Customer Reviews

Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 1

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I give this five stars, as I believe this is the best way to see some of these 1970's shows. Most of these have not yet been released on DVD, and to be honest: one episode is enought in some cases.
Those that have been previously released on DVD are worth the entire sets.
1962's THE JETSONS feels out of place here, but it was still in network re-runs on Saturday Mornings. However I wish another 1970's show would have bene included. As this is "volume 1" I am sure the missing shows will see their way to DVD.

These were all produced by Hanna-Barbera.

Disc #1
THE JETSONS - The Space Car (also on season 1 DVD set)
THE BATMAN TARZAN ADVENTURE HOUR
HONG KONG PHOONEY (also on complete series DVD set)
GOOBER AND THE GHOST CHASERS
SPEED BUGGY
WHEELIE AND THE CHOPPER BUNCH

Disc #2
YOGI'S GANG
AMAZING CHAN AND THE CHAN CLAN
ROMAN HOLIDAYS
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (also on season 1 DVD set)
THE NEW SCOOBY DOO MOVIES (also on a Best-Of DVD set)
FUNKY PHANTOM

Bonus Documentaries on THE FUNKY PHANTOM, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS and THE CHAN CLAN.

As a kid, I devoured all the Saturday Morning TV in the '70s I could take. Now as an adult, I'm amazed by the fact that a 70's Cartoon collection like this even exists so let's start off with the positive.

This is a great sample of pop culture history. Remember, no home video market in the '70's so the best chance to see the new comedy or adventure animated fare were only on Saturdays. It was an weekly event for kids and a boon for animation houses like Hanna-Barbera and Filmation to name a few. I was very pleased to see some long forgotten favorites such as Filmation's Tarzan and HB's Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch (an early precursor to Pixar's 'Cars'). Speed Buggy is another fun show represented I can't believe isn't on its own series DVD set yet. Of course other classics are represented here as well like The JETSONS and SCOOBY-DOO although the episodes here have already been released on other series DVD sets.

Which leads to where I think this set falls short. Too many episodes here that are already on other Hanna-Barbera series DVD sets. There is already a Scooby-Doo Movies set featuring every episode guest-staring the Harlem Globetrotters. Why not feature an episode from that series not currently on that set? There are plenty of them still missing to select from. And by the way, the opening for the Scooby-Doo Movies has been edited. The scene of the robot cowboy gunfire or other "violent" acts have been removed. I really hate the PC-ification of animation history. Questioning other episode selection choices, why run a Josie & the Pussycats episode already on their DVD set when a better choice would have been Josie & the Pussycats in Outer Space, which isn't out there yet?

And boy the mix of series selected here really don't do the Hanna-Barbera legacy any favors. When you can watch all the shows here in a row you really come to realize how sloppy and lazy the studio became as the years went by. Most of the series here became cookie-cutter clones of the Scooby-Doo model. Even admitted to by some of the creators featured in the Docs on this set. Teen-age kids and their talking pet (or car, or whatever) solving mysteries. When you've seen one, you've seen them all and the animation gets worse and worse as time goes by. Shows like The Funky Phantom and Goober & the Ghost Chasers are dreadful in every way. These are the bottom of the HB barrel in character design, story and animation and it's no wonder why these shows don't have their own dvd sets. As an animation history buff, it's almost disheartening to see right before your eyes how fast HB declines from its hey-day of Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons even the earliest Scooby-Doo shows into some of the most forgettable '70s cartoon series ever.

And the worst show on this set? Hands, down, The Roman Holidays. A cheap (and I mean cheaply produced!) attempt to clone the Flintstones model. Awful in every conceivable way.

Buyers should also know some of the quality of various shows on this disk are not as great as one would come to expect. A fact that is properly called out on the disks before you even get to the main menu. Obviously some of the original footage from the animation vaults was in rough shape. Tarzan and The Funky Phantom are prime examples. Which is disappointing because of all of the shows here deserving of its own DVD collection, it's Tarzan. For Filmation, one of its finest examples from its library. For those of you at the WB reading these reviews on these sets, I would still take a low quality DVD set of the Tarzan series any day over most of the other shows represented here.

At best, this disk a trippy reflection of a transitional time in animation history. Especially for the Hanna-Barbera studio. An interesting experiment for Warner Bros. I hope they try again. Only this time, here's hoping they think longer and harder about what will go into a volume two for this series.

I wanted my grandchildren to experience an era where cartoons were fun to watch so I bought the Saturday Morning Cartoons:1970s Vol I. for them to watch the cartoons their parents watched when they were growing up. They were a hit!

I'm never too old to watch cartoons especially when I can find the ones I enjoyed in my younger days (like 20s.) I was glad to add this volune to my gowing collection and am looking forward additional volumns. I still remember when Scooby-Doo first appeared on the Saturday morning cartoons. I especially enjoyed watching the ones that were now shown in Alaska.

