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The Cartoon Intro Examination Thread (60s Edition) - Hanna the Barberian

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
To be fair, the Flintstones also did ads for cigarettes, which are kind of like cereal
True! They didn't dedicate an entire half-hour block to shilling their cereal, but the Flintstones crew definitely had animated ads for their sponsors.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har

Another one I’ve never heard of.


We start with the title characters, a lion and a hyena both in hats and minimal human clothes (the lion in a pink vest and the hyena in the ever confusing “only a collar and tie”. The spears are thrown into a tree, creating a perfect latter. Lippy climbs up, dragging Hardy with him. But at the top of the tree is a mean-looking gorilla. The gorilla holds one of the spears to scare the duo when Lippy reaches for it to continue climbing.

“Lippy and Hardy!” explains the announcer.

Lippy ske-daddles and hopes onto a vine which the duo swing on to get to some presumed safety. But the gorilla grabs the vine and the recoil ties up the duo, creating a makeshift yo-yo for the gorilla. The yo-yos them over a lake full of snapping crocodiles or alligators or whatever.

“The most loveable, laughable loonies by far
It’s Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har.”

Did It Make Me Want To Watch It?

It’s pretty generic. Also, this is like the third Hanna Barbera character that’s dressed EXACTLY like Yogi. They just don’t care.

What Did You Find on Wikipedia?

Basically, its about the duo partaking in poorly conceived get rich quick schemes, with Lippy the optimist and Hardy the pessimist. Lippy is modelled after Joe. E. Brown and Hardy after Mel Blanc’s postman character from Burns and Allen. This information does me no good. Also, generally, the did not have jungle adventures, despite the intro.

Fan Art

I found some

1593163978.johnhall_lippy_the_lion_and_hardy_har_har.png


60s animation always seems to invite MS Paint

lippy_the_lion_and_hardy_har_har_by_hognatius_d7715ar-pre.jpg

This one is good and gives me what I assume are far more feels than the show proper.

ElPecnHWMAEKRm1.jpg

Good but kind of freaky.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Good of the Flintstones to warn us that Busch beer will make you hallucinate disembodied hands that coerce you into doing things you wouldn't normally do.
 

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
The crossdressing gag has obviously aged poorly,* but I got to give credit where credit's due: Getting your ex-boss drunk off his ass so he'll be in a more favorable mood to give you your old jobs back is a solid sitcom plan.

* Also I know it was a different time but goddamn at the casual misogyny in the cigarette ad.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
The Lone Ranger

I’ve certainly heard of the character. I think I saw some Filmation version from the 70s or 80s but I’m not sure I’ve seen this one.


We begin with a shot of an old timey factory city that pans over to a humble farm.

“When the factories first began to send their pall of smoke over the city and farmlands over the east offered only the barest living, Americans turned their faces toward the west.”

We dissolve into some badlands.

“They poured into the new territory by the thousands, fording the rivers, climbing the mighty mountains, fighting Indians and outlaws, toiling, braving, dying.”

Panning over a wrecked building and a makeshift grave marker. HAVE FUN, KIDS! And, yeah, I think the indigenous peoples also might have been having a hard time, too.

Anyway, we pan even more badlands.

“It was a hard land, a hostile land. Only the strong survived. A new American breed, the pioneer. In this forge, upon this anvil, was hammered out a man who became a legend. A daring and resourceful man who hated thievery and oppression. His face masked. His true name unknown. With his faithful Indian companion at his side, he thundered across the west on his great white stallion.”

We keep panning and things get darker until we hit night time in an old west town.

“Appearing out of nowhere to strike against injustice and outlawing. And then vanishing as mysteriously as he came. His sign… a silver bullet.”

We see a silver bullet and for once we aren’t panning over a landscape.

“His name… THE LONE RANGER.”

We then hear the William Tell Overture and a white light that shrinks into a ball that turns out to be the sun. We see silhouettes of our heroes riding across the plains. They jump fences and gaps and for a brief moment we see the Ranger’s face as he rushes towards the audience. We then hear gunfire over a white screen, then see the hero on his horse, firing his gun into the air. He dashes off.

