Adventures of the Little Koala (1987 - 1988)

     I started these posts to dive into the Saturday morning cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid. This next one is a show that I did enjoy as a kid, just not on Saturday mornings. But whatever. Rules were made to be broken. Slams were made to be Kablama’d. Let’s get into it.

      

The Premise: A little koala named Roobear enjoys several lighthearted adventures with his group of fellow anthropomorphic animal friends. 

     Adventures of the Little Koala was a Japanese cartoon originally known as Koala Boy Kockey. I don’t know why they changed the name. I guess, like with Robotech and Battle of the Planets, making things sound more generic was just how the US did things back in the day. The show was apparently the result of a big koala craze that swept the world in the 80’s and spawned multiple shows about the furry little creatures. Shows like Noozles… this.. this show… okay that’s all of the koala shows that come to mind, but it was a craze, man! I’m talking Moo Deng level excitement! 

     The show aired in 1984 but I didn’t catch it until it made its way to the US in 1987 as part of the Nick Jr. programming block. It might have even been Baby Nate’s first anime! How cute is that? Several of Little Koala’s animators went on to work for Studio Ghibli making such masterpieces as Nausicaä and the one with the big chonky cat things – My Neighbor Totoro! Those things were kind of like koalas. 

     This level of craftmanship in something as “simple” as a television show for young children is what I love most about Adventures of the Little Koala, as well as several animated programs from the same era. I tuned in for the fun colors and silly hijinks, but was instilled with an appreciation that I could hang onto and grow to love even more as I matured. It’s why I try not to be dismissive of children’s programming. Something so seemingly basic is actually incredibly formative in our taste and the type of people we become. 

Kwicky the Koala! That’s a koala show! I knew there was another one! 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: When the show’s theme song mentions Mimi, it shows Betty Koala. I didn’t draw Betty. She’s Roobear’s girlfriend. Why does Roobear even have a girlfriend? He’s like what, eight years old?!

ALF: The Animated Series (1987 - 1989)

I’ve been noticing a small resurgence of ALF in pop culture lately and I said to myself, “Self, you need to KablamaSlam this noise!”

 

The Premise: Everyone’s favorite sitcom alien puppet Gordon Shumway recounts his past adventures with family and friends on his home planet of Melmac. 

     It’s the ‘80s, and a guy named Paul Fusco annoys people at a party with his alien puppet that he apparently brought. Yeah. He’s that guy. Fusco pitches a concept for a sitcom based on the puppet to NBC president Brandon Tartikoff and it’s green-lit! Tartikoff is Mr. Must See TV and oversaw such hits as Golden Girls, Cheers, Seinfeld… so the guy apparently knew what he was doing. I mean, he obviously did because ALF was a hit and, like I said, we’re still talking about it to this day! 

     As with several things in the 1980s, ALF was quickly adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon show. Every episode of ALF: The Animated Series would have live-action puppet ALF (or Gordon) bookending each adventure. This meant less time spent animating and thus cheaper production. When I say “cheap” though, I certainly don’t mean in terms of quality! I personally thought the animation was incredible!

     Again… this was the ‘80s, and just as animated spinoffs were commonplace, toy lines based on cartoons were even more so. Boy, did I love me some ALF toys! This is sort of a sidebar, I suppose, but we all have those “toys that made us” and for whatever reason, these were some of mine! Skip, Augie, Rick, Neep! I loved them all! 

How bout a docuseries on these, Netflix?!

     During the show’s final season, another spinoff was created. ALF Tales ran alongside ALF: The Animated Series and featured a very Gordonesque spin on classic stories in the public domain, such as Robin Hood and Cinderella, and would feature the Animated Series characters in different roles. I didn’t like this show as much and remember wondering how the people on Melmac had all of the exact same fairy tales as us on Earth. I was probably taking it a little too serious, I suppose. That was a thing I did. 

That’s a thing I do! 

