35TH & 40TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Millennials! We're getting real now. Continuing our anniversary celebration with the shows turning 35 and 40.

BENJI GREGORY DEAD AT 46

 

You can read the full story here.

Best known for his role in ALF, he played Andy in an episode of Pound Puppies (1987) and Biff Tannen Jr. and additional voices for Back to the Future: The Animated Series.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: DWAYNE McDUFFIE

 

DWAYNE McDUFFIE

(February 20, 1962-February 21, 2011)

 

Notable Roles: Producer, writer, editor

  

A Michigan native, McDuffie graduated the Roeper School and the University of Michigan before moving to New York to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After working as a copy editor at Investment Dealer’s Digest, McDuffie went on to work for Marvel Comics as assistant to editor Bob Budiansky. There, he helped develop the company’s first superhero trading cards set before getting his first major writing work published in the pages of Damage Control. After becoming an editor, he submitted a spoof proposal for a series called Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers after becoming dissatisfied with the number and treatment of Marvel’s Black characters. Going freelance in 1990, McDuffie continued to write for Marvel alongside DC Comics, Archie Comics and Harvey Comics, where he wrote the comic spin-off of the Back to the Future cartoon. Along with Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle and Christopher Priest (who left in the early planning stages for personal reasons), he founded Milestone Media to bring the multicultural sensibility they felt missing from comic books. They debuted Milestone Comics in 1993, published through DC Comics, that introduced the interconnected “Dakotaverse”, named for the fictional city of Dakota where most of their stories were set. Populating it were the African-American Static, Icon and Hardware; the Asian-American Xombi; and the group Blood Syndicate comprised of various ethnicities. A victim of both the comic bust and near-sighted retailer perception, Milestone ceased operations in 1997 and became primarily a licensing company. Static was adapted into the animated series Static Shock, on which McDuffie served as story editor and wrote 11 episodes. He also wrote for Teen Titans and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? while serving as a staff writer on Justice League; where he was later promoted to story editor and producer when the series became Justice League Unlimited. Additionally, he wrote the story for the video game Justice League Heroes and several direct-to-DVD DC animated movies. Along with returning to comic work with Beyond!, Fantastic Four vol. 1, and Justice League of America vol. 2, McDuffie was hired to revamp and story edit the Ben 10 franchise for Cartoon Network, resulting in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. During his career, he was nominated for several Eisner Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, and won a Golden Apple Award, The Humanitas Prize, an Inkpot Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award, as well as voted Favorite Breakout Talent in Wizard Magazine’s Fan Awards. In 2011, McDuffie died of complications from emergency heart surgery. Several tributes came after his death: Justice League: Doom, Ultimate Alien’s final episode and the spin-off video game were dedicated to his memory; a diner named “McDuffie’s” appeared in Green Lantern: The Animated Series; Ultimate Spider-Man introduced the new CEO of Damage Control named “Mac” with a dedication in the same episode; the 2011 Static Shock comic reboot had the titular character attending a high school named for McDuffie; new DC Comics character and brief TV star Naomi was given the last name “McDuffie”; and the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity and Comics and The Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics were started in his honor.

 

 

Saturday Credits:
Back to the Future (comic)
Back to the Future: Forward to the Future (comic)
Static Shock
What’s New, Scooby-Doo?
Ben 10: Omniverse

BUD LUCKEY DEAD AT 83

You can read the full story here.

Luckey was an animator and actor. He worked on storyboards for Back to the Future and provided animation for Sesame Street between 1976-88, as well as several spin-off videos and shorts. He also voiced Donnie Budd, the Candy Man, and sung several songs on Sesame Street from 1972-2000.

SMF ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (PART 4)

This weekend we continue our 2 year anniversary celebration. 

As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 25. A quarter of a freakin' century right here, folks. 

Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!

Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...

NOTE: Not all intros available at this time.

JOE ALASKEY DEAD AT 63

Joe Alaksey died on February 3, 2016. You can read the full story here.

Alaskey was Warner Bros.' permanent voice for such classic Mel Blanc characters as Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester Cat, Tweety Bird and even Marvin the Martian. As such, he played Sylvester and Tweety on The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and provided Daffy's voice for the opening of The Bugs n' Daffy Show. He was also best known by a generation as the voice of Plucky Duck, his father, the aforementioned WB classics and other minor roles on both Tiny Toons Adventures and The Plucky Duck Show and their related media, as well as the second Grandpa Lou Pickles and other voices on Rugrats, All Grown Up and their related media. 