“THE LOOOOONE RANGER!”

Did It Make Me Want To Watch It?

Not really. I get the impression the intro is a pretty good idea that it was hoping the purple prose would cover for the lack of animation. And the Lone Ranger is not a hero I’ve ever been particularly interested in.

What Did You Find on Wikipedia?

After such a grim and grounded intro… it turns out this version was inspired by the TV series the Wild, Wild West and featured science fiction and supervillains. So that makes me slightly more interested. Villains include an archenemy little person named Terrible Tiny Tom, the Iron Giant, the Black Widow and… Mr. Happy. Not even trying at this point.

Fan Art

There’s definitely fan art

a0c47641933b4029f4eb9290e9a17add.jpg


Sexy boy versions



d82lxr-82e63a7f-a18a-4475-aa1d-443583d25493.jpg


Classic version and


tumblr_oq9am2DgEP1vvui80o1_1280.png


Jim Carrey’s zoot suit from the Mask version.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
So its blind boxing in a can but maybe you get one that's coloured wrong or is fuzzy?

Also have Funkos crossed some weird line where instead of looking like soulless mockeries of the characters, they look like the characters if their eyes are super-dilated? I feel like at this point, why not make them just, like regular figurines? With normal eyes?

Copyright Classic Media? That's presumptive.
 

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
Also have Funkos crossed some weird line where instead of looking like soulless mockeries of the characters, they look like the characters if their eyes are super-dilated?
Funko has a few sub lines that don't use the "Pop!" aesthetic, like Mystery Minis and Paka Paka
 

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
My SO really wants a few of those soup toys, actually, but (correctly) thinks blind boxes are bullshit and thus hasn't bothered.
 

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
Agreed, espeically with my RNG luck. I once bought six little SMB mini blind boxes. They were all koopa troopas.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
There was one guy who ran a merch booth at several local nerd conventions for years who would let me peek in blind box figs from Japan that he was selling, or would trade figs after they were opened. He was The Best.
 

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
My SO really wants a few of those soup toys, actually, but (correctly) thinks blind boxes are bullshit and thus hasn't bothered.
I agree with this (I buy individual Animal Crossing cards over marked-up 6-packs (or 3-packs) 'cuz I know I'm getting the ones I want), but unless there's a reliable (and cheap) reseller for these soup bowl figs I'd probably recommend just taking the risk.

Better to have some soup bowls (even if they're dupes) than no soup bowls.
 

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Disagree. I don't like tacitly endorsing shady business practices. I'm not giving my money to any blind boxes (or any gachas, etc). We'll wait for some fun/cute figures that don't involve rolling dice.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Luno the White Stallion

This one I don’t know much about but I have heard of it for reasons I’ll get to later.


This one is quite short.

We see a boy on a Pegasus flying toward the screen and the word “Luno” pops up as we hear it floating on the wind, perhaps sung by a maiden fair. In profile, we see the title character fly across the screen with a red-headed moppet on his back while kingly music plays and the episode’s title appears.

Did It Make Me Want To Watch It?

Not in particular, really. But there is a little curiousity.

What Did You Find on Wikipedia?

It’s a Terrytoons joint, which means it looks less polished and interesting than a Hanna Barbera. A boy named Tim turns his toy Pegasus into a real one and they have adventures. To me, I was most familiar with this as a b-side by the Aquabats, all about this show.

Fan Art

I can’t find any.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
The Magilla Gorilla Show

This is one I’m kinda familiar with. Whenever there’s a big Hanna Barbera get together, Magilla is one of the also-rans in the background who gets a few lines. I know he lives at a pet store and wants to be sold. Lets see what else.


We start on a bright sunny day in front of a store called Peebles Pet Shop. The window shade roles up and we see the title character waking up, getting out of his Murphy bed, pushing it into the wall and immediately showing off his “Gorilla For Sale” sign.

