Scooby Doo on Gilligan's Island

I saw this image of Scooby Doo and Shaggy with Gilligan and the Skipper. It got me thinking how much fun it would be if they appeared together in something, and then I remembered that the current Scooby Doo series is called Scooby Doo and Guess Who, with each episode featuring some famous guest. Why not an episode where the Scooby gang ends up on a deserted island where they meet the cast of Gilligan's Island! I threw on a Scooby Doo and Guess Who logo onto the image, and now I'm super excited to see this happen!

That's a Lot of Missing Cartoon

I was watching an old VHS tape full of Tom and Jerry cartoons I taped off of TV in the 90's and something stuck out to me. During the 1951 cartoon, His Mouse Friday, Tom encounters some stereotypical island cannibals, and in one scene they have a close of  the cannibals face and you can hear muted music but when his mouth opens, there is no sound. I have recently purchased the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection DVD set which has all of the original theatrical cartoons (minus two; Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat), so I grabbed my DVD and popped in disc 3 which has the His Mouse Friday cartoon on it. When I watched the same scene, I could hear the original voice that came out of the cannibals mouth. He says "Mmmmm... [licks his lips] barbecued cat" in a voice that sounds like a million other cartoon voices of the time. The same thing happens just a few seconds later then a tiny cannibal does this same thing to Jerry. On the cartoon taped off of TV, there is no sound when he talks, but on the DVD you hear him say "Mmmm [licks lips] barbecue mouse". I found it kinda odd that they removed the voice which I guess was considered stereotypical 'black' voice, and yet left in Jerry smudging soot onto his face to create 'black face'.

I was happy that on my DVDs, they had the original sound. But then I noticed that the DVD seems to be a pan and scan of the cartoon, where they cut the ends of the picture off to make it square like an old TV screen and sometimes they just cut the two ends off, or sometimes they pan and scan which means they move to where the action is and cut out the rest - sometimes (such as in this case) losing crucial animation. Shown here you can see the original wide screen version I taped off of TV back in the 90's and then the letterboxed version from the DVD. Odd that the one shown on my old TV is the wide version and the one on DVD is the reduced version.

The quality of this one is not great as I took a photo of the VHS image off of the TV using my phone.

This is a screen grab of the DVD

I had been excited that I could finally throw away all of my old VHS copies of Tom & Jerry that I can collected over the years now that I had this complete collection on DVD, but now that I see there is actually cartoon missing from the DVDs, now I think I will keep my tapes along with the DVD collection. 

Mighty Mouse The New Adventures

In 1987, the animated television series, Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures debuted on Fox Kids. It was a revival of the mighty Mouse cartoon character from the 1940's. This version aired on CBS on Saturday mornings rom fall 1987 through the 1988-89 season. I loved this show back then, and would get up early every Saturday morning to record the show on VHS (which I still have). As was the norm with new cartoon series at the time, Wendy's offered kids toys for their kids meals based on the characters from Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures. I just found the cards that came with three of my favourites, Bat-Bat, Petey Pate and The Cow. I also managed to get the window cling from my local Wendy's that advertised the kids meal toys. Its still stuck on the piece of glass I stuck it to back in 1989.
Here are the fronts and backs of three of the cards that came with the toys.

Fun at the San Diego Comic Con

Its almost time for San Diego Comic-Con again and as every other year, I won't be there. But at least I can comb the internet looking for great Comic-Con photos. Here are two of my favorites from previous years.

Space Ghost makes a landline call to his pal Zorak for a ride home

Peter Parker runs outta web fluid and must resort to alternative travel methods

New Adventures of Gilligan on DVD

Advertising works on me. I finished reading Detective Comics #52 and was putting it away when I noticed the ad on the back page. I believe I may have made some sort of "Ooh" sound as I saw the Warner Archive ad advertiging The New Adventures of Gilligan, the complete series Now on DVD!
I am a huge fan of Gilligan's Island, and remember watching the Groovie Goolies show before school every morning in the 70's and 80's hoping to see an episode of The New Adventures of Gilligan. It may not have been the best cartoon on TV, but I have been waiting for this to come out as an official release for years. Back in the 90's while I was a member of the Gilligan's Island Fan Club, I managed to purchase a few episodes of this animated series that had been transferred from 16 mm film. Then some time around 2000 I purchased a DVD off the Internet that had 16 (of the 24 total) episodes in watchable, but not great condition. It took all of 20 minutes after seeing this ad to have my copy ordered and on its way to my mailbox.
Now I just need them to release the three Gilligan's Island TV movies, and a CD with the music from the TV show (and cartoons) would be great, as the music still fills my head all these years later.

