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.
DiC
Animation City, Bustin’ Productions, Inc., Reteitalia
MAIN CAST: MC Hammer
– Himself (live) Clark Johnson
– Hammerman/Stanley Burrell Ron Rubin
– Righty Susan Roman
– Winnie Jeff
Jones – Gramps/Soul Man Miguel Lee
– Unspecified Maurice Dean Wint
– Showbiz Joe Matheson
– Unspecified Neil Crone
– Ludwig Stevie Vallance
(as Louise Vallance) – Jody, various Carmen Twillie
– Fly Girls Born in Oakland, California,
Stanley Kirk Burrell got his start at age 11, earning money by performing dance
routines outside Oakland
Coliseum during Oakland
A’s
home games. Team owner Charles
Finley took notice of young Burrell and eventually made him
the team’s batboy. While working for the A’s, he performed at various clubs
while they were on away games under the moniker “MC” for “Master of
Ceremonies”. “Hammer” was soon added due to his resemblance to home-run king Hank
“The Hammer” Aaron. Hammer’s life probably would have played
out very differently if he made the cut for the San Francisco Giants
when he tried out.
MC Hammer, rocking his trademark parachute pants.
While Hammer loved baseball, he
loved rapping and performing a bit more. After a stint in college and the Navy, Hammer borrowed
some money from former A’s Mike
Davis and Dwayne Murphy
and launched his own record label: Bust
It Productions. Through it, he released the albums Feel My Powerand
Let’s
Get It Started. Both sold well enough to get him signed
to Capitol Records.
His next album, Please
Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, became
the most successful rap record of all time by selling 10 million copies and
dominating the airwaves with singles like “U Can’t Touch This”.
Hammer produced and starred
in a film titled after the album and quickly pushed out his
next one, Too
Legit to Quit, in late 1991 (which was
also the first released after he dropped the “MC” from his name).
Stanley's magic shoes turn him into...Hammerman!
Because Hammer’s lyrics were clean,
he had appeal to both adults and children. With that in mind, Andy Heyward
approached Hammer about developing a cartoon based around him and his music. That
series was Hammerman, which depicted Hammer as a rapping and dancing
superhero. In the series, the lead character was Stanley Burrell (Clark
Johnson), a rec center organizer in the city of Oaktown (named after Hammer’s other
record label) who loved to dance. He was discovered by
a man known simply as Gramps (Jeff Jones) and his granddaughter, Jody (Steve
Vallance). Gramps had been the superhero Soul Man (patterned after James Brown)
throughout his life, but it was time to retire and pass the mantle on. He gave
Stanley his magic talking dancing shows, Righty (Ron Rubin) and Lefty, and they
turned Stanley into Hammerman with a black shirt, black parachute pants, and a
gold chain. Hammerman could rap and dance his way through most situations;
using musical notes to bring inanimate objects to life or imprison bad guys,
defying the laws of gravity or physics, etc. His parachute pants also served as
an actual parachute. Because his powers were so ill-defined (and verging on
god-like), the actual threat in each episode came from Stanley’s opportunity to
transform in time either because he was already caught up in the action as Stanley
or his shoes were out of reach for some reason.
Fly, magical music notes!
Only
Gramps knew about Stanley’s alter-ego, which was odd considering Jody was a
part of the search and aware of Gramps’ past tenure as a hero. Other characters
included Winnie (Susan Roman), who worked at the rec center and was an aspiring
veterinarian; Showbiz (Maurice Dean Wint), who was always trying to act like
Stanley’s manager and turn him into a professional performer; and, Ludwig (Neil
Crone) a street musician that played keytar (like his namesake, Ludwig
von Beethoven). Additionally, two identical girls dressed in spandex called Fly Girls
(Carmen Twille) would pop up from time to time, acting like a Greek chorus and seemingly
unnoticed by the other characters (however, they tended to get
caught up in the events of an episode). Among Hammerman’s foes were Defacely
Marmeister (John
Stocker), who loved graffiti and looked like an abstract
painting; Paula Bunion, who was obsessed with shoes; and Boss Grindenheimer (Dan Hennessey),
an evil genius and mad scientist.
