Search - Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series on DVD

Jeff E. (marathon) from WHEATON, IL
Reviewed on 9/23/2009...

Like many, I was introduced to Space Ghost via his talk show on Cartoon Planet. This set shows where the late night legend was born, and it's good campy / cheesy fun.

Space Ghost and Dino Boy

Pj Thorp | 04/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the way to do it. All 20 episodes give you all the Space Ghost and all the Dino Boy stories from the original show in the one package. If you enjoyed Gary Owens' voice of Blue Falcon, in last year's Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Hour release on DVD, you'll think he's just right as the voice of Space Ghost too.
This was Hanna-Barbera's first serious super hero show. Space Ghost, Jan and Jace, and monkey pet Blip respond to calls for help from their Ghost Planet, and tackle galactic threats like Metallus, Brak, Lurker, Brago and Creature King.
The last six stories form a serial adventure, in which you'll see guest appearances by Shazzan, Moby Dick, Mightor and Herculoids, which is an obvious cue for subsequent releases of those characters' shows too.

Here's hoping they put out the later series "Space Stars" (made in 1981, with Space Ghost, Herculoids, Teen Force, Astro and Space Star finales)."

"Hit your inviso-buttons and follow me!"

iansomniak | USA, Planet Earth | 01/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wowee! The original adventures of the occasionally invisible cosmic superhero known as Space Ghost are finally available on DVD. Unfortunately, it appears that Warner may have left the package/disc design and episode distribution up to the treacherous members of the Council of Doom. Both of the identical-looking DVDs in this set are double-sided fingerprint collectors. To make matters worse, they overlap one another on a cheesy digipack holder in a skinny cardboard case. Side A of the first disc holds only four episodes (each episode consisting of three six-minute cartoons), while a whopping eight episodes are crammed onto Side B. (That probably explains why my first copy had a defective B-side.) Disc 2 has eight more episodes loaded onto Side A, and a fascinating 78-minute documentary on the life of temperamental comic book artist and Space Ghost creator, Alex Toth, on the flipside. Clearly, this should have been a three or four disc set. But, on a more positive note, the artwork on the cardboard is stellar--with a groovy image of an inviso-powered Space Ghost behind the DVDs, and paintings of Dino Boy, Bronty and Ugh on the outside of the flimsy folder. And, of course, the cartoons burned onto these inferior flipper discs are classics--incredibly imaginative and filled with cleverly designed heroes and villains.

Included along with the 42 exciting Space Ghost shorts in this collection are 18 stone-aged escapades starring the underappreciated and oddly-named Dino Boy. According to Wikipedia, Dino Boy's real name is Todd, but his blue-eyed caveman pal, Ugh, knows him only as "Dino Boy." This is likely due to the fact that he is usually seen perched atop his pet dinosaur, Bronty/Bronto. If he were on horseback, he would be called `Horse Boy.' If he rode a camel, he would be `Camel Boy,' and so on. The introduction that begins each story states that D.B. landed in the prehistoric Lost Valley after he was "forced to parachute from a disabled plane." The events leading up to that fateful jump remain a mystery. Were the lad's parents on that airplane? Were they killed in the eventual crash that would presumably have resulted from the reported disability? Was there only one parachute available? Or, did the other passengers simply grow weary of the redheaded youngster's incessant talking and throw him from the plane in a fit of fury and frustration?

Hopping hop toads! Dino Boy does have an annoying habit of talking to himself continuously, acting as his own narrator by describing his every action and observation...even in the presence of enemies. The sometimes freckle-faced child (curiously, his freckles come and go, as if they have their own inviso-power) does not appear to miss his family or suffer from any degree of homesickness. No, the leopard-booted juvenile is just having a blast exploring this weird prehistoric world from the back of his swift-footed brontosaurus--who looks like a green version of Dino, of Flintstones fame, and sounds a lot like Scooby Doo--and hanging out with his club-swinging Neanderthal protector, Ugh. Ugh talk funny. Not know much words. Dino Boy try teach Ugh to read and talk good, but Ugh not that smart. Him not sell auto insurance any time soon. Together, Dino Boy and Ugh battle everything from purple-skinned Worm People to bat-winged Vampire Men. And, when they're not being sacrificed to the Sun King by beak-headed vulture priests, life in the jungle is good.

Dino Boy is okay, but the main attraction here is the legendary square-jawed phantom phenom, Space Ghost (voiced by Laugh-In's Gary Owens). This white-clad space ranger's super powers are derived from the red and yellow power bands he wears on his wrists. With these mighty accessories, the eyeless defender of the galaxy possesses superhuman strength and speed, as well as an arsenal of weapons, ranging from freeze rays and heat rays to energy bolts and force rays. Without these formidable wristlets, Space Ghost is just a regular guy in a leotard. Mr. Ghost also wears a rocket pack that enables him to soar through the cosmos, and, of course, an inviso-belt that enables him to become invisible...that is, aside from those obvious white outlines that villain's apparently cannot see.

