Video of the Week: Stay Tuned for Space Ghost

Today marks our first "Video of the Week" segment during Space Ghost month, and what better way to kick things off then with not one, but two commercials for the series during its original run?

This first commercial does a good job highlighting not just Space Ghost himself, but also his villains, as well as the other superhero shows that Hanna-Barbera were pumping out at the time. A pretty short promo, but you can't say it beats around the bush.

The second ad is similarly short, and previews both Space Ghost and Dino Boy. Most of you probably know this, but Dino Boy was the series that accompanied Space Ghost during its original run. I also find it funny how much more screentime the former gets over the latter in this commercial. Clearly whoever edited this knew what the more interesting series was.

Space Ghost Concept Art

 Today officially begins "Space Ghost October", a month long celebration of the original Hanna-Barbera superhero series in honor of its 60th anniversary. Yes, that anniversary technically happened last month, but since I had so much planned for the blog in September, it seemed like the right call to push it back a little.

Today, I'm starting things off by going to a time before Space Ghost. We'll be looking at a few pieces of concept art from early on in the series production. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to The Space Ghosts. These two pieces were done by legendary comic artist and Space Ghost character designer Alex Toth.  The piece retains the main three characters, but with much different designs. I don't know if it was still intended to be a superhero cartoon at this stage, but this art kind of gives off a Lost in Space vibe. Fitting, as that show had just begun at this point, and it would only be a few years before Hanna-Barbera took their own stab at an animated version of it.

After that, the show was heavily reworked, growing closer and closer to the Space Ghost we're more familiar with. This design is pretty close to how he looks in the final show, but with a few noticeable differences. He's got red gloves instead of gauntlets, a slightly altered belt, black boots, and a different logo. Not a bad design, but I'm glad we ended up with the final version.

I've covered this before, but I also thought this would be a good time to feature this preliminary design for one of Space Ghost's most notable foes, Zorak. His design was much different initially, and, according to this storyboard, his name was also originally "Korak." Though he doesn't look like this in the series, the design was used in several pieces of merchandise, most notably the Gold Key comic, which can also be found below. Honestly, I kind of prefer this version over how he looks in the actual show. I love that design, but this version definitely feels both more alien and villainous, at least in my opinion.

Atom Ant Saves the Day

 It's been a minute since I brought up Atom Ant on this blog, so why not rectify that? Here's one of the few notable pieces of Atom Ant merch made during the series heyday. This is the board game Atom Ant Saves the Day, which was produced by Transogram in 1966. Below is the packaging art, which has a great illustration of Atom Ant walloping two crooks in one go. 

The game, as the box mentions, is intended for two to four players. The basic idea is that each player has a specific image that they must have Atom Ant successfully navigate. This is achieved through the games cards, dubbed "Whiz Cards." The first person to get Atom Ant from point A to point B wins the game. Below are the cards and the board itself. The artwork featured on the board really is something else, but it's a shame the trails cover a lot of it. Also, is it just me, or does the dog featured in the bottom right art bear an uncanny resemblance to one Precious Pupp? 

Cartoon Network Goes Prehistoric

 Remember when the Cartoon Network website was a thing? It's been a little over two years since it was shut down, but with Cartoon Network turning 34 this Thursday, I thought I'd share this neat little tidbit about the website in its early days. Some might even call this the "Prehistoric Era" of the website. You'll see what I mean in a moment. So let's travel back with this piece from the August 10th, 1998 edition of The Atlanta Constitution.

Turner yammers for 'toons'

