Jeannie (and other Animated Holy Grails). Will we get them? (1 Viewer)

[Kyrsten Brad]

Well folks, I didn’t find any dedicated thread on this so thought I’d start one. This one is primarily dedicated to the animated Jeannie series from 1973, but I’ll also include The Partridge Family 2200 AD and My Favorite Martians from around the same time period.

None of the aforementioned series have yet had a home media release (that I know of) so I’m wondering if we’ll ever get any kind of release. If we do I’m betting on online streaming but a well produced DVD would be acceptable. Of course Blu-ray would be vastly preferred.

I’ve heard that Jeannie may be held up by rights issues between the HB estate and Sony. Ditto for The Partridge Family 2200 AD while My Favorite Martians is a Filmation title.

Any new info will be sincerely appreciated.

 

[KPmusmag]

Two episodes of Partridge 2200 A.D. were included in the first season set of the regular series - at least on the original Sony release. I do not know if they made it into the Mill Creek full series edition.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

My other favorite animated holy grails I'd love to see get released on DVD, besides these three, are:
The Ruff and Reddy Show (1957-60)
The Fantastic Four (1967-68)
The Adventures of Gulliver (1968)
Cattanooga Cats (1969)
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972-73; most of these 1-hour broadcasts were padded with reruns of the 1971 episodes of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show)
These Are the Days (1974-75)
The Mumbly Cartoon Show (1976)
CB Bears (1977; complete 1-hour series)
Skatebirds (1977; complete 1-hour series)
Yogi's Space Race (1978; complete 90-minute series)
Jana of the Jungle (1978)
The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
Casper and the Angels (1979)
The Thing (1979)
The New Shmoo (1979)
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980-81)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980-81; complete 90-minute/1-hour series)
Trollkins (1981)
Laverne and Shirley in the Army (1981)
The Mork and Mindy/Fonz/Laverne and Shirley Hour (1982-83)
Wildfire (1986)

~Ben

 

[ScottRE]

Yabble Dabble!!!

 

[Ethan Riley]

My other favorite animated holy grails I'd love to see get released on DVD, besides these three, are:
The Ruff and Reddy Show (1957-60)
The Fantastic Four (1967-68)
The Adventures of Gulliver (1968)
Cattanooga Cats (1969)
The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972-73; most of these 1-hour broadcasts were padded with reruns of the 1971 episodes of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show)
These Are the Days (1974-75)
The Mumbly Cartoon Show (1976)
CB Bears (1977; complete 1-hour series)
Skatebirds (1977; complete 1-hour series)
Yogi's Space Race (1978; complete 90-minute series)
Jana of the Jungle (1978)
The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
Casper and the Angels (1979)
The Thing (1979)
The New Shmoo (1979)
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980-81)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980-81; complete 90-minute/1-hour series)
Trollkins (1981)
Laverne and Shirley in the Army (1981)
The Mork and Mindy/Fonz/Laverne and Shirley Hour (1982-83)
Wildfire (1986)

~Ben

Most of those would have Rights issues, but I should they'd work on "Gulliver" one of these fine days.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Most of those would have Rights issues, but I should they'd work on "Gulliver" one of these fine days.

But not...
The Ruff and Reddy Show
Cattanooga Cats
The Flintstone Comedy Hour
These Are the Days
The Mumbly Cartoon Show
CB Bears
Skatebirds (maybe The Robonic Stooges does)
Yogi's Space Race
Jana of the Jungle
The New Fred and Barney Show
The Flintstone Comedy Show (probably The Shmoo does)
Trollkins
Wildfire

~Ben

 

[Radioman970]

..
The New Shmoo (1979)
..
Trollkins (1981)
..

I really miss these 2. Trollkins just take me back. I'm glad I got a chance to watch that when it was first on. it's the simple things in life, and being a kid.

MASH did a tie in with Shmoo once.

 

[JamesSmith]

I, too would like to see them. Sad that today's kids will never appreciate the joy of those forgotten cartoons. I really hope more will show up.

James

 

[Radioman970]

We're lucky. Saturday mornings are just Saturday mornings to todays kids. I'm so happy I got those amazing days. School house Rock! Time for timer!! Not just cartoons but live action stuff, Krofft, Weekend Specials... in fact, for those who forgot youtube is a treasure trove.

People can laugh at me but I can't watch this with a dry eye and without a huge smile, just the opening cures the craps I might have right away!!! I have some fan made copies of a lot of these I got from some one a few years back (quite an adventure I might tell one day). those old cartoons and live actions had a lot of heart. Soup & Me, Puppy's Adventures, Miss Switch (she's a witch ya know!! lol ) etc...



And this gem...






Remember those preview shows with the new cartoons? it was like Christmas.

I could have sworn that a live action Bobby from the Brady Bunch hosted a preview show of some kinds. Maybe the year their cartoon came out? I have that in my head. I think he was in the amusement part where they did that episode where dad's plans got lost in the park. I'm sure it was him.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Yabble Dabble!!!

Be careful with that. We’d Yapple Dapple for a Blu-ray release and poof, a VHS set appears.

 

[Radioman970]

^^ viewmaster :p

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Or maybe if Babu really tried hard enough, poof! A Laserdisc.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

All I have left for animated holy grails now, as far as made-for-TV cartoons go, are:

The rest of Bob Clampett's Beany & Cecil (1962) --I have the two released DVDs from Image and Hen's Tooth, which are 'Best Of' collections with a wealth of great bonus features, but would certainly buy a complete series set, assembling all the previously-released and unreleased segments in their original half-hour formats, as was done when the series got released, in full, on VHS in the early 1980s.