Sunday Funnies with Fitzpatrick The Mac Rat #5

Sunday Funnies with Fitzpatrick The Mac Rat #4

Sunday Funnies with Fitzpatrick The Mac Rat #3

Treasures from the Disney Vault on TCM

On July 2nd, TCM is presenting their 3rd instalment of Treasures from the Disney Vault hosted by Leonard Maltin. Other than the animated cartoons, but I do not think I have seen any of the movies they are presenting, so I look forward to another great night of popcorn and movies.

Sunday Funnies with Fitzpatrick The Mac Rat #2

Sunday Funnies with Fitzpatrick The Mac Rat #1

While cleaning out my office today I found a couple of photocopied cartoons I had on my office wall at work for a few years. The cartoons were of Fitzpatrick the Mac Rat, which was a cartoon rat and this human friend that appeared on the insanely-great.com web site. Fitzpatrick loved to poke fun at Microsoft back in the 90's when Apple was not the powerhouse that it is today. In fact, at the time these came out, I used to hear from people on a regular basis that I should give up my Macintosh because the company was going out of business any day! As a Mac evangelist, I used to love to put up any Apple related propaganda I could, to help the cause.
I went looking for Fitzpatrick the Mac Rat on the internet this afternoon and could find nothing, so I thought I would share these on my blog. Sadly, I can't find the original computer files of these cartoons, only these photocopied ones I had on my walls which I have scanned and turned back into computer files once again. As a kid I loved the Sunday Funnies in the local newspapers, so I thought it would be fun to share one of these each Sunday for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy!

January is reeeally creepin' me out!

The other day when we were out having dinner at a local restaurant, I picked up the newspaper to check out the funnies. Two things stuck out for me. First, I realized that I don't read the newspapers comics much any more, and that about half of the comics in this particular paper I had never seen before. And second, I loved the artwork in the final panel of this Doug Eat Dog cartoon enough that I took that page home with me. And by the way, Doug Eat Dog is one the ones I had never heard of before.

Ohh, the '92 Spearmints are out!

Ohh, the '92 Spearmints are out! I gotta get to a store! This is a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon that I cut out of the newspaper back in '92 and have had up on my wall at work ever since. My wife and I use the expression "Ohh, the '92 Speamints are out!" all the time when somebody is excited about something we think is silly. And I don't know what's so weird about having a subscription to a magazine called Chewing? I had a subscription to Flake magazine, a magazine dedicated to cereal boxes! That's not silly is it?

RIP Cereal Mascots (1932-2011)

Here is a great article from the June 13, 2011 issue of Canadian Business magazine about the death of cereal mascots. On a recent trip to the grocery store, I picked up some great boxes to add to my collection, including Cap N Crunch, Cookie Crisp and Coco Puffs. I have been collecting cereal boxes adorned with cartoon characters for over 20 years now and will surely miss them in my local grocery store cereal isles. [click article to enlarge]

 

Heckle and Jeckle Visit the Farm

Yesterday we visited a few of our local thrift shops and I came home with some really neat stuff including this Wonder Book, Heckle and Jeckle Visit the Farm. The copyright for the book is 1958, but this particular edition is from 1983. I have always been a fan of Heckle and Jeckle and back when I used to still get up early to watch cartoons, I used to get pretty excited when they would toss in a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon in the mix of usual Bugs Bunny, Casper and Popeye cartoons. I can also remember back in the 80's before VCRs became popular, you could actually pay to see cartoons in a little cartoon hut at the mall. Once I got this book, it got me to thinking about those little cartoon huts. I can remember that they had one in the Surrey Place Mall and than when I was working at the A&A Records and Tapes shop, I would use my breaks to run over to the Sears, where they had one such cartoon hut in their stairwell leading out to the parking lot. For just a quarter, you could sit and watch a full length (roughly six minutes) cartoon. I loved it because it only played Terry Toons and your odds of seeing a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon were pretty good.
After a short Google search, I found this guys site where he showed off his very own original Kiddierama Theatre. Be sure to check out his site to see who these things actually worked. Now a days, a quick YouTube search will instantly bring up a whole bunch of Heckle and Jeckle cartoons to view in the comfort of your own home. Pretty amazing to think back and realize how much things have changed in just 30 years.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ronn's Big Pile of Stuff!

Today marks the 3rd birthday of Ronn's Big Pile of Stuff! I've been having tons of fun posting all kinds of stuff that I enjoy, and that hopefully others enjoy as well. And thanks to all those other blogs who have added this page to their links, the extra traffic is great. Don't be shy, use the 'comments' button at the bottom of any post and let me know what you think. And be sure to check out my other two blogs the Disneyland Records Blog and Ronn's Minor League Hockey Mania Blog.
Lastly, a BIG thank you to all the other bloggers whose sites I visit on a regular basis. Thanks for all the entertainment you provide!

Family Circus... What a Mess!

The wife has gone out of town for the weekend and left Kaden and I to look after ourselves... Amazing how much of a mess an old guy and a 4 year old can make in just two days! We've played with our Hot Wheels cars and race track, we've played with just about every superhero action figure ever made, we've played with our vintage set of Lincoln Logs, we've sat around reading piles of comic books, we've watched a ton of cartoons on Teletoon Retro, and now the house looks a lot like the covers of these two old Family Circus books.

Little Golden Book Monday #90

Today's Little Golden Book is a great one from 1959. It's Hanna-Barbera's Ruff and Reddy. I actually do not remember ever seeing these characters on TV as a kid, but as an adult, I have an appreciation for all things Hanna-Barbera. Their cartoons did not always contain the best animation and the characters could be pretty weak at times, but as a kid growing up watching cartoons in the 70's Hanna-Barbera have left a lasting impression on me. I am always pleased to find an old 50's or 60's Little Golden Book in amongst a pile of otherwise lame books. This is one of those great finds... well wroth the 20 cents I paid!
After choosing this particular book for today's post, I remembered that I had also picked up a Dell Comics Ruff and Reddy comic book in a pile of old comics recently. This issue is #981 from April-June 1959. So apparently as well as their cartoon series, they also had their own comic book title. I still don't remember them though!

Little Golden Book Monday #86

Today's Little Golden Book is Pink Panther and Sons: Fun a the Picnic from 1985. I love Pink Panther and I love cartoons, but I don't remember ever seeing this cartoon on TV. I do however remember the "and sons / babies" craze that seemed to sweep though cartoons in the late 80's and early 90's. I do admit to enjoying Muppet Babies and Yo Yogi back in the day. I have even found a few VHS tapes of Yo Yogi episodes I recorded off of TV which I am now sharing with my son who has become somewhat of a Yogi the Bear fan.
As for this particular book, is it just me, or does the Pink Panthers sons kinda look like Care Bears?

Little Golden Book Monday #75

My son and I have been on a real Warner Brothers cartoon kick lately. It's really cool that my 3 year old would rather watch Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck over Diego, the Wiggles and Franklin when given the choice. He has moved on from Treehouse TV to TeleToon Retro, which is great as I love watching the old Warner Brothers cartoons with him!
In honor of our current Warner Brothers mania, today's Little Golden book is Bugs Bunny. I'm not sure of the print date of this edition, but the copyright is 1949. As is often the case, there doesn't seem to be a print date anywhere obvious in this book, but being as there is a UPC code on the front cover, its obvious that is is not an original 1949 edition.
Here is the text from the inside front page of the book: "This Little Golden Book tells of the pranks of Bugs Bunny, the gay Warner Bros. (Who knew?) mischief-maker who has so ofter delighted movie audiences. Bugs has appeared in four other Little Golden Books, Bugs Bunny's Birthday, Bugs Bunny and the Indians, Bugs Bunny at the Fair, and Bugs Bunny Gets a Job."
Pictured below is one of the two page spreads showing the interior artwork.