Welcome back, for another peek inside my mind. This month's
column springs from a conversation I had with a friend at
the Dallas Comic & Toy Fest, this weekend. That's
for any who are interested, though it's "past-tense" now. I had a good time
chatting with the people there, and got to sell a few
sketches, which is always good. If any of you have found
this column by way of the Hotfish Studios site, stick around
and have a look through the archives.
Back to work...
I missed out on the first run of Space Ghost, in the
mid-60s, can't imagine why, since I spent every moment of
Saturday mornings watching cartoons. My discovery of Space
Ghost dates from the repeats of old episodes on Saturday
mornings, in the late 70s. It was, well, love at first
sight. I enjoyed the simple heroism, the weird villains, the
goofy kids and, sometimes, even that annoying little monkey,
Blip.
Produced by Hanna-Barbera, from designs by Alex Toth, the
stories followed a formula that would stay with
Hanna-Barbera Animation for the next two decades. Usually,
it involved the kids, young teens, Jan and Jace (no last
names) and/or their pet space monkey, Blip getting lost or
otherwise stumbling into some sort of danger, from which
Space Ghost would have to rescue them. The main gimmick used
by these heroes was Space Ghost's patented "inviso-power".
Space Ghost himself, used a pair of "power-bands", red arm
bands with three yellow buttons, each, which activated
several different powers, when pressed. Force blasts,
shields, heat rays, cold rays, you name it, Space Ghost
could probably make it work. Space Ghost also had one of the
most distinctive voices in cartoons, voiced by none other
than Gary Owens, one of the truly great voice talents in the
history of cartoons.
Now, knowing why I usually drag characters into my
operating room, I'm sure you're screaming, "Nooooooooo!" at
the idea of me doing a make-over on the Specter of the
Spaceways. Worry not. Space Ghost is just about as close to
perfect as he could get. No, I only intend to do a little
work on the kids' outfits, and their dreadful little "Space
Coup". Unfortunately, I couldn't even find reference for the
goofy little ship, but it was bad, trust me on this.
No drastic changes, here, except "maturing" the kids, a bit
and giving them more individual styles. Also adding
sidearms, so that when they get into trouble, Space Ghost
doesn't have to drop everything to pull their butts out of
the fire. Also, I figure it's time they got his back, in a
fight, as well. About time they started earning their keep!
