Anthonynotes
04-13-2004, 12:24 PM
1971:
<Late 60's popular song>"La-zy daaaay... just right for runnin' away..."</song> All the way to Canada, if one's an anti-war draft dodger considering such a drastic move. Needless to say, the Vietnam War quagmire continues... "All In the Family" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" make a splash on the TV front, both shows reflecting somewhat more realistic/modern views of the average person than their 60's sitcom predecessors... the "blaxploitation" theme in movies continues... Peter Frampton makes a splash on the musical front... dashikis are acceptable items of clothing for "Afro-Americans" (look it up on Google)... and there's still plenty of hippies about (including, from what my parents told me, a few relatives of mine).
<Worthless comics trivia>
This year's JLA-JSA Thrilla in Manilla involved the two teams teaming up to retrieve a lost pair of aliens that'd been thrown via some goofy accident into Earths-One and -Two, only for Earth's environment to turn them into monsters. Also on the loose is everyone's favorite future "Legion of Doom" member, Solomon Grundy.
Of note IIRC is that the pairing off of JLA and JSA members involved the doppelganger/same-named members working with each other, including both teams' Robins...otherwise, pretty minor teamup compared to next year's "Seven Soldiers of Victory" storyline.
We also get to see the effects at this time of a loosening-up Comics Code, with more "harder-hitting" stories than were permitted in the more restrictive 50's/60's. Plus, Superboy meets Aquaboy (a youthful Aquaman---apparently the Silver Age Aquaman was the only other major hero functioning in Superboy's day; all the other heroes apparently had to wait until Kal-El grew up to make their debuts)... *ahem*. OK, I'll try to insert more Marvel references in the future... :-)
Re: Saturday mornings:
The nonviolence modus operandi continues unabated, much like 1970. See previous "1971" entry notes for details.
"The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show," the first of the many Flintstones spinoffs, debuts this year, and proves successful following a "teenagers meets 'The Flintstones'" formula. And no, I still haven't figured out how Pebbles as a pre-teen can be a baseball playing whiz in late 70's special "Flintstones: Little Big League" (chronologically taking place before this series, as well as being their chronologically "previous" appearance), but by the time she's a teen here, she doesn't know squat about the game (though I do have a suggested explanation for Frankenstone's personality change if one wishes to hear it); the only thing I can think of is that after "Little Big League," some goofy experiment of fellow classmate and Dilton Doily-esque genius Moonrock causes Pebbles' memory of the rules of baseball to be erased...or something. Well, it's a reason beyond "just a cartoon," anyway. :-)
As noted before, "Soul Train" debuted this year, providing competition (depending on the time it aired in one's local market) to the general Saturday lineup---probably moreso among Black households, I'm guessing (if mine was any indication), but particularly to "American Bandstand." Hosted by Dan Cornelius, this *was* the hippest dance show on TV in the 70's, unlike its current-day counterpart having been superceded by BET/MTV/VH-1. Each episode featured things like the "Scramble Board" (unscramble the name of a featured band), various people showing off hip dance moves, featured bands, and, of course, the obligatory sponsors. At our house, "Soul Train" was must-see viewing (vs. whatever else was on network TV Saturday mornings at the time)...
This weekend's shows were "The Hair Bear Bunch," "Josie and the Pussycats," and "The Funky Phantom". Given I've already elaborated on all three shows before, you can refer to the previous comments for details, while I try to find something new to mention about each show (or the day's episode). Hey, it's either this, or listening to me rant on (pick one): why I like the Sunday Adult Swim lineup over its weekday counterpart/CN's primetime scheduling/the lack of Looney Tunes, B:TAS, S:TAS/how it feels like "Kids Next Door", "Billy and Mandy," and "Ed Edd and Eddy" air eight times a day/etc. :-)
"The Hair Bear Bunch":
- As briefly noted before, this show seems ultimately partially inspired by the late 50's sitcom "The Phil Silvers Show," better known as "Sgt. Bilko." Said Sgt. was a man with horn-rimmed glasses who in each episode was constantly pulling scams with the aid of his army cohorts. He was characterized by his slick, fast-talking persona---a persona that Hanna-Barbera found too irresistable to use in their early 60's effort "Top Cat" (along with in early 60's character Hokey Wolf). Hair Bear is the early 70's incarnation of this persona.
