Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles

Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles
Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles title card.
Format	Animated
Created by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Starring	Ted Cassidy Dick Beals Don Messick Hal Smith Paul Frees John Stephenson
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	18
Production
Producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Running time	approx. 0:30 (per episode)
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 10, 1966 – September 7, 1968

Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles was an American Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1966. It premiered on September 10, 1966, and ran for two seasons.

1 Overview
2 Adaptations
3 Episodes
4 DVD release
5 References
6 External links

Overview

The program contained two segments, which each served as a middle ground between Hanna-Barbera's traditional cartoon early output and its superhero-based late-1960s cartoons.

Frankenstein, Jr.: Taking place in Civic City, boy scientist Buzz Conroy (voiced by Dick Beals) and his father Professor Conroy (voiced by John Stephenson) fight supervillains with the aid of a powerful heroic robot named "Frankenstein Jr." (voiced by Ted Cassidy). "Frankie", as Buzz usually referred to him, was more than a little reminiscent of the title character in Gigantor; Buzz built "Frankie" and activated him through an energy ring.

The Impossibles: The title characters are a trio of superheroes (Multi Man, Fluid Man, and Coil Man) who pose undercover as a Beatlesesque rock music band. The characters' names are descriptive of their powers: Multi-Man (voiced by Don Messick) can create identical copies of himself; Coil-Man (voiced by Hal Smith) can form into a super-springy coil; and Fluid-Man (voiced by Paul Frees) can transform his body into any fluid. The heroes receive assignments from "Big D" (also voiced by Frees), who contacts them via a receiver in the base of Coil-Man's left-handed guitar. During the development of the show, this group was called "The Incredibles," but was changed to "The Impossibles" by the time of production. The former's team name was instead given to the superhero family from the Disney/Pixar movie of the same name.

The show was the target of complaints about violence in children's television, and was canceled in 1968. The Frankenstein, Jr. segments were later recycled in the 1976 series Space Ghost and Frankenstein, Jr., which aired on NBC from November 27, 1976 until September 3, 1977, replacing the canceled Big John, Little John.

Adaptations

A single issue of a "Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles" comic was released by Gold Key Comics in 1966 as a tie-in to the TV series, and the contents were reprinted in "The Impossibles Annual" by Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd, UK in 1968. The two "Frankenstein Jr." comic stories were titled "The Image Invasion" and "Frankenstein Jr. Meets the Flea Man". A new text-based story, specially written for the annual, was "A Spook in his Wheel". The character reappeared in the comic Hanna-Barbera Presents #8 published by Archie Comics in 1996.

The Impossibles' heroic identities were re-used for a later Hanna-Barbara production, The Super Globetrotters (which also featured a similar concept—in this case, the famous Harlem Globetrotters as undercover superheroes):

Nate Branch's heroic identity was alternately known as "Fluid Man" or "Liquid Man", with powers (and a flippered costume) similar to the Impossibles' Fluid-Man.
"Twiggy" Sanders became "Spaghetti Man", with coiling and stretching abilities similar to Coil-Man.
"Geese" Ausbie as "Multi Man" had virtually identical powers as his Impossibles counterpart and a similar costume.

Episodes

#	Title	Summary
1	The Shocking Electrical Monster	Dr. Shock uses his Master Mix Monster Machine to turn his assistant Igor into an electricity-absorbing monster.
2	The Spyder Man	Professor Conroy and Buzz unveil the blueprints for the Spy Detector XK-00-7 at a Maximum Security Building. Unfortunately, the blueprints are targeted by Spyder Man.
3	Menace from the Wax Museum	Upon an encounter with Buzz at the wax museum, Mr. Menace uses his monsters Gadzonka, Gorillis, and Cyclaws in an attack upon San Francisco.
4	Alien Brain from Outer Space	A giant alien brain arrives on Earth and captures Buzz and Professor Conroy.
5	The Unknown Shock
6	UFO: Unidentified Fiendish Object	The alien Zargon unleashes his warrior Destructo in his plans to conquer Earth.
7	Unearthly Plant Creatures	Plant Man thaws the last three prehistoric plant creatures (Carnivorous Chewer, Creeping Crusher, and Fire-Breathing Snapdragon) from a glacier and then sprays them with his Obedience Ray in a plot to eliminate Buzz and Frankenstein Jr.
8	Deadly Living Images	The Mad Inventor has invented the Double Identity Duplicator Projector to make copies of whatever pictures he inserts in it.
9	Colossal Junk Monster	Junk Man creates the Colossal Junk Monster in a plot to eliminate Frankenstein Jr.
10	The Incredible Aqua-Monsters	Buzz and Frankenstein Jr. guard the Navy's new Hydrotomic Submarine to prevent Dr. Hook and his aquatic monsters from stealing it.
11	Gigantic Ghastly Genie	Zorbo the Great creates a genie and plans to use its three wishes in order to defeat Frankenstein Jr. and conquer the world.
12	The Birdman	Birdman and his robotic birds Vulturo, Rodantus, and King Condor abduct two astronauts and holds them for a ransom of $1,000,000.
13	Invasion of the Robot Creatures	Sertano the Satellite King, an alien from Galaxy X, uses a gravity ray in order to get Earth to surrender. Buzz and Frankenstein Jr. must defeat Sertano's robots in order to defeat him.
14	The Manchurian Menace	Manchurian Menace steals a Space Camera Capsule that has just returned with photos from Mars.
15	The Mad Monster Maker	To perform a crimewave in London, Baron Von Ghoul creates robotic versions of horror movie monsters Electroflying Firefly, Menacing Mummy, and the Wicked Werewolf.
16	The Monstermobile	The Mad Inventor has invented the Monstermobile and uses its many gadgets to commit crimes.
17	Pilfering Putty Monster	Mr. Menace uses his putty monster to steal a $1,000,000 coin collection and even kidnaps Buzz. It is up to Frankenstein Jr. to rescue Buzz and defeat Mr. Menace.
18	The Spooktaculars	Dr. Spectro creates three giant ghoulish ghosts in order to take over Penciltrainia.

DVD release

On April 26, 2011, Warner Bros. released Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US.^[1]

References

^ http://www.wbshop.com/Frankenstein-Jr-and-the-Impossibles-The-Complete-Series/1000204673,default,pd.html

External links

Children's programming on CBS in the 1960s

First-run animated series	Mighty Mouse Playhouse (1955–1967) • Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–1966) • Linus the Lionhearted • The Heckle and Jeckle Cartoon Show • Tom and Jerry (1965–1972) • The Mighty Heroes • The Underdog Show (last few seasons) • Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles (1966–1968) • Space Ghost and Dino Boy (1966–1968) • The New Adventures of Superman • The Lone Ranger • The Road Runner Show (1968–1971; 1975–1978; 1978–1985) • The Beagles • The Herculoids (1967–1968) • Shazzan • Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor (1967–1969) • The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure • Go Go Gophers • Wacky Races (1968–1970) • The Archie Show (1968–1969) • The Batman/Superman Hour • Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (1969–1971) • The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (1969–1971) • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969–1972, 1974–1976)

First-run live-action series	Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984) • The Magic Land of Allakazam • CBS Children's Film Festival

Rebroadcasts	Sky King • The Roy Rogers Show • My Friend Flicka • The Alvin Show • The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin • The Quick Draw McGraw Show • The Jetsons • The Adventures of Lassie • Jonny Quest • The Monkees (1969–1972)

Schedules	1960-61 • 1961-62 • 1962-63 • 1963-64 • 1964-65 • 1965-66 • 1966-67 • 1967-68 • 1968-69 • 1969-70

Related programming and topics	Animation in the United States in the television era