile while reading the Sunday Funnies, but maybe that’s just me.)
Popeye invites the stars of the comedic strips on a free voyage on the yacht the USS Hilarious, but Grimsby draws them to his remote island using a tractor beam. In the process, Popeye’s entire stash of spinach is lost at sea.
The President of the United States calls together the stars of the action comic strips to rescue them, although they fail and wind up ccapturingthemselves.
The characters decide that the only way to free themselves is to get Grimsby to laugh, so they put on a talent show, but their efforts fail. The younger characters manage to succeed by holding up a mirror to Grimsby who is trying to scare them. He laughs, has a change of heart, and frees everyone.
Just then, a volcano erupts. The Professor loads everyone onto his submarine, but it gets stuck. Popeye manages to find his lost spinach and uses his super strength to free the craft.
Established Popeye voice, Jack Mercer, voiced both that character and Wimpy. All (!) of the other voices were provided by Bob McFadden and Corinne Orr.
This special did not lead to an ongoing series (it would have probably been too expensive to produce every week and has never been released on home video. However, this appears to be the only ABC SSM that spawned licensing. There is at least one coloring book that was released based on it.
Next up, Rankin/Bass delivered “Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid.” This movie starred the real-life baseball legend Willie Mays, most famous for playing for the San Francisco Giants, who provided the voice for his cartoon counterpart.
In the story, a Guardian Angel agrees to help Willie win the National League Pennant if he will, in turn, take care of an orphan girl, Veronica (Tina Andrews). Things are put to the test when mysterious relatives show up when they discover that Veronica may have inherited a fortune.
This was never released on home video and probably never will be, considering that Willie Mays was a real person and his estate would have any say in the use of his likeness.
The next installment was the only ABC Saturday Superstar Movie that was a two-parter — “Oliver and the Artful Dodger” from Hanna-Barbera. This was an all-new sequel to the 1838 Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, which had been adapted for film and television many times. At the time of this special’s release, the most prominent take would have been the 1968 musical Oliver!.
At the end of the novel, the orphan Oliver Twist was adopted by Mr. Brownlow, but at the start of this animated sequel, Mr. Brownlow dies. After his will cannot be found, his nephew Sniperly tries to take his fortune. Meanwhile, the Artful Dodger now works to free kids from workhouses.
Oliver and the Artful Dodger is two hours long and aired over two consecutive weekends. This is available on-demand from Warner Archive as part of the Hanna-Barbera Specials Collection.
Hanna-Barbera also released the next ABC SSM, “The Adventures of Robin Hoodnik.” This reinterpreted the legendary Robin Hood and his cast as anthropomorphic animals. This movie debuted a full year before Disney released its theatrical animated version of Robin Hood which did the same and is much better-known.
Like “Oliver and the Artful Dodger,” “The Adventures of Robin Hoodnik” is also available as part of the Hanna-Barbera Specials Collection.
Filmation delivered the next ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, “Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain.” This was the last ABC Saturday Superstar Movie that was turned into an ongoing series, with Lassie’s Rescue Rangers which launched the following fall in 1973. But that series was poorly received and only lasted for one year. (See Part 1 of my previous series.)
In “Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain,” the famous collie must investigate when someone attempts to frighten the Native Americans that live on the titular mountain.
This was released on VHS but not in any format after that.
Gidget was a sitcom that starred a young Sally Field as a perky teen who lived with her single father. It aired in 1966 and was one of the first TV shows to be broadcast in color. The show was not a success and only lasted for one season, but it seems to have gained popularity in repeats.
As part of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series, Hanna-Barbera and Screen Gems released “Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection” (a.k.a. “The Odd Squad”). Field did not voice Gidget. Kathy Gori stepped into the role. (Field also didn’t return for some live-action TV movies that ABC aired after the show’s cancellation, so it appears that she may have outgrown the role or wanted to distance herself from it.)
Feild is famously brunette, but it appears that for the animated version, Gidget was given red hair.
In the story, while out sailing, Gidget and her surfer friends run afoul of gold smugglers.
This was never released on home video.
The next installment was one of the only two ABC Saturday Superstar Movies that mixed live-action and animation as it was based on the hybrid series The Banana Splits which aired on ABC for two seasons from 1968 to ’70. “The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park” followed Fleegle the dog (Paul Winchell), Bingo the ape (Daws Butler), Drooper the lion (Allan Melvin), and Snorky the elephant (no speaking voice) as they attempt to rescue a young girl from a witch at an amusement park. Michele Tobin played the young girl Susie, while Joan Gerber voiced the Wicked Witch. Howard Morris voiced the witch’s bumbling helpers Hocus and Pocus.
