Double Dragon

Computer games adapted into cartoons have been doing the rounds for such a long time. Here's another such show for you, Double Dragon!

The premise of the show had the Lee brothers separated at birth, with Billy being raised by an elderly martial arts master known as the Oldest Dragon. In contrast, his brother Jimmy is raised by the evil Shadow Master to become his second-in-command, the Shadow Boss. As a result, the Lee brothers meet each other as adversaries after being reunited as adults. By the end of the second episode, Jimmy is betrayed by the Shadowmaster , which leads to Jimmy seeing the error of his ways and joining his brother to battle against the Shadowmaster.
The Lee brothers made use of magical swords which contained special powers and added dragon masks to the brothers' outfit. During the course of the series, the brothers recruited allies in their war against the Shadow Master and his henchmen, in the second season gaining stronger magical weapons when the Shadow Master harnessed the strength of the even more evil Shadow Kahn to increase his power. The search for their father, John Lee, was a running subplot throughout the series.

Chocky's Challenge

Following up on last week's post of Chocky's Children, I give you the final chapter in the Chocky Trilogy with Chocky's Challenge!

Matthew and Albertine have separated. While she studies at Cambridge University, Matthew is still working on his project. But when Albertine accidentally exposes Chocky to an evil man named Doctor Liddle, and once Liddle becomes aware of Chocky's existence, the danger begins anew. Liddle believes that Chocky is an intruder, a threat to the humanity and the first step of a great invasion. Chocky returns to help Matthew and Albertine fight against Dr. Liddle and finally reveal the secrets of the cosmic energy.

Mighty Orbots

Transforming, combining robots. There was nothing better than that for me in cartoons as a kid. That is why I have chosen today's first show to be the rare, but brilliant Mighty Orbots!

The 23rd Century, the future is a time of robots and aliens. The people of Earth have banded together along with several other peaceful alien races to promote peace throughout the galaxy, forming the United Planets. As part of the United Planets, the Galactic Patrol — a body of law-enforcers — works to maintain order, under the leadership of Commander Rondu.
However, a powerful criminal organization called SHADOW is out to destroy both the Galactic Patrol and the U.P. Led by Umbra, a massive cyborg-computer, SHADOW employs sinister agents and incredible schemes to attack and someday rule over all corners of the known-galaxy.
There is one thing that helps to fight against SHADOW: ingenious inventor Rob Simmons — secretly a member of the Galactic Patrol — creates six special robots who can use their unique powers to battle against the forces of Umbra. Together, these robots can unite to form a giant robot called Mighty Orbots, to fight for truth, justice and peace for all.

The Herbs

Time for a trip down to the garden for a visit with Parsley the lion, Dill the dog and the rest of The Herbs!

The Herbs consisted of a fantasy mix of human and animal characters inhabiting the magical walled garden of a country estate. At the beginning of each episode, the narrator spoke the magic word, "Herbidacious", which caused the garden gate to open.
Each character was the personification of a herb. It is said that Michael Bond, the series writer used quotes from Nicholas Culpeper's 17th Century book, Culpeper's Complete Herbal, to find the herbs whose botanical traits he could best reflect in the individual characters. As each character appeared in the show, they were introduced by a little signature song, which varied slightly from one episode to the next. The major character was Parsley the Lion. Parsley did not actually speak (although he did have his own signature tune: "I'm a very friendly lion called Parsley....") but his thoughts were voiced by the narrator.

Victor and Hugo, Bunglers in Crime

Today we have another Cosgrove Hall cartoon for you with Victor and Hugo, Bunglers in Crime!

