The Super Globetrotters
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| The Super Globetrotters | |
|---|---|
| Format | Animated |
| Created by | William Hanna and Joseph Barbera |
| Starring | Scatman Crothers (Liquid Man) , Stu Gilliam (Sphere Man), Buster Jones (Spaghetti Man), Adam Wade (Gizmo Man), Johnny Williams (Multi Man), Michael Rye (Announcer), Nancy Wible (Granny) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 30 mins (per episode) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 22, 1979 – December 15, 1979 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Super Globetrotters was an American Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC in 1979. It premiered on September 22, 1979, and ran for 13 episodes.
It is a spin-off series from Hanna-Barbera's Harlem Globetrotters; this show featured the basketball team Harlem Globetrotters as undercover superheroes, who would transform from their regular forms by entering magic portable lockers carried in Globetrotter. Each member of the group had individual super powers and overall, all members of the group could fly.
The Globetrotters received their missions from a basketball-styled talking satellite called the Crimeglobe (voice by Frank Welker). Most episodes culminate in the Super Globetrotters challenging the villain and his henchmen to a basketball game for whatever treasure or device they sought, the civilian Globetrotters being trounced by the villains' super-powers in the first half, and then using their own super-powers (often at the admonition of the Crimeglobe) to save the day in the second half. Meadowlark Lemon, J.C. "Gip" Gipson, Bobby Joe Mason and Pablo Robertson are not in the group (all of which having left the team by this point); Hubert "Geese" Ausbie and Freddie "Curly" Neal are the only remaining members from the 1970 team/cast in the show, with new crew members: Nate Branch, James "Twiggy" Sanders and Louis "Sweet Lou" Dunbar.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] The Super Globetrotters
- Nate Branch as Liquid Man (voiced by Scatman Crothers). Turned himself into water. Also called Fluid Man and even Aquaman.
- Freddie "Curly" Neal as Sphere Man (voiced by Stu Gilliam) - would retract his limbs into his head to bounce, smash, even grow. Naturally, his head looked like a basketball.
- James "Twiggy" Sanders as Spaghetti Man (voiced by Buster Jones) - can use his body like a ladder or a rope.
- Louis "Sweet Lou" Dunbar as Gizmo Man (voiced by Adam Wade) - Lou's giant afro holds an unlimited supply of gadgets.
- Hubert "Geese" Ausbie as Multi Man (voiced by Johnny Williams) - cloning powers.
[edit] The Villains
- Museum Man - a disgruntled history museum janitor who can bring fossils and statues to life.
- Bwana Bob - A hunter who captures and hunts the Globetrotters.
- The Facelift
- Whaleman
- Robo and the Globots - A mad scientist who creates evil robot copies of the Globetrotters.
- Tattoo Man - an alien who can animate the tattoos on his body (similar to an enemy of Green Lantern).
- Movie Man
- The Phantom Cowboy
- The Time Lord - Has a special crystal that can alter time, including summoning anyone out of history to do his bidding.
- Count Bragula and his Transylvania Terrors
- Bullmoose - an extremely bizarre villain who wore fake antlers and was assisted by a gang of livestock-themed henchmen (Ham, Wool Woman, Ponytail, etc.). Had a raygun that turned things to gold.
- Merlo the Magician - not so much a villain, but a wizard who would not help just anyone. He made the Globetrotters play a game against his knights on horseback to earn his trust. After the Globetrotters won, Merlo placed on a spell on the Globetrotters to enable them to return home.
- Attila the Hun
[edit] Episode Listing
| # | Original AirDate | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 22, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Museum Man" (prod. #7902) |
| 2 | September 29, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Bwana Bob" (prod. #7905) |
| 3 | October 6, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. The Facelift" (prod. #7907) |
| 4 | October 13, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Whaleman" (prod. #7901) |
| 5 | October 20, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Robo and the Globots" (prod. #7908) |
| 6 | October 27, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Tattoo Man" (prod. #7903) |
| 7 | November 3, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Movie Man" (prod. #7910) |
| 8 | November 10, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. The Phantom Cowboy" (prod. #7904) |
| 9 | November 17, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. The Time Lord" (prod. #7909) |
| 10 | November 24, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Transylvania Terrors" (prod. #7906) |
| 11 | December 1, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Bullmoose" (prod. #7912) |
| 12 | December 8, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Merlo the Magician" (prod. #7911) |
| 13 | December 15, 1979 | "The Super Globetrotters Vs. Attila the Hun" (prod. #7913) |
[edit] Notes
- Three of the team's super-heroic identities and powers were taken from the characters of the 1966 Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Impossibles. Liquid Man was based on Fluid Man, even retaining the letter "F" insignia of Fluid Man's costume instead of a letter "L"; Spaghetti Man was based on Coil Man; and Multi Man's name was the same in both series. The transformation sequences and many of the Super Globetrotters' moves were also the same as their Impossibles counterparts.
