Space Ghost reigns in the Super Hero era!!! From the mind of Alex Toth…
Join me as we take a trip back in time and space..sounds like the Doctor, but not this time. The journey will brings to the year 1966 and a particular day of the week. Where kids could be kids-Saturday Morning Television. This holds a particularly special place in the hearts of most children who were of TV watching age. There was big change coming that fall in the programming on the three major networks-ABC,CBS and NBC. Superheroes were about to “save the day”.
For me life that fall and particularly on this one Saturday was about to change. Every Saturday for the early years of my existence I arose around 5 am dragging myself downstairs with my favorite Indian blanket while still in my pajamas. And no I did not grow up on a farm…although that was my moms’ background. No my dad was putting himself through college at R.I.T. on the weekends plus working full time at Kodak (Rochester, New York) during the week.
So we would drive my dad to school and then back home. I would lay myself down in the backseat of our two tone Blue/White 1966 Mustang and crash. My grandma loved this car-it was the bucket seats that got her all excited. She never had sat in one before.(we use to take my grandma shopping every Friday).
Anyways once I was home I started setting up the living room for a morning of what a 4–8 year old would call bliss. It consisted of my blanket, a TV tray and a heroes breakfast- Tang/orange juice and Cartoons. But to get there I had to sit through Across the Fence- an agriculture show and Mr Wizard-he was still on the air in those days.
Above- Gumby’s Moon Trip..keeping it all in space…
Finally at 7 am Gumby and Woody Woodpecker, plus Speed Racer eventually would come along.
Oh and I would get my fill of milk & cereal both in my bowl and on TV along with all the toy commercials I could handle.
- **What kids were playing with— Creepy Crawlers, hula hoops, Slinky, Frisbee, Duncan yo yos, Matchbox cars, Kerplunk and Operation.
- Families Eating -TV Diners, Funny Face, Kool Aid, Pillsbury pizza dough, Rice-A-Roni
- “Dime” store Candy- Wax Bottles(fruit flavored liquid), Mallow Cups, Moon Pies, Wintergreen Life Savers, Fig Newtons.
- Green Stamps were the rage- collecting enough from the grocery store meant clothes, toys, tools and more.
This was heaven…The cool thing about this wonderful time was that I knew my buddies and friends were all doing this to. Sometimes we would get together and have a “watch” party … even back then- but this was on a physical vs virtual. Or after lunch we would gather to discuss the episodes/adventures. Even act out the stories. And the winter was awesome because we would build forts outside, play king of the hill as our favorite characters. Or we would imagine at each others houses we were in spaceships and take out our radio sets to create sounds and lasers /\…etc .
- ** At the cinema in ‘66- Batman(Adam West), Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs(Vincent Price), Fantastic Voyage (Raquel Welch), The Man Called Flintstone,
- The Silencers (Matt Helm-Dean Martin), The Ugly Dachshund (Dean Jones) Munster Go Home( Theatrical film/promo for the international sales of the series ), Our Man Flint(James Coburn).
Now up to that point the majority of Saturday fare for “kids” consisted of a more humorous approach to heroes. We had humble, lovable Shoeshine Boy. Who, when danger and disaster struck would down a pill concealed in his ring and become Underdog(1964–1967)!!! Bestowed with amazing powers including flight, x-ray eyes and super strength. He had amplified hearing but Underdog was a dog. They naturally have good hearing.
Another hero with fur plus the power of flight and super strength was Mighty Mouse (1955–1967). But no savior in human form with the exception of Jonny Quest(1964–1965). But no super powers. This was all about to change and Hanna Barbera would have a major hand in this along with one of the most talented and slightly cantankerous artists- Alex Toth. * See more on Toth further on…
- *1966 was a banner year and a milestone marker in advertising and pop culture- Star Trek beamed in to our homes on Thursday nights. Two networks were offering up fiendish family fun with The Munsters and The Addams Family. Motorola and RCA Victor were all over the place, in all shapes and sizes bringing home the color of Television.
- Mini skirts, mod boots and scooter type “bikes” -even motorcycles took on the look .. Yamaha for one. Cold Power Wash, Stingray bikes and Keds and PF Flyers were helping kids run faster, jump higher, win the great neigborhood race and at the end of the day walk your favorite girl to her home.
ABC had just unveiled Batman on prime time. Premiering in January of that magical year-1966. The country went “bats” literally. It was the rise of the superhero. And the networks could not get enough of them. By the fall everyone was rallying behind color Television and what a better way than doing a serious stab with heroes in an animated form on Saturday mornings. And if you couldn’t license a comic book character like Superman( The New Adventures of was a hit that fall) Then create one of your own is the second choice. That is exactly what Hanna Barbera and Alex Toth did. The result one of the most awesome, wisecracking heroes this side of the galaxy. Space Ghost! He exploded on the scene September 1966.
Below- CBS Saturday Morning Fall Line Up-circa 1966 comic book ad-
Space Ghost and Dino Boy-
Space Ghost was dressed in white with black cape/cowl. Equipped with two power bands(one for each arm) both displaying buttons on each that when pushed in unique combinations would create rays-all types: freeze, heat, battering ram and an energy beam and more. He also the ability to become invisible thanks to an invizo belt. Space Ghost possessed super strength and flight.
