dougsploitation: Filmation

Showing posts with label Filmation. Show all posts

Friday, October 18, 2013

Thursday, November 1, 2012

I'm a Brady buff from way back. I watched every version of the show RELIGIOUSLY. From the original run of the show on ABC Friday nights to the terrible BRADYS GO TO THE WHITE HOUSE TV-movie on Fox - if it had BRADY in the title, you can bet that I'd be there watching.

Somewhere in between Filmation's BRADY KIDS cartoon and the underrated BRADY BRIDES there was a little blip in the Bradyverse called THE BRADY BUNCH VARIETY HOUR. This surreal Sid and Marty Krofft concoction from 1976-77 was a glittering dream come true for this Brady fan - it had everything I loved about TV at the time. Bradys! Tight pants! Musical numbers! Synchronized swimming! Guest stars! Fake Jan!

Yes, that's right, Fake Jan - Ms. Geri Reischl, who sang and danced her little heart out trying to make us forget about Eve Plumb. Geri almost did, and paved the way for Fake Cindy (Jennifer Runyon) and Fake Marcia (Leah Ayers) in later reunion shows.

I recently had to opportunity to watch a 45-minute compilation of episodes that a co-worker at Warner Bros. had converted to DVD. This "best of" tape features everything that so great and horrible about the VARIETY HOUR all in one place. It features highlights (and lowlights) from the original special plus the 8 subsequent episodes.

About a week after I watched this amazing DVD, I got an mind-blowing book, LOVE TO LOVE YOU BRADYS as a gift. This book details everything you would EVER want to know about the BRADY BUNCH VARIETY HOUR. Written by cast member Susan Olsen (Cindy) and co-author Ted Nichelson, this tome is a must-have for any serious Brady lover.

Behind-the-scenes dirt includes how musical theater veteran Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) took the show VERY seriously, how Barry Williams (Greg) thought he was going to be the star of the show, and how high on cocaine Maureen McCormick (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia) was during many of the tapings!

Other great stories include how they hid Robert Reed's lack of musical-comedy talent and how "special guest star" and devout Christian Ann B. Davis (Alice the maid) blatantly ignored her gay co-star Rip Taylor the minute when the camera wasn't rolling.

Ironically, a week after I got the book, another friend lent me a copy of the same compilation tape and I recently re-waatched it with other friends. It just gets better and better.

Sure, the show made no sense in the Brady universe - why on Earth would an architect and his family host a variety show???

It was named the worst variety show in the history of television in the book BAD TV, by Craig Nelson and TV GUIDE once crowned it the 4th Worst Show of All-time, but that just makes me love it and the Bradys even more. In addition to the book, check out this groovy website.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Diller Memories...HAPPILY EVER AFTER

In the wake of the two recent SNOW WHITE feature films, here's a little gem from 2008 - reposted for your reading pleasure!

From the creative geniuses at Filmation that brought us the HE-MAN/SHE-RA CHRISTMAS SPECIAL comes HAPPILY EVER AFTER (made in 1988 - but released in 1993) an animated feature that thinks it's a sequel to Disney's 1937 classic. With voice talent like Carol Channing, Phyllis Diller, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Sally Kellerman and Tracey Ullmann - one expects to be in for a treat - or at least a camp classic. One should not have such great expectations.

First off, the much-loved Dwarfs have been replaced here by a group of mismatched grotesque female trolls called (believe it or not) Dwarfelles (all idiotically named: Muddy, Sunburn, Blossom, Marina, Critterita, Moonbeam and Thunderella) and the fierce Evil Queen is replaced by her fey brother Lord Maliss (Malcolm McDowell, CALIGULA), who looks like every Scooby-Doo bad guy rolled into one.

Jolly Dom DeLuise is the voice of the magic mirror, who recounts the entire plotline of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS as this film opens. This is actually the best part.

