Tooned In

Happy Saturday Morning!

Well the big news coming from this past week was that I could cross off a Bucket List celebrity meeting, because I got to meet Melissa Raccoon herself, Susan Roman!  And she followed up on Instagram chat in the following days!   She was so nice, and we talked for minutes on end about The Raccoons (she pointed out that I was probably the first person to primarily come with that show in mind), Rock and Rule, and Sailor Moon.  It’s no secret that I love the series version of Melissa because of how she performed it, and she really did bring the character away from the quieter, more housewife-ish version seen in the specials to the more outgoing, take charge career woman she’d become.

Now, back to He-Man minisode watching.  Last week was pretty much a light comedy short, with Orko debuting how couldn’t it?  I will say the running gag of Trap Jaw not knowing his name dropped the ball by not including “Gorpo” as one of the incorrect names he gives.  But they make up for it with Trap Jaw somehow guessing “Orlando”.   Well, onto the latest adventure…

Happy Saturday morning!

Happy Saturday Morning!

But first, my Obsessed With TV portion of the column.  The last few weeks, I’ve been heavily into Benidorm, the 2000s-2010s British comedy/soap opera.  It was the usual deal where I came in as a big Siobhan Finneran fan, and left liking everybody on the show.  Love Madge and especially Donald and Jacqueline, OH YES!   Going back to Finneran,  returning to Harlan Coben’s The Stranger now that I know of her other signature program, it’s wild that part of that series involves Janice Garvey avenging Edina Monsoon’s death.

In MeTV Toons news, who is finally debuting June 20th?  Sarge?  Rosemary the Telephone Operator?  Penry, the mild-mannered janitor?  COULD BE…

So today’s quickie review is a TIL.  That Popeye has a Star Wars parody to his credit.  Now, we’ve looked at Fleischer, Famous, and the KFS made-for-TV versions.  All that’s left is…sigh…the Hanna-Barbera Popeye.  In the late ’70s, CBS received a new Saturday morning version of the sailor man and his friends.  Only ’70s SatAM TV being what it was, certain changes had to be made.  Namely, don’t expect to see Bluto getting clobbered after Popeye eats his spinach; remember, we’ve been talking about how the Superfriends could barely make physical contact against their enemies.

That being said, this was a relatively timely and fresh spoof, since we were just a bit over a year removed from Star Wars’ theatrical release.  Speaking of, let me check something really quick…

…yikes.

This episode was seen ONE DAY after the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.  It’s a wonder that no one gave up instantly on Star Wars parodies after that weekend.

Happy Saturday mor…er, really late Saturday!  This one is going to be a little different, but timely considering the news this week.  

Happy Saturday Morning!  It’s sure been a while, hasn’t it?  But what better to coax me out to another review than another installment of…

THAT’S SPORTS ENTERTOONMENT!

I’m sure there’s a lot of you who wanted Flim Flam to be the one to be made humble…

Happy Christmas Eve, all!

Festivus Who?  We all know what December 23rd really means.   It is the day Cyril Sneer tried to destroy the Evergreen Forest.  

When Wonder Woman snags the writers in the Lasso of Truth, this happens…

Grandpa Joe after continuing his piggybacking onto Charlie, even after he won the lifetime supply of chocolate…

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  Never forget that on this day, 34 years ago, the Hulkster went out and had his neck broken for all you Hulkamaniacs, brother.

But first…Breaking News!  As if I couldn’t enjoy Wrestle Me any more, in one of their recent episodes (reviewing Diesel vs. Taker and Austin vs. Vega at WrestleMania XII), they dropped a Raccoons reference!  Now I won’t see Paul Bearer without thinking of The Pigs, and I must say, they did a near-spot-on imitation of Len Carlson’s Pig #3 voice.  P.S. Scott, I hope those Raccoons DVDs arrived safely and are being enjoyed.

Happy Saturday!  We’re continuing on with Tis the Season for Toons, and this 1987 feature, which was one of the specials singled out by myself for its relative obscurity.  Was this deserved, or was it a hidden gem?  

As I await Scott receiving my previously-mentioned Raccoons DVDs, thought I’d try something new here.  Instead of just one full review, a few lightning-round-type looks at a couple of various things.  Yeah I’m cheating from time to time and including live action elements here and there.

I was putting together Scott’s complete-ish Raccoons DVD set, complete with other various tidbits from my obsessive recording days, including but not limited to: the Superstars where Undertaker turns face, and a WCW Saturday Night with the “dream” tag team of JYD and P.N. News.  When I got a bulletin coming out of my favorite channel, MeTV Toons.  Their upcoming holiday season begins this Saturday, so after you watched Mariah Carey thaw out (I watch her all year long, TYVM), you can start enjoying seasonal cartoon favorites every weekend till Christmas.  I clicked on the link, and I had to set a personal record for gasping while running down the schedule.  Some old standbys, yes, then there’s some things I was clamoring for with others, and then some things I DID NOT see coming at all.

I originally wanted a rest after weeks of Rock ‘n’ Wrestling reviews, but I suppose the temptation of doing something Halloween-ish was too strong.  But what to do?  I’m sure everyone talked about the big two: Charlie Brown and Garfield.  I will say, Happy 40th to the latter, and because of Garfy, I spent decades fighting the temptation to knock on neighbors’ doors on All Hallows’ Eve and say, “GIMME.”  If I did, I’d probably get a chunk of “goblin candy” like that kid did in the Tales from the Darkside episode (and has anyone tried to recreate THAT?  With something edible instead of glue, of course).  And just as we say “Season’s Greetings” and “Deck the Halls” for that other holiday, Mr. Gar Halloween Field made chants of “Candy candy candy candy” my Halloween catchphrase.

I did recently watch the Real Ghostbusters Halloween episode, and thank goodness they got one out before Q5 saved us from Lorenzo Music, a lack of Slimer, and Janine’s dreaded pointy glasses.  Good stuff, and not afraid to have scary sights and moments.  Knowing that TRG has its fans, probably covered elsewhere too.

No, I had the need to dip into the obscure, and as we all know, my icon for the underrated remains The Raccoons.  But besides the Christmas special, it took a little stretching to pick episodes that fit other holidays.  For Halloween, I could have done the one where Melissa’s old pilot boyfriend visits and makes Ralph jealous, because of one scene at a costume party.  Then I remembered an early episode centered around the gang visiting an old haunted house.  That does work for me, brother.  So here now is:

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

(It was Season One, they didn’t start affixing an “!” at the end of the titles yet…)

HERE is your Dudley Boyz Before They Were Stars moment this week on the vault!  Happy?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AINFsTjYDGY 

Pretty tight competition this week.  Do I do the episode with the Amazon counterparts to Hulk Hogan and his gang (Hulk posting on X Ouija Edition : “That cartoon gave David McLane the idea to start GLOW, brother.  Much love, HH”)  There’s the one with the Battle of the Bands, and Nikolai trying to help his ballet dancer sister!   Then there’s…hmmmm….Big Top whats?  Oh I couldn’t say no to an episode with THAT title!

It’s Saturday Morning, you know what that means.  The show no one Dreams Of, Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling!  

Welcome to, I dunno, That’s Sports Entertoonment Golden Retriever!  (We’re in the symbols instead of numbers era, like the 2010s WrestleManias, as promised…)

This week, the rest of the then-Big Three celebrated their Saturday Morning lineup’s 40th anniversaries on this past Sunday, September 14th: