“The computer’s going out of its electronic mind!”

filed under Categories cartoons, teen titans 15 Comments

I’m a little occupied at the moment, so let me at least provide you with this classic 1960s Teen Titans cartoon.

15 thoughts on ““The computer’s going out of its electronic mind!””

  1. I totally dig those classic late ’60s Filmation cartoons from the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, including the three Teen Titans episodes–corny George Kashdan dialogue and all. But I have always had lingering questions. Was Robin not used as a Teen Titan because a rival network had licensed the sole rights to him for the Batman ’66 show? Was Wonder Woman not used for the three JLA cartoons because a pilot was in development for her to have her own show? And how come Aquaman (wearing black boots!) was always shown at the start of the JLA segments but wasn’t in the actual JLA cartoons along with Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Atom?

    Also, why wasn’t there better quality control over Kid Flash’s way off model black hair and costume with the reversed color scheme? Maybe if the cartoons had progressed he would have been revealed to actually be “Reverse Kid Flash”–Eobard Thawn’s evil nephew! There DC Comics –I just created a new character for you!

    It would have been cool if the Teen Titans cartoons had continued and Beast Boy, Hawk & Dove, and eventually even Mal Duncan, Lilith Clay, and Gnarrk had been introduced into the mix.

    According to Wikipedia:

    “Due to the success of the show, Filmation had produced a Metamorpho pilot and planned pilots for Plastic Man and Wonder Woman. A DC Comics cartoon hour was also being developed, with concept drawings featuring Metamorpho, Plastic Man, The Flash, The Blackhawks, the Doom Patrol, B’wana Beast, Green Arrow, and the Metal Men. Plans were cancelled when CBS secured the animation rights to Batman in the wake of ABC’s recent success with the Batman live action television series.”

    It could have been a real swinging, Go-Go checked ’60s DC cartoon scene!

    Now you should show a sample from Marvel’s ’60s cartoon output–or, actually somebody should do a mash up edit of scenes from the various ’60s cartoons of Teen Titans, JLA, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Space Ghost, Herculoids, Birdman & Galaxy Trio, Jonny Quest, The Impossibles, Frankenstein Jr, The Mighty Heroes, and The Super 6.

  2. Maybe we should petition James Gunn to have a bunch of the unfinished Silver Age DC animated shows brought to fruition in a campy ’60s style. Or how about other ’60s characters: Angel and the Ape? Inferior Five? Swing with Scooter? Brother Power the Geek? The Maniaks? The Creeper? Dolphin? Johnny Double?

    Or how about if Gunn greenlit a 1940s-based Golden Age JSA animated cartoon meticulously done in the style of the beautiful Max Fleischer Superman cartoons with rotoscoping and everything?

    It could be great!

    It could be great!

  5. It warms my cold, cold heart to see they continued the animated tradition of the sea-related character inexplicably flying under his own power. Oh look, Speedy can too!

  6. @ Jon H

    Yes, and Bill Murray was the voice of Johnny Storm!
    Stan Lee narrated the 13 episodes, which adapted early issues of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby FF comics.

    Here’s a link to listen to the FF radio episodes:

    https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/sci-fi/fantastic-four-radio-show/01-meet-the-moleman-1975-xx-xx

    And here’s a link to some of the Doctor Strange radio episodes, which were adapted from early Doctor Strange stories by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko that appeared in Strange Tales:

    https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/sci-fi/fantastic-four-radio-show/01-meet-the-moleman-1975-xx-xx

    @Athelind Llewellyn Long

    Actually, Aquaman–with Aqualad, and sometimes Mera–had thirty-six of his own episodes in The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, and Flash–with Kid Flash–did appear in three of his
    own episodes.

    For clarification, there were also three Teen Titans episodes, three JLA episodes, three Green Lantern episodes, three Hawkman episodes (but no Hawkwoman, sadly), and three Atom episodes. And, of course, Superman had a bunch of episodes, both as Superman and as Superboy. And Ted Knight was the narrator for everything except the Superman episodes.

    So, only Speedy and Wonder Girl got animated adaptations years before Green Arrow and Wonder Woman did.

  8. I had no idea the Titans had their own cartoon. That’s cool. Kid Flash with black hair really throws me, though.

  9. @Sean Mageean

    As a late Boomer/early Gen Xer, I watched The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure on Saturday mornings, but I’d forgotten The Flash segments until you mentioned them.

    (For some reason, I vividly remember the Green Lantern and Hawkman segments. Always did like GL, I guess.)

    According to Wikipedia, Filmation had finished a Metamorpho pilot and was working on other DC heroes when the rights to Batman fell in their laps and Everything Changed. It’s a pity: much as Little Athe enjoyed those Batman cartoons, the Element Man would have been a PERFECT match for the slightly off-kilter Filmation style.

  10. @Athelind Llewellyn Long

    Agreed that a Filmation Metamorpho cartoon would have been very cool! Plastic Man, Doom Patrol, and Metal Men would have been at the top of my list as well–and Angel & The Ape, and Inferior Five for some comic relief.

    Also, considering Alex Toth drew a few Black Canary stories in Adventure Comics in the early ’70s, it would have been cool if Black Canary had obtained her own Hanna-Barbera licensed cartoon with Toth doing the model sheets.

    As a fan of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents from Tower Comics, it would have be great if they had been licensed for an animated series as well.

    It was interesting that in the Green Lantern cartoons
    they replaced Thomas Kalmaku with a Venusian teenage sidekick named Kyro the help Hal Jordan–of course, if
    they had never nicknamed Thomas “Pieface” in the comics they wouldn’t have had this problem to begin with.

    Hawkman had a hawk assistant named Skreal instead of Hawkgirl in the cartoons. And Hawkman also had a “destructo-claw” attached to one hand which predated Wolverine’s “snikt” claws. Kinda neat!

  12. Kid Flash looks WRONG as a brunette.

    “And Hawkman also had a “destructo-claw” attached to one hand which predated Wolverine’s “snikt” claws”

    Don’t tell Wolverine, he’ll challenge Hawky to a Sknikt-Off, and it’ll be a BLOODBATH!

  15. Just stumbled on this. Apparently there was a pitch for a Teen Titans cartoon in the ’90s featuring the original five team members–including Dick Grayson as Robin, and Wally West in an accurately colored Kid Flash costume and with accurately colored hair. Aquaman and Flash would have made cameo appearances as mentors.

    For some reason, the show didn’t get greenlit.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DNviIn42red/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

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