"The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show was merely trying to frighten us."

Good morning, cartoon fans young and old! There are many weeks on the SMCS in which we bring a cartoon because it's just plain funny or because it's of historical value, but today's offering is both, as well as being chock full of high flying robotic adventure and daring-do the likes of which America hadn't even dreamt of in the sixties! It's Gigantor day, baby.

Now speaking from experience, I know a lot of you are fans of other boy and robot teams like Chiro and Super Robot Monkey Hyperforce and Hogarth and The Iron Giant, not to mention the melding of boy and robot we find in Astro Boy, Robotboy, and Big Guy and Rusty, but when it comes down to it, none of them and none of many other cartoons we like would exist were it not for the admittedly raw influence of Gigantor. While most adults didn't get what all the fuss was about, kids embraced Gigantor and a the seeds for future projects and styles of importing cartoons was born. But beyond all of that, this cartoon is just a hoot. It may anger hardcore anime fans because of the massive reediting and the poorly synced voice dubs, but we're on the radio and that won't really have an impact on is. Ha ha ha! We have defeated them. Ha ha ha! No, wait, that was from Speed Racer. Anyway, enjoy the show!

Podcast for 02/20/10 - Gigantor

I thought I'd be able to embed this video, but Vimeo apparently doesn't let me do that, but even without the ease of putting the window right here, everyone should take the extra click and watch this awesome cartoon by Kalamazoo animator Staci Gibson: The Adventures of Justin and Staci. It's sweet, funny, and a true story! Kalamazoo has a wonderful history of contributions to the world of animation and Staci is no exception. I'm geeked to see what she come up with next. Oh, and it's totally appropriate for the youngsters. In fact, those who've seen it tend to adore it. :)

Tune in next week and leave your reason, good taste, and dignity behind. We're rolling with a Lycra-clad buffoon, a megalomaniacal invertebrate, and a dim-witted whatever Brak is. That's right, we're blasting our way all the way up to the Cartoon Planet. It will turn your brain into the most delightful mush. Whee!

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"There's no need to fear, The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show is here!"

Some of you may know that my computer went more than a little haywire this week, thus preventing me from doing anything digital until I could get to the studio. As you can imagine, that kept me from getting the blog done. Here's the podcast for the Underdog show. The next entry will be back to normal. ;)

Podcast for 01/07/10 - Underdog

Listener Vince sent me this link, though I didn't see it until today, and it is awesome on so many fronts. I couldn't not share it. Thanks Vince. :) Yay Ted!

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"I never thought it was such a bad little Saturday Morning Cartoon Show."

We've made it through! Things got downright crazy this month for ol' DJ Muppet and I must apologize for the lack of updates, but I shall make up for that right now with a massive post featuring all of the holiday special shows. Here you go! :)

Podcast for 12/05/09 - How The Grinch Stole Christmas & Twas The Night Before Christmas

Podcast for 12/12/09 - The Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

Podcast for 12/17/09 - Eureeka's Castle Christmas & A Rugrats Chanukah

Podcast for 12/26/09 - A Wish For Wings That Work & A Charlie Brown Christmas

We'll see you in the new year for a day for this gem, by very special request.

Be safe on the 31st and come back to us on the 2nd in one piece, ready for another totally sweet year of cartoons, giant puppets, and chicanery of all kinds. Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"Do you want to try it, Pokey?" "No thanks, I prefer The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show."

Claymation rules! Today is Gumby day, so hopefully you lot are in the mood for some short, but action packed clay-based adventures.

Begun as a student project at USC by creator and Michigan native Art Clokey,  Gumby ended up being not just a beloved TV show, but a merchandizing machine. The 233 episode run inspired everything from lunch boxes and figurines to endorsement deals from the Library of Congress and a video game, made nearly fifty years after the first cartoon air. That's some mighty powerful mojo, my friends. 

Podcast for 11/28/09 - Gumby

And as promised, here are a couple of episodes that don't really work on the air, but are super cool nonetheless. Plus what's Gumby without at least a little bit of visual? You can totally see Davey & Goliath in these designs.

Don't forget to put in your requests for holiday specials, as next week is our big kick-off and we want to have plenty of time to find the ones you want that we may not already have.

And for those of you who might've missed the announcement on the show, Cookie Jar Entertainment finally did something with all the amazing properties they own and it is called (for better or worse) Jaroo. It's essentially a Hulu for cartoons and it's awesome. We're not getting anything from them for mentioning it or saying we like it, I'm just really happy with what's been made available (DREAMSTONE!!!) and couldn't not share with you guys. :)

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"Can you tell me how to get, how to get to The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show?"