     The thing that made this show great was the same thing that worked for the original sitcom. This character is straight up timeless. When Fusco originally pitched ALF, producers scoffed at first. “Jim Henson corners the market on puppets. Why are we wasting our time with this guy?” I assume they said. Their minds changed almost instantly after seeing Fusco’s performance, however. ALF is brazened, yet lovable, with a sarcastic wit that I’ve revered ever since I was as a kid. 

All of this to say: Be the guy who brings the annoying alien puppet to a party.

ReBoot (1994 - 2001)

     I noticed that there’s a new series on Hulu titled Reboot. As far as I know, this show has nothing to do with the original ReBoot but nevertheless, my mind instantly defaults to Saturday morning cartoons. So, with that, we have another installment of the Saturday Morning Kablama Slam! 

     Oh… and the fact that we now live in a world where the term ‘original reboot’ is an actual thing feels weird to me.

   

The Premise: Set within a computer, a guardian named Bob protects the city of Mainframe by fighting in games or fending off viruses such as the sinister Megabyte. 

     ReBoot was created by a Canadian company called Mainframe Entertainment (Hey! Mainframe! Just like the show!) It ran in Canada on YTV and in America on ABC, and will go down in history as one of the first EVER computer animated television shows! You may notice that the show ran for seven years, which is a little misleading. The series actually only consists of 4 seasons. After its first season, the Walt Disney Company bought ABC and subsequently canceled the show. Maybe they were clearing room for Pixar to make its way around the bend. I dunno. 

     It continued to run for a second season in Canada and was… REBOOTED in 1997 for a slightly grittier third season. Finally, in 2001, ReBoot was REBOOTED yet again for a fourth and final season in the form of two direct-to-DVD movies. Boy, they sure got a lot of mileage out of that title! 

     ReBoot, for me, tapped into that love I had for Captain N: The Game Master and this whole pre-Wreck-It Ralph concept of people living inside video games. The other allure, of course, was the computer animation. As I understand it, the show’s creators had been developing the show for 10 years prior to it actually airing, just waiting for the technology to catch up with their vision. It’s cutting edge stuff and, in my opinion, they don’t get near enough credit for what was accomplished! I mean, this was the first computer-animated TV-series and no one ever really talks about it! The only time I ever hear it referenced is in comparison to CGI that’s pretty bad by today’s standards. 

- Ha ha! That looks like ReBoot! Remember THAT show?

- I absolutely remember that show! That show was ahead of its time! Is that what you’re saying? That this pharmaceutical ad is ahead of its time?!? 

- I’m sorry… I wasn’t talking to y... 

- Because that would certainly be a hot take if that is what you’re implying, and one that I’d be inclined to argue with considering it’s an ad that only utilizes the bare minimum of technology available today and is void of all personality as opposed to the adventures of the stalwart Bob the Guardian which was, in fact, ripe with it!

- Dude! This is a Wendy’s!

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: I just found out that ReBoot was rebooted yet AGAIN in 2018! 

Shut up, already!

Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983 - 1990)

Let’s Kablama! 
K-A-B-L-A-M-A Slam! 
Let’s Kablama! 
You’ll have fun if you’re old like I am! 

Aaaaaaand… yeah. That’s the beginning and end of my career as a songwriter. Let’s talk about cartoons!

The Premise: Three anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, & Theodore balance their lives as international singing sensations and the adopted children of songwriter Dave Seville. 

     So, I’m going to start off by admitting that I used to wonder why Alvin and the Chipmunks were just that… chipmunks. They act like human kids. They even kind of look like human kids. (More so than chipmunks anyway.) Why didn’t they just make them be human kids? Well besides the fact that Alvin and The Other Kids makes a pretty lousy title, the reason is pretty obvious. They sound like chipmunks! It’s basically their whole thing! I don’t remember when I figured this out, but it was a lot later than I should have. 

