Bionic Six

Next up, it's a family with added extras! It's the Bionic Six!

The title characters of the series are a family of machine-enhanced human beings possessing unique powers after being augmented with bionic technology, much like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. Each family member is given specific bionic powers, and thus they form a superhero team named Bionic Six.

In the near future (some unspecified decades after 1999), Professor Sharp, head of the Special Projects Labs (SPL), creates a new form of technology to augment humans through bionics. His first subject was Jack Bennett, a test pilot who secretly acted as Sharp's field agent, Bionic-1. On a family ski vacation in the Himalayas, an alien spacecraft triggers an avalanche that buries the entire family, exposing them to the unusual radiation of a mysterious buried object. Jack frees himself but discovers his family in a comatose state. Theorizing that Jack's bionics protected him from the radiation, Professor Sharp implants bionic technology in the others, awakening them. Afterward, the family operates incognito as a publicly lauded team of adventuring superheroes, the Bionic Six.

Taz-Mania

Again, due to some editing issues I'm having with videos, I won't be doing a Matinee Serial again this week. Hopefully, I'll be sorted for next Saturday. In the meantime, let's take a trip to where the sky is yellow, come rain or shine; Taz-Mania!

After the success of "Tiny Toons", Warner Brothers finally gave the Taz-Manian devil a shot at his own show, naturally, in the form of a teenager. The teen Taz would raise hell all over the outback in his endless pursuit for food and the elusive kiwi. His parents were the laid back Hugh and loving Jean, his little sister was the obnoxious Molly and his little brother was the fun loving Jake. Taz had a pet turtle that apparently thought itself a dog. In order to make money on the side, Taz worked in a hotel for an obnoxious guy with a red beard and glasses and his sweet natured old mom. His friends included the cell phone wielding Buddy Boar (who later became a director), Didgeri Dingo, an ultra-cool and eternally scheming jerk who exploited everyone, particularly Taz, for all they were worth to suit his own ends, an idiot kangaroo, two brilliant and socially thick headed platypus brothers, and a giant koaala bear co-worker. His enemy, as it were, was Francis Bushlad, a coming of age tribal boy trying to earn his manhood and secure his succession as the next tribal leader by capturing Taz and usually failing miserably. And there were some tribal rats in there somewhere, a wolf with a Woody Allen complex, and two crocodile hunters (the leader sounding suspiciously like Gomez from "The Addmas Family") who wanted to capture Taz "for the children" and like Francis, they often failed miserably.

Taz's hobbies, aside from eating, include collecting comic books, bottle caps, and skate boarding.

The New Shmoo

Next up we have another Hanna-Barbera investigation classic in the vein of Scooby Doo, The New Shmoo!

The New Shmoo was one of these teenage investigation cartoons, and lies somewhere in the middle as far as quality is concerned. Here we had three teenagers called Nita, Mickey and Billy Joe, who were accompanied by the Shmoo, a weird white creature that could change it’s shape. It’s normal state looked something like a pure white sea-lion, but it could transform into whatever object it felt would be useful at the time.
The character of The Shmoo was based on a similar character created by US cartoonist Al Capp for his “Li’l Abner” comic strip in the 1950′s. Apparently the “New” part of the cartoon’s name was in order to distinguish it from it’s original source.

Flipper

People say dolphins are the next smartest animal on the planet next to humans. I think they base their evidence on this classic; Flipper!

The series follows a Bottlenose Dolphin named Flipper who is the wild pet of Porter Ricks, a park warden, and his sons Sandy and Bud. Flipper lives in a lagoon near the Ricks cottage at Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve. With the Ricks family, Flipper helps protect the park and preserve and its wild inhabitants. He is also instrumental in apprehending criminals and thugs in the park. Flipper is generally recognized by the characters in the show (and the theme song) as being a particularly intelligent and capable dolphin. Flipper is the special companion of the youngest member of the Ricks family, Bud, and several episodes feature Flipper rescuing Bud from dangerous situations

Dinosaurs

Next up is a sitcom that has gone down in prehistory as one of the greats. It's Dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs is initially set in 60,000,003 BC in Pangaea. The show centers on the Sinclair family: Earl Sinclair, the father; Fran Sinclair, the mother; Robbie Sinclair, the son; Charlene Sinclair, the daughter; Baby Sinclair, the baby; and Grandmother Ethyl Phillips.
One of the show's most popular characters is the mischievous Baby (occasionally referred to as "Junior" until the second season, where he was officially named "Baby Sinclair"). Baby's most famous catchphrase is "Not the mama!", shouted while hitting Earl repeatedly over the head with a frying pan. Frequently, when Baby should be hurt (such as after having been hurled through the air), he will throw his arms up enthusiastically and exclaim, "Again!"
Earl's job is to push over trees for the Wesayso Corporation with his friend and coworker Roy Hess where they work under the supervision of their boss B.P. Richfield.

Eek! the Cat

Today's first show is a cartoon about the (mis)adventures of a cheery cat named Eek!

Eek! the Cat is about a purple cat named Eek whose motto is "it never hurts to help". This attitude generally gets him into trouble, from which much of the humor of the show is derived. Other characters include Eek!'s human family, with whom he cannot communicate via spoken language; Sharky the Sharkdog (his worst nightmare), and Eek's girlfriend, Annabelle. The show featured slapstick humor and pop culture references. Shows vary from standard cartoon fare to movie spoofs (Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange) and musical episodes; the first Christmas episode was written almost entirely in rhyme. The show featured many cameos by celebrities, some of whom came back for several episodes.

Portland Bill

Oh come with me,
To the rolling sea,
While the weather's calm and still.
And we'll have some fun and laughter with
The Adventures of Portland Bill!

