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Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
August 29, 2017
August 28, 2017
August 26, 2017
TOXIC CRUSADERS
Some links may contain content not appropriate for younger audiences. Parental discretion is advised.
TOXIC
CRUSADERS
(Syndicated, March 1-May 20, 1991)
Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Troma Entertainment
MAIN CAST:
Rodger Bumpass – Toxie/Melvin
Junko, Dr. Killemoff
Paul Eiding – No-Zone
Ed Gilbert – Major Disaster
Hal Rayle – Headbanger/Dr.
Bender, Bonehead
John Mariano – Headbanger/Fender
Gregg Berger – Junkyard
Patric Zimmerman – Czar Zosta
Kath Soucie – Yvonne
Michael J. Pollard – Psycho
Chuck McCann – Mayor Max Grody
Susan Silo – Mrs. Junko
Troma
Entertainment had built itself up on a reputation for crass, crude, gory,
and gratuitous low-brow entertainment. So, of course what better place to find
fodder for Saturday morning television?
Troma's logo. |
While working as the pre-production
supervisor for Rocky, Troma
Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman
got the idea to create a horror film set at a health club. However, it would be
a few years before he got to see those plans to fruition. Kaufman had initially
formed a production company with Oliver
Stone, but it fell apart shortly after Stone went his own way and his 1973
film, Schwartz: The Brave Detective, bombed
horribly. Kaufman then partnered with Michael Herz to form Troma and
produced a softball-themed sex comedy in 1979 called Squeeze Play.
Lloyd Kaufman amongst memorabilia from his empire. |
When the movie became an unexpected hit,
Troma was brought on to produce the all-star film The Final
Countdown in 1980. While it
performed well and was also a success, the stresses of working on a massive
film led Troma to decide they would rather keep to the joy of simple low-budget
fare and produced two more teen sex comedies. As the 80s rolled on, the teen
sex comedy genre began to become crowded, leaving Troma to find a new niche to
exploit. After reading an article that said horror films were no longer
popular, Kaufman decided to resurrect his old idea and make his own horror
film.
Toxie in all his hideous glory. |
Rather than straight-up horror, Troma
decided to make it a horror comedy that was partially a satire on superheroes
and contained all the signatures Troma’s films had become known for. The
resulting film was The Toxic Avenger, which was set
in Tromaville, New Jersey: the toxic waste dumping capitol of the world (and
subsequent setting for all of Troma’s future films). Melvin Junko (sometimes
Ferd, played by Mark Torgl)
was the mop boy at the local health club where some of the regulars decided to
torture him. Their ultimate prank ends up with Melvin in a tutu kissing a
sheep, and in his humiliation he ran out a window and fell into a vat of toxic
waste. That waste turned him into the monstrous and nigh-indestructible Toxic
Avenger, aka Toxie (Mitch Cohen),
who set out to get his bloody revenge and unleash justice on those that would
prey on the weak.
The
Toxic Avenger was released in 1984 and was completely
ignored. It wasn’t until it was a long-running midnight movie at the Bleecker
Street Theater in New York City in 1985 that it developed a solid cult
following, and soon found regular broadcasts on cable. It became the film that
introduced the world to Troma and established everything the studio would be
about. Troma revisited Toxie in 1989 for a sequel that, after running extremely
long, was chopped up into two sequels:
The Toxic Avenger, Part II
and Part III: The Last
Temptation of Toxie.
In 1990, Kaufman sought to expand
Troma’s audience base into the juveniles by bringing Toxie to the mainstream;
namely, Saturday morning network television. Troma partnered with Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, who had brought
another adult-oriented mutant-hero franchise to animation with their adaptation
of Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles (the original comics, while not as brutal as the Avenger films, were decidedly more
violent than the eventual cartoon version).
Of course, the series would have to be almost entirely scrubbed of Troma’s signatures
in order to be appropriate for young audiences. Also, to fulfill FCC requirements for children’s programming, the
show took on a pro-ecological message.