He was also Sourpuss on Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures, the sheriff in two episodes of Back to the Future: The Animated Series, reprised his role of Stinkie from the Casper movie and played the Gorey Narrator on The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, was the short bug and a truck driver on an episode of Men in Black: The Series, a soda and news vendbot on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the chief in an episode of Teamo Supremo, and Sylth Vester, the Royal Tweetums, Stoney the Stone and Melvin the Martian on Loonatics Unleashed. 

He also provided voices in episodes of Where's Waldo?, Life With Louie and Timon & Pumbaa. 

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE ANIMATED SERIES

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE ANIMATED SERIES

(CBS, September 14, 1991-December 26, 1992)

Universal Cartoon Studios, Amblin Television, ZM Productions, BIG Pictures

MAIN CAST:

Dan Castellaneta – Doctor Emmett L. Brown

Mary Steenburgen – Clara Clayton-Brown

Josh Keaton – Jules Brown

Troy Davidson – Verne Brown

Danny Mann - Einstein

David Kaufman – Marty McFly

Thomas F. Wilson – Biff Tannen and his relatives

Christopher Lloyd – Doctor Emmett L. Brown (live)

Bill Nye – Doc Brown’s assistant (live)

            What would it be like to meet your parents as kids? Would they live up to their recollections and stories, or would their real personalities surprise you? That’s what writer/producer Bob Gale wondered when he posed the concept of Back to the Future to collaborator and director Robert Zemeckis.

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale on the set of Back to the Future.

The pair drafted the script by 1981, setting the movie in 1955 during the rise of the teenage culture. However, this was the 80s and it was almost a requirement that a comedy involving teens be risqué. The studios deemed it too tame and it was continually passed up whenever they would shop it around. Ironically, it was considered too risqué for a family movie under the Disney banner thanks to Zemeckis’ contribution of a mother falling for her future son. Steven Spielberg, who had worked with Gale and Zemeckis on a few films, was interested in the script; but considering their past collaborations had resulted in flops, the pair didn’t want to drag Spielberg down with them or make it seem like he was the only one giving them work. However, after achieving success with Romancing the Stone, Zemeckis felt confident to reapproach Spielberg about it. Spielberg came on board, and with him came backing from Universal Studios. (Minor spoilers for decades-old films to follow, but these do not dampen the experience of seeing them yourself in full.)

Doc explains how the time machine works to Marty.

The film was centered around a time machine created by Doctor Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd), an eccentric scientist who conceived of the device that would make time travel possible—the flux capacitor—after hitting his head on a sink and squandered his entire family fortune over the course of 30 years to create it. A DeLorean was chosen as the vehicle to house this device due to its mobility and futuristic look, with the on-screen explanation that the car’s stainless-steel construction aided in “flux dispersal”. Unfortunately, to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power needed to run the time machine, it required the use of a miniature reactor powered by plutonium. As plutonium wasn’t readily available, Doc stole his supply from terrorists enlisting his aid to build a bomb. 

Marty in 1955 trying to introduce his teenaged future parents to each other.

When those terrorists came calling, Doc’s teenaged compatriot, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), was forced to use the DeLorean to escape. He accidentally initiated the time circuits and, after achieving the required 88 miles per hour for activation, was shunted back to the year 1955 (a time entered by Doc as he reminisced about conceiving the flux capacitor). There, he inadvertently interrupted the meeting of his parents, Lorraine (Lea Thompson) and George (Crispin Glover), and caused Lorraine to fall for him instead threatening his very existence. Tracking down a younger Doc, Marty enlisted his help finding a way back home due to a lack of extra plutonium and to ensure his parents fell in love at the upcoming school dance so that he and his siblings could be born. Unfortunately, bully Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) kept getting in the way as he wanted Lorraine for himself and loved beating up on George.

The posters for the trilogy.

Back to the Future was released on July 3, 1985 and was the most successful film of the year. As a result, it gained two sequels filmed back-to-back. 1989’s Back to the Future Part II saw Doc and Marty travel to the year 2015 to help Marty’s future family avoid legal trouble in dealings with Biff’s descendants, but ended up leading to Biff stealing the time machine to go back and his past self rich and powerful. The DeLorean also gained a hover conversion allowing it to fly, and a Mr. Fusion ® Home Energy Reactor, which replaced the need for plutonium by converting trash into fissionable fuel. Back to the Future Part III took the crew to 1885 after the DeLorean was struck by lightning and stranded Doc there. Marty, with the help of 1955 Doc, went back to save 1985 Doc from being killed by Biff’s ancestor, Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen (also Wilson). In the process, they met schoolmarm Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen), with whom Doc fell in love. 