     Back in 1958, singer/songwriter Ross Bagdasarian sped up his voice for a novelty record and topped the charts. It was a gimmick… basically, like if that Snapchat filter that makes you look old somehow became an entire franchise… and it paid off big. The song was “The Chipmunk Song” (keepin it simple. I dig it.) and you hear it over and over every Christmas. After that, there were more albums, a comic book, The Alvin Show, and a television special until Bagdasarian’s son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. gave us the chipmunk show of my generation… Alvin and the Chipmunks! 

     This show was right up there with the Smurfs and Garfield as a staple of my Saturday mornings. I loved the Chipettes, Uncle Harry, Ms. Miller, and I especially enjoyed the show’s final season devoted to making Chipmunk spoofs of hit movies like Back to the Future and Batman. Buuuut this particular installment of the Kablama Slam is detouring into more of a movie review, because as much as I loved this show, it’s the 1987 film The Chipmunk Adventure that will always be MY go-to for Alvin, Simon, and Theodore viewing. 

     Its plot involves the Chipmunks going up against the Chipettes in a hot-air balloon race around the world… which turns out to be a front for a diamond smuggling operation. Yeah… this movie goes hard, and I am not joking when I say it is one of the most underrated works of animation out there! As I understand it, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. swooped in and hired a bunch of talented animators who were recently laid off by Disney and eager to work. It was a move that definitely paid off because the animation in this thing is incredible! 

     When I was a kid, I would rent The Chipmunk Adventure almost every time we had a “movie night.” It became this reoccurring thing where my parents would groan, “Ugghh, Nathan! Not The Chipmunk Adventure AGAIN!!!” I don’t know why we never just bought it! Maybe we couldn’t find it in stores, but there was at least one copy at the local Blockbuster… and it was checked out almost every weekend!

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: It’s definitely a family affair. Ross Bagdasarian Jr. voiced Alvin, Simon, and Dave (taking over the roles from his father) while Ross Jr.’s wife, Janice Karman, voiced Theodore and the Chipettes. Their children have also worked on the show’s more recent incarnations.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 - 1996)

     It’s time once again for the Saturday Morning Kablama Slam! Today’s cartoon certainly needs no introduction… 

So… 

…

The Premise: Just like the title says, four TURTLES who also happen to be TEENAGERS, MUTANTS, and NINJAS protect New York City from the forces of the evil Shredder and his “Foot Clan.” 

     This is definitely the most popular show I’ve talked about so far in this thing, so it’s going to be difficult to say anything that hasn’t already been said by someone else. Then again, what am I, Hot Take Harry over here, certifying every single utterance as 100% FRESH?!? Not at all! 

     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. These were just two guys who, as I understand it, were just goofing around drawing one day and sketched up a little masked turtle wielding nunchucks. This very quickly turned into a comic book, which turned into a toy line, then a cartoon show, movie, video game, reboot, remake, reboot, and so on and so on until the very end of time itself. But that original Saturday morning cartoon? That’s where I was hooked. 

     Playtime as a kid was never the same after that. Before, if we were playing Batman, then every kid wanted to be Batman. If we were playing Peanuts, every kid wanted to be Snoopy. (Yeah. I played Peanuts. What of it?) Compromises had to be made, but then Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes along and suddenly there were options! We didn’t all want to be the main character, because there wasn’t just one main character. This was a team of four different characters each equally matched in awesomeness. Although to say the Ninja Turtles were equals is NOT the same as saying they were all the same. In fact, anybody who did make the mistake of saying that was cancelled faster than a dissenting celebrity on Twitter. No! These were four individuals who, although practically identical in appearance, had distinct personalities… or rather… temperaments. 

There’s Leonardo - Analytical, sensitive, the ideal leader. 

Michelangelo - Enthusiastic, talkative, a party dude. 

Donatello - Pensive, cautious, good with machines. 

And Raphael - Passionate, aggressive, cool… but rude. 