The rest of The Alvin Show (1961) --Though, due to the main show's tricky music rights issues, I'd settle for a compilation of The Complete Clyde Crashcup segments from the show, which don't suffer from such rights issues.

Uncle Waldo aka Hoppity Hooper (1964) --The last of the classic Jay Ward series unreleased on legit disc.

Filmation's TV-movie, Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All (Made in 1978, first aired in 1982) --The first season of the Saturday morning series was a padded-out/sanitized serial version of the TV movie, with some different/lesser voice work. It's been uploaded to YouTube several times from a Japanese laserdisc release, but I want a nice version on Blu-ray for my shelf.

TV Special: Richard Williams' A Christmas Carol (1971)

TV Special: B.C. - The First Thanksgiving (1973)

TV Specials: Tales From the Far Side (1994) and Tales from the Far Side 2 (1997)

 

[JamesSmith]

All I have left for animated holy grails now, as far as made-for-TV cartoons go, are:

TV Special: Richard Williams' A Christmas Carol (1971)

(1997)

the Richard Williams version of A Christmas Carol is the best. I've been hoping and praying that Criterion or some other decent DVD company would release this short title with extras. I've heard a rumor that Disney now owns it, but I'm not sure.

James

 

[JoeDoakes]

The Filmation Flash Gordon serial was released on dvd

 

[ScottRE]

The Filmation Flash Gordon serial was released on dvd

Sadly they didn't include the original World War II version that was shown in prime time. I've seen it on YouTube and it's amazing. Also explains why Flash is wearing his Mongo Outfit later instead of always having it on.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon:_The_Greatest_Adventure_of_All

The original project was produced by Filmation as a made-for-television feature film, partly as a reaction to the mammoth success of Star Wars in 1977. When NBC saw the finished work, it was decided to turn the work into what became the 1979 Saturday-morning animated TV-series Flash Gordon.[1]

Although the film was developed before the 1979 animated series began, it did not premiere on NBC until 1982.[1] It was shown in the UK on ITV 22 December at 10:25am 1983.[4][5] In fact, some scenes from the film were used in promotional spots for the coming series the summer before the series began in the fall of 1979. While Filmation's TV-series has become available on DVD, the TV-movie has never become commercially available even to this day, except from occasional off-air bootlegs. The only known commercial releases were by VAP Video in Japan (catalog #67019-128), c. 1983, in both laser disc and NTSC VHS videotape formats and in Bulgaria, where it was released on VHS.

---

Apart from the subplot involving Ming passing advanced weapons to Hitler, which is not touched upon in the later animated series, there are several other notable differences that seem to indicate that this animated film was intended for prime time, when parents presumably would be watching also. Those differences include:

- The departure of the trio from Earth to Mongo is depicted. In order to make Zarkov sympathetic from the start, the original story element of him forcing Flash and Dale to board his rocket is changed to him inviting them in when they flee into his hidden laboratory/launch site, threatened by flooding molten lava. In this case, Zarkov's rocket is their only chance of survival and they board without hesitation with Zarkov's apologies that he cannot drop them off before continuing to Mongo. For their part, Flash and Dale understand Zarkov's mission and quickly agree to help him.

- The use of 1939 terrestrial firearms by Flash and Zarkov upon arrival while battling a monster.

- A discussion between Flash and Thun indicating that Ming's Lizard Woman overseers eat human prisoners.

- Mongian firearms that look much more like their terrestrial counterparts than those used in the animated series.

- The clear destruction of the Hawkmen's sky city, whereas in the series it is only captured.

- More revealing costumes, as Flash and Dale Arden's terrestrial clothing gradually disintegrates as well as Zarkov's to a lesser extent upon Mongo. After they are captured by Ming's forces, Dale spends the majority of her time in a belly-dancer-like costume in Ming's harem while Flash does not receive his red and blue uniform until the last 20 minutes of the film.

- Clear reference to killing prior to the final fight between Ming and Flash, as Barin, Vultan and Thun claim their right under the laws of Mongo to trial by combat before they can be put to death.

- The final fight between Ming and Flash involves the use of both pistols and swords by both parties, whereas Flash does not use a pistol and loses his sword rapidly in the animated series.

- Ming's daughter Aura is a much less sympathetic character. The romance between her and Prince Barin is downplayed and, at the end, she refuses to swear allegiance to him as Regent, resulting in him ordering her imprisonment.

- It is made clear at the end that Flash, Dale and Zarkov will never be able to return to Earth, whereas in the animated series that door is left open.

Voice actors in the TV Movie version (an impressive array of talent):

Flash Gordon - Robert Ridgely
Dale Arden - Diane Pershing
Ming the Merciless - Vic Perrin
Dr. Hans Zarkov - Bob Holt
Prince Vultan of the Hawk Men - David Opatoshu
Princess Aura - Melendy Britt
Prince Barin - Robert Douglas
Prince Thun of the Lion Men - Ted Cassidy

Voice actors in the TV series version (lots of double-duty by a smaller group):

Flash Gordon - Robert Ridgely
Dale Arden - Diane Pershing
Ming the Merciless - Alan Oppenheimer
Dr. Hans Zarkov - Alan Oppenheimer
Prince Vultan of the Hawk Men - Allan Melvin
Princess Aura - Melendy Britt
Prince Barin - Robert Ridgely
Prince Thun of the Lion Men - Allan Melvin