While ABC had Challenge of the Super-Friends and CBS had Batman in '78, NBC was deep into Marvel Comics with both the Fantastic Four and Godzilla! I watched both of these, though because I was a 7-year-old French-Canadian with a very limited understanding of English, my memories are mostly of the '79 line-up that also contained these two properties. Still, this was the first year I had access to English-language TV, so I would have seen them. In black and white! In fact, I have a vivid memory of wondering who the hell this Human Torch character was the first time I saw a Fantastic Four comic, and wondering where H.E.R.B.I.E. was. But you can't have kids setting themselves on fire! Godzilla is similarly kid-friendly thanks to Godzuki, and a maddeningly catchy theme song. I have absolutely no memory of Yogi's Space Race (was it anything like the Laff-a-lympics?) and very little of Jana of the Jungle beyond the fact that she had an origin not unlike Tarzan's and threw her necklace around like a proper Warrior Princess.
But you guys probably have clearer memories of these shows than I do...
Comments
Don't remember Yogi in space.
Thanks for the memories!
No idea why I don't recall Jana of the Jungle being a part of the Godzilla Hour. That's something I'd expect to remember.
Delta: I guess kids couldn't harm themselves stepping on buildings.
And here I thought I was the only person to even remember Jana of the Jungle. Godzilla is also on Hulu, but I wish they'd release season 2 already. That had some good episodes.
What kind of strange-ass licensing problem was that?!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Goof-Ups
The show was essentially a Saturday morning animated acid trip as I seem to recall. Maybe it's on Youtube somewhere.
Doug Wildey, of Jonny Quest fame, worked on the Jana and Godzilla shows, by the way.
As per Wikipedia again, the Human Torch was licensed for an unproduced tv pilot at the time of the cartoon. He was also aced out of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Mary Jane was reworked as Firestar.
So even as a kid growing up in the early 90s I saw a ton of this stuff, and a little more once the older material moved to the Boomerang network.
Forget the FF with HERBIE, the worst FF cartoon ever was the one where the Thing was a scrawny teenager who turned into a rock giant with a magic ring. That was practically Wonderwheels stuff.
I had no idea Space Race was a Star Wars thing, or that it was contemporary to Star Wars at all; in general my memory always gets cartoons wrong visually, though.
Jana showed up on USA Cartoon Express, too, and that one was a pretty decent show as I remember. She ran around the jungle with her native sidekick and an American doctor, looking for her long-lost father. She had this boomerang necklace that made a cool sound effect. The native guy had a similarly cool-sounding throwing staff.
I never watched the FF show as it aired, but saw a bunch of 'em years later as part of that Marvel Comics Video Library that Prism Home Video put out. It's not great, but Jack Kirby did design work for it and it really shows, so there's that. Also, the guy who voiced Race Bannon was the voice of Reed Richards, which felt oddly appropriate.
I don't think the Godzilla cartoon has aged particularly well, but damn did I love it as a kid. Who wouldn't want a signal device that could call Godzilla to your aid with the touch of a button. Even putting up with Godzooky would be worth that. Memorable theme song, too... "GODZILLA! GODZILLA! GODZILLA! And Godzoooooooooooky!"