Rocket Robin Hood

Rocket Robin Hood is a Canadian animated television series, placing the characters and conflicts of the classic Robin Hood legend in a futuristic, outer space setting.[2] It was produced by Krantz Films, Inc. and aired on CBC Television from 1966 to 1969.[1]

Rocket Robin Hood
Opening title
Genre
Written byRalph Bakshi
Voices of
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes52
Production
ProducerAl Guest
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original networkCBC
Picture formatColour
Original release9 October 1966 (1966-10-09)[1]

Summary

Rocket Robin Hood leads his "Merry Men"—including the strong, dimwitted and likeable Little John; consummate overeater Friar Tuck (who designs all of the Merry Men's weaponry); his two-fisted, red-headed cousin Will Scarlet; Robin's plucky girlfriend Maid Marian; his sharp-witted right-hand man Alan-a-Dale; scrawny and feisty camp cook Giles (a reformed crook and Gabby Hayes-type); and other characters from the classic story of Robin Hood.[3] They live in "the astonishing year 3000" on New Sherwood Forest Asteroid and are determined to foil the despotic plans of Prince John and his bumbling lackey, the Sheriff of N.O.T.T. (National Outer-space Terrestrial Territories) and other villains such as Dr. Medulla, Manta, Nocturne and the Warlord of Saturn. Rocket Robin Hood and his people fly in spaceships and use weapons such as "electro-quarterstaffs".[4]

Each 22-minute episode is divided into three segments, with cliffhangers between the first and second part and the second and third part. All episodes also feature short vignettes of the various characters.

A male chorus sang the opening and closing themes for each of the three seasons in the style of traditional old English ballads.

Voice cast

Background

Rocket Robin Hood was animated and voiced by Trillium Productions, an animation studio that was part of the Guest Group—a creative group of companies owned by producer Al Guest. One of the key animators was Jean Mathieson, one of the first female animators, who later formed Rainbow Animation in Canada and Magic Shadows Inc in the U.S. with Guest, where they continued to produce animated TV programming.

Background designer Richard H. Thomas joined the group late in the second season and brought a dark, almost psychedelic feel to the production under Associate Producer for Krantz Films Ralph Bakshi, who would later become a well known animation producer and would be responsible for, among other series, the animated film versions of Fritz the Cat and The Lord of the Rings. Third-season episodes were animated at Ralph's Spot in New York City, although voices continued to be recorded in Toronto. One of the show's chief designers during this time was science fiction illustrator/comic book artist Gray Morrow.

Bernard Cowan was the show's narrator. Paul Kligman, who voiced J. Jonah Jameson in the 1960s animated version of Spider-Man, was the voice of Friar Tuck. Len Birman, who appeared in the movies Silver Streak (1976) and Bayo (1985), was the voice of Rocket Robin Hood. Len Carlson subbed for Birman as Rocket Robin Hood in some third season episodes. Carl Banas was the voice of Titanor / Dr. Manta. Ed McNamara provided the voice of Little John. Chris Wiggins was the voice of Will Scarlet.

There was also a French version titled Robin Fusée, broadcast on French-language television in Canada.

Episodes

Pilot
Episode
Rocket Robin Hood, The Spoore of Doom

Season 1
Episode
Prince of Plotters, Warfare Space - Ski Style, How Merry Can You Get
The Time Machine, Ye Old Robinhood, There is No Time Like the Future
Robin versus the Robot Knight, Robin Fights Back, Space Champion
The Mystery of the Crown Jewels, Robin Caged, Marvelo Takes A Fall
Warlord of Saturn, Breath of Fresh Danger, Play with Fire and You Get Burned
Safari, Tricked Trap, Tripped Trap
Wily Giles, Double Dealing Giles, Same Old Giles
Jesse James Rides Again, The Slowest Gun In The Universe, The Big Heist
Giles the Great, A Meal Fit for a Tyrant, The Impossible Goal
City Beneath the Seas, Whirlaround the Whirlpool, Deep Sea Danger
Don Cayote McPherson, The Zap Trap, The Last Laugh
Michael Shawn the Leprechaun; The Wizard O'Day; Oxite, Oxite, Who's Got The Oxite?
Little Little John, The Paralyzing Meteor, Unshrunk
The Marmaduke Caper, Bubble Trouble, Instant Hero
Follow the Leader, The Spaceman Who Came to Dinner, Never Trust Your Uncle
Cleopatra Meets Little John, Dinosaur Go Home, The Best Trick of All
Little George, The Deadly Invasion, The Secret Weapon
The Magic Medallion of Morse, The Sherriff Cooks Up a Wicked Plot, Shooting The Works
The Awful Truce, Cross and Double Cross, Fleet of Phantoms
The Sad, Sad Sheriff of N.O.T.T.; The Great Jewel Robbery; Our Sheriff the Hero
Don't Make a Sound, The Beast Who Came to Dinner, Barking Beasts Don't Bite
Goritang; Monkey Business on the Planet Lucifer; Watch Out, Here Comes the Bride
The Orbiting Salesman, You Gotta Know the Territory, The First Astral Horse Trade
Marlin, the Magician; Who Do Voo Doo?; This Trick Will Kill You

Season 2
Episode
Dr. Mortula, The Strange Castle, Bring On the Sun
The Space Wolf, Captives in Space, Partners on the Loose
Dr. Magnet, Magnetic Meteors, The Great Gold Robbery
The Manta Menace, Welcome to my Parlor, The Walls Come Tumbling Down
Young Mr. Ulysses, The Death Traps, The Man Who Turned to Stone
The Incredible Gem of Cosmo Khan, Planet - Planet - Who's Got the Planet?, Escape from Xanador
Who'll Kill Rocket Robin?, The Tomb of Ice, The Finger of Death
Genius in a Bottle, Three to Make Ready, Terror of the Machines
The Tree Kingdom of Caldomar, The Sword of Destruction, Caldomar Ablaze
Catch a Comet By the Tail, Good King Rocket Robinhood, The Celestial Joy Ride
The Emperor Jimmy, The Making of An Emperor, Diamonds Are Prince John's Worst Friend
The Eternal Planet of Romarama, And In This Corner, Say Ahhh...Or Hot Tonsils

Season 3
Episode
The Dark Galaxy, Desert Demons, Mummies Revolt
Space Giant, Gigantic Doom, The Black Cloud of Doom
The Haunted Asteroid, Astro City of the Dead, Cosmic Secret of Korgor
The Plot to Destroy N.O.T.T., The Saturnian Dungeon, Runaway Rocket
The Solar Sphinx, Escape From the Pyramid, The Tumbling of Tut
Lord of the Underworld, Revenge of the Underworld, One Minute to Doom
The Ghost Pirates, Escape to Caribia, The Ghost Comes to Life
Dementia Five, Robin's Precious Cargo, Escape Into Reality
Lord of the Shadows, Blackout, Who's Who
The Living Planet, And Into the Fire, The Electric Circle
From Menace to Menace; Manta Asteroid; Gargoyles, Gators and Gorillas
Planet of Dreams, To Stay Awake, The Darkest Hour
Slaves of Medulla, Subterranean Captives, The Tables Turn
Jaws of Steel, Mummy's Host, The Solar Sphinx
The Storm Makers, Into the Eye, The Planet Storms
Return Trip, The Beetle's Claw, Ride of Death

Broadcast

This is a partial, but not strictly accurate, list of stations in the United States that broadcast Rocket Robin Hood in the late 1960s and/or in the 1970s. Alphabetized by city, they are:

In Canada, the show aired on Toronto's CITY-TV in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as CHEX-TV in Peterborough and on CJOH-TV in the Ottawa area.

In South Korea, the show was retitled 로빈후드의 모험 or 로빈후드, it aired every Monday at 6:35 PM to 7:15 PM (KST) on KBS from November 30, 1970 to September 20, 1971.[5]

In Japan, the series was dubbed by Transglobal[6] and it aired on Fuji TV and other FNS stations from May 1, 1971[7][8] to circa 1972.[9] The series was last aired on Nippon TV[10] via おーい!まんがだヨー block in circa 1973.

In Hong Kong and Macau, the show aired on Rediffusion Television titled 太空羅賓漢,[11] it aired from December 3, 1979 to December 28, 1979. Later, the show was reaired from December 28, 1980 to January 17, 1982 on the same network.

Currently, the series airs on the RetroTV digital subchannel network in the United States.[12]

DVD release

E1 Entertainment released Volume 1, which contains almost all of season 1, in November 2009 as a four-DVD set (English and French versions, 592 minutes). E1 stated that the episode "Safari" was not included due to unavailable footage.

Volume 2, which encompasses all of seasons 2 and 3, was released in May 2010 also as a four-DVD set (English and French versions, 714 minutes). The French versions of these DVD collections are available separately as Robin fusée.

References
  1. Eury, Michael (2017). Hero-A-Go-Go: Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters, & Culture of the Swinging Sixties. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-60549-073-1. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  2. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 675. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. Markstein, Don. "Rocket Robin Hood". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  4. Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. p. 239. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  5. "로빈후드의 모험 / 로빈후드 (KBS 1970년)". Naver. 2013-03-05. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  6. "ロケット・ロビンフッド 日本語版歌詞". My First JUGEM. 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  7. "ロケット・ロビンフッド('71) Rocket Robin Hood('67米)". Kanemoto.mydns.jp. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  8. Karasawa, Shun'ichi (2007-08-03). "とうもろこしに乗る". Tobunken. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  9. "研究「600万ドルの男」-研究結果16". Home.t01.itscom.net. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  10. "ロケットロビンフッド". 国内・海外テレビデーターベース. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  11. Ip, Kevin. "亞洲電視本港台". Hong Kong Animation Information Website. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  12. https://s3.amazonaws.com/luken-retrotv-pdf-schedules/Q4-2017/RTV-National-Pacific.pdf
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