“We’ve got a gorilla for sale.
Magilla Gorilla for sale.
Won’t you
Buy him
Take him home and try him.
Gorilla for Sale.”

He turns his sign around that assures you he is half off. Then he really begins his shtick, pretending he’s a big wind-up toy and swinging from a trapeze.

“See in the window
Magilla Gorilla
Full of charm and appeal.”

Turns out there’s no glass in the window as Magilla hops out.

“Handsome.
Elegant.
Intelligent.
Sweet.
He’s really ideal.”

Magilla then demonstrates the adjectives by looking in a mirror, dressing fancy, dressing like a graduate and… kind of looking sweet. Then he blows up a balloon with his face on it. The then gets back in his habitat and does a soft shoe number with a cane.

“So if you want a new gorilla you can call your own.
A gorilla will be with ya when you’re all alone.”

Other animal in western garb walk into view, who are presumably this show’s “and Friends.” But the think that caught my eye is the fact that apparently the pet shop is a false front. I just noticed this.

Vm7WfdQ.png


I don’t THINK the premise is that Magilla is faking a store in order to find a home but I like the idea.

Anyway, Magilla turns around a television so the audience can see the title of the show.

Magilla narrates: “It’s the Magilla Gorilla Show, starring me and Mr. Peebles with Mushmouth and Pumpkinpuss and Richochet Rabbit and Goof-Off.”

We see the characters and… I think I did a Richochet Rabbit intro review but a lot of these characters run together for me. But Mushmouth and Pumpkinpuss (or Bumpkinpuss?) sound like sarcastic made-up names, like Goober and the Ghost Chasers.

Anyway, the whole case starts singing the theme.

“Gorilla
Magilla Gorilla for sale.”

A little girl walks by and asks “How much is that Gorilla in the window?” An answer comes in musical form.

“Take our advice
At any price
A gorilla like Magilla is mighty nice.”

We see Magilla walking over the Mr. Peebles, who makes Magilla down from $100 to two cents. Weirdly, Magilla seems pretty cool with this, clearly more interested in a home than his own pride.

“Gorilla
Magilla Gorilla for sale!”

Everyone marches into the shop and slams shut the door.

Did It Make Me Want To Watch It?

Not so much BUT I do like this intro quite a bit. I like that while there are several angles, it is mostly staying on one shot and framing and I kind of like that choice. No multiple angles, no clips of the show, but allowing the character to sing and getting the premise through. I also like the idea of a Gorilla at a pet store who can’t be sold. How much of a fuck up is this gorilla? I mean, moral issues aside, I would LOVE to buy myself a gorilla friend. So he’s got to really screw up to constantly not be sold (or to be refunded). I don’t have faith its good but I like a lot of what is happening in this one.

What Did You Find on Wikipedia?

“Punkin’ Puss” Which… is the most graphic sounding name. Oh and whom I though was “Good-Off” was Droop-a-Long. I didn’t even get the syllables right on that one.

In Yiddish, a megillah is a long tedious or embroidered account, from the Hebrew megillah, a story written in a scroll. One episode has Magilla saying, "Such a megillah over a gorilla."

Oh, OK, anything else I should know, Wikipedia?

According to one reading of the show, the trials of Magilla mirrored the attitudes that some American citizens had towards racial integration during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Christopher P. Lehman, in his 2007 book American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era: A Study of Social Commentary in Films and Television Programs, 1961-1973, writes that The Magilla Gorilla Show perpetuated the idea that non-whites should be segregated, with Peebles selling Magilla (the gorilla iconography thus evoking a reference to 19th-century racist artwork portraying blacks as subhuman primates) to white customers who would invariably return him to the pet shop by the end of each episode.

I’m sorry I asked.


Fan Art

There are some really awesome ones.