The Crusaders: Dr. Bender, Fender, Toxie, No-Zone and Major Disaster. |
Toxie (Rodger Bumpass) had a similar
origin as he did in the films, except he didn’t go on a murderous vengeance
spree on those who wronged him and future foes. The mop that he used to clean
the health club where he worked was also changed by the toxic waste to be a
super-powered, semi-sentient being (aptly named Mop). Further differences
included Toxie was given a team of similarly mutated freaks. Amongst them was
No-Zone (Paul Eiding), a test pilot that crashed into a silo of radioactive
pepper giving him powerful sneezing powers; Major Disaster (Ed Gilber), a
soldier that fell into a radioactive swamp and gained the power to control
plants; Junkyard (Gregg Berger), a homeless man merged with a junkyard dog
after he took shelter in a toxic waste-covered dog kennel that was struck by
lightning; and Headbanger, a fusion of mad scientist Dr. Bender (Hal Rayle) an
surfer-like singing telegram boy Fender (John Mariano) that became fused when
Fender accidentally knocked them into Dr. Bender’s invention. Together, they
became the Toxic Crusaders, often aided by Toxie’s tone-deaf girlfriend, Yvonne
(Kath Soucie), and his mother (Susan Silo). Toxie was also given a pet in the
form of Blobbie; a little blob of goo that came to the toxic waste dump that
served as the primary base for the Crusaders.
Dr. Killemofff and Mayor Max Grody. |
Their primary foes were the Smogulans;
aliens from the planet Smogula who wanted to pollute the Earth in order to make
it habitable for their people and conquer it. The primary ruler of the planet
was Czar Zosta (Patric Zimmerman), whose forces on Earth were led by Dr.
Killemoff (Bumpass). Psycho (Michael J. Pollard) was an obese bio-mechanical
being that worked for Killemoff and had the uncanny ability to predict the
future—usually the failure of Killemoff’s plans, that often went unheeded. Hazmat-suited
minions known as Radiation Rangers served as Killemoff’s foot soldiers and
cannon fodder. Bonehead (Hal Rayle) was the lead health club bully (replacing
Bozo from the first movie) that led to Toxie’s creation who himself was changed
into a monster when Toxie threw him into a barrel of acid rain. Bonehead joined
forces with Killemoff, but wasn’t much of an asset as he was brainless and
incompetent. Also working with the Smogulans was the corrupt mayor of
Tromaville, Max Grody (based on the mayor from the first movie, voiced by Chuck
McCann).
Dr. Killemoff, Bonhead and Psycho. |
The
Toxic Crusaders (so named because Avengers was deemed too violent sounding) premiered in syndication
on March 1st, 1991. Even though they couldn’t go to the lengths of
brutal, dark, gross-out humor that the films it was based on did, the series
had its fair share of adult-oriented jokes, toilet humor, and often broke the
fourth wall by being self-referential. The series was written by a combination
of MWS and Troma alum, including Jack
Mendelsohn, Carole Bruce
Mendelsohn, D.J. MacHale, Ned Candle. Walt Kubiak, Jeffrey W. Sass and Andrew Wolk, along with Chuck Lorre and Herz. Lorre, who had written
the Turtles theme, co-wrote this
series’ theme with Dennis C.
Brown. Brown and Larry Brown
handled the rest of the series’ music.
Although the Avenger films were popular enough to inspire enough networks to put
decent orders for the series, they weren’t sufficient enough to guarantee a
second season. The show ended after its 13-episode run. During the show’s run, Marvel Comics released an 8-issue
comic series that ended up cancelled along with their other TV-based
projects. In the UK, Fleetway Publications
published their
own series that run two issues longer. Playmates, who produced the toys for Ninja Turtles, made a line
of figures in a similar style. Bandai
and Sega released side-scrolling platform
beat ‘em up video games in for the Nintendo Entertainment
System, Game Boy
and Sega Genesis
developed by TOSE,
Realtime Associates
and Infogrames,
respectively. A SNES
version was planned but never released. Other merchandise included
trading cards
by Topps, coloring/activity
books and puzzles
published by Golden Books,
junior
novels by Boxtree,
a card
and board
game by International
Games, a Colorforms
playset, lunchboxes
by Thermos, costumes
by Collegeville
and costume
patterns by McCall’s
Patterns.
Add for the Toxic Avenger collection. |
In late 1991, Golden Book Video
released several episodes to
VHS.