I loved the 1970s, the cartoons were great for the time. Kids today can't understand how great cartoons use to be. I let my students watch just one show and the laughed all the way through it. I showed this program to my weekend students that I tutor...after we complet our lessons.

This is the second review of the new Saturday Morning Cartoon collections just released from Warner Bros. This two disc set covers many of the great cartoons of the 1970s. Saturday morning cartoons truly began to grow up in this decade and the shows were very different than those of the 1960s. First off, while most of the 60s shows would run three or four toons during the hour, in the 70s many shows ran just one episode for the entire 30 minute slot. This was confirmation that kids were becoming more sophisticated. They wanted meatier plots and fewer funny animals. The 70s toons were incredibly diversified...there was action, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, musical, mystery, and super hero toons, everything under the sun, frankly.

One toon dominated the decade and became a tremendous incluence and that was "Scooby Doo, Where are You?" Actually debuting in 1969 the adventures of Scooby and the gang were on throughout the 1970s in various incarnations. The tremendous popularity of the Scooby Gang would spawn numerous mystery solving copycat cartoons, largely produced by the Hanna-Barbera studio who created Scooby in the first place.

Goober and the Ghost Chasers was perhaps the most blatant Scooby rip-off. A group of teens and their dog Goober travel about solving ghostly mysteries. Goober, the weird hound dog had the ability to turn invisible when he became frightened. The very first episode "Assignment: The Ahab Apparition" is included and guest stars the Partridge Family with the real voices of Danny Bonaduce and Susan Dey.

Master Asian detective Charlie Chan came to animation in the form of The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. The series focused on Chan's many children who solved crimes and also had their own rock band...a common plot device in 60s and 70s cartoons. Charlie Chan was voiced by Key Luke who played Chan's son in some of the old movies of the 1940s and also starred in the TV series "Kung Fu" as Master Po. Here's a bit of trivia...several of the episodes were written by Jamie Farr of M.A.S.H. fame and the Fonz himself, Henry Winkler.

Another Scooby Clone, The Funky Phantom, featured a group of mystery-solving teens who were aided by A Revolutionary War spirit and his cat "Boo". The ghost was voiced by Daws Butler, one of the greatest voice actors ever. Butler was also the voice of Yogi Bear, Quickdraw McGraw, and Huckleberry Hound. One of the teens was voiced by Monkees drummer Mickey Dolenz.

The Scooby Cartoon featured here is from "The New Scooby New Movies" which had a different guest star each week. This one featured the Harlem Globetrotters in "The Ghostly Creep from the Deep".

BUT...the disc isn't all mystery solving...The Batman/Tarzan hour gives us "The Pest" as Batman and Robin track down the Joker. Adam West and Burt Ward reprised their roles from the 1960s live action Batman TV show. And of course there is the "number one super-guy" Hong Kong Phooey also battling crime in "Car Thieves" and "Zoo Story". Other toons star Speed Buggy, Josie and the Pussy Cats, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, and Roman Holidays.

This set is not nearly as diversified as the 1960s set. There's too much of the mystery shows and not enough of the Sci-Fi/Adventure/Fantasy shows included. Where is Sealab 2020 or the Godzilla Power Hour? Where is the Robonic Stooges and Addams Family? These were all Hanna-Barbera shows. Hopefully these will show up in future sets. Like the 1960s set, the quality is overall quite good. This one loses just a few points for giving us a bit too much of the Scooby clone shows.

I can't say how excited I was to have this DVD. It is the best selection of 70's cartoons that I could think of. Sure, there were a few left out like JabberJaw & Fat Albert (don't know the copyrights for that one though). The Tom & Jerry Show would have been so welcome here as well (I know it is in volume 2). But first of all, this has Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle. Far and away one the best Saturday Morning Cartoons that I grew up watching. Wish there was a complete series for sale. But to also have Speed Buggy, Josie & the Pussycats, Funky Phantom, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, Hong Knog Phooey, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, New Adventures of Batman, and Charlie Chan & the Chan Clan here is really awesome. All very cool shows that I enjoyed watching growing up in the 70's. This disc set is by far my favorite of the Saturday Morning Cartoon releases.

I purchased all 4 DVD's and I am very pleased. It has been a long time coming for some of the lesser known HB classics to have their day in the sun. To be honest, I thought many of these cartoons would never see a release. There is enough Flintstones, Jetsons, Yogi, etc. to choke a moose. In my opinion, it is great to see these lesser known characters regardless of plot, writing, character appeal etc. Let us not forget, these shows did not have the budget and personnel the aforementioned bigger titles were afforded. Also, owning an official release DVD is much better than the only previous option-low picture quality home recorded DVD's on the auction sites. Grab this before it is too late. I don't think you'll see these released again any time soon.

My grandsons love these cartoons. They are what cartoons used to be, funny and silly!

Very entertaining. I really loved The Jetsons cartoons. Nice throwback to when I was a kid in the '70's. The cartoon quality was also very nice.