Meanwhile, cigar-smoking Scowl the Owl (voiced by Ed Asner) and a bunch of bats, rats and ogres are celebrating the death of the Evil Queen, when her shape-shifting brother arrives looking for his sister. The mirror tells him that the Queen is now dead and Snow White (Irene Cara of FAME fame) is to blame! He asks the mirror, "Who's the pretty boy she's with?" Hmmmm...Maliss (or Malice) then declares himself all fabulous and vows to "control the laws of nature and bend them to (his) will!" Then he transforms himself into a big, blood-engorged red dragon and leaves.

Scowl the Owl then begins rapping about being the "Baddest". And he's right. You have not lived until you've heard Ed Asner do hip hop. At this point I consider ejecting the dvd and using it as a coaster, but alas, it belongs to Netflix and not I. Meanwhile, because Evite doesn't exit yet, Snow White and her Prince are traveling on horseback to deliver invitations to the Dwarfs for their wedding. Maliss in his dragon form attacks them - first capturing Snow White, but the owl helps her escape. Maliss then tells the Prince that he "has something VERY special in store for him". I'll bet. ;)

Snow White flees "into the woods", where the Dwarfs used to live, only they've gone "bye, bye" and their female cousins are now in charge.

Each Dwarfelle (I can't believe I'm typing that word!) magically and inexplicably controls an aspect of nature - Muddy (Channing) makes earthquakes, Blossom (Gabor) grows flowers, butch lesbian Sunburn (Kellerman) controls sunlight and Thunderella (Ullman) manages the weather. They all report to Mother Nature (Diller). After we meet all the gals, Ullman warbles a horrible song that sounds like it was played on a Casio keyboard. Okay, I think I'm really done with this now, when someone I like is forced to sing a dreadful song - it's time to hit STOP.

To be honest with you, the animation is so bloody awful, even worse than the usual Filmation crap , I could barely watch it. Every character seems like they were drawn in a different amateur-ish style and the unimaginative backgrounds and murky colors don't help at all. All-in-all a very feeble attempt at trying to fool audience into thinking that Snow White's story continues to unfold in this horrific way. So I FFWed. In the end, the troll women defeat the villain and Snow White and the Prince are reunited. Big surpise. They then invite all the Dwarfelles and Dwarfs to their royal wedding! And they all lived...well, you know what.

If you have kids and want to punish them HAPPILY EVER AFTER is highly recommended. Otherwise, steer clear and watch any Disney original instead. FYI...Filmation also made A SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS (though there seems to be no continuity between the two projects whatsoever).

Friday, March 16, 2012

Josie and Pussycats: Behind the Music

I'm repeating this post in tribute to the late Josie DeCarlo, the inspiration for JOSIE.
Proving my lifelong desire to be a hard-hitting journalist, I now present my look at some cutting-edge news makers.

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS was always one of my favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoons, as well as the hippest of the Archie Comics line.

Initially published as SHE'S JOSIE (#1-16) and later just JOSIE (#17-44), the comic book was launched in 1963 as a rather generic high school humor series aimed at young girls.

The strip was created by Dan DeCarlo, artist of Atlas/Marvel's MILLIE THE MODEL and Archie's BETTY & VERONICA.

DeCarlo was also known for his very saucy Golden Age pin up girl art.

Now that's a topic for another post entirely. Josie Jones/James/McCoy, whom DeCarlo named after his wife, made her debut in ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS #23, before SHE'S JOSIE #1 hit the newsstands.

Josie's closet friends included sexy dumb blond Melody Jones/Valentine, snobbish Alexander Cabot III and Alex's bitchy twin sister Alexandra (and her equally evil and somewhat magical black cat Sebastian). The kids seemed to spend a lot of time hanging out at ski lodges or on the slopes.

These three characters would remain with the series through the years, though other supporting characters like Pepper, Albert and Sock would fade away.

The book reflected some of the far-out pop culture art and fashion movements of the day. Hunky blond Alan M. Mayberry made his first appearance in JOSIE #42, attracting the attention of both Josie and Alexandra.

The comic became JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS with issue #45 (Dec. 1969) when Josie and Melody teamed with their new friend Val Smith/Brown to form an all-group rock group called The Pussycats - at a time when an all-girl rock group was not very common.