Hammerman rescues Jody.
Hammerman debuted on ABC on September 7, 1991, a
co-production of DiC Entertainment
and Bustin’ Productions, a spin-off to Bust It. Reportedly viewing it as his
social responsibility, the series took inspiration from Fat
Albert and the Cosby Kidsby
having live-action wraparound segments featuring Hammer discussing the plot and
moral of the story with a group of kids on animated backgrounds from the show.
Hammer also interacted with his animated counterpart in the series’ intro,
rapping the theme song by him and Felton Pilate
that spelled out Hammerman’s origins. Additional Hammer songs were integrated
into the show’s soundtrack with additional music by The Music Team and Chase/Rucker
Productions. The series was written by Reed Shelly,
Bruce Shelly,
Bob Forward,
Eve Forward,
Martha Moran,
Robert Askin,
Steven Weiss
and Paul
Dell,
with the Shellys serving as story editors. Ed
Lee handled the character designs.
Hammer hanging out on set with kids to spell out today's moral.
DiC Entertainment had earned itself
a bit of a reputation in the industry for trying to produce a product as
cheaply as possible. Many would come to regard the company’s initials as
standing for “Do It Cheap”. However, while many of their productions still
looked decent despite animation limitations, Hammerman became the one
program that most embodied that distinction. While the intro, animated by
Milimetros Dibujos Animados, S.A., was animated smoothly enough, the show
itself, animated by Pacific
Rim Animation L.T.D., was horrendous by comparison. Instead of
the traditional 24 frames per second, Hammerman ran at 10 or less,
depending on the episode and scene. Many times, it looked as if the only things
animated were the keyframes (the start and ending positions of a movement),
with the in-betweens (the drawings that create the illusion of movement between
the keyframes) skipped entirely. Continuity mistakes were also common; such as
Jody being tied up and captured in one shot but free and escaping the next
without any kind of context.
Gramps with Ludwig and Jody.
Needless to say, the show performed
abysmally in the ratings and only lasted a single season of 13 episodes. This
also coincided with a turn in Hammer’s personal fortunes as Too Legit to
Quit failed to perform as well as the previous album. He spent the money
faster than it came in, resulting in his declaring
bankruptcy in 1996. Hammer eventually rebounded and continued
making music, working in the industry and investing, as well as riding a wave
of nostalgia to appear in reality
shows and commercials,
but had never reattained the level of success he originally experienced.
The villainous Defacely Marmeister.
While
Hammer the man continued on, Hammerman wouldn’t been seen again until
2014. The Cartoon
Network series Robot
Chickenran an episode called “Welcome to the Golf Jam”,
which saw disgraced
golfer Tiger Woods
attempting to rebuild his reputation by making his own Space
Jammovie. However, the only company that
would agree to partner with him was DiC. As a result, poorly animated versions
of several DiC characters appeared, including Hammerman (Zeb Wells).
One of the VHS tapes.
There was some merchandising to go
along with the show. Three episodes were released to
VHS
by Buena
Vista Home Entertainment in 1992; the only official releases
to date, with more episodes being made available via uploads on YouTube (although not all
in English). View-Master
would adapt “Defeated Graffiti” into three
slide reels. JusToys produced
a set of temporary
tattoos featuring the main characters and Hammerman’s shoes,
while Thermos made a lunch box
depicting Hammerman and Gramps hanging out with some neighborhood kids. White Castle even
hosted a strange
promotion where they gave out Hammerman toothpaste, a
toothbrush, a sponge and a bar of soap.