In 2004, Troma released Toxic Crusaders: The Movie, which
edited the first three episodes together into a single film. In 2005, the first
four episodes were presented in their original format in Toxic Crusaders: The Television
Series Volume 1.
In
2008, the complete series was included as part of The Complete Toxic Avenger set, which
contained all four Avenger movies.
The complete series was also made available as part of Amazon
Video’s streaming service.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The
Making of Toxie” (3/1/91) – Melvin Junko becomes Toxie and fights the forces of
Dr. Killemoff with the aid of No-Zone and Major Disaster.
“This
Spud’s for You” (3/8/91) – Killemoff plans to put his chemicals in the food of
a local restaurant while Dr. Bender and Fender end up mutated and merged into
Headbanger.
“Club
Fred” (3/15/91) – Killemoff and his Radiation Rangers clear out a retirement
community to make room for an alien arrival.
“Tree
Trouble” (3/22/91) – Killemoff plans to push “Smog on a Can” while Major
Disaster falls in love and begins having trouble with his powers.
“Pollution
Solution” (3/29/91) – Killemoff sends the Radiation Rangers to invade the Toxic
Dump to prepare for a Smogulan invasion.
“A
Sight for Sore Eyes” (4/6/91) – Mayor Grody moves the Crusaders to his
penthouse in order to clear the dump for Czar Zosta.
“Mr.
Earth: Superhero” (4/13/91) – A new superhero joins the Crusaders against
Killemoff, but ends up causing more harm than good.
“Toxie
Ties the Knot” (4/20/91) – Zosta’s daughter arrives in Tromaville and falls in
love with Toxie.
“Invasion
of the Biddy Snatchers” (4/27/91) – Zosta replaces Killemoff with General GarBage,
who plans to replace senior citizens with evil clones.
“The
Snail Must Go Through” (5/6/91) – New superhero Snail Man helps the Crusaders
fend off the latest pollution attack while also preparing for Yvonne’s concert.
“Nab
That Toxie Cab” (5/6/91) – The Crusaders start their own cab company and Yvonne
grows jealous when Toxie falls in love with his cab.
“Still
Crazy After All These Shears” (5/13/91) – Mayor Grody’s tree-planting campaign
actually involved alien seeds that grow into a Weed Monster.
“That’s
No Villain, That’s My Mom!” (5/20/91) – Toxie’s mom ends up switching minds
with Killemoff while the Crusaders deal with his convention for hideous
creatures.
August 24, 2017
JAY THOMAS DEAD AT 69
You can read the full story here.
Thomas was an actor who appeared in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series as a guard, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters as Disembodied Voice, and Barry Anger in Teacher's Pet, and starred in Hercules: The Animated Series as Ares. He also provided a voice for an episode of Goof Troop.
August 20, 2017
JERRY LEWIS DEAD AT 91
You can read the full story here.
Jerry Lewis was an actor, comedian, singer, producer, director, writer and humanitarian best known for his partnership with Dean Martin and being the long-serving chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. While Lewis has been parodied and homaged in many productions, his sole Saturday contribution was the creation of Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down?, which utilized his name and likeness and where he made uncredited contributions to the series' scripts.
August 19, 2017
MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE
MIGHTY
MOUSE PLAYHOUSE/
MIGHTY
MOUSE AND THE MIGHTY HEROES
(CBS, December 10, 1955-September 2, 1967)
Terrytoons, CBS Films
MAIN CAST:
Tom Morrison
– Mighty Mouse (shorts & new content), Oil Can Harry (shorts)
Herschel
Bernardi – Strong Man, Diaper Man, Tornado Man
Lionel G. Wilson
– Cuckoo Man, Rope Man
In 1942, Terrytoons
writer Izzy
Klein became fascinated by the Fleischer Studios
Superman
theatrical shorts and decided to
create a parody starring an insignificant animal with similar powers. He
proposed “Super Fly” at a Terrytoons story conference, but boss Paul Terry nixed the idea.
Instead, he wanted to the idea to feature his
go-to animal: a mouse.
