Search - Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1 on DVD

It's all coming back to you

Gord Wilson | Bellingham, WA USA | 06/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This set is the best thing to happen to cartoon DVDs in a long time. Here are 33 1960s era 'toons on two one-sided discs, all Hanna-Barbera 'toons, with a few exceptions. The wide reach of Cartoon Network's/ Warners merger allows them to include Marine Boy, imported from Japan, and three theatrical Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies that ran on TV from 1964-'67 on The Porky Pig Show. The 'toons aren't all the same length, as H-B experimented with the one episode half hour format, as with the Flintstones, the usual three 'toon format, as with The Huckleberry Hound Show, as well as hour and even hour and a half shows. The longer shows were often broken apart for syndication so single cartoons could be shown on live-host kid's shows.

This disc is jammed with special features. "The Good, the Bad, and the El Kabong" takes a look at The Quick Draw McGraw Show, H-Bs third cartoon show counting from "Ruff and Reddy" and "The Huckleberry Hound Show", which also featured the popular supporting cartoons, Snooper and Blabber, and Auggie Doggie. As this special reveals, the writing was all by Michael Maltese, who also wrote all of the best Chuck Jones Looney Tunes, like The Rabbit of Seville and What's Opera, Doc?, and who here finally gets his due. Watching the credits, one sees what a huge influence he was in these early, witty H-B cartoons. It's difficult to believe that Quick Draw McGraw dates from 1959, as the shows hold up so well and the dialogue still sparkles. Included here is an entire show (three cartoons), with a second show in the special features on disc two.

Other special features include a brief documentary on 'The Herculoids", H-B's ground-breaking science-fiction adventure show designed by Alex Toth. It boggles the mind to think that this is the show that started all the uproar about violence in cartoons, when the SF action seems so much less violent than in Tom and Jerry. Nevertheless, it's enough to get this warning label, that this set "is intended for the adult collector and is not suitable for children". Never mind that this totally contradicts the upbeat blurb on the box, likely written by a happy go-lucky writer as overjoyed as us to see these 'toons on DVD: "share them with someone who never imagined you were once a kid". Fortunately, this set includes two Herculoids episodes so viewers can see what the furor was all about (and probably get hooked on this astounding show).

There's also a mini-blurb on The Adventures of Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, which aired in 1966. This very interesting show had Jonny Quest music on the sort of serious Frankenstein Jr. segment, and Jetsons looking designs in the Impossibles, rock stars AKA superheroes, a now odd mix that seemed obvious at the time. Three segments are included from that show.

Each disc has a bonus "Saturday Morning Wake-Up Call, but in both cases they seem to be taken from Cartoon Network's Boomerang channel, the only place you could see these cartoons until the release of this set. CN also ran a "Boomerang" show featuring cartoons from various years. The announcer on one blurb says the cartoon block runs three hours (this set runs five plus hours), and on the other calls it the "Saturday Morning Adventure Hour" and your "Cartoon Wake-Up Call" that makes every day Saturday. Most, but not all, of the segments shown are on these discs. The blurb for this set in the Trailers is much better done.

Hanna-Barbera's shows were so popular that they ran on all three networks in the '60s (yes, there were only three networks), often competing with themselves. The Peter Potamus Show here, from 1964, has the closing credits from the 1965-66 version, which shows Ricochet Rabbit, originally a segment on the Magilla Gorilla Show. The Peter Potamus Show was originally sponsored by Ideal Toys, with the sponsor's name in the theme song and credit sequence. Here it's cut out of the opening titles but left in on the closing theme. Three segments from the later show are included in this set.

The last bonus feature is called "Trailers", and features seven cartoon trailers. These are fun to watch, but I often wonder why all the trailers can't be put in a section like this. Disc one opens with an ad for "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" and a mini-feature/ad for the DC Comics/ Warner "Green Lantern". Disc two opens with a whimsical ad for the Peanuts 1960s Collection. Both of these would be welcome in the Trailers section, but are annoying when they come on everytime you put the discs in so you have to press menu to skip ahead.

More trivia regarding this set: The Jetsons episode, "Rosey the Robot", from 1962, was the series' debut. Marine Boy was the second color series to be imported from Japan. The Porky Pig Show cartoons date from: "Often an Orphan" -1949; "Super Snooper" (Daffy Duck)- 1952; Mice Follies (Honey-Mousers)- 1960. Anyone who loves cartoons or, like this reviewer, is a die-hard Hanna-Barbera fan, will be overjoyed with this set. As Joe Barbera once said, "I'm in favor of cartoons that are mindlessly funny, not mindlessly preachy." You got it Joe. Mindlessly funny. That sums up this set. H-B and Boomerang, bring 'em on!

This set includes:

Disc One:

Top Cat--"The Tycoon" (1961-'62)

Atom Ant-- "Up and Atom"; Precious Pup--"Precious Jewels"; Hillbilly Bears--"Woodpecked" (1967-'68)

Peter Potamus--"Fe Fi Fo Fun"; Breezly and Sneezly--"All Riot on the Western Front"; Yippee, Yapee, Yahooey--"The Volunteers" (1964-'66)

Secret Squirrel--"Sub Swiper"; Squiddly Diddly--"Way Out Squiddly"; Winsome Witch--"Prince of a Pup" (1967)

The Flintstones--"The Happy Household" (series debut date: 1960)

The Porky Pig Show--(1964-'67):
"Often an Orphan" (1949); "Super Snooper" (1952); "Mice Follies" (1960).

Quick Draw McGraw--"Dynamite Fright"; Snooper and Blabber--"Outer Space Case"; Auggie Doggie--"Growing, Growing, Gone" (1959-'60).

Special Features:

Saturday Morning Wake-Up Call;
The Good, the Bad, and the El Kabong

Disc Two:

The Jetsons--"Rosey the Robot" (1962-'63) (debut episode)

Marine Boy--The Battle to Save the World (1966)

Space Ghost and Dino Boy--"The Heat Thing"; "The Worm People"; "Zorak" (1966)

Herculoids-- "The Beaked People"; "The Raiders" (1967)

The Impossibles--"The Bubbler"; "The Spinner"; Frankenstein Jr.--"The Shocking Electric Monster" (1966)

Magilla Gorilla--"Gridiron Gorilla" (1964); Punkinpuss and Mushmouse--"Small Change" (not listed in menu); Ricochet Rabbit--"Athison Topeka and Sam Jose" (not listed in menu).

Special Features:

Bonus episode: Auggie Doggie--"Dough Nutty"; Quick Draw McGraw--"El Kabong was Wrong"; Snooper and Blabber--"Gem Jam"

Saturday Morning Wake-Up Call

Herculoids: First Family of Planet Quasar

Monster Rock: The Adventures of Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles

Trailers"