EPISODE GUIDE (airdates approximate):
“Defeated
Graffiti” (9/7/91) – Defacely Marmeister tricks neighborhood kids into
graffitiing up the buildings with his special paint that he can bring to life. “Winnie’s
Winner” (10/19/91) – Knowing Hammerman is always hanging around the rec center,
three villains drop off a bugged dog so that they can find and trap him. “Rapoleon”
(11/16/91) – Feeling like nobody pays attention to his beats because he’s
short, Raopoleon’s plan to turn himself larger ends up giving him the means to
make the world smaller. “Will
and the Jerks” (11/23/91) – UNAVAILABLE. “If
the Shoe Fits” (11/30/91) – Paula Bunion makes off with Lefty, who happens to
be in love with one of her boots. “Nobody’s
Perfect” (12/7/91) – Stanley’s brother invents a robot designed to make
everything perfect, but failed to take into account that we live in an
imperfect world. “Dropping
Out” – Hammerman tries to keep one of the rec center kids from dropping out of
school to play pro ball by taking him to the future. “Lights,
Camera, Hammer!” – Showbiz drags Stanley to a movie production and they both
end up captured on celluloid—literally. “Blast
from the Past” – Gramps is feeling pretty useless until one of his old foes
returns and gives Hammerman some trouble. “Who’s
Who” – UNAVAILABLE. “Work
This” – UNAVAILABLE.
By the time
the 1990s rolled around, Macaulay Culkin--barely a decade old--was a major
movie star. He began acting at age 4, appearing on stage in Beach Babies with
the New York Philharmonic. He graduated to
television with roles in the television film The Midnight Hourand
in an episode of The Equalizerbefore finally breaking into the movies with Rocket Gibraltar. The
film that propelled him into superstardom was 1990’s Home Alone, which
saw him as the young Kevin McCallister, accidentally left behind when his
family went on vacation, protecting his house from a pair of bungling burglars.
Of course, NBC would try to capitalize on
Culkin’s growing celebrity to try and breathe new life into their limping animated
offerings.
Nick making a wish with Slobber looking on.
Produced by
DiC Entertainment
and Reteitalia
S.p.A., Wish Kid followed the adventures of young Nick McClary
(Culkin), whose baseball mitt became imbued with magic when a miniature
shooting star hit it. Every week, Nick could punch his mitt three times and
make a wish and it would come true—for a limited time. Sharing this secret with
Nick was his best friend, Darryl (Stuart Stone), who was often included in
those wishes (though not always happily), Nick’s baby sister, Katie (voiced by
Culkin’s real sister, Quinn), and dog, Slobber. Nosey neighbor Mrs. Opal was
also aware of Nick’s secret, frequently spying on his house when he made one,
however she was never able to convince anyone of what she saw (reminiscent of the neighbor from the 1960s
sitcom Bewitched);
especially not her husband, whose face was always obscured.
Darryl having to help Nick out of another fine mess.
Nick’s
wishes tended to backfire, either by fulfilling his desires in unconventional
and unexpected ways such as making it so a pair of bank robbers become his new
parents by hiding out at his house, or by running out at inopportune times.
Another major hurdle for Nick was neighborhood bully Frankie Dutweiler (James
Rankin), who took any opportunity to harass and torment Nick and Darryl and
often got Nick in trouble through his actions. Frankie especially went off if
anyone dared to call him “Francis”. Other characters included Nick’s parents,
Mel (Andrew Sabiston), a writer/reporter often struggling to advance in his
career, and Adrienne (Marilyn Lightstone), a real estate agent.
Frankie the bully.
Wish Kid
debuted on NBC on September 14, 1991. Half of the episodes included an
appearance by a live-action Culkin at the beginning talking to the audience and
promoting the show, with a few featuring just his voice over describing the
events of the upcoming story. “Love at First Wish” and “The Best of Enemies”
featured Frankie’s voice-over instead. The entire series was written by Jeffrey Scott and featured
music by Clark Gassman.
Animation duties were handled by Hung Long
Animation, Point
Animation and Cartooneurs.
The live-action segments were directed by Christopher Brough.
Live-action Nick.
Wish Kid
didn’t quite bring in the audience NBC was hoping for, and ultimately the
network followed through with their plan to eliminate animation entirely from
their Saturday morning schedule in favor of trying to replicate the success of Saved
by the Bellwith a focus on live-action teen-oriented comedies. Wish
Kid did have the distinction of being the last of the cartoons to remain on
NBC’s schedule when it was cleared for the 2-hour news program Saturday Todayon August 1st,
1992 before the fall season began. Reruns of the show aired on The Family
Channel and did well enough that the network expressed interest in commissioning
a new season, but plans for that fell through. Originally, the show’s theme
song was a parody of “Chantilly
Lace” by The Big Bopper.
