The story of Sinbad The Sailor has been chronicled in literature and film countless times, ever since the character first appeared as part of collection of ancient stories called One Thousand and One Nights. And yet, it wasn’t until 1965 that much attention was paid to his brave offspring, Sinbad Jr – in the Hanna-Barbera-produced animated series, Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt.

This adventurous chip off the old block (who look like your average teenage, tee-shirt –wearing, American lad) had one advantage over dear old dad – a magic belt that bestowed superhuman powers. With a couple of tugs of the belt, which expanded his chest to three times the normal size and slimmed his waist, he became able to fly and possessed the strength of fifty men. And with his beefed up attributes, there was no adventure too big for him to tackle. Of course, all that time at sea can get mighty lonely, but luckily, Sinbad had a faithful feathered companion in a wisecracking parrot named Salty. Together they circled the globe, matching wits with such dastardly fiends as Rotcoddam and Egoots (read these names backwards to make some sense of them.)

Each episode of Sinbad Jr. was a half-hour in length, constructed from a series of five-minute shorts that had been produced. Tim Matheson (Animal House, Jonny Quest) provided the voice for lil’ Sinbad and voice-over master Mel Blanc played Salty the parrot. These cartoons were quite popular in syndication for many years, making many a young kid smile and making Sinbad Sr. quite the proud papa.