Space Ghost is assisted by a pair of teenaged siblings by the names of Jan and Jace. These wondrous twins dress a bit like the first X-Men and wear Lone Ranger-type masks over their eyes--which, unlike Space Ghost's, are occasionally visible. Jan and Jace don't own any power bands, but they are equipped with inviso-belts and jet packs, which they use quite frequently. The junior galactic protectors patrol the starry abyss in their sporty Space Coupe, accompanied at all times by their flat-headed primate pal, Blip. When there's trouble, they just touch their blinking insignia communicators to radio Space Ghost, who is usually either monitoring the Danger Alert Channel at his headquarters on Ghost Planet, or zooming around in his sleek orange Phantom Cruiser.

Surprisingly, Blip is the true hero of this far-out group, often saving the day by skillfully utilizing his inviso-power to retrieve Space Ghost's all-important power bands--which are typically confiscated by the myriad evildoers that regularly threaten the universe. Diminutive fiends like the cat-eyed Creature King and the fish-faced Lurker never fail to underestimate the uncanny cleverness of this masked monkey marvel. On countless occasions, Space Ghost is obliged to offer a grateful "Good boy, Blip!" as foe after foe falls victim to his or her own diabolical traps. As Jace so eloquently puts it, "Sometimes, he who laughs last gets caught."

Animation collectors will not want to be without this Hanna-Barbera gem, but be sure to check those discs carefully for scratches and defects. Flipper discs bad. Ugh no like bad flipper discs! Run, Dino Boy, RUN!"

Space Ghost was the king of Saturday mornings!

Daniel Sweeney | Los Angeles, CA | 05/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1966 is widely regarded as the year that Saturday mornings became a ritual and an institution for cocoa puff-fueled kids, and Space Ghost was a big reason for that. The brainchild of comic book maven Alex Toth, SG spawned a host of imitators (Mightor, Young Samson, Birdman, Galaxy Trio, Herculoids, etc.) and for good reason; it was the number one-ranked saturday morning cartoon during the 1966-1967 season. It's not hard to understand why: Great character designs, colorfully bizarre villains, an outer space theme, cool music, the heroic voice of Gary Owens -- in a saturday morning landscape littered with lighter fare like Underdog, Porky Pig, Atom Ant, Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Flintstones and the Beatles cartoon -- kids ate it up. It was a more serious action-adventure show that catered to youths that couldn't get enough of the live-action escapades of Adam West and Burt Ward on the wildly popular Batman TV series.

What many people don't realize is that Space Ghost shared it's timeslot with another program called "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley," which was an entertaining program in its own right; kudos to Warner Brothers for including those segments in this set. A predecessor to Land of the Lost, Dino Boy features a young boy who is marooned in a prehistoric valley populated by dinosaurs and cavemen. Featuring plenty of tyrannasaurs and lushly painted backgrounds, it is a worthy addition to any cartoon fan's collection.

What Space Ghost and Dino Boy had that later saturday morning cartoons didn't was actual ACTION! In the late Sixties, partially in response to Space Ghost, parental groups lobbied to have violence of all kinds be removed from children's programming, resulting in bland, lackadaisical programming for the most part. That is why I am jazzed that Space Ghost and Dino Boy is finally being released on DVD! Couple that with the rumors that there is an extensive behind-the-scenes documentary about Toth on this set, and this is a must-buy!

This set contains all 20 episodes (18 season-one episodes and 2 season-two episodes):

Season 1
Each episode features two seven-minute Space Ghost segments with one seven-minute Dino Boy segment between them.
"The Heat Thing" / "Marooned" / "Zorak" (September 10, 1966)
"The Lizard Slavers" / "The Moss Men" / "The Web" (September 17, 1966)
"Creature King" / "The Treeman" / "The Sandman" (September 24, 1966)
"The Evil Collector" / "The Fire God" / "The Drone" (October 1, 1966)
"Homing Device" / "The Mighty Snow Creature" / "The Robot Master" (October 8, 1966)
"The Iceman" / "The Wolf People" / "Hi-Jackers" (October 15, 1966)
"The Energy Monster" / "Valley of the Giants" / "The Lure" (October 22, 1966)
"The Cyclopeds" / "The Ant Warriors" / "The Schemer" (October 29, 1966)
"Lokar - King of the Killer Locusts" / "The Bird Riders" / "Space Sargasso" (November 5, 1966)
"Brago" / "Giant Ants" / "Revenge of the Spider Woman" (November 12, 1966)
"Attack of the Saucer Crab" / "The Rock Pygmies" / "Space Birds" (November 19, 1966)
"The Time Machine" / "Danger River" / "Nightmare Planet" (November 26, 1966)
"Space Armada" / "The Vampire Men" / "The Challenge" (December 3, 1966)
"Jungle Planet" / "The Terrible Chase" / "Ruler of the Rock Robots" (December 10, 1966)
"Glasstor" / "The Sacrifice" / "The Space Ark" (December 17, 1966)
"The Sorcerer" / "The Marksman" / "The Space Piranhas" (December 24, 1966)
"The Ovens of Moltor" / "The Spear Warriors" / "Transor - The Matter Mover" (December 31, 1966)
"The Gargoyloids" / "The Worm People" / "The Looters" (January 7, 1967)

Season 2
The two new episodes in this season consisted only of Space Ghost episodes that promoted other Hanna Barbera superheroes that debuted on CBS in 1967, including Mightor and Shazzan.
"The Meeting" / "Clutches of Creature King" / "The Deadly Trap" (September 9, 1967)
"The Molten Monsters of Moltar" / "Two Faces of Doom" / "The Final Encounter" (September 16, 1967)"