    Remember when he was just the "Mouth of the South"? Now Ted Turner also is the "Mouth of Virtual Bedrock."
    Starting today, you can log onto the Web and hear the distinctive Turner tone bellowing—are you ready for this?—"Yabba-dabba-DOO!"
    OK, maybe "bellowing" is too strong a word for what Turner can be heard doing on http://www.cartoonnetwork.com, the 3-week-old Internet site for the Atlanta-based, Time Warner-owned cable channel.
    In conjunction with the site's "Best of Bedrock" feature, Cartoon Network has asked some famous voices to record Fred Flintstone's equally famous catch phrase.
    Last week, it was Jean Vander Pyl, the actress who originally voiced such classic cartoon characters as Pebbles Flintstone and "The Jetsons" Rosie the Robot. This week, it's Cartoon Network President Betty Cohen and Flintstones' creators Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, in addition to Turner.
    Turner, vice chairman of Time Warner, may work harder than Fred Flintstone, but apparently both men share a love of yabba-dabba-DOO-ing. Word around Cartoon Network is that Turner enjoyed the recording session in his CNN Center office, providing more than good enough takes.
    To access the recordings, which are up through Sunday, go to "Best of Bedrock" and click on "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like these audio clips can be found these days. I'm not shocked considering how old they are, but the idea of Ted Turner howling "Yabba Dabba Doo" is something that I only wish I could hear.  While I can't share these recordings, I've got something you'll probably enjoy just as much. It's a commercial for the CN website from around 2000. It's probably the only video where you'll see both Huckleberry Hound and Goku from Dragon Ball Z, and you really can't beat that.

Video of the Week: A Happy Hanna-Barbera Meal

 I've shared a couple commercials for Hanna-Barbera fast food promotions over the years, but never before have I featured one from outside the states. That changes today with this video for a McDonalds Happy Meal promotion for Hanna-Barbera that ran in Mexico around 2008. Characters from The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Tom and Jerry were included as toys, but the main star of this commercial is Ronald McDonald, engaging in some very Hanna-Barbera inspired hijinks. Maybe some of you will have fond memories of that guy, but watching this made me think they made the right call retiring him. Any who, give the video a watch down below!

The Jetsons Sprint into RadioShack

 Jetsons Day was yesterday, so consider this post a little something for the occasion, albeit as it may be. Here's a collection of five distinct newspaper comics that were created for the RadioShack Jetsons promotion from the late nineties. I've shared one of these before (check it out here), but here's all of the other ones I've found since.

The first comic, titled "George Gets Static," follows George as he tosses his old phone for a digital PCS phone, not that it helps him with work any. It serves as an ad for not just the phone, but for a specific deal for it as well.

This comic is called "Astro's Phone" and advertises a 50% off deal for a clear-sound cordless telephone. I'm probably reading too much into this, but I feel this has to be the weirdest ad. "Buy our cordless phone, even your dog will love it!" Cool, I guess?

The third ad, "Nickname," shows George and Jane as they discuss the nickname George gave Mr. Spacely in his new phone. Not a very creative name, but it's an entertaining ad disregarding that.

Christmas isn't quite here, but it is the subject of this fourth comic, "Mystery Gift." Everyone in the family gets a Sprint phone here. Well, everyone except Rosie, that is. A rebate and Sprint's PCS service are also advertised here.

 This last one isn't necessarily a comic, but I felt it was worth sharing anyway. This is the inside to a small booklet found in newspapers around the time of this promotion. It shows the inside of a RadioShack, as well as many of the items you'd find for sale at one. There's also plenty of images of the Jetsons cast included for added measure.

Hanna-Barbera Halloween Cards

 Halloween will be here before you know it, so for the first post focused on the occasion this year, I bring you this collection of Hanna-Barbera Halloween greeting cards. All of these were made by Hallmark, as you may have guessed it. Interestingly enough, Hallmark actually wanted to buy Hanna-Barbera when the studio went up for sale in 1991, but were ultimately beaten out by Turner.

Our first card was released in 1992, and shows Quick Draw McGraw with a message for trick-or-treaters. The message inside, for those curious, is "Hope you round up all the treats that you've been hoping for! Have fun!" Quick Draw is kind of a weird character to pick for a Halloween card, but I guess anything is appropriate for Halloween if you give it an orange background and throw some bats in.

This Yogi Bear card from 1990 shows Yogi dressed up as...honestly, I've got no clue as to what he's going for. I'm guessing an alien, but the cape seems a little random.  

The inside on this one reads "Here's Yogi Bear, right on the scene, all set for Halloween—Just looking for treats, the way bears do, and wishing for lots of fun for you! Happy Halloween!"

Finally, it is only appropriate that we end this with Scooby-Doo, a series tailor made for all things Halloween. This card saw release in 1987, and has Scooby rocking a Dracula cape. It's intended for a "special boy," and the inside reads "Somebody famous is bringing this wish to somebody special—guess who! Why the somebody famous is Scooby-Doo, and the somebody special is you!"