Super Mouse and his original damsel, Mitzi. |
“Super Mouse” made his debut in
theaters on October 16, 1942 in The Mouse of Tomorrow (a
play on a nickname often attributed to Superman, “the man of
tomorrow”) released by 20th
Century Fox. In it, the city of
Mouseville was under constant siege by cats until one mouse went to a
supermarket, bathed in super soap and ate super celery and cheese that gave
him the powers to fight back and save the populace. Among the standard powers
of flight, super strength and invulnerability, he was also shown to have x-ray
vision, psychokinesis, time-manipulation abilities and could even use the red
contrail he left when he flew as a band of solid, flexible matter.
Poster showing the new name over the original colors. |
Super Mouse (Roy Halee, Sr., Tom
Morrison & Allen Swift at various points in the series) appeared in six
subsequent shorts between 1942 and 1943 when Terry learned of the existence of
another Supermouse
appearing in the pages of Nedor Publishing Co.’s
comic, Coo Coo Comics,
who made his debut just before the first short was released. Not wanting to
promote another company’s creation, Terry renamed his character “Mighty Mouse”
and later altered the color of his uniform from blue and red to yellow and red.
The newly christened Mighty Mouse made his debut in 1944’s The Wreck of the
Hesperus. The original shorts were later altered to reflect the new
name.
Mighty Mouse's new supporting characters. |
Although Mighty Mouse never reached the
heights of popularity as other theatrical cartoon stars, he became Terrytoons’
most popular character; often appearing on promotional material for other Terrytoon
projects and in Terrytoon Comics, published
by Timely Comics (precursor to Marvel). In
1945, Terrytoons decided to change the format of the series. Until that point,
Mighty Mouse would only appear in the last third of his shorts for a
last-minute rescue. It was decided to give him a new rival in old Terrytoon
villain Oil Can Harry (Morrison), remade a cat that always had evil intentions
towards Mighty Mouse’s new main squeeze, Pearl Pureheart. Their adventures were
done completely in mock opera beginning with Mighty Mouse and
the Pirates, similar to how they were presented in Harry’s original
theatrical outings in the Fanny Zilch series.
1947’s A Fight to the Finish began
the plot device of starting each short off with Mighty Mouse and Pearl in peril
as if a continuation from a previous chapter’s cliffhanger ending. It was
during this period that Mighty Mouse’s catchphrase “Here I come to save the
day!” debuted.
By the 1950s, theatrical shorts began to
fall out of fashion due to the loss of audiences in favor of the growing medium of
television and the popular and financially beneficial low-budget, stylized,
limited animation techniques presented there. In 1955, Terry retired and sold his studio to CBS; however, Fox retained the theatrical distribution
rights. CBS decided to take the existing Mighty
Mouse library and broadcast them on television. On December 10, 1955, they
launched Mighty Mouse Playhouse, which
was comprised entirely of the 80 theatrical shorts produced during Terrytoons’
run. The only new content were commercial bumpers and Colgate commercials with
Morrrison reprising his role, as well as a half-hour 1961 cartoon made in
cooperation with UNICEF. The show’s theme
was the theatrical theme written by Marshall Barer and
composed by Philip Scheib, was
originally credited to The Terrytooners
with Mitch Miller and orchestra,
but in later years it was revealed it was actually done by a group called The
Sandpipers (not to be confused with the more well-known band of
the same name).
The Mighty Heroes: Diaper Man, Cuckoo Man, Strong Man, Rope Man and Tornado Man. |
The show ran for an impressive 11
seasons pulling in respectable ratings. However, as the 1960s rolled on,
networks began producing more and more new content for Saturday mornings that
began to overshadow and edge out the increasingly dated animation presented in
the low-budget Terrytoons shorts. CBS decided to compliment the show with a new
feature and eventually settled on Ralph Bakshi’s The Mighty Heroes.
The
Mighty Heroes was a play on the growing superhero
genre, particularly the successful premiere of the live-action Batman
earlier in the year, with the most goofy and impractical heroes imaginable
protecting the city of Goodhaven. The team was comprised of Strong Man, a farm
boy-turned-big city mechanic with super strength; Tornado Man, a weather forecaster
who could create tornadoes by spinning very fast; Diaper Man, a fully articulate
baby that led the team and could use his bottle as a bludgeon weapon or to fire
high-pressure streams of liquid (all Herschel Bernardi); Rope Man, a British
sailor that could turn into an unlimited length of rope (and often got tangled
into knots); and Cuckoo Man, a bird-shop owner with avian powers that changed
into costume by jumping up into a cuckoo clock and popping out its little door
(both Lionel G. Wilson). All of the heroes could fly, but a running gag had the
rest of the team emitting jet sounds while Cuckoo Man would always lag behind
with jalopy sounds.