- Botch's voice was one of the two main characters on mid-60's sitcom "Car 54, Where Are You?", a show about two marginally-competent police officers. Botch's ape-like "ooh, ooh"s first showed up on this show, usually aimed at his partner, the actor who goes on to greater fame as Herman Munster on "The Munsters." "Car 54" was a "Nick at Nite" staple in the early days of N@N's operation (the late 80's)...
"Josie and the Pussycats":
- Despite Valerie's presence, most of the Josie-ripoffs that followed this series didn't incorporate minorities into their casts (not counting the all-Asian-yet-stereotypical "Charlie Chan and the Chan Clan"'s "Chan Clan" rock group---and Charlie Chan [in the original 30's films and, presumably, this cartoon], contrary to that "Harvey Birdman" episode was *Chinese*, not *Japanese*...). Granted, Valerie not having a particular "hook" besides ethnicity and being clever (like Melody's dumbness, Alexandra's, erm, "crabbiness", etc.) might not've helped as much, but still...
- After this series, Josie put in an appearance on "The New Scooby Doo Mysteries" (goofy arms-stretched-out-in-front running poses and all), and then get blasted into space on "Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space."
"Funky Phantom":
Today's episode: the gang try to stop a crook making off with historic artifacts like Betsy Ross' flag and the Liberty Bell.
- Betsy Ross, in American legend, is the woman who purportedly designed the United States' flag during the American Revolution.
- The Liberty Bell is a cherished American artifact, also from colonial/revolutionary times. It's well known for its famous crack. The Bell sits on display in a museum in Philadelphia.
- Seen at the wax museum are reproductions of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, statues of George and Martha Washington, and the famous Washington crossing the Delaware River shot.
- Episode Oddity: I'm guessing a park ranger isn't who actually guards the Liberty Bell (or the grounds where it's stored), but rather an ordinary security guard/police officer (unless I'm mistaken and the place where the Bell is stored is considered a Pennsylvania state park/a national park).
- The bad guy escapes capture and punishment at the end of the show (despite his henchmen being caught)---probably a rarity for villains on a show from this time period (though of course the Legion of Doom's constantly escaping capture on "The Superfriends" is also well-known). I'm sure the parents' groups were up in arms over this... ;-)
---
Next week: it's more “Funky Phantom”, along with “The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan”and “The Roman Holidays.”
-B.
<Late 60's popular song>"La-zy daaaay... just right for runnin' away..."</song> All the way to Canada, if one's an anti-war draft dodger considering such a drastic move. Needless to say, the Vietnam War quagmire continues... "All In the Family" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" make a splash on the TV front, both shows reflecting somewhat more realistic/modern views of the average person than their 60's sitcom predecessors... the "blaxploitation" theme in movies continues... Peter Frampton makes a splash on the musical front... dashikis are acceptable items of clothing for "Afro-Americans" (look it up on Google)... and there's still plenty of hippies about (including, from what my parents told me, a few relatives of mine).
<Worthless comics trivia>
This year's JLA-JSA Thrilla in Manilla involved the two teams teaming up to retrieve a lost pair of aliens that'd been thrown via some goofy accident into Earths-One and -Two, only for Earth's environment to turn them into monsters. Also on the loose is everyone's favorite future "Legion of Doom" member, Solomon Grundy.
Of note IIRC is that the pairing off of JLA and JSA members involved the doppelganger/same-named members working with each other, including both teams' Robins...otherwise, pretty minor teamup compared to next year's "Seven Soldiers of Victory" storyline.
We also get to see the effects at this time of a loosening-up Comics Code, with more "harder-hitting" stories than were permitted in the more restrictive 50's/60's. Plus, Superboy meets Aquaboy (a youthful Aquaman---apparently the Silver Age Aquaman was the only other major hero functioning in Superboy's day; all the other heroes apparently had to wait until Kal-El grew up to make their debuts)... *ahem*. OK, I'll try to insert more Marvel references in the future... :-)
Re: Saturday mornings:
The nonviolence modus operandi continues unabated, much like 1970. See previous "1971" entry notes for details.
