Friday, January 17, 2014

The Robonic Stooges / The Skatebirds

The Robonic Stooges was a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series featuring the characters of The Three Stooges in new roles as clumsy crime-fighting bionic superheroes. It was developed by Norman Maurer and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 10, 1977 to March 18, 1978 on CBS and contained two segments, The Robonic Stooges and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives. The Robonic Stooges originally aired as a segment on The Skatebirds from September 10, 1977 to December 24, 1977 on CBS. When CBS canceled The Skatebirds in early 1978, the trio was given their own half-hour timeslot which ran for 16 episodes. Moe, Larry, and Curly are superheroes who fight crime with their special bionical powers and are given assignments via film projector from their frustrated boss Agent 000 (pronounced "Oh-Oh-Oh!") who runs the Superhero Employment Agency.

The Skatebirds is a 60-minute show on CBS Saturday mornings from 1977-78, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The Skatebirds lasted only a half-season in its original run from September 10, 1977 to January 28, 1978. The show featured four short segments hosted by live-action wraparounds featuring the three large birds played by actors in their costumes. Similar to Hanna-Barbera's successful The Banana Splits, it's a live-action and animation show with animal costumes. The Skatebirds, so-called because the roller skated were named Satchel the Pelican, Knock-Knock the Woodpecker, and Scooter the Penguin. Their nemesis was Scat-Cat.

The Robonic Stooges features the voices of Paul Winchell as Moe. Joe Baker as Larry. Frank Welker as Curly. And Ross Martin Agent 000. Followed by The Skatebirds with the voices of Scatman Crothers as Scat-Cat. Bob Holt as Satchel. Don Messick as Scooter. And Lennie Weinrib as Knock-Knock.


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