You Are What You Were. Celebrate Retro Pop Culture At Retroland.
Sly like a fox, that Robin Hood was. So, when Disney decided to bring the epic adventure to the big screen in animated form, they indeed gave the role to an anthropomorphic fox. And they found critters to play each of the famous roles. Marian was also a fox, Prince John and King Richard became lions. Little John was now a bear, Friar Tuck was a badger, and the sinister Sheriff of Nottingham was a wolf - in Walt Disney’s classic 1973 film, Robin Hood.
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Life is hard enough when you are ten-year-old boy, even harder when you are forced to live with your grandparents, and inconceivable when you have a head shaped like a football. Such were the tribulations of Arnold, an orphaned fourth grader and star of the long running Nickelodeon animated series, Hey Arnold!
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Just about every kid of the 70s, at least those who had access to a TV on Saturday morning, remembers Jonny Quest. The reason is simple: there was hardly a time that the Hanna-Barbera produced series wasn’t on TV. From 1967 through most of the 70s, and even into the 80s, kids have been following the adventures of Johnny and his pals. That’s some surprising longevity considering that only 26 episodes of the original animated series were ever produced.
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A pinch of Curly from The Three Stooges, a dash of Rodney Dangerfield throw in for good measure. Mix the ingredients and stuff them into a Great White shark and you have the makings for Jabberjaw - a fondly-remembered aquatic creature animated by Hanna-Barbera. Jabberjaw debuted on Saturday mornings in 1976, and although his stay [...]
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Any regular watcher of television will tell you that a dog is man’s best friend. They will also attest that nifty gadgets are a crime-fighter’s best friend. So, what if we had a dog who was a loyal pet and sidekick to a crime fighting millionaire? Logic suggests that he would be equipped with plenty of high-tech sophistication. Such was the case with Dynomutt, a lovable but ever-clumsy canine robot, equipped with an array of gear that would make the future Inspector Gadget a tad jealous.
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With the popularity of films like Mary Poppins and Song of the South, Disney proved that they could successfully mix live-action and animation. For their next such endeavor, they would once again meld the two mediums in 1977 for Pete’s Dragon, a comedic film about a boy and his invisible, fire-breathing friend.
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With rare exception, longevity isn't a word often associated with Saturday morning cartoons. Most only last a couple of years at best. Put comedian/educator Bill Cosby at the helm, however, and you have a recipe for success. Such was the case with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, a beloved series and a staple of Saturday mornings for over a decade.
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The series of “Uncle Remus” stories penned by Joel Chandler Harris seemed a perfect vehicle for Walt Disney to finally employ a form of technology he had long experimented with – the merging of animated images with live actors. The concepts had been toyed with in films such as The Reluctant Dragon and The Three Caballeros, and Walt had first explored the possibilities in a cartoon called Alice’s Wonderland as far back as 1923. It was finally time to truly put the techniques to the test in a feature film, and the result was The Song of the South.
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Scholastic's The Magic School Bus had the ability to traverse the ocean floor and zoom through the intricate chambers of the human body. If only we could all get out of rush hour traffic and go where the Magic School Bus goes, the world would be a happier and better educated place.
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There seems to be an unwritten rule that anyone who is a genius must also be eccentric. The same holds true for the duck with all the answers, Ludwig Von Drake. While he may never have possessed the same star power as his beloved nephew, Donald, he is certainly enough of a character to warrant his inclusion as a Retroland icon. Let’s take a look back.
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