Muppet Babies started a trend

[unclematt]

I dont want this to be taken badly at all but I think A Pup Named Scooby Doo holds up better than Muppet Babies. I can still watch A pup today where as watching Kermit and the gang is a lttle harder.

What I would like to see is Muppet Babies come back as actual Muppets like in TMTM.

 

[lowercasegods]

There actually were some Inspector Gadget cartoon spin-offs. Besides the 2 live action movies (and both were actually really good), there was also this 1996 series.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0262963/
(Inspector Gadget's Field Trips - in which Inspector Gadget explored various regions of the worlds with kids)

And there's the aforementioned Gadget Boy and Heather show
http://imdb.com/title/tt0155430/

And there's the Gadget Boy's Adventures in History series.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0156209/


And the latest series.
Gadget and the Gadgetinis
http://imdb.com/title/tt0387741/

And there's separate adventures only on video like "Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas", "Inspector Gadget's Greatest Gadgets" (well, that one's just a collection of episodes but I think there's some original segments on it too), and "Inspector Gadget's Last Case".


And Maurice LaMarche has had an amazing career of voicing cartoon characters. I think the only live action appearances I saw listed for him were in guest spots on The Facts of Life, Boy Meets World and Teen Angel. (And on Boy Meets World and Teen Angel, he was a narrator or radio announcer!)

Weird that "Chief Quimby" has taken on voicing Inspector Gadget. I wonder why Don Adams didn't return to do the voice.
Maybe he's just retired. Although he did do the Gadget Boy and Inspector Gadget voice for the 3 Inspector Gadget spin-off series. And he even had a role in the first Inspector Gadget live action movie. Apparently, he was the voice of Brain! I didn't even realize this. That's pretty cool that he was still involved in some capacity.

Thanks for the update on Inspector Gadget. And as in interesting addition to the trivia, Frank Welker, who voiced Brain in the original cartoon, voiced the live action Brain, in the first movie at least. And if you're interested in seeing more live action footage of LeMarche, rent "Comic Book: The Movie", a mockumentary written and directed by Mark Hamill. LeMarche, Jim Cummings, Billy West, and several other voice artist greats are featured in a panel discussion in an extensive scene (the only scene that was real and not intended as part of the mockumentary). Some of these guys also play characters in the film. It's a lot of fun, and the panel discussion is a must see for any voice actor fanatic.

 

[lowercasegods]

I dont want this to be taken badly at all but I think A Pup Named Scooby Doo holds up better than Muppet Babies. I can still watch A pup today where as watching Kermit and the gang is a lttle harder.

What I would like to see is Muppet Babies come back as actual Muppets like in TMTM.

Though I figure you may have some Muppet Babies fan up in arms over your opinion of "pup" holding up better than "Babies", I absolutely agree that having Muppet Babies as actual puppets would be wonderful. I remember when Muppet Babies was first announced for CBS' Saturday morning line up back in 1984, and how excited I was, thinking it would be a puppet show like TMTM. Sure, I was dissapointed at first when I saw it would be a cartoon instead (without the original voices, no less), but like the rest of us, it didn't take me long to be won over by the quality of the show.
And for the record, I really enjoyed "Pup" as well.

 

[Drtooth]

Y'know, a couple years ago, voice actor Maurice LaMarche (the original voice of Chief Quimby from Inspector Gadget) announced he'd be voicing the Inspector himself in a new series called, "Inspector Gadget and The Gadgeteenies" or something to that effect. I don't recall seeing it anywhere after that, though. Too bad. LaMarche did a wicked Don Adams impression.

Actually, the show DOES exist, but only in Europe. For some stupid reason, they haven't been able to put it on TV in the US, not even on the syndicated "World of DIC," which is oddly enough Berenstain bears (which Hanna Barbara's Autrailian animation studio made) Sabrina, and a couple other things.

I've heard pretty negative things about it, including this odd twist. Brain the dog got pretty frazzle after rescuing Gadget so many times, he left the house, and even the mear mention of Gadget sends him into a frenzy of fear. I am not making this up, I swear!

 

[MJTaylor]

.
I'm sure there's probably even more than this that I've forgotten. Like the episode of "The Scooby Doo Movie Mysteries" where he met Jeannie, from "I Dream of Jeannie". I don't know that any cartoon version was done of that show, beyond that one appearance. Okay, well someone else add to the list. I've rambled on long enough now.

There was a cartoon version of I Dream Of Jeannie. It was made by Hanna-Barbara in 1973. It wasn't a great cartoon really, it didn't bear any relation to the original sitcom. For one thing, we didn't have Major Nelson, instead, we had a teenage surfie named Corey.

