Space Kidettes/Young Samson (4 Discs)

Sitting back and remembering my child hood on a Saturday…

Added to my Hanna Barbera collection

Grew up watching these cartoons, took me back to my childhood!!

I figured this was one of the latter day Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and was surprised to see it dated from 1966. But when I saw one episode on one of the HB cartoon collections (I think one of the Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s sets, which I've reviewed on Amazon), I wanted to see more. Just look at the art on the box, and you'll see how rich the colors are, how good is the character design, how detailed the backgrounds. Space Kidettes stands out as something special. Why?While some viewers may remember it from the first airing, many more probably caught the show on the USA Cartoon Express, which had a cornucopia of Hanna-Barbera cartoons until Ted Turner bought HB and started Cartoon Network, at which time he pulled them back to his own newly-formed stable, cutting off the richest supply for the USA channel. The decidedly odd pairing of the Space Kidettes with Young Samson is because that's how they were run on Cartoon Express from 1989- 1991.Someone asked why Space Kidettes ran as part of the Go Go Gophers show in 1968, when the Gophers came through Total Television. I don't know exactly, but Space Kidettes was one of the Hanna-Barbera shows released in syndication, which means that instead of being part of a package like The Huckleberry Hound Show or The Quick Draw McGraw show, which tended to run three separate cartoons over a half hour (one main and two supporting), or a half hour single episode show like the Flintstones or The Jetsons, these brief episodes could be shown on any network that wanted them. At the time there were three networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC. Shows were owned by the ad agency, not the networks. But the networks had local affiliates which could show alternate programing.At the time, there were still local live action kids' shows, hosted by clowns, astronauts, sailors, story ladies, princesses, or whatever else the local affiliate could come up with. These live hosts showed cartoons. They desperately wanted to show Hanna-Barbera cartoons, which were the most popular 'toons of the day, but couldn't until the happy day when HB began making single 'toons for syndication. The difference is immediately evident. Both Space Kidettes and Young Samson open and close with the same brief, but well done, animation, rather than a long opening and closing as on Peter Potamus, The Atom Ant Show, afore mentioned Huck or Quick Draw, or, of course, the amazing animation and music that begins and ends The Jetsons or the various years of The Flintstones.How does it hold up now? Judging from the reviews here, kids will love Space Kidettes. I find it a feast for the eyes. The backgrounds are sumptious, the characters well-designed, sort of like Our Gang in space. The plots are extremely simple, and all hinge on the efforts of Captain Spacehook to get the kids' treasure map. This cartoon was made at an extremely restrictive time when, following the assassination of President Kennedy, animators could not show anything that could be imitated by kids at home, which gave many cartoons a stilted look, and made animators rack their brains as to how to show action. The death blow later fell on HB's best action cartoon, Herculoids, which aired the next year, due to efforts by Action for Children's Television (ACT) to curtail violence in kids' cartoons.Space Kidettes got around it in a clever way. In every episode, the captain's sidekick, Static, comes up with an evil scheme, like boiling the kidettes in moon oil. To which the captain replies, "you can't do that to itty bitty kids!" and conks Static on the head, ala Dick Dastardly and Mutley in Whacky Races. The voice actors on this series are dazzling. Janet Waldo, who voiced Judy Jetson, is Jenny, who sounds just like Judy, but who cares? Chris Allen, who voiced Jay Ward's Hoppity Hooper, is Scooter. Lucille Bliss, who voiced Crusader Rabbit, is Snoopy. Plus famous voice artists Don Messick and Daws Butler.How about Young Samson? Several things make this a very likable show. It takes some of the semi-realistic art and settings launched in the art of Doug Widdley in The Adventures of Jonny Quest, which first aired in 1964, and the styling of Alex Toth, evident in Space Ghost. Anything with spaceships and robots is always interesting in Hanna-Barbera, and this show has them in abundance. The story is very odd, with young Samson's dog turning into a lion, but the human Samson is styled in the best Jonny Quest styling, and the superhuman Samson draws from the many H-B superheroes of the time. Whoever voiced Samson did so very well, and the stories are quite well written. I always wish they'd wear helmets on the moon, so the physics would fit the realistic look of the art, but I suppose that's not so jarring on kids.Its sad these Warner Archive sets, being made to order, are so expensive, but this one has twenty episodes on four one-sided discs, and it's quite an enjoyable show.

I recall looking forward to Saturday Morning Cartoons when they were the best. Do You Remember this? Nowadays Saturday Mornings are full of crappy news shows and infomercials! This 4 DVD set is the perfect escape from the meaningless drivel that has detransmuted Saturday morning to a moshpit. The Space Kidettes were paired up with the mighty Samson and Goliath for a half-hour stint on NBC (when they used to be smart until their latest insult on 9/11 of this year). I rememeber Young Samson when I lived in Florida (it was syndicated on WKID channel 51). Even my dad liked it! The Kidettes were always running from Captain Static and his bumbling assistant who gets more socks in the head than a prizefighter, while Young Samson and his dog/lion Goliath puts a whooping on the bad guys! A treasure to be shared with your children and their children to come! (Warner Bros.)

Bought this for my older neighbor as a gift and he really liked it!

Back to the Saturday morning cartoon days!!! DVD as usual...finely made and plays with no issues.

I liked that action packed stories of a young man and his shape changing dog as they travel around the world. Sadly we are not really given information of where he got those bracelets. The usual mix of good sound effects, evocative music and action. What I grew up on.Very nice transfer.Now if they would only release "The Fantastic Four" that Hanna-Barbera did in the middle 1960's.

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Space Kidettes / Young Samson [DVD] Hanna Barbera Classics - Simply The Best!Many Thanks A+10/10Highly Recommended Many Thanks A+10/10

Love old classics great service