Butch Cassidy (TV series)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 8, 1973 to December 1, 1973.[1] The series title is a play on the name of the unrelated 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The character's music group is called the Sun Dance Kids.[2]
| Butch Cassidy | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kids |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Written by | William Raynor Miles Wilder Fred Fox Seaman Jacobs Bernie Kahn Norman Hudis Ed Jurist Sam Roeca Dick Wesson |
| Directed by | Earl Klein Charles A. Nichols |
| Voices of | Lloyd "Chip" Hand II Micky Dolenz Kristina "Tina" Holland Judy Strangis John Stephenson Frank Welker |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Camera setup | Ralph Migliori Jerry Mills Norman Stainback Roy Wade |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
| Distributor | Turner Program Services (1991–96) Warner Bros. Television Distribution (1996–present) |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 8 – December 1, 1973 |
Plot
Similar to both Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and Josie and the Pussycats on CBS, the show depicted the adventures of a teen pop group of the series title.[3] The band consisted of heartthrob Butch Cassidy (lead vocals, lead guitar and lead singing), blonde beauty Merilee (tambourine), sensible Stephanie (usually referred to by her nickname Steffy) (bass guitar), and curly-topped Wally (drums). With Wally's dog, Elvis, the kids led double lives as popular rock stars and a secret crime fighting team working for the government.[4] The teens were advised by a supercomputer named Mr. Socrates who is allergic to dogs. When the group met with Mr. Socrates in his lair for their latest assignment, Elvis was always told to stay outside.
In each episode, however, Elvis would somehow end up inside the lair, either by his own ingenuity or by Wally's forgetfulness; either way, Elvis' mere presence would cause Mr. Socrates to sneeze and go haywire. Mr. Socrates would then send the group out of the lair and off to their assignment. Butch, designated as "Sundance 1", wore a special ring with a hidden communicator in it to keep in contact with Mr. Socrates from afar.
Cast
- Lloyd Nelson "Chip" Hand, Jr. as Butch Cassidy
- Micky Dolenz as Wally
- Kristina Holland as Stephanie "Steffy"
- John Stephenson as Mr. Socrates
- Judy Strangis as Merilee
- Frank Welker as Elvis, Wally's dog
- Cam Clarke as Vocalist
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Scientist" | September 8, 1973 | |
| Butch and the kids must help smuggle a scientist out of a foreign country while dodging a colonel. | |||
| 2 | "The Counterfeiters" | September 15, 1973 | |
| A motorcycling baron in Latvania seems to be the source of counterfeit money, so the kids are sent to investigate. | |||
| 3 | "One of Our Ships Is Missing" | September 22, 1973 | |
| The kids are booked on a cruise ship that has been targeted by boat thieves and their captain. | |||
| 4 | "Double Trouble" | September 29, 1973 | |
|
A young prince has been kidnapped and replaced by a lookalike. The Sun Dance Kids must expose the impostor and catch the kidnappers. Note: This episode mentions a number of real-life artists and songs, including "Woodstock" by Joni Mitchell and "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie. | |||
| 5 | "The Pearl Caper" | October 6, 1973 | |
| The kids go off to Honolulu to locate stolen pearls and the pearl thieves. | |||
| 6 | "The Gold Caper" | October 13, 1973 | |
| London calls as Butch and the kids try to find the mastermind behind a gold smuggling ring. | |||
| 7 | "Road Racers" | October 20, 1973 | |
| The Grand Prix Cross-European race in Venice is the setting for a diamond theft and Butch and the kids are sent to investigate. | |||
| 8 | "Hong Kong Story" | October 27, 1973 | |
| While entertaining their fan club in Hong Kong, the Sun Dance Kids must foil the robbery of a priceless jade statue. | |||
| 9 | "Operation G-Minus" | November 3, 1973 | |
| The kids must recover a stolen anti-gravity device from a toy expo in Munich. | |||
| 10 | "Orient Express" | November 10, 1973 | |
| The kids must deliver an important document to Paris on the Orient Express. To complicate things, Mr. Socrates has been taken over by an enemy agent. | |||
| 11 | "The Parrot Caper" | November 17, 1973 | |
| A parrot who knows an important formula must be delivered to Switzerland. | |||
| 12 | "The Super Sub" | November 24, 1973 | |
| The kids must recover a hijacked experimental super submarine from the Caribbean. | |||
| 13 | "The Haunted Castle" | December 1, 1973 | |
| The kids travel to the British Isles when Wally inherits a castle from a distant relative. However, Wally's castle seems to be haunted. | |||
Other appearances
- Butch Cassidy was also the subject of Issue #11 of Gold Key Comics' Hanna-Barbera Fun-In in 1974; the story, "The Pearl Caper," was adapted from the October 6, 1973 Butch Cassidy TV episode of the same name.
- Characters from Butch Cassidy appeared several times on the Adult Swim animated television series Sealab 2021. The whole band appeared in the episode "All That Jazz" in a long shot at a concert, standing in for MC Chris as Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kids and performing the song "Fett's Vette". In a later episode, "Let 'Em Eat Corn!", the band appears again as inhabitants of SeaLab Pod Six, with both Butch and Wally both sporting mustaches on their faces. Then again, in the episode "Butchslap", the characters appeared alongside Marco, who was revealed to be one of the Sun Dance Kids. The character models for Butch and Wally were also used for the animated likeness of John Miller (the series director) and Adam Reed (one of the series writers) in the episodes, "Swimming in Oblivion" and "Return to Oblivion".
- Four songs from the show were released as singles[5] on Romar Records. An full LP was mentioned on the labels as forthcoming, but was never released.
Home media
On January 15, 2013, Warner Archive released Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[6]
The series is also available at the iTunes Store.[7]
References
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 101. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. p. 165. ISBN 978-0670829781. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- "The Sundance Kids (2)". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
- "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids - 'The Complete Series' DVD is Now Available from Warner". Archived from the original on 2013-01-16.
- "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, The Complete Series". iTunes Store (US). Retrieved March 26, 2019.