Behold! The Worst Cartoon Show of all time

[Drtooth]

And no... this isn't going to be a long opinion page, debating about your least favorite cartoon.. there is NO debate once you get a load of this:

Clutch Cargo! With his pals Spinner and Paddlefoot[url]

A series that utilized a device that superimposed human mouths over filmed footage... it was originally developed for a series of speaking animal films in the 40's and 50's.

The show follows the adventures of a pilot and a little boy that hangs around him for some reason. This series goes beyond pure camp, and into total What the Heck-dom. I use the term "cartoon" loosely, as there is barely any animation... sure, the pupils in their eyes dart back and forth most of the time, but we're talking about moving around paper cut outs (as if they were puppets, not in a Terry Gilliam way- it was done live). With corny as heck dialogue and an unintentionally slow hero, this trumps even the most pathetic 1970's Archie wannabe.

The show was referenced in the movie Pulp Fiction... as well as the episode of Pinky and the Brain where Brain cuts out smiles of celebrities to program false teeth (Pinky pulls up a mouthless picture of John Travolta, sticks his own muzzle in its place, and says "Look Brain! I;m on Clutch Cargo! Hey Paddlefoot, you know what they call a cheeseburger in France?)... and a very scathing parody of the series is included in the Incredibles DVD set (on the second disk).

You can find cheap expired copyright DVD's of this show at dollar stores... though, I don't know if you'd want to.

 

[D'Snowth]

I open this thread entitled "The Worst Cartoon Show of All Time", and was expected to be met with SpongeBob, but oh well, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

I open this thread entitled "The Worst Cartoon Show of All Time", and was expected to be met with SpongeBob, but oh well, lol.

No... No! It's what I said. there is NO debate!

check out this clip that I messed up posting before.... Nothing... NOTHING has been that bad. Not Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kids (a Hanna Barbera show that has nothing to do with the movie, other than the stolen name), not My Friend Rabbit (which is easily a contender for most boring cartoon of all time)... no.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

not My Friend Rabbit (which is easily a contender for most boring cartoon of all time)... no.

Read the book- it's better.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I open this thread entitled "The Worst Cartoon Show of All Time", and was expected to be met with SpongeBob, but oh well, lol.

Spongebob Squarepants is hilarious! I don't know that it's quite the worst cartoon of all. There's definitely worse ones than that.

And I actually have heard of Clutch Cargo before- I got the impression at least some kids seemed to enjoy it pretty well. Maybe Christopher Paul Curtis anyway- he mentions it as being a favorite of the main character of "The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963" (which is a great, funny yet serious book, by the way.)

 

[D'Snowth]

No... No! It's what I said. there is NO debate!

check out this clip that I messed up posting before.... Nothing... NOTHING has been that bad.

With those mouths and everything, it kind of reminds me of some of the things they did on Courage the Cowardly Dog... ala the Magic Tree of Nowhere with the human mouth, or the Spirit of the Harvest Moon with the same human mouth... but then again while Courage was a 2-D, it was all done by computer.

 

[JJandJanice]

I'm not a huge fan of Spongebob either, but it's far from "the worst cartoon of all time."

This is a really bad cartoon, I think I watched the first 30 seconds and thought I'm done. But another consideration for worst cartoon-"Where My Dogs At?"

Remember that show on MTV2, it had two ugly dogs and the whole show was just about making fun of famous people. It wasn't funny in the least.

But since Clutch Cargo here has those really creepy human mouths, yeah this probably wins the title of worst.

 

[frogboy4]

Aw, backlash over Spongebob usually has to do with its over-exposure rather than actual quality. It's a very good, quality made program that might not be everyone's cup-o-tea. There are quite a few popular programs that I don't care for (usually has to do with poor animation standards) that I won't mention here for fear of the flames!

The worst animated programs would have to include Rubik the Amazing Cube, Captain Planet and that horrible Bratz program.

Clutch Cargo's character design is okay, but the technique and execution are lazy. I'm sure worse shows could be located, but it would take quite a bit of digging so I'll agree with Tooth on this pick.

 

[Drtooth]

The worst animated programs would have to include Rubik the Amazing Cube, Captain Planet and that horrible Bratz program.

Those shows all suck (Toxic Crusaders PWNS Captain Planet in every way... what other cartoon series was based off an R rated independent cult horror comedy flick?)... but I wouldn't even put them in the same place as Clutch Cargo... which, again, I stress the word "Cartoon" is used loosely.

Clutch Cargo's character design is okay, but the technique and execution are lazy. I'm sure worse shows could be located, but it would take quite a bit of digging so I'll agree with Tooth on this pick.

Well, there's a lot to be said about the time this show was made. It was before all of our times collectively, but the first "Cartoons" made for television were nothing more than still drawings with narration. The first cartoon series to use any regular movement was Crusader Rabbit, and even then it was mostly still frames with narration. It wasn't until Hanna Barbera got started with Ruff and Reddy and Jay Ward with Rocky and Bullwinkle was animation on television widespread.

And I can't really agree with the execution being "Lazy" so much as it's cheap. I.e. they had a microscopic budget, and had to be "innovative." There were instances of full animation, but nothing over 2 seconds... and it was mostly Paddlefoot the dog that got animated. But I stress that the "animation" is only part of the reason why it's got the so incredibly terrible you gotta see it vibe. I may have showed you a clip, but I didn't show you the entire "Big X" saga...

Here's a brief summary of the episode:

Professor Stargazer (!) looks through a telescope and finds a "big Thing" (their words exactly) headed right for the moon, about to crash in 12 hours, "mountain time" (again, word for word, the character actually says "Mountain Time")... so Clutch goes to find Professor Knockwurst (! !) to get a rocket... then convenient cliff hanger 1 for them to find another rocket, other than the one that was launched... yeadda yeada, takes forever for the rocket to get off, cliffhanger 2. Of course the rocket is still experimental and various funny mock German sounding parts have to be attatched and replaced (i.e. "Flaggenboomers," "Forward Flooten")

Now it gets stupid:

When trying to intercept the "Big Thing," it starts following the rocket. They then try speeding up to get rid of it... Clutch calling to one of the Professors to "Pour on the Coals"... come on. I know it's 1950, but do you expect me to believe you have a steam powered rocketship? Of course, they soon find out it was following them because it's "attracted to the ionized particles in [the rocketship's] slip stream" (Insane 1950's space logic).. so they spend at least one more episode trying to get away from it before they finally get the idea to cut the engines... Clutch lands on it, and with every step it makes the sound of an out of tune toy piano... Professor Stargazer announces the "Big X" is made of a rare musical element known as "nickelodeum." But it's really just a giant ball made out of tinfoil.

And that's how I wasted a half hour of my life. Again, there is NO debate.

 

[frogboy4]

I like the "now it gets stupid." ****!