Rights issues about the music forced DiC to remove the lyrics for
syndication, leaving only the singular line “Yo, baby, wishing’s what I like!”
The line also tied into Nick’s unexplained exclamations of “Yo, baby!”
“Top Gun – Will Travel” (9/14/91) – Nick and Darryl have to
rescue Katie when she ends up stolen by spies along with the jet Nick wished
for.
“A Matter of Principal” (9/21/91) – After Frankie gets Nick
in trouble at school, he wishes to be principal.
“Haunted House for Sale” (9/28/91) – A lightning strike causes
Nick’s wish to help his mother sell a house have it end up being purchased by
its previous—and dead—occupants.
“Captain Mayhem” (10/5/91) – Nick turns himself into a
superhero in order to give his father a hot new story to write about.
“Glove of Dreams” (10/12/91) – To get his dad into a
baseball game to investigate possible loan shark meddling, Nick wishes he was
pitching for the team.
“Love at First Wish” (10/19/91) – Nick falls for a new girl
at school who ends up being Frankie’s cousin.
“Lotto Trouble” (10/26/91) – Nick wishes his family would
win the lottery and tries to discourage them from spending through all of their
winnings before the wish wears off.
“Darryl’s Dilemma” (11/2/91) – When Frankie destroys Darryl’s
science project, he decides to sneak a wish for himself to replace it and ends
up with a real dinosaur egg.
“A Nick Off the Old Block’ (11/9/91) – Nick wishes for a
duplicate to help him with his chores, but the double decides to break out and
have some fun on his own.
“A Grand Ol’ Time” (11/16/91) – Nick gives his grandfather a
chance at a second childhood.
“Gross Encounters” (11/23/91) – Nick wishes to encounter an
alien that ends up being captured by the government.
“Mom, Dad, You’re Fired!” (11/30/91) – After Frankie gets
him in trouble again, Nick wishes he had new parents and ends up with a pair of
thieves.
“The Best of Enemies” (12/7/91) – After his father tells him
about becoming friends with his bully, Nick wishes Frankie would become his
friend.
Super Dave Osborne is a character
created and performed by comedian Bob Einstein. Super Dave believes himself to
be an accomplished stuntman, however the gag is that he’s actually the world’s
worst and usually ended up coming into cartoon-level bodily harm at the end of
one of his impossible stunts. Aiding him in his stunts was his ever-faithful
sidekick, Fuji, played by comedian Art Irizawa. Dave, a parody of noted
stuntman Evel Knieval, often wore
uniforms reminiscent of his.
Super Dave made his debut in 1972 on
The John Byner Comedy Hourand became a
regular on Byner’s
next show, Bizarre. He also appeared
on the short-lived Van Dyke and Companyand was a frequent
guest on Late Night with David Letterman. In 1987, Super
Dave got his own self-titled
variety show on Canada’s Global Television Network from
1987-91, which aired on Showtime
in the United States. The show took place at Dave’s all-purpose “compound”
where guest stars would be introduced in random fashion with elaborate false
backstories before Dave would perform one of his bumbling stunts.
Demonstrations of the compound’s various features and technology would often
replace the typical stunt but would yield the same result of Dave being
comedically injured.
Fuji and Super Dave.
Margaret Loesch
decided to bring Super Dave to Fox Kids
for the 1992-93 season. The concept was adapted by Einstein and Allan Blye,
along with Reed
and Bruce
Shelley and Mike Maliani
into Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire. The
show followed Dave (Einstein) and Fuji (Irizawa) as they used their stunt show
as a cover for investigating criminal activity or were lured into saving the
day under the guise of performing those stunts and Dave’s celebrity. Like the
live performances, Dave’s stunts often backfired (partly due to Fuji) resulting
in his sustaining severe bodily harm. Part of the show’s comedy involved fourth
wall breaking, with the characters acknowledging they were on a show, talking
to the audience, and even dealing with the network executives. Einstein and
Irizawa were joined by veteran voice actors Frank Welker,
B.J. Ward,
Stevie
Vallance, Kath
Soucie, Susan
Silo,
Don Lake,
Brian George,
Jesse
Corti and Charlie Adler
in a variety of supporting roles.