     Get a load of me nersdsplaining all of this as if it wasn't a universal phenomenon that literally everyone knows about! Of course, as with all phenomenon, there were several attempts to mimic the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, seemingly throwing random words together and cranking out a masculine-charged cartoon based on the result: Street Sharks, Biker Mice From Mars, Wild West COW-Boys of Moo Mesa… the list keeps going and keeps getting more absurd, all the while NEVER matching the appeal of the Ninja Turtles. I could be wrong though, but I don’t personally remember any kids on the playground discussing which Biker Mouse they most closely identified with. 

     And what I think is so great is that it’s all the product of two people just goofing around. They stopped “trying” for a second, and came up with one of the most successful franchises of all time! It’s kind of inspiring, if you think about it. 

Oh! And it’s Donatello. 

My favorite turtle is Donatello. 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: The term “cowabunga” originated on The Howdy Doody Show as the nonsensical greeting of Chief Thunderthud, a character  who wasn’t… by today’s standards… in the best of taste.

The Real Ghostbusters (1986 - 1991)

     So with the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to Kablama Slam once again, this time with a look at Saturday morning’s run in with the ever so popular paranormal investigators. 

The Premise: The further adventures of Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore who, along with their ghost sidekick Slimer, take on the various spooks and specters that terrorize New York City. 

     This cartoon was, of course, based on the hugely successful 1984 film. That film, however, wasn’t the first property to bear the name ‘Ghostbusters’ and had to get permission from Filmation to share the name with their 1975 television series, The Ghost Busters. In 1986, after the success of the film Ghostbusters, I guess Filmation thought that maybe there would be some new interest in their obscure series and rebooted it as a Saturday morning cartoon, this time without the space in the title and simply called Ghostbusters. You with me so far? This prompted Columbia Pictures to title THEIR Saturday morning cartoon (which was released the same year) The REAL Ghostbusters in order to differentiate. The Real Ghostbusters ran for seven seasons while Ghostbusters only ran for one, proving that it doesn’t really matter who is first; only who is best. 

     The Real Ghostbusters was my first official introduction into this franchise since I was only three years old when the movie hit theaters. Whenever I first saw the film, I remember instantly falling in love but thought it was strange how Peter Venkman looked nothing like his animated counterpart. I think the thing I love most about The Real Ghostbusters was how well it made light of horror by injecting humor, just like the film on which it was based. I’m a big wimp and, therefore, not a fan of horror in the least. While I watched my fair share of this show, I found some of the show’s ghosts pretty nightmare-inducing and eventually stopped watching. However, I was still okay with one aspect that, let’s face it, was the true drive behind all of Saturday morning television …Toys! 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore in the film, auditioned for the voice of Winston in the series but DIDN’T GET THE PART!

Muppet Babies (1984 - 1991)

It’s time once again for me to talk about the Saturday morning cartoons of my youth. 

Ahh… youth. 

Let’s Kablama Slam! 

 

The Premise: It’s right there in the title. The MUPPETS are BABIES. Kermit the Frog and friends hang out in a nursery under the care of their nanny,…Nanny. They play, sing songs and solve problems using the incredible power of their combined imagination. 

 

     There have been countless spinoffs, over the years, where characters from a franchise are reimagined as younger versions: The Flintstone Kids, Yo Yogi!, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Baby Looney Tunes, Disney Babies, Baby Yoda… okay that last one’s a little on the fence, but still! The idea’s been done! Muppet Babies, however, did it first! 

     The whole concept spawned from a random scene in the 1984 film, The Muppets Take Manhattan, or rather that random scene spawned from the concept. The actual plot of the film involves the Muppets trying to make it on Broadway, but then there’s this moment where Miss Piggy inexplicably daydreams about the gang knowing one another since birth! It’s jarring and completely out of character, almost as if its only purpose was to plug a cartoon series that would air two months later. I may sound as if I’m saying all of this with a tone of cynicism, but whatever! It worked! The moment is BY FAR my favorite of the film and, what’s more… I loved this show! 

