| Moby Dick & Mighty Mightor | |
|---|---|
Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor title screen |
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| Genre | Animated television series |
| Created by | Hanna-Barbera productions |
| Directed by | Hanna-Barbera |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | Mightor (36) Moby Dick (18) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Production company(s) | Hanna-Barbera |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 9, 1967 – 1969 |
Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor is a science fiction animated series created by Alex Toth for Hanna-Barbera Productions, which ran on CBS from 1967 to 1969. Despite Moby's name coming first, he had only one short per half-hour episode, sandwiched between two with Mightor; the same structure was used the previous season for H-B's Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles.
Contents |
One day, while on a hunting trip, a teenage caveman named Tor, along with his winged pet dinosaur Tog, rescue an old man who, as a reward, gives Tor a magical club. When Tor raises his club to the sky, he transforms into the masked and muscular Mightor, a prehistoric superhero very much in the Space Ghost mold who possesses superhuman strength and the power of flight through his club, which can also fire energy blasts.
Mightor protects his village from evil-doers. Amongst the villagers are the chief, Pondo, and his daughter, the beautiful redhaired Sheera. Sheera has a younger brother named Little Rok, who loves pretending to be Mightor. The characters have several pets, including Little Rok's dodo bird Ork and Sheera's mammoth calf Bollo.
Tor is voiced by Bobby Diamond, while Mightor is or was voiced by Paul Stewart. Pondo, Tog, Ork and Bollo are voiced by John Stephenson. Sheera is voiced by Patsy Garrett. Little Rok is voiced by Norma McMillan.
When Hanna Barbera was producing an animated series based on the Marvel Comics super-group the Fantastic Four they were also slated to produce a series based on the Marvel superhero the Mighty Thor (Marvel Comics) as well. However, Marvel had recently made a deal with Grantray-Lawrence Animation to produce several animated series based on some of their other characters called The Marvel Super Heroes. And at the last minute Marvel pulled Thor from Hanna-Barbera slate as part of this new deal. Not wanting to abandon the Thor concept entirely, Hanna-Barbera retooled the designs made for Thor and come up with a show which became "The Mighty Mightor". There are noticeable similarities between the characters: First, their names, "The Mighty Thor" and "Mighty Mightor". Thor carries a hammer-weapon that fires blasts and enables him to fly. Mightor carries a club-weapon that fires blasts and enables him to fly as well. Thor wears a cape and a winged helmet. Mightor wears a cape and a horned helmet. And lastly, both can transform into secret mortal identities initiated by the power of their mighty weapons. In addition, there are similarities between some of the supporting characters as well. Most notably Thor's father Odin and Chief Pondo of Mightor's village.
Teenage boys Tom and Tub are rescued by the great white whale Moby Dick after a shipwreck. Together with their pet seal, Scooby, they face the dangers of the undersea world. Tom is voiced by Bobby Resnick, Tub is voiced by Barry Balkin, and Moby and Scooby are voiced by Don Messick.
Along with other Hanna-Barbera heroes, Mightor and Moby Dick appear in a crossover with a time-traveling Space Ghost during the final six episodes of the latter's original series.
Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor and his friends appear in the Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes comic book, issues #1 – 7 (April 1968 – Oct. 1969).
Characters from Moby Dick later appear in Sealab 2021, Tubs as child actor star "Chubby Cox", and Scooby the Seal as "Stinky Pete", whose appearances culminate in his eyes becoming near-demonic, uttering his catchphrase "I'm cha-cha-cha-cha-delicious."
Mighty Mightor makes some appearances in the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, as Judge Hiram Mightor and voiced by Gary Cole. Moby Dick appears in the episode "SPF" voiced by Wally Wingert.
On July 19, 2011, Warner Bros. released Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor: 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]
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