I had turned 8 years old when the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show aired on Saturday mornings right behind the World's Greatest SuperFriends in 1979. Hard to believe that was now 30 years ago. I recall there were four animated shows in this 2 hour variety series.
PLASTIC MAN: I was not aware he was another DC Super Hero until after seeing this show. Like the comics, he still looked like he did in the comics. And it was revealed he used to be a criminal named Eel O Brien. BUT unlike the comics, his origin was not revealed like it was in the comics. Instead of Woozy Winks, he had 2 associates. Beautiful southern belle Penny, who was in love with Plas and always trying to get romantic with him. And Plas was either too dumb to notice or he turned a blind eye. He seemed to have an infatuation with the Chief. A brunette female superior with a strip of grey in her hair. The Chief was a total B*** who apparently hated Plastic Man since she was always nitpicking at him. Replacing Woozy Winks was Hula Hula, a Polynesian known for his "bad luck" but on the plus side, always seemed to have friends and connections wherever they went. I can't remember any of the villains they fought, but I'll never forget Plastic Man swinging on jungle vines on his intro exclaiming "Eat your heart out Ape Man!" MIGHTY MAN AND YUKK: THE WORLD'S UGLIEST DOG: This cartoon was primarily a combination of other influences. Mighty Man was Hanna Barbera's Blue Falcon and DC Comics the Atom rolled into one and voiced over by Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime for Transformers fans) and Yukk, a dog so ugly, he had to cover his face with his doghouse, otherwise, when he lifts his house, total chaos ensued. Yukk is actually Dynomutt turned into a real dog with an ungodly ugly face and Frank Welker used his Dynomutt voice for Yukk. Stupid show but it is funny.
RICKETY ROCKET: Perhaps the worst segment in this Ruby Spears series. Rickety Rocket is a combination of Speed Buggy & Fat Albert. Four black teenagers (Cosmo, Venus, Splashdown, and Sunstroke) in a future time run a detective agency assemble a pile of junk and it becomes Rickety Rocket. I don't remember the stories, but I recall it was total crap and it was later dropped from the airwaves during mid season. No doubt this cartoon offended somebody. "RICKETY ROCKET! BLAST OFF!" FANGFACE & FANGPUSS: Fangface ran as a solo series the year before in 1978, and in 1979, the cartoon ran as part of this series, BUT it suffered from the very same problem that Scooby Doo did that year. The Cousin Oliver syndrome (the unnecessary addition of a new character). While Scooby Doo and the Gang were joined by Scrappy Doo, Fangface and his friends Biff, Kim, and Pugsy were now joined by Fangface's little cousin, a baby who became Fangpuss. Very bad move to an otherwise, enjoyable cartoon.
Plastic Man's second season also suffered from this syndrome. 1980 saw the series become The Plastic Man/Baby Plas Super Comedy Show. In that show, Plastic Man finally married Penny and they had an elastic baby named Baby Plas, who not only had his own adventures, but also with his parents in segments called the Plastic Family. Funny how after they introduce characters like Baby Plas and Fangpuss, that these shows were gone the years afterward.
On its 30th anniversary, Plastic Man is coming to DVD. And it only contains his season one adventures and a couple of season 2 episodes. No Baby Plas or Plastic Family, and none of the other cartoons. Just Plas, Penny, and Bad Luck Hula. It's supposed to be on DVD in late October.
Altogether, the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show is fun and has great memories, but it also has disappointing factors as well. I give it an average rating.
PLASTIC MAN: I was not aware he was another DC Super Hero until after seeing this show. Like the comics, he still looked like he did in the comics. And it was revealed he used to be a criminal named Eel O Brien. BUT unlike the comics, his origin was not revealed like it was in the comics. Instead of Woozy Winks, he had 2 associates. Beautiful southern belle Penny, who was in love with Plas and always trying to get romantic with him. And Plas was either too dumb to notice or he turned a blind eye. He seemed to have an infatuation with the Chief. A brunette female superior with a strip of grey in her hair. The Chief was a total B*** who apparently hated Plastic Man since she was always nitpicking at him. Replacing Woozy Winks was Hula Hula, a Polynesian known for his "bad luck" but on the plus side, always seemed to have friends and connections wherever they went. I can't remember any of the villains they fought, but I'll never forget Plastic Man swinging on jungle vines on his intro exclaiming "Eat your heart out Ape Man!" MIGHTY MAN AND YUKK: THE WORLD'S UGLIEST DOG: This cartoon was primarily a combination of other influences. Mighty Man was Hanna Barbera's Blue Falcon and DC Comics the Atom rolled into one and voiced over by Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime for Transformers fans) and Yukk, a dog so ugly, he had to cover his face with his doghouse, otherwise, when he lifts his house, total chaos ensued. Yukk is actually Dynomutt turned into a real dog with an ungodly ugly face and Frank Welker used his Dynomutt voice for Yukk. Stupid show but it is funny.
RICKETY ROCKET: Perhaps the worst segment in this Ruby Spears series. Rickety Rocket is a combination of Speed Buggy & Fat Albert. Four black teenagers (Cosmo, Venus, Splashdown, and Sunstroke) in a future time run a detective agency assemble a pile of junk and it becomes Rickety Rocket. I don't remember the stories, but I recall it was total crap and it was later dropped from the airwaves during mid season. No doubt this cartoon offended somebody. "RICKETY ROCKET! BLAST OFF!" FANGFACE & FANGPUSS: Fangface ran as a solo series the year before in 1978, and in 1979, the cartoon ran as part of this series, BUT it suffered from the very same problem that Scooby Doo did that year. The Cousin Oliver syndrome (the unnecessary addition of a new character). While Scooby Doo and the Gang were joined by Scrappy Doo, Fangface and his friends Biff, Kim, and Pugsy were now joined by Fangface's little cousin, a baby who became Fangpuss. Very bad move to an otherwise, enjoyable cartoon.
Plastic Man's second season also suffered from this syndrome. 1980 saw the series become The Plastic Man/Baby Plas Super Comedy Show. In that show, Plastic Man finally married Penny and they had an elastic baby named Baby Plas, who not only had his own adventures, but also with his parents in segments called the Plastic Family. Funny how after they introduce characters like Baby Plas and Fangpuss, that these shows were gone the years afterward.
On its 30th anniversary, Plastic Man is coming to DVD. And it only contains his season one adventures and a couple of season 2 episodes. No Baby Plas or Plastic Family, and none of the other cartoons. Just Plas, Penny, and Bad Luck Hula. It's supposed to be on DVD in late October.
Altogether, the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show is fun and has great memories, but it also has disappointing factors as well. I give it an average rating.
