Best T.V. Made Cartoon Character of the 60's

[Worf101]

Worf -

Another great topic!

I went with Rocky & Bullwinkle (then again, I'm a fan of the Jay Ward cartoons in general). The animation itself was pretty lousy, but that was more or less by design and fit with the overall aesthetic of that series.

The appeal of Bullwinkle was the number of different levels that audiences could appreciate the series, and out of the afternoon cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid, Bullwinkle's one of the few that I still enjoy watching as an adult. As a kid, I just liked the adventures, cliffhangers, and bizarre characters that populated the Bullwinkle world. But, once I got into my teenage years, I started to understand more of the wry inside references and puns that were thrown in. And once I went through my college years, I really got to understand just how much depth the humor in that cartoon had.

However, it's interesting that you would imply that Bullwinkle was a drug-induced trip out, because I think that out of all the Jay Ward cartoons, Bullwinkle was probably the most "normal" series that he created! (Is it any coincidence that Jay Ward was born in Berkeley and went to college there?)

You want writers on drugs? I think George of the Jungle was major pill-poppin' time, and tied to that is the ultimate hallucinogenic tribute to every boy's comicbook delusion of grandeur -- The Adventures of Super Chicken! Good gawd, where the hell did they come up with THAT premise?! Just picture the pitch session for Super Chicken ...

-You got this billionaire socialite chicken who lives in a big-city penthouse with a sidekick lion named Fred who tools around town wearing a letterman's sweater.
-But, when criminal activity demands action, the mild-mannered chicken takes a swig of "SUPER SAUCE" after which he goes into a Technicolor-imbibed series of catatonic convulsions, bouncing thru the air and all over the ground.
-Then after exploding and wrecking his living room as a side effect of taking THE SAUCE, he reappears in a swashbuckler's costume and calls himself SUPER CHICKEN!
-He now has super strength and a hyper-elevated will to do good to the citizens of the city, and harbor very bad intentions towards evildoers.
-So, he and his sidekick Fred the Lion step into a flying chicken coop and fly around the world looking for bad guys to fight.
-Oh, and rather than a signature line like "Up up and away," Super Chicken will let the world know that he's on the job by clucking! (When you hear that cry in the sky ... BAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAAAAAHHHH!!!! ... you'll know it's SUPER CHICKEN!)

And guess what, THAT PITCH WORKED! I mean, what drugs were the network execs on when they approved these shows FOR KIDS?

And what the hell is SUPER SAUCE anyway? For all we know, Super Chicken might really be a series about PCP-addicted poultry! You brought up "just say no" in conjunction with Up With People, personally, I think the Jay Ward cartoons very well might have taught a whole generation of youngsters that it's cool to say yes!

Good post Wooch, as usual BUT you're starting to frighten me... There's is not a human alive I believe could've remembered that show. "Super Chicken"!!!???? Are you chittin' me???!!! I'm sure like many a failed toon it was on for about one year.... 15 to 20 episodes at best.... and you remember that chite? Are you an android!!??? I'm good, but you're downright scary!!!! "Somebody call Homeland Security.... I think we got a space alien here".

Da "really really worried" Worfster

[Woochifer]

Good post Wooch, as usual BUT you're starting to frighten me... There's is not a human alive I believe could've remembered that show. "Super Chicken"!!!???? Are you chittin' me???!!! I'm sure like many a failed toon it was on for about one year.... 15 to 20 episodes at best.... and you remember that chite? Are you an android!!??? I'm good, but you're downright scary!!!! "Somebody call Homeland Security.... I think we got a space alien here".

Da "really really worried" Worfster

Nothing to worry about. You almost had me convinced about the android stuff, so I broke out my Swiss Army knife and confirmed that it hurts and I bleed!

Anyway, I'm actually not old enough to remember when Super Chicken was on network TV, but growing up in L.A., we did get George of the Jungle (which also included Tom Slick and Super Chicken) piped in over the airwaves on Channel 5 every weekday afternoon during those impressionable years of my youth! It was only when I saw Super Chicken again when I was in high school that I began to figure out Jay Ward's insidious conspiracy to dope up America's youth!