Ad for the series.

While it’s not unusual for a studio to want to milk a successful franchise for all it’s worth (heck, the existence of the sequels at all are a testament to that as the first was considered a one and done), Gale and Zemeckis have been adamant in no further films in the franchise will be made during their lifetimes. But Universal found a workaround: how about an animated series? They approached Gale about the idea. Gale agreed, with the caveat that it be educational in the vein of Mr. Wizard since he had a 2-year-old daughter at the time and worried about what she would be watching on television. Universal agreed, and the series entered production with Gale serving as a very hands-on executive producer.

The Browns: Clara, Doc, Jules and Verne in their kitchen.

            The animated series took place following the events of Part III. Doc (Dan Castellaneta) and Clara (Steenburgen, reprising her role) had settled in 1991 Hill Valley, California (the fictional setting from the movies) with their children named after their favorite author Jules Verne, Jules (portrayed as a genius like Doc, voiced by Josh Keaton) and Verne (a troublemaker inspired by Dennis the Menace, voiced by Troy Davidson), and their dog, Einstein (named for the noted scientist and made more anthropomorphic for the show, voiced by Danny Mann). Doc, despite wanting it destroyed in the movies and it being destroyed in Part III, had rebuilt and improved the DeLorean with new features including voice-activated time circuits, the ability to travel anywhere in space as well as time (whereas in the movies they ended up in the exact same location from which they jumped) and the ability to fold up into a suitcase for easy portability (plus whatever else the plot would require of it). Together with college-aged Marty (David Kaufman), they had misadventures through time usually featuring an encounter with one misbegotten relative of Biff Tannen (who sported his 1955 look rather than his 1985 one) after another (all featuring some play on Biff’s name and voiced by Wilson). Also carried over was Doc’s time-traveling train from Part III and Marty’s hoverboard (a hovering skateboard that he somehow used in the present day without incident) from Part II. Making appearances was Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer (now depicted as a pure blonde, voiced by Cathy Cavadini), and school official Mr. Strickland (portrayed in the films by James Tolkan), now dean of Marty’s college, as well as ancestors from the Strickland family in several episodes. Additionally, Biff was given a son, Biff Jr. (Benji Gregory), who continued the family’s bullying ways against classmate Verne.

Marty and Doc check out the new DeLorean.

John Loy and John Ludin were tapped to develop the show and serve as the head writers and story editors. Initially they were going to make Marty the center of the series as he basically was in the films, but CBS vice president Judy Price wanted it to have more appeal for kids. Loy and Ludin decided to shift the focus over to Doc’s kids, who only appeared briefly at the end of Part III. They conceived of several creative directions, but ultimately found that the show worked better if two impulsive kids got into trouble and needed the older characters to help them. Gale originally rejected the kid-centric focus, but after discovering that their other ideas limited the show too much, he conceded that they needed to be central. 

A family holiday spent in Victorian England.

The production was careful to be as historically accurate as possible, which kept them from getting heavily involved with major historical figures (except for Ben Franklin) or key events. Because of time travel shenanigans, the series had an unusual amount of production work that needed to be done: new backgrounds, characters, props and costumes for the main cast needed to be designed for every era. Character designs were handled by James S. Baker and John Stevenson, who alternated episodes after the first, along with assists from Gayle Middleton. While the main cast had to look a particular way and go through a rigorous approval process, Baker and Stevenson were allowed to have fun and stretch their creative muscles with the designs of the other characters. 

            Back to the Future debuted on September 14, 1991 on CBS, becoming the first production of Universal Cartoon Studios. To commemorate its premiere, a party was held that was attended by Zemeckis and Spielberg. Along with Loy and Ludin, it was written by Wayne Kaatz, Earl Kress, Mary Jo Ludin, Mark Klastorin, Michael Klastorin, Randy Gale, Michael Zimbalist, Cliff MacGillivray, Alex Herschlag, Mark Hoffmeier, Rick Cunningham, Peyton Reed, Mark Gowen, Sean Derek, and Mark Valenti. A re-recorded version of Huey Lewis and the News’ “Back in Time”, which closed out the first movie, served as the series’ theme song played over an intro sequence animated by John Pomeroy. The end credits played over a scene of Doc peddling to power a device that bordered the screen. Typically, Alan Silvestri’s film score played over that, as it did throughout the series as incidental music. But occasionally a new song fitting the theme of the episode would play (the Bewitched theme was used for the credits of “Witchcraft,” for example). Michael Tavera handled the rest of the series’ music needs. The animation was designed and produced by BIG Pictures, with Wang Film Productions providing the actual animation. 