"You've never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You're gonna love it!" - Gordon, the first lines ever spoken on Sesame Street.

While the current incarnation of Sesame Street has the squeaky clean feel of Giuliani's Disneyfied Times Square, its roots, much like the city it calls home, are funky, anarchistic, and full of vibrant, unpredictable life reminiscent of early Saturday Night Live or The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. When you think about it, can't you see Grover getting a part time job with The Ministry of Silly Walks or the Two Headed Monster paying a visit to The Pit of Ultimate Destruction for a lesson on sharing? Everything really could happen on Sesame Street, because the people and puppets who inhabited it were fully realized individuals with unique personalities and real problems to deal with, from worrying about making friends in a new place or facing the harsh realities of life. Today, though we have a scant two hours to cover 40 years worth of stuff, we dive head first into this exceptional world that gave so many of us a classroom with no walls, a family who always loved us, and a safe place even in hard times.

One of the things I do think is a loss for kids and adults alike is no longer having musical guests on Sesame Street play their own songs rather than parody or learning-ified versions. As much as I like the changes to "Two Princes," kids deserve exposure to good music for its own sake. While no one will argue the benefits of giving Mozart and Chopin to younglings, the same is rarely said about Talking Heads or Mos Def, but anyone with kids in their lives knows that they love to head bang along with "The Immigrant Song" just like the rest of us. I don't know if a moment like the one below would even be possible today, the spontaneity of the kids, the gritty feel, and the undeniable funk, but man, am I ever glad it was once upon a time. Even if things have changed, it means a lot to know that Sesame Street was once a place for a dirty bass line and a soul filled horn section.

Though I have a wide range of opinions and analyses on the subject of all things Street related, I think I'll limit you to what was said on the show. If you'd like to know more about the development of Sesame Street, its impact on culture, or the mountain of general trivia that's out there, follow the links in this blog, make use of the Muppet Wiki, check out the articles done by the New York Times over the years, and get your hands on any of the historical/memoir books about the life of Sesame Street. If you're lucky, you might even get a chance to see the stuff in the Jim Henson traveling exhibit when it swings by your corner of the globe. (Kalamazoo folks? Yeah, we have just under a year until Chicago, but then, oh boy!)

Podcast for 11/14/09 - Sesame Street

We didn't have time to get to so very many things I would've liked to, some controversial nowadays and some just a whole mess of fun, so I've included a few videos that I hope you'll enjoy. If you're old enough to remember these beauties, share them with someone in your life who isn't, and if you're new to them, well, just remember that there are a gazillion more out there just as good waiting to be seen. YouTube is your friend. ;)

As with all things, age has brought changes to how we experience and use the world of Sesame Street. We've seen Bert and Ernie doing gangsta rap, Grover getting his near and far on with The Todd, Big Bird and Elmo on The West Wing, outtakes with comic geniuses, and an entire stage production lovingly satirizing the entire Sesame Street experience and life throughhilariously filthy musical numbers, but none of that changes how so many of us feel when we hear those first few chunky notes on the piano. No matter what crazy things happen in the world around us, we can always count on a vampire obsessed with numbers, a neurotic triangle lover, and an incorrigibly lovable trash can dweller. Well done, Sesame Street.

"Hope you liked it. Now scram!"

- DJ Muppet

P.S. Massive Beta and Muppet congrats to superfan Ray, who informed us today that he and his wife (also a fan of the show) are expecting a baby! SQUEE! We could not be happier for them and wish them all the best. Now I need to learn how to knit baby booties that look like Optimus Prime. :p

"Nothing up my Saturday Morning Cartoon Show...Presto!"

Good news, everyone! The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show has perfected  time machine and gone back into the past fifty years! No, we didn't do anything to Castro, but we did score a load of most excellent cartoonery and are, therefore, especially proud to bring you a day of Rocky & Bullwinkle.

As far back as I can remember, my life was filled with the adventures of a dim-witted but lovable moose and an eternally patient flying squirrel. I had View Master discs, coloring books (which I still have), figurines, and a host of other doodads sporting their likenesses. The only animated show that came close in amount of love I had for it was Beany & Cecil, which makes a whole mess of sense when you put the two side by side. Both were sharply written for child and adult audiences, both had crackerjack voice actors, and both made liberal use of the pop culture of their times, but where Rocky & Bullwinkle truly stand out is in the way stories, and therefore adventures, were constructed in serial format, much like the popular radio and film series that had captured the imagination of the nation for so many years.