The live-action portions were filmed at Cincinnati’s King’s Island, which was also used as the location for an episode of Season 5 of The Brady Bunch. Once the characters cross over to the Witch’s dimension, the movie switched to animation.
While “The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park” has never been released on home video, the parent series has remained popular in repeats over the years, so this movie has aired on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang in more recent times.
Hanna-Barbera and Screen Gems reteamed for another adaptation of a live-action show, “Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family,” featuring the children from the sitcom Bewitched which aired on ABC for a whopping eight seasons from 1964 until 1972.
In “Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family,” the kids were aged up to teenagers. As was the case on the sitcom, Tabitha and Adam inherited their mother Samantha’s witchy powers. Cindy Eilbacher voiced Tabitha and Michael Morgan voiced Adam.
In this movie, the Stevens siblings visit their father Darrin’s mortal sister, Georgia, and her family who are circus performers known as the Clown Family. Tabitha and Adam must keep their magical abilities a secret while attempting to prevent the evil warlock Count Krumley from taking over the circus and ruining the Clown Family’s chances of recording an album.
This has never been released on home video.
The next installment was one of the more obscure entries. Rankin/Bass created “The Red Baron” which told the story of the real-life figure from World War I, the pilot Manfred von Richthofen, an ace fighter pilot. The twist is that the animated show cast the heroic characters as anthropomorphic dogs and the villains as cats.
While this isn’t as well-remembered as most of the others, it does appear, based on the picture above, that it was released on VHS at some point.
One of the most interesting installments was “Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet The Groovy Ghoulies,” which not only mixed characters from two franchises from different parent companies but was also the only time that the famous Looney Tunes characters were animated by a company that wasn’t Warner Brothers. While WB was included in the making of this, they reportedly served as a “silent partner.”
This episode was created by Filmation as was the regular Groovy Ghoulies cartoon series. The Groovy Ghoulies had aired for one season from 1970-72. This is one of the few ABC SSMs that was based on a show that didn’t air on ABC as The Groovy Ghoulies had aired on CBS. It was a comedic take on classic monsters like Dracula (a.k.a. Drac), Frankenstein’s monster (Frankie), the werewolf (Wolfie), a witch (Hagatha), and more.
Another thing I found interesting about “Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet The Groovy Ghoulies” is that it included Petunia Pig, a character that I didn’t realize had ever appeared in animation. She seemed to be a character that appeared in comic books, strips, and on licensing, but I had never seen her in a cartoon.
This movie also featured Sylvester, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, and Charlie Dog. The legendary Mel Blanc voiced the majority of them, while Jane Webb, credited “Joanna Louise” voiced Petunia. Notably absent were the usual headliners, Bugs Bunny and The Roadrunner.
The plot centered on Daffy and the Looney Tunes filming a movie based on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. During a televised interview with Daffy, a mysterious figure named The Phantom of the Flickers interrupts the broadcast and declares that he plans to ruin every movie made by Daffy including this one.
The Groovy Ghoulies witness this and head to Hollywood to help, but when they arrive, the Looney Tunes mistake them for villains. Eventually, they figure out that the Ghoulies are on their side, but things are further complicated when the Phantom begins impersonating the Ghoulies to sabotage the film.
The Phantom is eventually unmasked as former silent movie star Claude Chaney. But Daffy expresses admiration for his disguise abilities and hires him to work on the movie, which goes on to win the “Ozzie Award.”
Howard Morris and Larry Storch provided the voices for most of the Groovy Ghoulies. These characters also appeared in a live-action segment, with Ed Fournier as Franklin “Frankie” Frankenstein, Emory Gordy Jr. as Hauntleroy, Dick Monda as Count Tom Dracula, and Jeffrey Thomas as Wolfgang “Wolfie” Wolfman. As mentioned, following “The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park,” this was the second and last ABC Saturday Superstar Movie to feature live-action.
Due to rights issues, this movie has never been released on home video in the United States, but it has been released in other countries, so traders have been able to secure unlicensed copies. Also despite these rights issues, the film has been rebroadcast including on the Cartoon Network and, in some markets, is included with the Groovy Ghoulies syndication package.