In fact, other than Suzi Quatro's 60s band The Pleasure Seekers and The Carrie Nations from BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, there weren't many representations of this concept in pop culture.

The real-life Runaways would later fill the gap five years after The Pussycats.

Josie was the lead vocalist and guitarist and Melody the drummer. Self-centered Alexandra was their original choice to be bassist, but only if they decided call themselves "Alexandra's Cool Time Cats".

The gals resisted Alexandra's changes and Val took over as the bassist, and she often played other instruments as well...like the tambourine.

Following in the footsteps of Filmation's music-based THE ARCHIE SHOW, which became a Saturday-morning sensation in 1969, Hanna-Barbera quickly adapted JOSIE into a weekly animated series.

Josie's speaking voice was performed by Janet Waldo (also the voice of Judy Jetson); Melody's voice was supplied by cute DORIS DAY SHOW actress Jackie Joseph; and Valerie's speaking voice is performed by Barbara Pariot. The character of Val is notable for being the first African-American female character on a animated TV series, making her the kivvid equivalent of JULIA. Marvelously mean Alexandra's voice in the cartoons is provided by former Mouseketeer Sherry Alberoni.

In the TV show, Alexander became the band's manager, with Alan cast as their roadie and Alexandra becoming the resident pain in the ass.

Unlike the slapstick comedy used in the ARCHIE franchise, JOSIE episodes were more inline with Hanna-Barbera mysteries and adventures like SCOOBY-DOO and JONNY QUEST, with a heavy emphasis on wonderful and wacky musical montage chase scenes. In fact, Alexander became a Shaggy clone and Alan took on the qualities of Fred from SCOOBY.

Episodes would follow the Pussycats on their world tour, as they visited exotic locations and, usually because of scheming Alexandra, got mixed up in some kind of crazy caper. The show's producers opted to not include Alexandra's Sabrina-like dabblings in witchcraft in the series.

The villain was invariably a diabolical madman who wanted to take over the world, and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling all-girl rock group!

Every episode usually ends with Alexandra getting her comeuppance.

Stories in the comic book soon reflected this darker direction that the characters faced on the TV show.

Meanwhile, a real-life bubblegum pop singing group was put together to record songs for the series.

An accompanying Capital LP featured Kathleen Dougherty (Cathy Dougher) as Josie, Cheryl Stoppelmoor (later Cheryl Ladd) as Melody, and Patrice Holloway as Valerie was released, along with a collection of 45 RPM singles.

Patrice also performed the show’s awesome theme song, which was written by Hoyt Curtin, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The song was covered by Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donnelly in 1995.

The series set in motion a tidal wave of merchandise depicting Josie, Melody and Val.

Books, puzzles, toys, costumes and just about any cheap and/ridiculous item that they could slap a logo on became fair game for Pussymania!

16 episodes of aired on CBS during the 1970-71 television season, and were rerun during the 1971-72 season.

In 1972, the show was revamped and returned as JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS IN OUTER SPACE, with 16 new episodes of which aired on CBS during the 1972-73 season that were rerun the following season.

In these new episodes, the band was accidentally launched into space while attending a photoshoot at a NASA-type facility, thanks to that clumsy oaf Alexandra.

Thankfully Val was smart enough to figure out how to drive a penis-shaped rocket.

They spent much of the series trying to get back home to Earth, while performing impromptu concerts for misunderstood aliens.

During this run, ear-wiggling Melody adopted an annoying alien creature named Bleep that only says "bleep" over and over again.

The Pussycats also guest starred on an episode of THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES, where dopplegangers Alexander and Shaggy and Alan and Fred got to share screen time.

More consumer products rolled out of factories as reruns of the JOSIE turned up on NBC, USA Network, Cartoon Network and are still seen today on Cartoon Network's spinoff channel Boomerang.

In 2001, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS was unsuccessfully adapted into a live action motion picture by Universal Pictures and MGM. The less said about this film, the better.

Sadly, the regular bimonthly JOSIE comic book was discontinued in the early 1980s, with the characters occasionally appearing in "specials" and other Archie universe titles on and off over the years.