     Where other preschool cartoons focus on more basic things like shapes and numbers, Muppet Babies was all about using your imagination. One minute the gang are in their nursery, and the next they’re serving cheeseburgers in Jabba the Hutt’s palace! While the situation would constantly bounce back and forth from the babies’ reality to their stock-footage filled daydreams, at no point do any of the characters question what the others are doing. They take the ball and run with it like a preschool improv group made up of bears, pigs, and whatevers. It’s hard to think of another show that more accurately visualizes “playing pretend,” as well as promoting creativity to the level that Muppet Babies does. When you consider that the show is the product of one of the most creative people who’ve ever walked the planet, however, well… there’s no other way the show could have gone!

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Most of the main cast appear in puppet form in The Muppets Take Manhattan with the exception of Animal and Skeeter. The puppet version of Baby Animal later appeared during a scene in A Muppet Family Christmas, while Skeeter, in one of the largest failures of the human race, has yet to appear in puppet form ever!

Eek! the Cat (1992 - 1997)

     The Kablama Slam continues! Last time, I talked about a certain cartoon cat that we all know and love. I thought I’d keep the theme going with another feline who might not have had the same impact as his orange tabby predecessor, but certainly left his mark on my childhood Saturday mornings.

      

The Premise: Eek is a kind and optimistic cat who never fails to put others’ needs before his own, despite the fact that doing so consistently causes disaster. He’s the pet of two bratty children and the constant victim of Sharky the Sharkdog, the neighbor’s… dog? Fish mutant? Seriously, what is that thing?! 

     Eek! the Cat, or Eek!Stravaganza as it was later retitled, was the product of Nelvana Animation, the Canadian company responsible for The Care Bear Movie!... as well as... well... many other properties that were NOT The Care Bear Movie. Overall, Eek! felt like a cruder version of Garfield. Not that that's a bad thing. Especially at the time, "cruder" cartoons pushed the envelope of "family friendly" animation in the same way the greats like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones did back in their day.

     This show was a must-watch for my brothers and I every week and, while I might not be able to recall any specific plot line, I could list random elements from it all day!  I remember Sharky, of course. I remember that Eek had a morbidly obese girlfriend who he never realized was fat because he only saw her personality… Sweet? I remember a Star Trek parody where Mr. Spock was a sock puppet named Mr. Sock, and I remember the Squishy Bears: crude knock-offs of... Oh! Look at that! The Care Bears!

     I keep using the word 'crude,' but the show still had a sense of charm. Eek's cracked smile, frazzled whiskers, and overall strung out look are the product of his relentless optimism in the face of constant adversity. It's a trait that I personally strive to emulate and, while I probably wouldn't cite Eek! the Cat as a  personal inspiration, you'd be remiss if you didn't find the little guy's attitude just a little inspirational.

     After a couple of seasons, the show tacked on another cartoon than ran as a separate segment, the same way Garfield and Friends did with U.S. Acres. It was called The Terrible Thunderlizards and told the story of three mercenary dinosaurs named Doc, Kutter, and Squatt attempt to kill two inept cavemen and, in classic cartoon fashion, NEVER succeed. 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Eek! the Cat was originally titled "The Six and a Half Lives of Eek the Cat."

Garfield and Friends (1988 - 1994)

     It's time to highlight another one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons aaaaaaand... you know who it is. Let's Kablama Slam!

The Premise: The original grumpy cat, Garfield lives with his owner Jon Arbuckle and loyal-but-dimwitted dog sidekick Odie. This lazy orange tabby loves sleeping, eating lasagna, and (for whatever reason) HATES Mondays! Seriously… why does a cat care what day of the week it is? 

 

     Explaining Garfield feels as ridiculous as explaining Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny (the latter of which, I actually might do when I get around to The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show) but that’s what I’m doing with this thing, so here goes, I guess. Garfield and Friends is based on the beloved comic strip by Jim Davis. The strip was originally titled Jon and focused more on Garfield’s lovable loser of an owner, but that quickly changed as the focus of the strip shifted to the REAL star and Garfield took off as one of the most successful comic strips of all time!