For the first season, the intro featured Doc traveling through time to pick up his family, introducing the characters and devices to the audience. The second season changed the intro to feature clips from various episodes intermixed with some of the original footage. Clara’s design was slightly modified for the second season, the only character to have this done. The series marked the first time Doc’s middle name, Lathrop, was used on screen having previously only appeared in full in the novelization for Part III by Craig Shaw Gardener and solely as an initial throughout the trilogy. Gale made mention that it was Doc’s mother’s maiden name in the feature commentary on Part III. Doc was given two new catchphrases to compliment his customary “Great Scott!”: “jumpin’ gigawatts!” and “oucha magoucha!” (the latter typically when Doc sustained some kind of injury). A post-credits scene during the first season would feature Biff telling a joke in relation to the episode’s plot, possibly alluding to Wilson’s own stand-up career. Biff’s trademark insult, “butthead”, was limited by the network censors to only one instance per episode.

The live-action Doc returns to enhance your brains with science!

The most notable feature of the program was the inclusion of live action segments that bookended the episodes, handled by ZM Productions. Christopher Lloyd reprised his role as Doc to introduce each episode and narrate a scientific experiment that pertained to the main theme of the story. The actual science was performed and supervised by Bill Nye, whom Ludin knew from a local sketch show in Seattle. Not only did it keep up the Mr. Wizard inspiration, it also fulfilled the FCC’s mandate that children’s programming have some element of educational value. The segment proved so popular that Nye received his own educational science show from 1993-98 called Bill Nye the Science Guy. These segments written and directed by Peyton Reed during the first season, with Gale taking over directorial duties in the second with staff writers.

Biff Tannen: a butthead throughout history.

            Despite the popularity of the film trilogy, returning stars, high praise from Spielberg to the production crew, and winning four Daytime Emmy Awards, the series never received great ratings. Ludin asserted that people decided to write it off as “a cash-grab because it was based on a movie, regardless of how good it was or how much work we put into it.” Some were also put off by the Jules and Verne-centric approach, expecting a greater focus on Doc and Marty. CBS honored its commitment for two seasons, but significantly slashed the show’s budget for the second and promptly cancelled it at its conclusion. The series briefly returned to television from March 22-August 30, 2003 as part of Fox’s FoxBox programming block.

Numerous toys, books and props may have been made in relation to the movies--particularly in the years leading up to the franchise’s 30^th anniversary--but the show itself didn’t have much in the way of merchandise. Several episodes were adapted into comic book form by Harvey Comics along with some original stories between 1991-93. The comics were written by notable comic writer Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Nelson Dewey. McDonald’s produced the only toys related to the series for inclusion in their Happy Meals in 1991. At Toy Fair 2019, it was announced that a new wave of merchandise would be released for the franchise’s 35^th anniversary in 2020. Among them was a set of action figures by NECA featuring Marty, Biff, and Doc with Einstein, and a DeLorean vehicle. While the figures were released, the DeLorean had never materialized. 

The French DVDs.

Nine VHS collections and three laserdiscs were released, featuring a collected 18 episodes of the series. Originally the series was only available on DVD in France, but it was released both individually and as part of the 30^th anniversary box set on October 20^th, 2015 (the day before the future date of the second movie). In 2016, the animated series was re-released as individual season sets and a separate DVD showcasing “A Dickens of a Christmas” with “A Family Vacation” as a special bonus feature, as well as part of a new version of the complete collection.

Verne wearing a coonskin cap in the Back to the Future comic from IDW.

Even though the series has been said by Gale to be non-canonical, Telltale Games included several references to it in its Back to the Future: The Game in 2010-11. Amongst them included Marty’s middle name, “Seamus”; Biff’s ancestor Beauregard Tannen from “Brothers”; Verne being a gamer; and a mention of the Tannensaurus from “Forward to the Past.” IDW Publishing’s Back to the Future comics would also feature several references and nods to the cartoon; utilizing similar characters such as Clara’s family, locations like Hill Valley Elementary School, or visual gags like Verne wearing a coonskin cap.

EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Brothers” (9/14/91) – A brotherly spat pits Jules and Verne on opposite sides of the Civil War.
 
“A Family Vacation” (9/21/91) – Doc wants a vacation from technology and takes the family to medieval times without their consent, which leads to Clara being kidnapped.
 
“Forward to the Past” (9/28/91) – Doc heads to prehistoric times to safely test an invention, and ends up causing dinosaurs to rule the Earth in the present.
 
“Witchcraft” (10/5/91) – The Browns end up stuck in Puritanical Salem and Marty is accused of being a witch when he travels back to help them.
 
“Roman Holiday (a.k.a. Swing Low Sweet Chariot Race)” (10/19/91) – Doc and Marty head to ancient Rome to return overdue library books and end up in a mess of trouble with the locals.
 
“Go Fly A Kite” (10/26/91) – Jules’ taunting leads to Verne using an invention that makes him believe Benjamin Franklin is his real father.
 
“Time Waits for no Frog / Einstein’s Adventure” (11/2/91) – Doc and Marty travel to ancient South America to find a cure for Marty’s athletes’ foot. / Crooks steal the DeLorean with Einstein in it and end up needing rescuing from an Australian prison.
 
“Batter Up” (11/9/91) – Marty travels back to 1897 to help Pee Wee McFly win the National League Pennant race.
 
“Sole Sailors” (11/16/91) – Jules gifts Clara and Doc with a space cruise in 2091, but a future news headline machine reveals that very cruise has been sabotaged by Ziff Tannen.
 
“Dickens of a Christmas” (11/23/91) – Doc takes everyone to 1800s London to celebrate a “Dickens” Christmas and the key to the DeLorean ends up stolen by a pickpocket.
 
“Gone Fishin” (11/30/91) – Jules and Verne head back to prevent Doc’s fear of fishing, causing him to become a famous daredevil in Hollywood.
 
“Retired” (12/7/91) – On April Fool’s Day, Jules and Verne sabotage Doc’s inventions causing him to believe he’s used up his brain and retire from science.
 
“Clara’s Folks” (12/14/91) – Jules, Verne and Marty head back to 1850 to meet their grandparents and their grandmother ends up falling for Marty.
 
Season 2:
“Mac the Black” (9/19/92) –Verne goes to the Caribbean in 1697 to become a pirate so he can get an earring while Marty is mistaken for pirate Mac the Black.
 
“Put on Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It’s Time for Mr. Wisdom!” (9/26/92) – Verne brings science show host Mr. Wisdom to Doc’s lab, where he learns he was Doc’s roommate and stole an invention from him.
 
“A Friend in Deed” (10/3/92) – Marty heads back to the 1800s to find out why Biff Tannen has a deed for Jennifer’s family’s ranch.
 
“Marty McFly PFC” (10/17/92) – Marty and Verne travel back to the 40s to find blueprints for a dance machine of Doc’s when Marty is accidentally enlisted in the Army.
 
“Verne’s New Friend” (10/24/92) – Verne makes a new friend and they head to the 30s to see an old circus in its heyday, getting involved in trying to save it from financial trouble.
 
“Braveord and the Demon Monstrux” (10/31/92) – Seeking to help a grounded Verne play his favorite game, Marty and Jules cause the game to invade reality and get Doc stuck inside.
 
“The Money Tree” (11/7/92) – Jules attempts to become popular by creating a money tree, leading to a lot of trouble.
 
“A Verne by Any Other Name” (11/14/92) – Teased for his name, Verne travels back to attempt to either get Jules Verne to change his or to convince his parents to pick a new one.
 
“Hill Valley Brown-Out” (11/21/92) – Doc upgrades the town power plant after blacking the town out again, but unfortunately makes it so that nothing can ever be turned off.
 
“My Pop’s An Alien” (12/5/92) – Biff finds a craft he saw 25 years earlier in Doc’s bushes, and believes Doc is an alien that arrived with the comet Kahooey.
 
“Super Doc” (12/12/92) – Verne goes back to ensure Doc enters a wrestling match, but a conk on the head has Doc believing he’s a super hero and uses his inventions to fight crime.
 
“St. Louis Blues” (12/19/92) – Marty uses an imperfect hairstyle machine that leaves his hair a fright and causes him to be put into a freak show at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.
 
“Verne Hatches an Egg” (12/26/92) – Verne brings back a dinosaur egg for show and tell, which unfortunately decides to hatch.

Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2025.