"The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show," the first of the many Flintstones spinoffs, debuts this year, and proves successful following a "teenagers meets 'The Flintstones'" formula. And no, I still haven't figured out how Pebbles as a pre-teen can be a baseball playing whiz in late 70's special "Flintstones: Little Big League" (chronologically taking place before this series, as well as being their chronologically "previous" appearance), but by the time she's a teen here, she doesn't know squat about the game (though I do have a suggested explanation for Frankenstone's personality change if one wishes to hear it); the only thing I can think of is that after "Little Big League," some goofy experiment of fellow classmate and Dilton Doily-esque genius Moonrock causes Pebbles' memory of the rules of baseball to be erased...or something. Well, it's a reason beyond "just a cartoon," anyway. :-)
As noted before, "Soul Train" debuted this year, providing competition (depending on the time it aired in one's local market) to the general Saturday lineup---probably moreso among Black households, I'm guessing (if mine was any indication), but particularly to "American Bandstand." Hosted by Dan Cornelius, this *was* the hippest dance show on TV in the 70's, unlike its current-day counterpart having been superceded by BET/MTV/VH-1. Each episode featured things like the "Scramble Board" (unscramble the name of a featured band), various people showing off hip dance moves, featured bands, and, of course, the obligatory sponsors. At our house, "Soul Train" was must-see viewing (vs. whatever else was on network TV Saturday mornings at the time)...
This weekend's shows were "The Hair Bear Bunch," "Josie and the Pussycats," and "The Funky Phantom". Given I've already elaborated on all three shows before, you can refer to the previous comments for details, while I try to find something new to mention about each show (or the day's episode). Hey, it's either this, or listening to me rant on (pick one): why I like the Sunday Adult Swim lineup over its weekday counterpart/CN's primetime scheduling/the lack of Looney Tunes, B:TAS, S:TAS/how it feels like "Kids Next Door", "Billy and Mandy," and "Ed Edd and Eddy" air eight times a day/etc. :-)
"The Hair Bear Bunch":
- As briefly noted before, this show seems ultimately partially inspired by the late 50's sitcom "The Phil Silvers Show," better known as "Sgt. Bilko." Said Sgt. was a man with horn-rimmed glasses who in each episode was constantly pulling scams with the aid of his army cohorts. He was characterized by his slick, fast-talking persona---a persona that Hanna-Barbera found too irresistable to use in their early 60's effort "Top Cat" (along with in early 60's character Hokey Wolf). Hair Bear is the early 70's incarnation of this persona.
- Botch's voice was one of the two main characters on mid-60's sitcom "Car 54, Where Are You?", a show about two marginally-competent police officers. Botch's ape-like "ooh, ooh"s first showed up on this show, usually aimed at his partner, the actor who goes on to greater fame as Herman Munster on "The Munsters." "Car 54" was a "Nick at Nite" staple in the early days of N@N's operation (the late 80's)...
"Josie and the Pussycats":
- Despite Valerie's presence, most of the Josie-ripoffs that followed this series didn't incorporate minorities into their casts (not counting the all-Asian-yet-stereotypical "Charlie Chan and the Chan Clan"'s "Chan Clan" rock group---and Charlie Chan [in the original 30's films and, presumably, this cartoon], contrary to that "Harvey Birdman" episode was *Chinese*, not *Japanese*...). Granted, Valerie not having a particular "hook" besides ethnicity and being clever (like Melody's dumbness, Alexandra's, erm, "crabbiness", etc.) might not've helped as much, but still...
- After this series, Josie put in an appearance on "The New Scooby Doo Mysteries" (goofy arms-stretched-out-in-front running poses and all), and then get blasted into space on "Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space."
"Funky Phantom":
Today's episode: the gang try to stop a crook making off with historic artifacts like Betsy Ross' flag and the Liberty Bell.
- Betsy Ross, in American legend, is the woman who purportedly designed the United States' flag during the American Revolution.
- The Liberty Bell is a cherished American artifact, also from colonial/revolutionary times. It's well known for its famous crack. The Bell sits on display in a museum in Philadelphia.
- Seen at the wax museum are reproductions of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, statues of George and Martha Washington, and the famous Washington crossing the Delaware River shot.
- Episode Oddity: I'm guessing a park ranger isn't who actually guards the Liberty Bell (or the grounds where it's stored), but rather an ordinary security guard/police officer (unless I'm mistaken and the place where the Bell is stored is considered a Pennsylvania state park/a national park).
- The bad guy escapes capture and punishment at the end of the show (despite his henchmen being caught)---probably a rarity for villains on a show from this time period (though of course the Legion of Doom's constantly escaping capture on "The Superfriends" is also well-known). I'm sure the parents' groups were up in arms over this... ;-)
---
Next week: it's more “Funky Phantom”, along with “The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan”and “The Roman Holidays.”
-B.