 

Poor Jon.

 

     After several primetime specials, I guess Davis finally realized that we wouldn’t mind watching Garfield and his shenanigans once a week, and thus his Saturday morning cartoon was born.

 

     There’s always been a special place in my heart for cantankerous cartoon characters, so I was naturally a fan of this show. I especially loved the episodes where Garfield would try (and fail) to dispatch his annoyingly adorable fellow feline Nermal. It’s not cute to constantly tell others you’re cute, Nermal! Of course, my favorite character was and always will be Odie. What can I say? While I do love the grumpy characters... I'm also a dog person.

     Several of these Saturday morning cartoon shows would sometimes change their theme song just for the sake of something new, I suppose. In the case of Garfield and Friends, I loved both theme songs equally, so I thought I’d brake things up with the second version.

 

     The other half of this is, of course, the “and Friends” part of the show, which referred to the cast of barnyard characters that starred in the segment, U.S. Acres. Although, I don’t recall ever seeing Garfield interact with these guys, and the whole rural aesthetic of life on the farm doesn’t really seem like something Garfield would find appealing, so I don’t know if I’d necessarily call them “friends.” But it has a nice ring to it.

 

The Premise: What was known as "Orson’s Farm" to audiences outside the United States, U.S. Acres features a hard-working bookworm… or… pig …named Orson and his colorful cast of fellow farm animals such as the wisecracking Roy Rooster, sheep siblings Lanolin and Bo, and the oh-so-cowardly Wade Duck.

 

     U.S. Acres was a separate comic strip that Jim Davis started working on shortly before Garfield and Friends premiered. The strip itself only ran for three years, but Orson and the gang were able to live on for several more years in their much more popular animated format. 

 

     My favorite thing about U.S. Acres was that it allowed for more diversity in its storytelling. While the Garfield segments always centered on Garfield (obviously), episodes of U.S. Acres gave each of the cast their own time in the spotlight. My favorite character probably has to be Wade. Being a coward, Wade wore a pool floaty because he’s probably afraid of drowning. That, in and of itself, is funny for a duck, but what I loved most was that Wade’s floaty had a tiny replica of his own head on the front of it, which would inexplicably change expressions to duplicate the one on Wade’s actual face.

 

Cartoons, man. They’re just the best!

 

 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Garfield is named after Jim Davis’ grandfather who he described as large and cantankerous. Maybe he hated Mondays as well. I mean… they really are the worst!  

Captain N: The Game Master (1989 - 1991)

     Welcome back to the Saturday Morning Kablama Slam! - a segment where I showcase some of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon shows! This next one gets a real 1-UP on some of the other animated series. See what I did there?

The Premise: Teenager Kevin Keene and his loyal dog Duke are transported through a mysterious portal into another dimension known as Videoland. (But… let’s be clear! The dude’s INSIDE the Nintendo!) There, Kevin dons the moniker of Captain N: The Game Master and joins forces with Mega Man, Simon Belmont, and Kid Icarus to save Videoland from the evil Mother Brain!

     This is one that I absolutely loved as a kid but, in my social circles at least, is pretty obscure these days. I went as the titular character a few years ago for Halloween and spent the whole day explaining who I was supposed to be. I finally ended up just saying that I was a high school student… from Nathan High School?... who carries a laser gun? Whatever. Can I just have some candy, please?

 

     The show got its start when Nintendo Power Magazine (another cherished relic from my childhood) published a “Captain Nintendo” comic strip. The comic’s creator Randy Studdard pitched the character as the star of his own Saturday morning cartoon, as well as the company spokes-character… I guess if things somehow fell through with… you know… SUPER MARIO??? Nintendo ultimately decided to adapt the property into a cartoon series but supposedly did so without crediting or compensating Studdard. Ah, the sexy but cruel world of video game cartoon shows, amiright?!