 

[erniebert1234ss]

Hey, have any of y'all heard of this:

http://www.cartoonradionetwork.com/

Basically, it's called the Cartoon Radio Network Podcast and Dr. Don Schockow is the host (he also hosts the Magical Theme Park podcast) and he's got all sorts of cool children's TV themes, including (among others) an EXTENDED VERSION of the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers theme!!!!

If y'all want to send him an e-mail or leave a message on his voicemail line, go to the website to learn how! Also, if ya have the latest version of Apple's iTunes, you can get the Cartoon Radio Network Podcast on iTunes!!

Man, memories! I remember the REAL inspector gadget. I really need to get some of those old eps to see the sheer genius of Don Adams, who passed away recently.

BJ

 

[unclematt]

How do you have I Dream of Genie without Major Nelson

 

[erniebert1234ss]

Maybe this helps?

How do you have I Dream of Genie without Major Nelson

First of all, I think you mean I Dream of Jeannie.

Secondly, Major Nelson was an incidental character (if I remember correctly) and Dave Hryb took it as his "Gamertag" when he started working at Microsoft. The story behind that goes that his TiVo recommended that show and he had been asked for a "great" Gamertag. So he sees Major Nelson and decides to make that his Official Microsoft Gamertag. Don't ask me who Major Nelson is, I just know about his "supposed" role in the above story.

Thirdly, I don't see an answer to the previous post. The Cartoon Radio Network Podcast is a great little ditty of a show, AND some cool cartoon music filters in!

Just my opinion. Everybody's got one.

BJ

 

[Mo Frackle]

Haven't seen too much of "Flintstone Kids" or "Tom and Jerry Kids" (though the latter had a pretty catchy theme song). Tom Ruegger has stated in the past that "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" was never intended to be part of the MB trend. I remember it being pretty fun - lots of meta jokes, Tex Avery style gags, and (believe it or not) full animation.

"Baby Looney Tunes" felt lazy, as it clearly stole elements from MB. Not to mention it felt very... not-Looney Tunes. I'm surprised the producers didn't toss cutaways of stock footage into scenes.

The less remembered "Yo Yogi!" had some good things going for it - cameos by obscure Hanna-Barbera characters and callbacks to early HB cartoons. And I liked that not all of the characters were intended to be the same age (the main crew are apparently in their late tweens/early teens, Secret Squirrel is a little kid, others are evidently adults). But it tried too hard to be trendy.

Typical of HB shows (Anyone ever seen their late '70s show "Galaxy Goof-Ups" ? Every episode would feature the main characters stopping what they're doing to dance to disco music for two minutes).

Don't know if anyone here saw the Farrley Bros.' "Three Stooges" movie. Remember those ten-year-old versions of the Stooges that showed up early in the film? Apparently, they're getting a movie.
http://www.c3entertainment.com/our-brands/the-three-little-stooges-movie/

For the record, Norman Maurer (father of Muppet Babies writer Jeffrey Scott) attempted to sell a Three Stooges as kids cartoon back in the day - before MB was developed. He also produced a series of comics in the '60s featuring the Stooges' teenage sons.

Then of course, there were the "and their kids" series - "Pink Panther and Sons" and "Popeye and Son" are the only two that come to mind. Would "Goof Troop" count?

PP&S had a catchy 1980s TV theme tune, mixed with the classic Panther theme. But how can you get away with making a Pink Panther series that hardly features the Panther himself? Can't remember much about "Popeye and Son," other than that Maurice LaMarche did a darn good job as Popeye.

 

[Whatnot1988]

It's amazing that what started out life as a short little musical segment in The Muppets Take Manhattan became an oft-copied trend in the world of animation. It's no surprise that there have been endless variations on this trope (it is a trope, right?) from Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstone Kids to Disney's Jungle Cubs (based on The Jungle Book).

But here's something I wanted to bring up: Even though the pantheon of characters in the Muppets proper is a cast of thousands, MB consolidated the cast into a core group (Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, Animal, Scooter, Skeeter, Rowlf), and "guest" characters (such as Bunsen & Beaker, Bean Bunny, Janice, even Robin as a tadpole in a bowl!). However, when I think about the possibility of a "revival" (not that it's ever likely to happen), it should take a cue from Baby Looney Tunes in that it should follow a "two-segments-with-a music-video-intermission" formula, and this is why:

In BLT, the segments utilize the MB "core group and 'guest' characters" concept, while the intermediate music videos (which precede the intermediate commercial break) allowed the producers to show babyfied versions of non-core characters who don't (or don't yet) fit a role within the normal segments' storyline (examples: Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Porky, Roadrunner, Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn, etc.). If a "new" MB series followed BLT's formula, I'm pretty sure we'd be able to see more Muppet Babies than ever (Swedish Chef, the rest of the Electric Mayhem, Link Hogthrob, Pepe, Walter, Clifford, Bobo, Big Mean Carl, Denise, and the list goes on and on...). What do you guys think?