Super Chicken

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Super Chicken was an animated television series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who earlier had created the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. It ran with George of the Jungle and Tom Slick on ABC-TV on Saturday Mornings from the late-1960s to the early-1970s.

Super Chicken (voiced by Bill Scott) and his lion sidekick Fred would usually begin their adventures with the battlecry that went something like: "Quick, Fred, to the Super Coop."

His secret identity was well-to-do Henry Cabot Henhouse III; Fred acted as his butler/servant, etc. But when danger reared its ugly head, he would take his "Super Sauce" (often from a martini glass) and don his "Super Suit," which consisted of a plumed cavalier's hat, cape, Wellington boots, mask and a sword.

An early pilot featured an all-star comedy cast, including Bill Dana with Don Knotts as the voice of Super Chicken. The project was shelved and eventually recast.

The cartoon had several running gags, including:

The "Super Sauce" apparently either tasted really bad or packed quite a punch when it kicked in, as Henry would have a violent reaction moments after drinking it, nearly always stopping in mid-sentence to cluck loudly as the reaction hit him.
Fred would often ask Super Chicken why he didn't use his "super-vision", to which Super-Chicken would respond with something to the effect of "If I had any supervision, do you think I'd be running around dressed like this?"
In the course of a plan to defeat the bad guys, Super Chicken would suggest something dangerous for Fred's part, which Fred would be reluctant to carry out. When Fred voiced his reluctance, Super Chicken always reminded him, "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!" A later superhero fowl, Darkwing Duck, paid homage to Super Chicken by using the catchphrase in the series pilot. The phrase has also lived on as a common response to complaints in a number of fields such as experimental aviation.

During the January 27th, 2003 episode of Loveline, host Drew Pinsky revealed that as a child he had participated in the test marketing of the show. This followed a rendition of the theme song by guest Emma Caulfield and cohost Adam Carolla. He said "it looked retarded to me", and "I was like eight years old and they marketed that and [...] George of the Jungle and another -- it seemed to me more bizarre -- it's about "time" kind of thing: a guy gets frozen and comes back to life".

[edit] Real Life Super Chicken

A real life 'Super Chicken' has been reported in folk lore tales in pubs and bars around Newcastle-upon-tyne. The chicken often reported to having the head of a monkey and extended legs has been reported in tales of heroism in and around the 'Bigg Market' area. Although some stories tell of fearful acts of vandalism, the Super Chicken it is most widely reported as doing good in the community and helping the older generation with heavy lifting and road crossing.