The Adventures of Portland Bill revolves around Portland Bill, the lighthouse keeper on Guillemot Rock. Together with his assistants Ross and Cromarty and his little dog, Dogger, they run the lighthouse and help out the people from the village of McGuillycuddy across the bay, which Bill gets to in his rowing boat, The Puffin.

Jossy's Giants

Today's first show is a request from a fan of the BCC, the footballing comedy drama, Jossy's Giants!

The show's plot centred on a hopeless football team full of quirky Lancashire lads who take on mouthy Geordie Joswell 'Jossy' Blair as their manager. The former footballer has a fondness for betting on the gee-gees that often causes him (and his team) problems, but with the brains of the team's biggest supporter - Tracey Gaunt - and the willingness of the lads to pull together in times of crisis, the Glipton Giants come out on the other side with some success!

Benji, Zax and the Alien Prince

Today's next alien encounter isn't with another human, but with a little mongrel dog named Benji (yup, the same character from the series of movies between 1974 and 2004) It's Benji, Zax and the Alien Prince!

The popular canine Benji acts as the self-appointed guide and protector of the young Prince Yubi of the planet Antars and his level 2 asynchronous droid, Zax. The crown prince in exile is pursued by the ruthless hunters, Darah and Khyber, on orders of the warlord tyrant Zanu who has taken over the planet and holds the prince's mother prisoner. Young prince Yubi (whose actual age in Antarian years is unknown) must find a way to survive on this strange planet Earth, which he does not understand at all, while avoid being captured by Zanu's hunters.

Watt on Earth

 I have decided on a theme of alien encounters for today's posts. First up, we have Watt on Earth!

The show centres around the titular character Watt; an extraterrestrial with, by human standards, an odd taste in food, and the ability to 'transanimateobjectify'. He comes to Earth to flee his evil uncle: Watt is heir to the throne on his home planet, and his uncle had sent his top henchman Jemadah to follow and kill Watt. While Watt is over 300 years of age, he appears to be a human in his early twenties. Watt lands in the English town of Haxton, where he becomes friends with Sean Ruddock. Sean keeps Watt's presence in the house a secret throughout the series.

Spider-Man (1981)

After the last post featuring Spider-Woman, I thought today's next cartoon should be the 1980's version of Spider-Man!

The series featured Peter Parker having to balance his alter ego crimefighting with his responsibilities as a university student, a part-time photographer for the Daily Bugle and caring for his elderly Aunt May Parker. The series was not as popular with fans as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, another animated series that aired around the same time, but Spider-Man still provided viewers with plenty of comic book villains, including Chameleon, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Kingpin, The Lizard, Sandman, Silvermane, Vulture, Mysterio, Magneto, Red Skull, Kraven the Hunter, Wizard, Sub-Mariner, Black Cat, Medusa, and the Green Goblin. One other major difference was an overall arc, where Dr. Doom attempts to conquer Earth, while a group of rebels try to free Latveria from his rule with the help of Spider-Man.

Spider-Woman

Bit of a late start to posting today, but nevertheless onwards we shall go! Today's first show is Marvel's Spider-Woman!

According to the title sequence, Jessica Drew was bitten by a poisonous spider as a child; her father saved her life by injecting her with an experimental "spider serum," which also granted her superhuman powers. As an adult, Jessica is editor of Justice Magazine, with two other employees featured; photographer Jeff Hunt (a cowardly braggart who nonetheless fancied himself as a quick-witted and resourceful crime-stopper) and Jessica's teenage nephew Billy. When trouble arises, Jessica slips away to change into her secret identity of Spider-Woman.

This episode also guest stars Spider-Man!

Dino Riders

Next up, we have another Dinosaur based cartoon with Dino Riders!

The Valorians were a peaceful race that had lived in harmony until the evil Rulons came and attacked them. The Valorians tried to escape from the Rulon assault and attempted to use their "Space Time Energy Projector" (S.T.E.P.) to do so, however something went wrong and they ended up being sent back through time to the age of the dinosaurs. Unbeknownst to them the Rulons in the spaceship Dreadlock were also sent back through time when the S.T.E.P. was activated. The Valorians, led by Questar, after making planet-fall use their AMP necklaces to telepathically communicate with the dinosaurs they come across and befriend them. The Rulons, led by their leader Krulos, on the other hand used brainwashing devices known as brain-boxes to control dinosaurs for their own ends. The Rulons then launched an attack on the Valorians, who call upon their dinosaur friends to assist them in fighting back. After successfully defeating the Rulons, the Valorians declare themselves to be the Dino-Riders.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

Today's first show was one of my favourite arcade games as a kid, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs!

Based on the comic book of the same name (formerly titled Xenozoic Tales) by Mark Schultz, the show was created by screenwriter Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard and 48 Hrs.), who acquired the TV rights after producing the video game Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, which was also based on Schultz's comic.

The show dealt with many strong ecologicial and political issues that were central to the plot development. One major focus was the question of how the dinosaurs managed to re-emerge after they were thought to be extinct. The series followed the exploits of Jack Tenrec and his crew of ecological freedom fighters known as the Mechanics. His often-reluctant companion is the foreign ambassador Hannah Dundee. She hires Jack as a liaison while she attempts to create clear communication between her land and the modern civilization. Together they confront the serious issues facing the futuristic environment that humanity has come to inhabit. Jack also has Hermes, a juvenile "cutter" that Jack hand reared. Gentle with Jack and Hannah, he can still be rather fierce when angered. The show also includes a race of intelligent lizards called Griths. Jack and his crew square off against opposition including the Council of Governors and Hammer Terhune's gang.