|
|
|
About the Class, Class examples |
| Class Media Books and DVDs about comics and superheroes | ||
| Resource page more great Books and DVDs about comics and superheroes that we didn't have time to cover in class. | ||
| The Shmoo page! The frightening facts about goofy characters. |
|
The horror
that is Shmoon
|
|||
| I refer to all goofy characters added to superhero cartoons as 'Shmoo.' I don't know where I first heard that word but I have associated it with the usually blobby/magical characters that throw off otherwise enjoyable cartoon series. Here are some examples of shmoo through the ages: | |||
 |
The Shmoo first appeared in the Li'l Abner comic strip in August 1948. The characters aren't really comic-relief characters crammed into an ongoing series but their appearance has been used over and over again in cartoons so the name Shmoo works well in describing all oddball characters. | ||
 |
The New Shmoo (1979) Hanna Barbera They actually gave this thing his own scooby doo like show, pretty much a carbon copy of Mr. Doo actually without that smokin hot Velma. |
||
 |
Fred and Barney meet the Shmoo (1979) Hanna Barbera Beat those cherished characters into the bedrock. As if Gazoo wasn't bad enough. |
||
 |
The Flintstones 1960-66 (Gazoo years 64-66) The Great Gazoo was thrown into the flinstones to help their slipping
ratings, I don't imagine that this worked as planned. |
||
 |
Herculoids 1967-1969 Hanna-Barbera Gleep and Gloop: Two close relatives of shmoo that live on one messed-up planet. Don Messick did their crazy voices. old-school-shmoo |
||
 |
Space Ghost 1966-67 Hanna-Barbera Blip the masked-monkey-shmoo. Would people recognize him without the mask? |
||
 |
The Fantastic Four 1968 Herbie, The Robot...................... Frank Welker Thing-bating-robot-shmoo You have to hear Herbie talk to really appreciate his shmoo-ness. Someone
had the great idea to replace the human torch with this character. As
if the Thing didn't have enough trouble. |
||
 |
|
||
  |
The Brady Kids cartoon 1972-74 Filmation
Staring Marlon the magical mynha bird (hat-wearing-bird-shmoo) and
Mop Top, the too-cute dog shmoo, both voiced by Larry Storch. Based on the hit series, the Brady Bunch, the series revolved around the adventures of the six Brady children and their animal friends, Mop Top, their dog; Ping and Pong, two pandas who speak a strange, Chinese-based jibberish; and Marlon, a Mynah bird with magic powers. |
||
 |
The Partridge family 2200 A.D. 1974 Hanna-Barbera and Don Messick are guilty yet again of shmoo overload. |
||
  |
|
||
 |
Thundercats 1985 Snarf-shmoo |
||
  |
He-Man 1986-89 Orko the magical... thing-shmoo |
||
 |
the Jetsons 1985-87 Hanna-Barbera Orbity voiced by Frank Welker |
||