Only 20 episodes of The Mighty Heroes were produced before Bakshi left Terrytoons. The
show alternated between showing two Heroes
episodes around a Mighty Mouse short,
and breaking up a singular episode to bookend two shorts. The series was also
renamed Mighty Mouse and the Mighty
Heroes. Unfortunately, the show went up against DePatie-Freleng’s
similar, and more popular, series, The
Super 6, and little was done to ease the declining ratings. CBS removed the
show from the schedule the following season and allowed it to enter syndicated
reruns; both together and with the two different shows separated (Mighty Mouse ran considerably longer
than the Heroes). The Heroes did get a brief second life as
the first ten episodes were released as theatrical shorts by Fox between 1969
and 1970. They made one additional appearance with Mighty Mouse in an episode
of the Bakshi-produced Mighty Mouse: The
New Adventures.
An issue of the Dell series. |
In 1967, Dell Comics produced a four-issue Heroes comic series.
They returned to comics in a one-shot
produced by Spotlight
Comics in 1987. In 1998, Marvel published another one-shot
that explored the untold origin of the Heroes as part of their Paramount Comics
imprint. In 1989, Anchor Bay
Entertainment released two VHS collections containing 6 Heroes episodes.
EPISODE GUIDE (The Mighty Heroes):
“The
Plastic Blaster” – The Raven uses the Plastic Blaster to terrorize Goodhaven.
“The
Frog” – The Frog plans to flood Goodhaven with water from the swamp.
“The
Junker” – The Junker’s robot dogs eat anything metal, and he sets them loose on
Goodhaven.
“The
Shrinker” – The Shrinker shrinks the Goodhaven bank in order to steal it.
“The
Ghost Monster” – The Heroes face the Ghost Monster that terrorizes the city
every century.
“The
Stretcher” – The Stretcher’s robots steal everything made of rubber in town.
“The
Monsterizer” – The Monsterizer uses his machine to change the Mayor and Police
Chief into monsters.
“The
Drifter” – The Drifter uses his anti-gravity gun to lift Goodhaven up and hold
it for ranom.
“The
Shocker” – The Shocker attempts to steal Goodhaven’s power supply.
“The
Enlarger” – The Enlarger calls out the Heroes by unleashing giant bugs on the
city.
“The
Toy Man” – The Toy Man’s toys come to life at night and rob their owners blind.
“The
Dusters” – The Shrinker’s new sidekicks sprinkle dust that makes the citizens
fall asleep or laugh hysterically.
“The
Big Freeze” – A mad scientist uses his genius to freeze all the citizens of
Goodhaven.
“The
Timekeeper” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Scarecrow” – A lightning bolt brings a scarecrow to life and he’s determined to
spread fear throughout Goodhaven.
“The
Time Eraser” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Return of the Monsterizer”
“The
Paper Monster” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Raven” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Bigger Digger” – The Frog return and uses his Bigger Digger to cut away pieces
of land in order to replace it with swamp water.
Original post 2017. Updated in 2020.
Original post 2017. Updated in 2020.
August 12, 2017
HERO HIGH
HERO
HIGH
(NBC, September 12, 1981-March 6, 1982)
Filmation Associates
MAIN CAST:
Lou Scheimer – A.W.O.L.
Erika Scheimer – Brat-Man
Christopher Hensel – Captain
California
Maylo McCaslin – Dirty Trixie
Rebecca Perle – Glorious Gal
Jere Fields – Misty Magic
Johnny Venocur – Punk Rock
John Berwick – Rex Ruthless
Jim Greenleaf – Weatherman
Linda Gary – Miss Grimm
Alan Oppenheimer – Principal Sampson,
Narrator, various
Welcome to Hero High, where the
heroes of tomorrow learn today.
