Saturday, December 15, 2012

Saturday Morning Cartoons: SPACE STARS (1981)


In 1981, Hanna-Barbara jumped on the post-Star Wars boom by reviving and repackaging their 60s outer space heroes Space Ghost and The Herculoids (mixing both classic episodes and newly-made installments) with two other space-themed cartoons - The Teen Force and Astro (from The Jetsons) & The Space Mutts - for an hour-long programming block called Space Stars.

I really don't remember much about this series - I was getting to the age where I preferred to sleep in on Saturdays, and aside from Thundarr & Blackstar, I wasn't watching many new cartoons then - but I do remember being disappointed that the new Space Ghost shorts featured a re-designed Phantom Cruiser, eschewing the sleek, classic Alex Toth look in favor of something that more closely resembled a Star Wars or Galactica type spaceship.

So pretend it's Saturday morning, September 26, 1981, and enjoy this brief taste of Hanna-Barbara's Space Stars!

4 comments:

  1. I want "sixty laser-blasting minutes of action, adventure, fun!!!"

    Thanks for posting this. Love the cheesy run cycle Space Ghost has in the preview.

    I didn't know about the re-designed Phantom Cruiser. That clip didn't have a great shot of it, so I did a quick Google for it to see how disappointing it was. Didn't find it immediately, but did find this super-cool papercraft version someone made! http://scifiprimepaper.webs.com/scifivehicles.htm

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  2. Loved the Herculoids... watched it religiously for years! Great memories.

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  3. That really looks like it was awful. Space Ghost and Herculoids look much worse than the original versions did. Of course, I think by that time Hanna Barbera was more interested in being economical than...well...good.

    Watching that clip, I was sure that Gary Owens had done the voice of that version of Space Ace, but apparently it was Michael Bell. It sucks to be an aging Star Kid with a fading memory!

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  4. I vaguely remember this show. Funny how "Space Ace" looks like Biggs Darklighter from Star Wars. Ha.

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