{"id":21627,"date":"2015-06-18T05:07:13","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T10:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/?p=21627"},"modified":"2015-06-05T05:52:08","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T10:52:08","slug":"ghosts-of-cartoons-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/?p=21627","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts of Cartoons Past"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gather &#8217;round, kids, as your Old Auntie Cobwebs reminisces about the 1970s, a dark epoch when the only time it was possible to watch Saturday morning cartoons was on Saturday morning.  Look upon the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inthe70s.com\/saturdays.shtml\">Saturday programming schedule<\/a> (not to mention the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inthe70s.com\/prime.shtml\">prime time schedule<\/a>) and weep with despair at our limited choices of crappy cel animation.  There were a few weird gems to be found, though, and they featured some of the funkiest monsters you&#8217;ve ever heard of.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning the decade was <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sabrina_the_Teenage_Witch_%281970_TV_series%29\">Sabrina the Teenage Witch<\/a>, based on the Archie Comics character of the same name (the series itself was a spinoff of the earlier animated <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Archie_Show\">Archie Show<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YvTUN5KsDAM?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The first season of Sabrina included <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Groovie_Goolies\">The Groovy Goolies<\/a>, which then spun off into its own show.  The main characters Drac, Frankie, and Wolfie resided at Horrible Hall, along with a collection of other &#8220;hip&#8221; monsters like witch Hagatha and skeleton Boneapart.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xmelTlEzI34?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The 70s also kicked off with the first incarnation of <i>Scooby-Doo<\/i>, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scooby-Doo,_Where_Are_You!\">Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!<\/a>.  The show actually premiered in late 1969, but became an absolute juggernaut in the 70s.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"239\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0_C2HJvtRDY?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What followed was a series of knockoffs, all trying to capitalize on the &#8216;Doo&#8217;s popularity.  Some were overt, like <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Goober_and_the_Ghost_Chasers\">Goober and the Ghost Chasers<\/a>, whose pitch I imagine going something like, &#8220;Okay, we&#8217;ve got mystery-hunting teenagers and their cowardly dog; how do we not get sued?&#8221;  &#8220;I know!  Let&#8217;s make some of the ghosts be real!&#8221;  &#8220;Perfect!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pl2OzTjSpeA?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fangface\">Fangface<\/a>.  (&#8220;I know!  One of the characters can be a teenager <em>and<\/em> the dog!&#8221;  &#8220;Perfect!&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7-CMTE0O2fs?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some tried slightly harder to cover their source material, like <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Funky_Phantom\">The Funky Phantom<\/a>.  (&#8220;Mystery-hunting teenagers, dog, but the ghost is not only real, he helps solve the mysteries.&#8221;  &#8220;Perfect!&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YSL2ED-JrWE?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drak_Pack\">The Drak Pack<\/a>.  (&#8220;The teenagers <em>are<\/em> the monsters.&#8221;  &#8220;Perfect!&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BYG9FgWvsqw?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There were a few animated versions of previous properties, like <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Addams_Family_%281973_animated_series%29\">The Addams Family animated series<\/a> (originally featured as a guest appearance on Scooby-Doo, voiced by the actors from the TV series, then launched as a standalone show).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qo44tiDTEVU?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Godzilla_%28animated_series%29\">Godzilla<\/a>, in which Godzilla is the good guy.  The show was notable for its introduction of Godzuki, the &#8220;cowardly cousin&#8221; of Godzilla, who filled a role similar to Scooby-Doo&#8217;s nephew Scrappy-Doo but somehow managed to be even <em>more<\/em> annoying.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oTItRfN-LO8?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Finally, an honorable mention to <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thundarr_the_Barbarian\">Thundarr the Barbarian<\/a>, which took place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, had some monstrous villains (a group of werewolves with the acceptably-spooky name &#8220;The Brotherhood of Night&#8221; and the vampiric Stalker from the Stars), and even inspired a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ookla_the_Mok_%28band%29\">band name<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LhAobPugvsk?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This was the cartoon landscape of my youth.  Now get off my lawn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gather &#8217;round, kids, as your Old Auntie Cobwebs reminisces about the 1970s, a dark epoch when the only time it was possible to watch Saturday morning cartoons was on Saturday morning. Look upon the Saturday programming schedule (not to mention the prime time schedule) and weep with despair at our limited choices of crappy cel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bittens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21627"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24943,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21627\/revisions\/24943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}