A modern depiction of Archie's Super-Teens. |
Hero
High was the idea of producer Lou Scheimer, who originally wanted to
develop a series exploring the retirement years of superheroes. However, as the
idea was shot down by the network, Scheimer reworked it to be about heroes
learning how to be heroes in high school. With the suggestion of adding a band
element, it was decided to make the show the eighth installment Filmation’s
ongoing Archie
franchise. The Archie kids had already been depicted as
the superheroes Pureheart
the Powerful and the Super-Teens
in the 1960s comics, and sporadically thereafter. Unfortunately, during
production, Filmation’s rights to the Archie
Comics characters expired and weren’t renewed. The characters
were quickly modified by Kevin
Frank, Tim
Gula,
Mel Keefer
and Janice
Stocks to become completely original creations; although,
their Archie influences were still
evident.
The cast of Hero High. |
Hero
High followed the misadventures of the student body as they learned to use
their powers while foiling the occasional supervillain or two. Among the main
cast was A.W.O.L. (Scheimer), who could go completely or partially invisible;
Brat-Man (Erika Scheimer), who caused earthquakes or sonic blasts by throwing
super tantrums; Captain California (Christopher Hensel), who had a super-shine
smile an flew with his semi-intelligent surfboard, Wipeout; Glorious Gal
(Rebecca Perle), who had a variety of mental powers, super strength and could
fly; Misty Magic (Jere Fields), who possessed magical powers; Punk Rock (Johnny
Venocour), who had sonic powers and super speed while playing his guitar; and
Weatherman (Jim Greenleaf), who could control the weather and fly on clouds.
Although they also attended Hero High, Rex Ruthless (John Berwick) and Dirty
Trixie (Maylo McCaslin) were often the sources of trouble on the show, trying
to foul-up their classmates with the dirty tricks located on their belts.
The kids with Police Chief Hardy. |
They were joined by their pet sidekicks
Peter Penguin, who was an avian version of Harpo Marx,
and Giggler the hyena, who shared Rex and Trixie’s dirty ways, as well as their
long-suffering teacher Miss Grimm (Linda Gary) and Principal Sampson (Alan
Oppenheimer). Sometimes, the kids had to aid Misty’s uncle, Police Chief Hardy,
on various cases. Background characters included the aptly named Li’l Sumo,
Captain Walla Walla, Kangaroo Ken, and Coach Cosmo.
Hero
High premiered on NBC
on September 12, 1981 as part of The Kid
Super Power Hour with Shazam. It was paired up with Filmation’s animated
second attempt at a show with DC
Comics’ Captain Marvel,
aka Shazam. As a result, characters from Shazam!
would make appearances on Hero High; including
Shazam (Burr
Middleton) himself and his sister, Mary Marvel
(Dawn Jeffory).
The Filmation original character Isis (Diane Pershing),
who was originally paired with the live-action Shazam!
in The Secrets of Isis, also made an
appearance. Hero High’s writers
included Bill
Danch, Robby
London, Bruce
Taylor, Coslough
Johnson, Ron
and Sam
Schultz, Jack
Enyart, Tom
Ruegger and Misty Stewart.
Live Rex Ruthless, Glorious Gal, Punk Rock, Capt. California, Dirty Trixie, Weatherman and Misty Magic. |
The programming block featured live-action
wraparound segments starring the Hero
High actors in full costume as their characters with the exception of
A.W.O.L. and Brat-Man. The group would perform in front of an audience of kids,
telling kid-friendly jokes and playing songs for them. A total of 13 original
songs were made including the show’s theme, all composed by Ray Ellis
(as Yvette Blais) and producer Norm Prescott
(as Jeff Michael) with Dean
Andre. The live segments were filmed at Filmation West,
with the voice recording for the animated segments happening at Filmation East.
Johnson wrote all the live segments, which were directed and produced by Arthur H. Nadel.
Isis drops by Hero High. |
It was intended for the show’s music
to be published on an album with the actors going on a concert tour, but the
show’s cancellation after its single season ended those plans. Three of the songs
for Hero High were released the year
before the show even aired as part of the album Rock ‘n’ Roll Disco by Fat Albert
& The Junkyard Band, recorded by different performers.
The show was nominated for “Best Children’s Television Series” by the annual
Youth in Film Awards (now the Young
Artist Awards), and Perle walked away with “Best Young
Actress in a Daytime Series”. Berwick walked away with something a little more
as he married Nadel’s daughter after meeting her at the show’s wrap party.