As you listen to today's show, take the time to sit down and really focus on it. It's rare to have a cartoon so well made that functions as well over the air as it does on the screen and I think you'll enjoy the inherent lushness, the luxury of being able to enjoy such a richly layered piece of American animation. Voices from luminaries like June Foray, Bill Scott, Charles Ruggles (you may know him as the grandfather from the original The Parent Trap), Daws Butler, Paul Frees, and their contemporaries make for an incredibly pleasing aural experience. Just don't drink anything during the show segments, as it will come out of your nose.

Podcast for 11/07/09 - Rocky & Bullwinkle

Below, as promised, you'll see a couple of extra bits from the series. The first is a call to action for kids to save their pennies for the future, which is not only highly entertaining, but also a wonderful slice of life that might otherwise go unheard of by future generations.

This second video is the puppet segment that occasionally got Jay ward and his pals into hot water with the parents of children who did what the TV told them too. Hee hee hee. :) Big Ears & Noodle Noggin learned not quite enough.

That's all we've got for this week, boys and girls, but tune in next week when The Saturday Cartoon Show celebrates the 40th birthday of Sesame Street old school style, because we love anarchy the most when in involves Muppets and musical numbers. If you've got a favorite sketch, song, or animated segment from everyone's favorite street, leave a comment or shoot us an e-mail so we can add it to the line up. Heeeeeeeeeere fishy fishy fish!

Have a wonderful week an enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"I got a Saturday Morning Cartoon Show..."

At last we have come to the end, the final farewell, the ultimate expression of Halloween frivolity and the bittersweet truth that many of us are just too old to get away with door-to-dooring it any more. I need a candy beard... Oh right, you came for cartoons. I can scheme later.

Our first offering today is a tale of both sweet belief in humanity and an pumpkin who probably listens to a lot of Joy Division, The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile. While Raggedy Ann and Andy have spent a lot of time in their lives, animated or otherwise, trying to help people, there may be no more pathetic a cause than that of a squash with low self-esteem and an old woman who's afraid of living. Bet you didn't think these things got so deep, eh? (Check out the Toonopedia entry about these dolls, 'cause that's quite a history.) No fear, however, as any cartoon with June Foray (*coughGoBuyHerBookcough*) and Daws Butler just can't manage to stay sad. It's a nice salve to all the things that make us want to hide under the blankets 'round this time of year.

And what Halloween season would be complete without a dog who thinks he's World War II people, the tender faith of a little boy, and a sack of Halloween Rocks? Of course, I'm talking about It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Aside from being one of the longest running and most beloved Halloween specials, this beauty give us excellent last minute costume possibilities. I'll say no more, as I know you guys are eager to get the celebrations started. :)

Podcast for 10/31/09 - Halloween 5 - The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile & It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

If you're headed out tonight be safe, have either a flashlight or designated driver as appropriate for your activities, and have a great time! Bring us candy. ;)

Next week? Ka-preview!

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"Dad, you killed zombie Saturday Morning Cartoon Show!"

It's cold and there are wolves after me! Okay, so that's a stretch, but Beta was out today and spending a rainy Fall morning alone in the studio while doing Halloween specials is enough to put put both heebies and jeebies into the mix. The people creeping around the building, getting ready for the football game, make oddly spooky noises when the sun's not out. Anyway, cartoons!

The first hour of the show features an eighties classic that ran on CBS for fifteen years before finally being retired from regular programming: Garfield's Halloween Adventure. In addition to boasting the first appearance of Binky the Clown, this special generated one of my all time favorite slacker catchphrases, "Candy, candy, candy!" Keep you ears peeled for two musical numbers sung by Lorenzo Music and two more sung by the Lou Rawls, both of whom were tremendous vocal talents. Plus, you know, pirates!

During the show I mentioned Mark Evanier, a man who has his fingers and toes in more pies than I can count and all of them are awesome. His blog is always entertaining, but for SMCS listeners it is his accounts of the shows he's worked on that are the most exciting. If you're a fan of anything related to Garfield, you do not want to miss his section about the work he's done on the Garfield animations. The fact that he has an episode guide makes it even sweeter. ;)

In the second hour I was downright giddy to fulfill a listener request for The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror III. Not only do you get The Simpsons from a great era, but you also get a tale about terrifying toys, the appropriation of an antique ape, and, zounds, zombies! While there have been many wonderful moments in the history of Treehouse of Horror, I can't find a single episode that matches this one for quality of writing, humor, and use of other works. It just may be a perfect half hour of the Simpsons.

