The early 70s were the era of the psychedelic cartoon, and with the exception of The Beatles foray into animation, in the hit film Yellow Submarine, perhaps the most notable offering of the genre was Here Comes the Grump. And, in fact, the show wasn’t the least bit bashful in borrowing liberally from the Fab Four’s iconic film, nor were they shy about adding in a pinch of The Wizard of Oz to spice up the story.

Here Comes the Grump, which debuted in 1969, was based around a young boy named Terry Dexter (voiced by Dennis the Menace star, Jay North.) Terry finds himself in a most colorful and strange land, that which is ruled by the ever-cheerful Princess Dawn. Less cheerful is one of her subjects, known simply as The Grump. Ever the pessimist, he preferred to share his gloomy demeanor with others and as a result, placed a curse on the benevolent princess.

Princess Dawn, accompanied by her part-canine, part-octopus companion Bib, enlists the help of young Terry in the hopes that he can help her forever break the curse’s spell and lift the gloom that has encompassed the entire kingdom. There only hope was to find the elusive Crystal Key, which resided in the hidden Cave of the Whispering Orchids. The only problem was that this cave was part of the Land of 1000 Caves, and that meant some searching was going to be necessary. As they traveled in their flying car, kept aloft by a large balloon, they would encounter a number of fanciful lands and creatures along the way, such as the Eenie Meenie Miners and the Cork Men or the Blabbermouth of Echo Island - hoping that each adventure brought them a step closer to the key and the eventual lifting of the curse.

And ever standing in their way was the perpetually grouchy Grump, voiced wonderfully by eccentric funnyman Rip Taylor. With his flamboyant pink outfit, he was a hard character to miss, especially considering that the Jolly Green Dragon, a critter more comical than menacing, and whom only breathed fire when he had a sneezing attack, usually accompanied him. The character is said to be based upon iconic Warner Brothers cartoon character, Yosemite Sam – which seems more than reasonable since the same man, Friz Freling, created both. The dragon even appeared almost verbatim in the WB cartoon, “Knightly Knight Bugs” alongside Sam.

Some might say that The Grump eventually won this battle, as the show was cancelled after a mere season (although it was rerun the following year.) Apparently programming execs were a little concerned with the overtly psychedelic feel of the show and thought it might not fit in with their particular brand of family entertainment. A victory for The Grump, but a loss for everyone else, as this was truly a well-made cartoon series.