A spin off of the popular cartoon Count Duckula, the series centres on the exploits of two bumbling French criminals - the eponymous brothers of the title. Despite referencing the French author Victor Hugo in their names, neither brother was particularly intelligent.
Most episodes began with the brothers on the run from having committed another crime. These are usually heard reported via radio or TV news report. However, as the opening dialogue continued, it always became apparent that Hugo had done precisely the wrong thing. One episode, for example, has Victor asking Hugo about how he thought they went in robbing "The Duke of Battersea's Home". Hugo's response is "The Duke of Battersea, he is having a lot of doggies, yes?", to which Victor corrects him, "The Duke of Battersea, he is having a lot of doggies, no! That was the Battersea Dogs Home!" Similarly, an episode begins with a news broadcast about the theft of the Christmas lights from Piccadilly Circus. Over this report, we hear Victor telling Hugo that, "I said 'Pull up the van at the lights in Piccadilly Circus.', not 'Pull down the lights in Piccadilly Circus and put them in the van'!"

Garbage Pail Kids

They were collector cards, they were in a movie and they even came as little collectible figures, but not many people remember that they starred in their own cartoon too. I'm speaking about the Garbage Pail Kids!

The series stars the characters Split Kit, Elliot Mess, Terri Cloth, Patty Putty, and Clogged Duane as gross looking kids with abilities to help others. In the first two episodes, they have normal alter-egos, which transform into their "Garbage Pail" identities; later episodes show them exclusively in their Garbage Pail looks (it is never explained how their Garbage Pail personae became permanent).
The show also features parodies of movies like the Indiana Jones series, Superman, and The Fly. It also has segments between stories, such as "Garbage Pail Groaners" (jokes) and "Would We Lie To You?" (facts).
Due to controversial themes, it never aired in the United States. However, it did air in most countries in Europe.

The Last Unicorn

Something a little bit special to celebrate the 300th show to be posted on the BCC now with the full length movie, The Last Unicorn!

From a riddle-speaking butterfly, a unicorn learns that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the Red Bull. The unicorn sets out to discover the truth behind the butterfly's words. She is eventually joined on her quest by Schmendrick, a second-rate magician, and Molly Grue, a now middle-aged woman who dreamed all her life of seeing a unicorn. Their journey leads them far from home, all the way to the castle of King Haggard...

Camberwick Green

Presenting the first in the 'Trumptonshire Trilogy', here's Camberwick Green!

The series is set in the small, picturesque (and fictitious) village of Camberwick Green, Trumptonshire, which is inhabited by such characters as Police Constable McGarry (Number 452), Mickey Murphy the baker, Dr Mopp (who makes house calls in his vintage car), and the town gossip, Mrs Honeyman, who is always seen carrying her baby. Just outside the village lives Jonathan Bell, owner of a "modern mechanical farm", who has a friendly rivalry with Windy Miller, owner of a clanking old – but nevertheless efficiently functional - windmill and a firm believer in old-fashioned farming methods. Mr Dagenham, a travelling salesman who drives an open-topped convertible occasionally appears, as do the staff and cadets of Pippin Fort, a nearby military academy run by Captain Snort and Sergeant-Major Grout. The series mixes contemporary technology with Edwardian costume and social attitudes. Almost all the characters have their own theme songs and travelling songs. There is one other character who never appears in the stories: an unnamed clown or pierrot who turns a roller caption to display the show's closing credits.
The inspiration for the name is believed to have stemmed from the East Sussex village of Wivelsfield Green supported by the nearby villages of Plumpton (Trumpton) and Chailey (Chigley).

Spatz

I think it is high time the BCC had another sitcom, so today I give you Spatz!

 

Spatz is a children's comedy series that ran during the 1990s. The show centred around a fast food restaurant situated in a fictional shopping mall in Cricklewood, London. It was operated by two Canadians, Karen Hansson, Spatz International's European Co-ordinator, and Thomas "TJ" Strickland, the restaurant's manager. Vas Blackwood, Stephanie Charles, Jonathan Copestake, Sue Devaney, Joe Greco, Katy Murphy and Ling Tai appeared as Spatz restaurant employees.
Spatz focused on the frantic goings-on among the wacky restaurant/kitchen staff, with romance and intrigue lingering in the air along with the aroma of burgers and fries. Collectively, the Spatz staff were united in their dislike for rival burger chain Blimpy's.

Zzzap!

If you had a comic that you could activate with a TV remote to watch your favourite characters adventures, would it be anything like Zzzap??

