1984 9:00 on CBS: JIM HENSON'S MUPPET BABIES

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So I've been struggling with this one all day long, trying to figure out exactly how to write up what is quite possibly THE most universally liked and enjoyed cartoon of the entire 1980's, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies. "The Show That Will Never Be On DVD" because of it's liberal use of what was, at the time, "Fair Use" clips of everything fro Star Trek to Charlie Chaplin films, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies was a case of everything going right at the right time for Jim Henson. As a bit of fluff/filler for the third Muppet Movie, "The Muppets Take Manhattan", they put in a cute little number featuring baby versions of The Muppets. They had a lot of fun filming the sequence, and Jim instantly saw the potential in the characters. Without even having an idea beyond "Baby Versions Of The Muppets", they shopped the concept around and CBS snapped it up *quick*.

The cartoon debuted a scant two months after The Muppets Take Manhattan hit theaters, and a multi-level marketing tie-in with McDonalds helped make sure that every kid in America knew about The Muppet Babies, but that's not what made this cartoon so beloved - the cartoon was REALLY GOOD! ANd we really owe it all to that prolific writer of 1980's Saturday Morning Cartoons, Jeffrey Scott - who wrote the entire first THREE SEASONS of the show by himself!

The Next 1980's Saturday Morning Historical Reenactment Society Watch-Along is...

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SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21ST!!!



Just a friendly reminder to clear your calendar, get your jammies ready and lay in a supply of Cap'n Crunch, because THE SMHRS WATCH-ALONG IS COMING!!!

This is a change-of-date notification, as the next Watch-ALong *had* been scheduled for the 14th but we had to do a minor postponement.

SAVE THE DATE! SEPTEMBER 21!!!

1984 9:30 on ABC - TURBO TEEN

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1984 ABC Saturday Morning brought us a cartoon that really deserves more love (imho), TURBO TEEN. A teenager (Brett Mathews) swerves his car off a cliff in the middle of a rainstorm and crashes in to a Secret Government Laboratory at the *exact moment* that they're testing their "Turn-Stuff-In-To-Other-Stuff-When-It-Gets-Hot-Inator" ray gun, so now whenever Matt gets too hot he turns in to his car. He's chased by a villain that seems to be Doctor Claw (from Inspector Gadget fame) driving a Monster Truck, going by the name "Dark Rider" (both characters voiced in an identical way by Frank Welker).

Don't you HATE IT when that happens???

As a collector with many connections, I can confidently say that there is NO SUCH THING as a complete, high-quality collection of all 13 Turbo Teen episodes. It was produced by Ruby-Spears, but they don't own the rights to it. Every time I try to find out who owns the rights to make a DVD release of this show, people start disappearing. I'm pretty sure Doctor Claw is behind it...


"Next time, Gadget..."