Podcast for 10/17/09 - Halloween 4 - Garfield & The Simpsons

Next week we'll be airing one more as-yet-to-be-determined Halloween Special and our traditional closer It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I thought a few of you would be interested in a couple of old TV promos from this one, so below the entry you'll fine two from CBS, one from 1966 and one from 1985. It's a neat little look into how this particular special seemed to tap into the cultural climate no matter the era. Plus it's just cool that the second one also contains one of today's featured shows. Look at how that one is framed, as there's more than cartoons with it.

As always, any requests for cartoons or music can be left right here or e-mailed throughout the week. And for those who missed it last week, yes, we'll play "Riverbottom Nightmare Band" for you. ;)

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

"The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show had a little lamb...BUT I ATE IT!"

Hey all! Sorry about the delay is getting the podcast up. You may or may not know that my car and I were hit last week and dealt a rather nasty blow. I'm safe and, thanks to my dad being awesome, my car is at least drivable, but because of the setbacks in my schedule I wasn't able to get back to the studio and get the podcast uploaded. But I have now!

This show features some truly classic cartoons from the Warner Bros. universe. Both Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes are represented, as well as some of the newer offerings that will send listeners of a certain age back to footy pyjama evenings hiding under a blanker in front of the TV. Since long time WB animation fans are no doubt familiar with most of today's offerings I won't go into great detail commentary wise, however, I do want you to pay special attention to the orchestration and sound effects on the Porky Pig/Sylvester shorts. There's a suitably other worldly quality to these cartoons that I've never heard anyone able to match Carl Stalling on and these are pieces worth taking special note of.

Podcast for 10/17/09 - Halloween 3 - Looney Tunes

I did want to share one of my favorite spooky Bugs Bunny cartoons with you, but alas, we didn't have the time, so below the entry you'll find it in video form. What's a Halloween celebration without Gossamer, after all? ;)

Tomorrow morning we'll be featuring two more full length Halloween specials from our collection, one of which is even a request, so make sure to tune in and, if you've got 'em, send us your requests for music and cartoons for the final week of the SMCS Halloween Extravaganza!

Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

Ten billion ants in this world, and I'm having trouble with just The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show.

Good morning, cartoon fans young and old! You know, I feel a bit like The King of Cartoons when I say that and I like it. Hopefully you've all had a decent week and are in the mood for some old school, jazzed up, dare I say hep animation goodness.

Today we're geeked to bring you an underrated, but nonetheless wonderful cartoon from 1969-1971, The Ant And The Aardvark. In addition to being one of the first productions from Depatie-Freleng Enterprises, this cartoon has the distinction of being one of the only shows we've aired that was created for theatrical release. When making quality pre-feature shorts became financially untenable, most animation studios stopped making them and theatre owners either used old cartoons or eliminated them all together. However, William Hanna and Joseph Barbara, not to mention David Depatie and Fritz Freleng, realized that they could make short/television animated pieces without investing the massive amounts of time and money Disney had by simplifying the process. They cut down on detail in the animation and essentially created a new paradigm for the mass consumption of cartoons.

Knowing this, the quality of The Ant And The Aardvark becomes even more impressive. I normally just post links, but to fully appreciate this cartoon, I really do believe you need to see how much comes through in the simplistic art style used, so I'm embedding. Watch this episode, then see how your perspective on the audio changes.

Isn't it pretty? You can see the Depatie-Freleng works had great influence on animation for the next decade. Part of it is certainly the Chuck Jones influence, but it's bigger than him and that's pretty cool. Seeing it all together makes John Byner's voicing of almost every character in the series infinitely more impressive. I'll be honest, a man who can mimic both Dean Martin and Paul Lynde has a special in to my heart.

Podcast for 04/04/09 - The Ant And The Aardvark

That's all for now, but come back next week for our Easter episode, which promises to have more time travel and Maurice Chevalier impersonating than any other Easter even this year! Seriously, we're airing Here Comes Peter Cottontail. It's bizarre and wonderful, and it has Danny Kaye, Casey Kasem, and Vincent Price. How many varieties of awesome is that? In the meantime, get today's show, leave a comment to let us know what you think, and enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

Help! I need The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show!