Featuring such characters as Cuthbert Lilly (he's dead silly), Smart Arty, The Handymen and Daisy Dares this could be described as a 'video comic'.
The show begins with a title intro, consisting of a couple of short clips for each character from the season. It is then followed by a series of short two or three minute long segments, followed by the credits. Each segment is introduced by the camera zooming in on a corresponding panel on a giant comic, shot in reverse (e.g.: The Camera starting at the Panel, and pulling back) and then played in reverse. This giant comic has a set of nine frames on it, some of which contain a character representing their segments. The show was designed with deaf children in mind, and so the style of the show is predominantly visual, with the sound only providing music and effects. The audience in "The Handymen" segments would also often sign clapping instead of actually clapping.
The introduction to Series 1 was filmed in Chequers Shopping Centre in Maidstone showing a boy buying a copy of a comic called "ZZZap!" from a newsagent.

Plastic Man

Sometimes working on this site I feel I 'overstretch' with the shows I post here, but you know I'll always 'bounce' back! Enough vague puns though, here's today's first show, it's Plastic Man!

Plastic Man, his girlfriend Penny, and his Polynesian sidekick Hula-Hula travel the world and are given their assignments from the Chief to stop any threat to the world. Plastic Man often retains his sense of humor even in dangerous situations, such as a giant octopus capturing Penny and Hula-Hula causing him to comment "What Scout troop did he belong to"? In early episodes Penny has a crush on Plastic Man, who chooses to ignore it as he himself has a crush on the dark-haired female Chief. However, in the second season Plastic Man reciprocates Penny's crush on him and the two marry. The marriage produces a son who has the same powers as Plastic Man and spawns a lighter series of episodes featuring "Baby Plas" doing things such as saving his friends from neighborhood bullies.

Yogi the Easter Bear

Today's final Easter themed offering is Hanna Barbera's special, Yogi the Easter Bear!

Ranger Smith's boss, the Supreme Commissioner, is attending Jellystone Park's Easter Jamboree. Concerned about making sure the event goes off perfectly, Smith picks out an Easter Bunny suit and orders a truckload of candy for the celebration, ordering his guard, Mortimer, to watch over the candy truck and keep Yogi away from eating any of the candy. Mortimer, however, is legally blind and Yogi steals the Easter Bunny outfit, tricks Mortimer into thinking he is the real Easter Bunny, and eats all the candy in the truck.
Smith is furious and threatens to ship Yogi off to the Siberian Circus, but Boo Boo offers to find the real Easter Bunny to fix things. However, Smith states that he doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny since he didn't get a double-decker raspberry-filled dark chocolate egg from him; he nonetheless accepts Boo Boo's offer. Yogi and Boo Boo seek out the Grand Grizzly in the mountains to see if he knows anything about the Easter Bunny's whereabouts. He instructs the two to seek the big ears in the sky (A grassy hillside in the shape of a rabbit's head). They climb the mountain only to find that the Easter Bunny has been kidnapped.

TMNT - The Turtles and the Hare

For our second Easter themed cartoon today is an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles entitled The Turtles and the Hare!

Krang sends out Bebop and Rocksteady, dressed as Easter bunnies, from the Technodrome in Dimension X through the dimensional portal during Easter. They arrive in New York City to blast people with a "Docilizer Ray". They go to the Channel 6 News Building, where the staff are planning to have an Easter egg hunt.
April O'Neil watches Bebop and Rocksteady testing the ray and calls the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for help just before she gets zapped. To stop them, the TMNT must find out a "Cyranium Crystal" in the "Fairy Tale Dimension".

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

To celebrate Easter on the BCC I'll be adding a couple of Easter themed cartoons for you to enjoy. First up it' the 1974 Charlie Brown Easter special; It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

With Easter coming up, the gang is hard at work for get ready for the holiday. While Snoopy is shopping for a new home for Woodstock, Peppermint Patty is having a difficult time making Easter eggs with Marcie who hasn't the slightest idea of how to do that. Meanwhile Linus is trying to convince everyone that the Easter Beagle will come and make everything right for the celebrations to begin!