68ce1f17334739.562b89f844c84.jpg


This one is pretty sweet.

dbnx4oi-fd557a4b-e7eb-4f75-8758-ae9ed19d942c.jpg


Motherfucker loves bananas.

d9z3psd-8e76d012-85cf-4c55-a06a-9274bd50b0d9.jpg
images



So these are good. More confusingly is there are two “Zombie Magillas” that come up pretty early in my search...

d31mev7-d977837e-a2d3-43a0-a36f-a9e7c90ae698.jpg
images



Not entirely happy about it.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
The Marvel Super Heroes

OOOOOOH, BABY! I’ve been waiting for this. And its not just because I’m a Marvel fan. I love both Marvel and DC but Marvel is my favourite shared universe and has some of my favourite leads (though I feel DC has the stronger backbench for C and D listers). These themes aren’t ALL memorable (I completely forget two of them) but three of them are fucking baller all time greats. Plus the Mighty Marvel Marching Society! There’s so much good here. I can’t do this in one post. Let’s start this multi-part saga in a tale we could only call “The Marvel Super Heroes”. Hope you survive the experience.


We begin for a couple of trumpets appearing from each side of the screen. Then from the bottom comes the Hulk, who punches the trumpets away. This is already off to a great start. Also, now I want to see “Hulk goes to a Medieval Times.”

“Meet the sulky, over bulky, kinda hulky super hero!”

I love that the series this early on has Hulk pegged not just as an outsider but a dude who acts like a big sulky baby. Even then, I think the Marvel brand was a bit more humour self-aware humour and ability to undercut its characters while still making them loveable and having us invested in their whole deal.

“Optimistic and electrically transistored super hero!”

We see Iron Man with a little electric rod thingy, then uses his rocket boots to take off into the sky.

“An exotically erotic and aquatic super hero.”

I can’t imagine the correct word is erotic but, like, we get a shot of the Sub-Mariner so everything fits perfectly.

TttIjPy7ViqbvgnwSJ86fzxUuFcnak9whAvi7iyzElJhDOSyGo0XfeLUwyBqUcMNswxcIWL799BArfWZjtBm6TWIH_oDEPrSWTQSoCGAAEMoflzZjMSI


“The Marvel Super Heroes have arrived!”

They have but not with the great logo all the individual characters seem to get.

Iron Man, seeming to agree, uses his rocket boots to push the title away.

“Super powered from the forehead to the toes”

Close up on Iron Man’s rocket boots.

“Watch them change their very shape before your nose.”

We see Bruce Banner, belted by gamma rays, change into the Hulk, ain’t he lacking in refinement?

“See our cane-striking super hero change to Viking super hero.”

We see Doctor Donald Blake strike his cane and transforming into Thor (though he would never 100% go away, Donald Blake for the most part goes away, though recently came back as a villain).

“A-ha singing, real swinging, shield flinging super hero!”

We then see Cap tossing his shield to the side of the screen. It actually looks like he’s rolling it but when we see the next shot, it’s flying horizontally.

“They’re the latest and the greatest ultimatest superheroes.”

Hulk punches the shield out of the air and the heroes fly around (or swim, in Namor’s case).

“The Marvel Super Heroes have ariiiiiiiiived.”

The heroes then all appear to line up with Hulk in the center.

Did It Make Me Want To Watch It?

I mean, already sold but yeah, I love this cheeseball opening with a theme song that feels more 1940s than 1960s. The end theme is better though, which we’ll get into later.

What Did You Find on Wikipedia?

The production company was Grantray-Lawrence Animation, who used limited animation (obviously) and also did the Spider-Man cartoon (but only for season one) and Rocket Robin Hood (which we’ll talk about later). It also literally only lasted one season in its initial run, from September to December of 1966.

Also worth noting, the images were often taken directly from the comics and animated Monty Python style. So the animation was weak but you’d get genu-ine Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck art.

Fan Art

Of course there is.



thor_vs_hulk_by_uncannyknack_ddq97sw-fullview.jpg
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8...9.Chb5Br_44aC7VMoocU6Q3Z3gu6vksBLpPlugAQjn9q4





dca8m6g-72e22aef-76d2-48df-99e5-7b2bcdbc8d11.jpg


That looks SO close to chaffing those nips.