Space Ghost(voiced by Gary Owens- Laugh In)himself was a mysterious superhero, not much known about his background. And that made you want to watch more. Hoping that some juicy tidbit would be revealed. The stories were tight, witty, filled lots of imagination with amazing and eerie worlds, planetoids(minor planets), gaseous filled swamps and then some…
Traveling in style across the universe in the Phantom Cruiser
There were creatures galore and some of the most vile villains ever! The Collector-seems almost every superhero has to face some “guy” who just can’t be satisfied with collecting Wacky Packages or baseball cards. They have to move on to “people, animals, alien races” and never a big enough toy chest. so he has to shrink them or operates a giant sized “ark”. Marvel Comics (The Collector), Braniac(DC Comics/Superman) …
Left- Isn’t nice that both Space Ghost and the Council of Doom have put a side their differences to celebrate the Holidays- Just shows you that even heroes and evil masterminds can let bygones be bygones, if it is only for a short while. No one likes a lump of coal in their stocking…
One of the last adventures of Space Ghost involved a six part story told over the last 2 episodes of the series involving the Council of Doom(precedes DC’s Legion of Doom by 12 years). The council was made up of 6 of Space Ghost’s most deadly enemies. The Black Widow(also known as the Spider Woman), Brak, Metallos, the Creature King, Moltar and Zorak- a mantis with a penchant for trying to roast, fry,electrocute or just blow up our ghostly hero. Villains are never satisfied.
These final episodes aired in mid September of 1967 and contained guest appearances of some of the new Saturday Morning — a crossover of The Herculoids, Mighty Mightor, Shazzan and Moby Dick. Each one helping Space Ghost get back to his time and Jan and Jace. It was a neat little sneak preview.
He had some help in the form of two teenagers, Jan(Ginny Tyler) & Jace ( voiced by Tim Mattheson)-fraternal twins. A boy and a girl. (who knew that one day I would be in that same situation with my own fraternal twins-just minus the invizo belt and power bands-oh well). They faced the everyday challenges that teens do homework and taking on some dreaded heat monster or a would be universe conquering villain. All in a days work. Plus Space Ghost and the twins were assisted by a very smart and loyal monkey named Blip. All three had jet packs and invisibility belts. There were many times that it was the monkey who ruled the day or is it night. Considering it endless in space- night that is.
One of my favorite things were the end of each adventure- yes there was lots of action, suspense and humor along the way. But Space Ghost always manged to get in some little quip or moral to some up the immediate situation. In fact some times it was him just saying “ There’s a lesson here somewhere and then the audience would have to figure out what he was referring to. That was a comfort zone for me.
Now we are not done with the show yet. Space Ghost each week had 2 adventures and was supported by a middle segment- Dino Boy and the Lost Valley. This was a little bit ore laid back story line and again from the desk and mind of Alex Toth. There were 18 episodes all together.
The premise is that Dino Boy fell from a crashing airplane over some remote region on Earth… could be Patagonia possibly. I lead with this because that particular area in South America has high plateaus and at one time influenced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes creator) in his writings for The Lost World. A story that has since been retold by various authors, filmed and also mini-and Television series.
Ugh the caveman and Bronty the dinosaur make up the rest of the recurring characters. But it is Bronty that has the “nose” ( more like snout) for adventure and more often trouble as in getting in!!! With a capital T. As with all lost valleys there is definitely plenty of things to get into or not.
From Rock Pygmies, giant ants, snow creatures, vampire men, bird riders and worm people. And don’t leave out the more than occasional real dinos that make appearances as well. Mammoths, pterosaur, Smilodon-a saber-toothed cat and a T-Rex. So some education a long the way. Now I propose that Dino Boy may have been an orphan based on the fact that never was presented at anytime a notion of him trying to return to his “world” or was he a runaway… and just happy with his new found surroundings. Was most definitely more stimulating.
Space Ghost went on to spawn several reboots or spins on it’s own image including Space Ghost-Coast to Coast where our hero was parodied and parodied late night TV and talk show hosts. all the main characters remained animated except for the guests. And they ranged from Weird Al to Bob Denver to fitness guru Susan Powter of Stop the Insanity.
One sign that your part of pop culture is landing a comic book series, making it on lunch boxes. action figures- Funko etc. T-shirts, coffee mugs or when you cut an album or two.
One thing to keep in mind we being America was in the middle of a space race. Star Trek premiered also during the fall of this year. It was also Bond Mania as in James Bond. Space Ghost offered both gadgets, action, retro rocket decor, monsters, aliens and heroes- super heroes + maniacal villains to the nth degree. What more to like.
This hero from space, who hails from some where out there and resides on a ghostly planet called the Ghost Planet is as popular as ever. He has cemented a place in our hearts… well at least this one for sure. And I for one are extremely glad he and the twins along with Blip are watching over us and the rest of cosmos…
Thaaanks!!! Spaaace Ghooost…oh and remember “ There’s a moral here some where.” in the words of Thaddeus Bach…you’ll just have to do the research on that one.
So see ya next time when we visit a little ol planet named Quasar and The Herculoids- for now this is Doc saying be dangerous and Diabolik!!
And don’t forget be safe and healthy out there wherever there is…
- ** Breaking news-Just when you thought you’d go mad from all that galaxy hopping searching for a way to experience all these far out adventures Warner Archive has once again saved the universe with Space Ghost/Dino Boy The Complete Series just now materializing on Bluray along with a feature length documentary on life of Alex Toth. The characters and all the visuals are bursting with enhanced color hues thanks to the Hi Def remastering of each and every cell. Space Ghosts energy beams and rays now are displayed in the correct colors. Some now appear green instead of being mostly yellow. So whether you are watching this for the first time or someone who grew up in the ’60s it’s going to feel as just as fresh as back then but this time it’s with an old friend.
