Tuesday's Forgotten TV: Doctor Snuggles

My, it's been a few weeks since I contributed to Tuesday's Forgotten/Overlooked, but I'm happy to be back, this time with a TV series for children that was an international production.

Doctor Snuggles was a 13-episode animated children's series that was co-produced in the US, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, and featured an elderly inventor who created imaginative contraptions that got him and his forest friends (mostly animals and even plant life) into wild adventures.  Peter Ustinov provded the voice for the doctor in the English language version.  I saw it in the early 80s in syndication, but it aired later in the decade on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block of programming.

Here is the good dcotor appearing in "The Remarkable Fidgety River."  Enjoy!




For more overlooked audio and video, see here.  Thanks!

The Origin of Captain America

As anyone who is even slightly paying attention knows, the new Captain America movie is being released in theaters today.  As a warm-up to the new film, here is Cap's origin story as told in the Marvel comics 60s TV cartoon series.  Enjoy!

Dancin' On Air Retrospective This Saturday July 23rd!

Hey there!  Sorry for the extreme lack of regular blogging, but I'm afraid the blog tends to be a casualty of the summer season every year.  This, however, is well worth blogging about, at least for my fellow Philly residents.

WPHL-TV Channel 17 will be showing a brand new retrospective on the 80s local dance show Dancin' On Air this Saturday, July 23rd in two parts, from 8 to 10pm and 11pm to 1am later that night.  I've discussed Dancin' On Air before in what became one of my most popular posts ever, so if you haven't heard of the series before, please check that article out.  Get out your hair mousse and get ready to dance, my Philly peeps!

Check out some great video of the show at the station's Web site here.  Thanks!

Woody Woodpecker, "The Screwball"

I've posted Disney cartoons and Warner Brothers cartoons in the past, but I've never showcased a Woody Woodpecker cartoon before.  There's a first time for everything--here's Woody freeloading on a baseball game in "The Screwball."  Enjoy!

Tuesday's Forgotten TV: Legends of the Superheroes

Happy Independence Day!  I hope everyone's having a great holiday weekend.  I know I'm a day early, but since I'm home and have the time, I thought I'd post this week's Forgotten TV.  It's something I just picked up at the Philadelphia Comic Con and remember seeing when it first aired back in 1978--Legends of the Superheroes!

This was a 2-part special that aired on NBC, produced by Hanna-Barbera, that featured a version of the Superfriends (minus Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman) pitted against a version of the Legion of Doom (minus several villians) in comedic, almost vaudevillian, fashion.  It was a bizarre special, but enjoyably so.  The first night featured the heroes trying to stop the villians plot to destroy the world, and the next night featured a Friars Club-style roast of the heroes by those same villians.  The cast included Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin reprising their roles from the Batman TV show, Charlie Kallas as Sinestro, Jeff Altman as the Weather Wizard, and Ed McMahon as the MC of the roast.  God bless the 70s!

Here are some clips from the specials.  Thanks!

Philadelphia Comic Con 2011 Recap

Hi there!  Sorry once again for my absence of late, but the rigors of Real Life has made blogging a luxury.  However, I'm just starting a glorious four-day holiday weekend, so I'd like to take the opportunity to discuss my visit to the 2011 Philadelphia Comic Con, held Friday June 17th!

As much as I love comic books, this was my first time at a major con.  Thankfully, my awesome wife bought me a ticket (via a great discount on Groupon, of all places), and off I went.  My daughter Megan went along for the trip, along with our friends the MacMinns.  Megan was dressed in a Spider-Girl dress, while I went attired in a Hulk t-shirt.

Speaking of the Hulk, he was there, in the form of Lou Ferrigno.  Other celebrities in attendance included Adam West and Burt Ward, Margot Kidder, John Schneider, Vivica A. Fox, Bruce Campbell, and Billy Dee Williams, among others.  I didn't get any autographs, but it was still cool to see them up close and personal.

I also did some shopping.  I bought a hardcover copy of Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross for $10, Chew Volume 3 for a bit less than that, Essential Savage She-Hulk (don't judge me) for $7, as well as some DVDs, including the TV version of the Broadway musical It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (Megan was interested in seeing it) and the infamous TV special Legends of the Superheroes (which I may discuss in a future post).

I received some comp copies of new books courtesy of Philly comic publishers 215 Ink, for which I'm very appreciative.  I hope to give reviews of their books very soon.

Finally, I picked up some nice artwork for myself and the kids.  I got a print of Wonder Woman for Megan and Batman for my son Brian for only $5 a piece thanks to artist Alan Schell, who also gave us a free copy of a comic he illustrated, Oz/Alice in Wonderland.  You can see his work at his Facebook page and his DeviantArt page.  Check him out!

Finally, I got my very first con sketch, from artist TL Collins.  I was especially looking forward to getting a sketch, as I had a particular subject in mind.  I'll save what it is for another post I want to write soon.  In the meantime, you can check out Collins' web comic Bullfinch three times a week.

Here are Megan and I enjoying some cool cars at the show.  We both had an awesome time.  I hope to make this an annual event.

As I've said, I'll try to have some further posts about the con soon.   Thanks!

Tuesday's Forgotten TV: Domestic Life

It's time once again to blow the dust off forgotten footage from the past.  This week, it's the short-lived Martin Mull sitcom Domestic Life.

Mull plays Seattle TV personality Martin Crane, whose vignettes about family life in the 80s is called, coincidentally, Domestic Life.  His life is, of course, humorously complicated, with a suffering but loving wife, frustrated teenage daughter, and very precocious 10-year-old son, who runs his own businesses.  That's right--a business owning 10-year-old son.  The one episode I remember most clearly featured Martin asking his son for a $4000 loan.

The show was short-lived, as previously stated (aren't all my selections short-lived?), premiering January 4, 1984 and ending on September 1st the same year.  While the series didn't help Mull's career, at least it didn't hurt either.

Here is the series theme song (with lyrics written by Mull), followed by a promo for the show.




In my research, I was surprised to learn that the show was executive-produced by Steve Martin.

Thanks!