Shazam helps out Capt. California and Brat-Man. |
One of the lasting influences of the
show came years later when Ruegger became the steward of Warner
Bros. Animation’s television renaissance. The episode
“The Big Bang Theory” featured a villain named Brain, whose voice was patterned
after Edward
G. Robinson. The episode was written by Ruegger with
consultation from Tom
Minton, and it was storyboarded by Eddie Fitzgerald.
Ruegger’s Brain character, along with Fitzgerald and Minton, inspired the
creation of would-be world conquerors Brain (Maurice LaMarche)
and Pinky (Rob Paulsen)
on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.
The Hero High DVD. |
Hero
High was released onto DVD
in 2007 by BCI
Eclipse LLC under license from Entertainment
Rights. The set was full of extra features, including audio
commentaries, spotlight interviews with some of the people who worked on the
show, a documentary about Filmation, photo and art galleries, DVD-ROM scripts
and storyboards, and a booklet with an episode guide and trivia. Although the
full animated show was present, only 20 minutes of the live-action footage was
included as a bonus feature on the set.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The
Art of the Ballot” (9/12/81) – Glorious Gal runs against Captain California in
the school election to prove the girls are just as good as the boys.
“What’s
News” (9/19/81) – Rex hogs the spotlight when a reporter comes to the school to
do a story.
“Rat
Fink Rex” (9/26/81) – Rex goes power-crazy after he’s made the new Hero High
Honor Guard.
“Do
the Computer Stomp (10/3/81) – A new computer is allowed to decide who takes
who to the upcoming dance.
“Malt
Shop Mayhem” (10/10/81) – The kids are made to get jobs for their training, and
things don’t exactly turn out right.
“Boo
Who” (10/17/81) – The kids head to a haunted house.
“Cover
Twirl” (10/24/81) – Glorious Gal tries to get Captain California’s mind off of
the visiting Isis.
“My
Job is Yours” (10/31/81) – The kids are allowed to take control of the school
for the day.
“Girl
of His Dreams” (11/7/81) – Rex falls for the visiting Mary Marvel just as his
powers disappear.
“The
Not So Great Outdoors” (11/14/81) – The kids are forced to camp out when their
bus breaks down in the woods.
“Off
Her Rocker” (11/21/81) – Misty disappears after the others make fun of her
botched trick.
“Follow
the Litter” (11/28/81) – Rex and Trixie attempt to foil the others’ plans to
clean up the school.
“Jog-a-Long”
(12/5/81) – The boys and girls decide to compete in the local marathon against
each other, and Rex and Trixie have plans to foul things up for them.
“He
Sinks Seaships” (12/12/81) – The kids help Chief Hardy recover an ocean liner
from Captain Seaweed.
“Starfire,
Where Are You?” (12/19/81) – The kids search for a stolen top-secret shuttled
named “Starfire”.
“The
Captives” (12/26/81) – The kids have to rescue Misty Magic and AWOL from two
thieves hiding in the mountains.
“High
Rise Hijinx” (1/2/82) – The kids have to rescue a stolen statue from thieves
held up in a penthouse apartment.
“Track
Race” (1/9/82) – The kids have to rescue the governor from a sabotaged
high-speed train.
“A
Clone of His Own” (1/16/82) – Criminals replace Police Chief Hardy with a clone
under their control.
“Game
of Chance” (1/23/82) – A rigged carnival leads the way to a diamond smuggling
operation.
“The
Umpire Strikes Back” (1/30/82) – The kids help Chief Hardy track down a spy
disguised as an empire at the baseball stadium.
“The
Human Fly” (2/6/82) – The tiny Human Fly plots to steal an emerald from the
museum.
“Big
Bang Theory” (2/13/82) – Big Brain and Tiny plan to use explosives on bank
vaults.
“Law
of the Pack” (2/20/82) – The kids try to stop an evil animal trainer who steals
pets and trains them to commit crimes.
“A
Fistful of Knuckles” (2/27/82) – Captain Marvel helps the kids recapture the
criminal they accidentally helped free from jail.
“The
Blow-Way Blimp” (3/6/82) – The Chameleon steals the box office from Punk Rock’s
concert.
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