Yeah, we went there. Sure, we've taken you back to the sixties many times before, but never in a fashion so blatantly commercial and delightfully absurd , but in that wait-a-second-why-did-this-last-three-seasons kind of way. :) It's a fun jaunt into the world of The Beatles cartoon, but fun though it may be, it does sort of make one grateful for the animated versions of MC Hammer and The Police Academy.

I've a terribly long day today, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Obviously there's a ton of information out there if you want to know more about The Beatles, so I won't bog you down. Just sit back and enjoy. Keep an ear out for another awesome track from Mosh Pit On Disney by Japanese fave Asparagus.

Podcast for 02/07/08 - The Beatles animated series

Next week, please join us for a day filled with ridiculous villains, eco-consciousness, and early entries onto the "List Of Things That Make Alan Moore Violently Angry." If you said Swamp Thing, you're absolutely right! This promises to be a good time, whether you love or hate the twisted hulk Alec Holland has become. :)

Spring is on its way, my friends. Go outside and enjoy!

- DJ Muppet

ETA: Thank you for the heads up, Dani. The podcast link is all fixed and should take you to the right place. Sorry about that. Did I mention I have a very long weekend? Yeah, seven hours of over time in three days. I'm a little punchy.

"And now here's Beany and Cecil in...The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show!"

Wahoo, everybody! Today's show is just a hoot and I'm positively geeked to bring it to you here on The Saturday Morning Cartoon Show blog.

If the subject heading didn't clue you in, this week's show focuses on the witty, irreverent, lovable, and other adjectives as well The Beany & Cecil Show! Can you tell this is a particular favorite of mine? Good, because it is. :) Not only do we bring you three delightful Beany & Cecil cartoons during the first hour, we were lucky enough to find a complete episode of Matty's Funday Funnies that still had all of the previews, bumpers, commercials, and teasers for the next episode to air in its entirety to air during the second. While WIDR is a non-commercial radio station, the toys advertised no longer exist (though Mattel most certainly does) and I strongly believe that a part of understanding not only animation/television culture, but also American culture is being media savvy. As such, the choice was made to keep the ads in so our listeners, many of whom would have no other opportunity to experience such targeted advertising from this era, deserved a chance to experience what was a part of everyday life for their parents and grandparents. Of course, I know that plenty of folks in our audience were around and watching these babies first run, but either way, the commercials are cool and a little bit hilarious, so have fun with them! See if you recognize any voices from your favorite cartoons in these ads as well. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Below you'll find the usual link to download the SMCS podcast, but beneath that you'll also find a little something special. I decided to offer you another hunk of bonus material this week, however this time it's in the form of another cartoon! Pretty sweet, eh? This is actually my favorite out of the assorted Beany & Cecil 'toons I found, but it seems my poor ancient computer hasn't the proper codecs to allow me the pleasure of snagging the sound for the show. But who am I to deny our fans and friends the chance to see "So What And The Seven Whatnots?" Plus it's so heavy with visual pop culture references that it really wouldn't be done justice on the air. So, you know, I highly recommend downloading this too. I had planned on including an excerpt from the original puppet show Time For Beany for you as well, but it seems that it has gone missing from my hard drive. I'll see if I can track it down again and if I do, I'll update with a link.

Podcast for 01/24/09 - The Beany & Cecil Show

Beany & Cecil short - "So What And The Seven Whatnots"

Ka-download! :) Wait until you hear how cheery Beta is. He was taken by surprise when it came to the awesomeness of Beany & Cecil and it shows.

And to i-gouge, who left a comment in our last entry (making my day, by the by), keep an ear out for some of those cheesy 60's Marvel themes you like. They fit into the show perfectly and we're not the types to deny the urges of our loyal audience, especially one's whose exposure to WIDR was so sadly short lived. ;) Let this be a lesson to you all: when you say "Jump," Beta and I say "Okie dokie!"

Tune in and stop by next week for something that many of you didn't believe existed. Unfortunately, no, not the animated version of Evil Dead: The Musical!, but something maybe even more terrifying: Steven Bochco's under appreciated foray into the animated world, Capitol Critters. What? We're bringing you Niel Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible, woot!) and Bobcat Goldthwait (who has graced up previously on Space Ghost Coast To Coast). What more do you want from us?!? You'll eat your politically satirical rodentia and like it! No, really, it's actually pretty funny.

Thanks again for listening, dudes and lady dudes. We'll catch you next week. Enjoy!

- DJ Muppet