 

     My first memory of Captain N is having to get up extra early to watch it. I loved it THAT much! I also remember there not being any merchandise for the show. There were no action figures, no playsets, certainly not any Halloween costumes! I find this odd for a Saturday morning cartoon that ran for three seasons. I guess the product the show was pushing was the Nintendo itself, along with its many games. This is funny considering that many of the show’s characters aren’t exactly on brand. Castlevania vampire-hunter Simon Belmont is a blonde narcissist, Kid Icarus has some weird speech thing where he adds a ‘-us’ suffix to random words, King Hippo is green, Donkey Kong wears a shower cap, and Mega Man is a robot child-man with a tinted visor! I mean… What is that about?!

 

     I guess if the showrunners used more direct adaptations, they would have had to give some credit where it was due, and that’s not a practice they were apparently fond of. 

...

Snap.

 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Kevin Keene earned his Varsity letter jacket for swimming. Probably not at Nathan High School though. 

The Smurfs (1981-1989)

     Welcome to the first installment in what I'm calling the Saturday Morning Kablama Slam! On random Saturdays throughout the year, I'll be highlighting some of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons beginning this week with one of that could best be described as...well... smurfy!

The Premise: The Smurfs are a group of little blue people described as “three apples high” who live in a village of mushroom houses hidden in the forest of a medieval fantasy world. Under the leadership of their patriarch, the wise Papa Smurf, the Smurfs get into all sorts of whimsical adventures while avoiding capture from the evil wizard Gargamel. 

     These famous little guys first appeared in the comic series, Johan and Peewit created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo. In the comic, the Smurfs come to the aid of the titular hero and his funny sidekick, but were so popular that they quickly got their own comic… not to mention a TON of merchandise. When the characters finally made their way to the United States, the president of NBC took notice of how much his daughter loved said merchandise and started the ball rolling on a Smurf animated series, produced by cartoon powerhouse Hanna-Barbera Productions! 

     The Smurfs were officially my first fandom. I’ve loved them as long as I can remember and even still have the Schleich Papa Smurf and Smurfette figurines that I played with as a toddler! When you’ve grown up with something like that, it becomes a thing that you’re just used to and can’t really put your finger on why you love it exactly. Maybe it’s just a comforting sense of familiarity… sort of like a warm security blanket. They’re even a soothing shade of blue! 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: The original French word for “smurf” is “schtroumph” which Peyo made up during a meal when he couldn’t remember the word “salt.” I wonder if that’s the same way they came up with The Biskitts. 

Probably not.

Saturday Morning Kablama Slam!

     I’m not saying anything new when I mention the fact that I LOVE CARTOONS! I always have and, more than likely, always will. And for a fan of cartoons, it’s a great time to be alive with tons of groundbreaking new content in addition to every show we’ve ever heard becoming increasingly more available to view over and over again at any given time of day. But let’s go back before all of that, if we can, to a time before streaming services and cartoon networks. 

Let’s go back to the time of the Saturday morning cartoon. 

     From the 1960’s into the 1990’s, television networks in America would treat kids once a week to a programming block of animated goodness that was nothing short of inspirational… and sold a lot of toy advertising, as well. I came in on the tail end of all this and, while things are certainly better now, I still look back on it with an extreme amount of fondness. Because of this, I’m starting a new segment that I call, “The Saturday Morning Kablama Slam!” 

Because... these shows had an impact on me... and that's the sound an impact makes? I dunno. I have to call it something.

     On random Saturdays throughout the year, I’ll be taking a look at the individual Saturday morning cartoons that I loved the most. I’ll post fan art (obviously) and nerdsplain what these shows were and why I enjoyed them as much as I did. 

It all kablamas this weekend, so be sure not to miss it! See you at the Slam! 

… 

Yeah, I apologize. That’ll be the only time I say that.