While “The Red Baron” was pretty obscure, that doesn’t compare to “Luvcast U.S.A.” which has to be THE most obscure episode of the ABC SSM. Unlike the previous installments, this episode was created by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, and rather than one feature-length story, this is a series of vignettes. It was directed by Robert Balser and featured the voice of Dick Whittington. It was inspired by the 1969-74 ABC anthology series Love, American Style.
And that is literally all I could find about this.
The final episode of the first season was “That Girl in Wonderland” inspired by the 1966-71 ABC sitcom That Girl which starred Marlo Thomas as the lead character, Ann Marie, an aspiring actor in New York City.
Thomas provided her animated counterpart’s voice. In this special, Ann visualizes herself as the lead character in the classic stories Alice in Wonderland, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Wizard of Oz, and Cinderella.
Rankin/Bass produced this episode. It has never been released on home video.
There were only three new episodes created for the second season, which kicked off with the show that got this ball rolling — Lost in Space — produced by Hanna-Barbera and 20th Century-Fox Television. This isn’t a direct adaptation of the three-season science fiction series created by Irwin Allen. That show aired on CBS from 1965 until ’68 and followed the exploits of the Robinson Family who find themselves… er, lost in space, traveling from one alien world to the next in search of a way to their original destination, an Earth-like world that they were hoping to help colonize.
Two characters from the original show did appear in the cartoon — the sinister Dr. Smith and The Robot referred to here as “Robon.” Jonathan Harris reprised his role as Dr. Smith.
While the original Robinson family doesn’t appear, presumably the main character, Craig Robinson, is somehow related to them. During a “routine mission” from Earth to Saturn, his ship the Jupiter 2 crashes on an uncharted world, where he and his passengers find themselves caught in the conflict between the peaceful Throgs and the conquering Tyranos.
Among Craig’s passengers were Smith, Robon, Craig’s younger brother Link (Vincent Van Patten), and Dr. Deanna Carmichael (Sherry Alberoni).
Of all of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movies, this one seems like the best fit for an ongoing show, but ABC didn’t pick it up.
This is one of the few ABC Saturday Superstar Movies that was released on home video (and on Blu-Ray no less!) as an extra on the Blu-ray release of the entire live-action series.
Episode 2, produced by Fred Calvert Productions and Universal Television, was another attempt to revive a former live-action series — “The Mini-Munsters” based on the sitcom The Munsters, which aired for two seasons from 1964-66 on CBS.
From the original live-action series, only Al Lewis returned to voice his character, Grandpa. Richard Long voiced Herman Munster, Cynthia Adler voiced Lily, and Bobby Diamond voiced Eddie. Like some of the other movies in this series, there is a teenage band element as the family’s teenage cousins Igor and Lucretia arrive from Transylvania and they form a band with the now-teenaged Eddie, the titular “Mini-Munsters.”
The plot also involves some gangsters that take over a gasoline company. When Grandpa modifies Eddie’s new hearse, which doubles as the Mini-Munsters’ tour bus so that it runs on music instead of gas, that draws the ire of the gangsters. The Mini-Munsters discover that the faster they play their music, the faster their car goes.
Reportedly, a shortened 30-minute version of this special was aired in the ’80s, but I’m not sure if that’s true and have any further information about that.
The final new episode of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie was the only sequel, the previously mentioned “The Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus.” Like the first movie, this one was produced by Fred Calvert Productions and 20th Century-Fox Television and also featured the original voice cast from the live-action sitcom. This is the second special in this series to feature a circus theme.
I’ve mentioned which of these shows are and are not on home video. It should be pointed out that there is no chance that the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series could ever be released in its original format as the episodes were created by various production companies and most of them were licensed from different IPs, the rights of which are held by other companies.
This show was before my time, so I haven’t seen any of them before, although there are some clips online.
Just a few years later, in 1977, ABC debuted a somewhat similar program to cap off its Saturday morning lineup — ABC Weekend Special. This was another anthology that featured programming from various studios. This was a 30-minute show, unlike the hour-long ABC Superstar Movie but a lot of the stories were made up of multiple episodes. Some of these were live-action and others were animated. I believe they were all based on books. This show lasted for 17 seasons!
Have you seen any of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movies? Do you wish more of them had been picked up as ongoing series? Are there any more modern live-action shows that you think would make good cartoons?