When it aired, the show was met with
criticism for the characterization of Fuji. Early in the show’s development,
Kenyon S. Chan, chairman of Asian American studies at Cal State Northridge and a member of Fox
Children’s Network Advisory Board, had expressed concerns over Fuji’s design.
The exaggerated caricature of the Japanese-Canadian actor leaned towards the
negatively stereotypical with his short stature, protruding lip and slit eyes
through enormous glasses. That negative characterization was made even worse
once episodes started airing and Irizawa’s impersonated heavy Asian accent was
finally heard. Along with Chan’s objections, concerns from Asian communities
and organizations such as the Media
Action Network for Asian Americans prompted FOX to order changes
be made to the character.
The new Fuji: rounder eyes, less-pronounced lip, and a complete lack of accent.
Loesch
announced that new live-action introductions would be recorded in order to show
audiences that Fuji was “not a buffoon but is based on a real actor who happens
to speak this way.” Stephanie
Graziano, Fox’s director of animation, announced she, Irizawa
and Einstein would be sitting down to discuss changes to Fuji’s appearance and
voice for future episodes. All of that damage control ultimately proved to be
for nothing as Daredevil for Hire wasn’t
renewed for a second season. A special episode, “The Super Dave Superbowl of
Knowledge”, aired in January of 1994 incorporating a slightly-altered design
for Fuji and Irizawa’s new vocal performance. The special was written by Einstein,
Hanrahan, Burian-Mohr and Kevin
Donahue.
Cover to one of the VHS tapes.
Buena
Vista Home Entertainment released “Space
Case”
and “Con
Job”
to VHS, marking the only release of the series to date. Super Dave, however,
continued to make appearances on various programs, talk shows, game shows and
his own specials. In 2000, the character peaked with the release of his own
full-length direct-to-video film, The
Extreme Adventures of Super Dave.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Super
Bowl, Super Bomb, Super Dave!” (9/12/92) – Super Dave must infiltrate the Super
Bowl so as not to initiate a panic as he searches for a bomb.
“Space
Case” (9/19/92) – Super Dave heads to space to save an out of control space
station.
“Bullet
Train Pain” (9/26/92) – Super Dave puts all his skills to the test to try and
stop the fastest runaway train ever.
“Con
Job” (10/3/92) – Super Dave has to ensure that a very dangerous criminal ends
up properly locked up.
“In
His President’s Secret Service” (10/10/92) – Super Dave is put in charge of
protecting the President of the United States.
“The
Fuji-tive” (10/17/92) – Super Dave has to rescue a kidnapped Fuji.
“Double
Agent Dave” (10/24/92) – Super Dave is tricked into stealing the Navy’s new
submarine.
“Happy
Trails” (10/31/92) – Super Dave is tricked into protecting a western town from
a gang of recently-paroled crooks.
“Hazard
Island” (11/7/92) – Slash Hazard uses Dave’s answering of fan mail to lure Dave
to his desert island where the volcano is about to blow.
“Put
Another Candle on My Birthday Cake” (11/14/92) – Super Dave spends his birthday
trying to protect medical supplies from a biker gang.
“Pain
Nine from Outer Space” (11/21/92) – Aliens challenge Super Dave to a game for
the fate of Earth.
“Merry
Christmas, Super Dave!” (11/28/92) – Super Dave ends up involved in the rescue
of a kidnapped Santa.
“Super’s
Last Show” (12/5/92) – Tired of the abuse, Super Dave tells the network he’s
retiring.
Special:
“The
Super Dave Superbowl of Knowledge” (1/29/94) – Super Dave educates a group of
kids by demonstrating the answers to their various questions.