14.jpg
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
I feel like SUb Mariner was supposed to be "and neurotic" and not "an erotic" but... I mean... dude rarely wears anything besides speedo
 

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
And here I thought the later version, the one with the individual songs, was the earliest Marvel cartoon series.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
The Marvel Super Heroes: Captain America

OK, our first intro in the series that isn’t the main series intro is Captain America!

CaptainAmerica109.jpg


I love most of the major superheroes and I’ll never get people who are all about disliking upstanding guys like Captain America or Superman, claiming they are boring or “too perfect”. First of all, its OK for a protagonist to be aspirational, to be something we want to be. The other thing is I find their “perfection” far preferable to Batman, a character I still love but is often inhuman. Captain America and Supes are not “flawed” conventionally, but they are “vulnerable” and proudly so. They lack conventional physical weaknesses but they are empathetic and caring and if that is “perfect”, then there is obviously interesting drama of seeing someone who has so much goodness trying to navigate a world where there is so much imperfection like cruelty and injustice. I just love these characters and using them to explore what it really means to be a good person. Give me Chris Evan’s “aw shucks” boyscout to RDJ’s egomaniac any day. I love flawed characters too but there are different kinds of characters and stories to explore and implying only “flawed” characters are interesting feels like a needless limit on how to create.

Captain America’s appeared in quite a few cartoons but this is the only series he even starred in as the sole lead. There was an attempt in the late 90s but the problem is that it was to be a period piece with Cap fighting actual Nazis. One of the plot points (by Bronze age writer Steve Englehart) involved the Skull trying to reshape Stonehenge into a swastika. And even with the Nazis as complete villains, it was shut down for that reason. Instead, this is the one Captain America cartoon… and it has a good theme song.


We start with Captain America’s shield in extreme close up, backing up to show Cap holding it and throwing it in… the second least aerodynamic way possible (first being backside forward.

“When Captain America throws his mighty shield.
All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield.”

We see a series of comic-y sound effects and the shield flying around hitting silhouettes of what I assume are the most facsionable of Nazis.

“If he’s lead to a fight and a duel is due
Then the red and the white and the blue
Will come through
When Captain America throws his mighty shield.”

Captain America catches his shield. We get a close up and the words “Red”, “White” and “Blue” appear on the screen in that order and in those colours. We then see Captain America throwing the shield the wrong looking way.


Did It Make Me Want To Watch It?

Of course. I mean, I feel like Cap in the Silver Age doesn’t get REALLY interesting until it starts really dealing with what it means to put Cap, a symbol of a country, in a new era and I don’t think that’s going to be the biggest deal in the earliest stories of him in this era. But him beating up Batroc is good, too.

Also, this is a pretty good, triumphant hero theme.

What Did You Find on Wikipedia?

Stan Lee’s announcement of the series in Marvel Bullpen Bulletin:

"It won't be long before our swingin' super-heroes [sic] make their star-studded debut on TV, appearing five nights a week — that's right, five — count 'em — five nights a week, for a half-hour each night. So you've just got time to make sure your set's in good working order — check your local paper for time and station — and prepare to have a ball!"

Did the show really air at NIGHT? Did night mean something different back then?

Fan Art

Salute these.

il_570xN.1751618696_d6v0.jpg


Wait, that’s just Rick Jones. Gimme Cap art.
featured.png


I feel less like they want to fight crime and more that they are headed to the Interhigh Superhero Nationals (at least with Cap, Bucky, Hawkeye and Widow)

da18qwf-ccd90413-8a26-4e07-ba0f-65100bc7d8bc.jpg


Ya think she lets the hair flow out or does she just shove it into her helmet?
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Wait, was Batroc ze Leaper in this?

Did I miss an opportunity to hear a gruff voiced old man try to sound like a French Acrobat?!?
 
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