Yearning for simpler times? Pour yourself a big bowl of sugary cereal (preferably while you're still wearing your pajamas), then plop yourself in front of the TV and let yourself be transported to a time when Saturday morning meant cartoon time. The smooth-talking
Top Cat opens this 33-cartoon, 1960's compilation with the classic episode in which Top Cat becomes the beneficiary of a one million dollar donation, but unknowingly tears up the check. Fred Flintstone goes through the roof when Wilma takes a job outside the home in
The Flintstones: The Happy Household--who remembers that that Wilma actually sang in that episode?
The Porky Pig Show showcases episodes "Often an Orphan" with Charlie the dog, "Mice Follies," and private eye Daffy Duck in "Super Snooper." The clueless hero
Quick Draw McGraw, his alter-ego El Kabong, and his Mexican burro sidekick Baba Looey save the West from an assortment of villains despite a multitude of gunshots to the face and there are also episodes featuring their friends Snooper and Blabber, and Augie Doggie. The futuristic
Jetsons acquire a new robot maid named Rosey,
Marine Boy saves the world,
The Impossibles foil the evil Spinner, and
McGilla Gorilla gets adopted and learns a thing or two about playing football. Also included are classic episodes of
Atom Ant,
Secret Squirrel,
Winsome Witch,
Precious Pup,
The Peter Potamus Show,
Hillbilly Bears, and
Squiddly Diddly. While these cartoons are great fun for the adult set, it's interesting that what was considered kids' entertainment in the 1960's is now deemed unsuitable for children due to things like excessive cartoon violence, dishonesty, animal cruelty, and sexist and chauvinistic behavior. Bonus features include previews of each disc (little more than plot summaries), additional
Quick Draw McGraw and
Augie Doggie episodes, and three interesting featurettes with animators and producers about how Hanna-Barbera pioneered made-for-television cartoons as a response to the decline of theatrical cartoons; the rise of superheroes, action, and fantasy in cartoons sparked in part by the art of Alex Toth in
The Herculoids; and the influence of pop culture on cartoons as exemplified by
The Impossibles.
--Tami Horiuchi