Butch Cassidy (TV series)

Last updated
Butch Cassidy
Also known asButch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kids
Genre Mystery
Written by
Directed by
Voices of
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Camera setup
  • Ralph Migliori
  • Jerry Mills
  • Norman Stainback
  • Roy Wade
Running time30 minutes
Production company Hanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseSeptember 8 (1973-09-08) 
December 1, 1973 (1973-12-01)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 8, 1973, to December 1, 1973. [1] The series title is a play on the name of the unrelated 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . The character's music group is called the Sun Dance Kids. [2]

Contents

Plot

Similar to both Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and Josie and the Pussycats on CBS, the show depicts the adventures of the titular teen pop group. [3] The band consists of 4 heartthrobs: Butch Cassidy (lead vocals and lead guitar); mini-skirted blonde beauty Merilee (tambourine); sensible Stephanie, nicknamed Steffy (bass guitar); and curly-haired Wally (drums). Accompanied by Wally's dog Elvis, these popular rock stars lead double lives as government-backed crime-fighters. [4]

The teens are advised by a supercomputer named Mr. Socrates, who is (somehow) violently allergic to dogs. When the group meets with Mr. Socrates in his lair for their latest assignment, Elvis is always told to stay outside. Yet Elvis always ends up inside the lair, by his own ingenuity and/or by Wally's forgetfulness. Elvis's mere presence causes Mr. Socrates to sneeze and go haywire; Mr. Socrates then sends the group out of the lair, and off to their assignment. Butch, designated as "Sundance 1", wears a special communicator-ring which keeps him in contact with Mr. Socrates.

Cast

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"The Scientist"September 8, 1973 (1973-09-08)
Butch and the kids must help smuggle a scientist out of a foreign country while dodging a colonel.
2"The Counterfeiters"September 15, 1973 (1973-09-15)
A motorcycling baron in Latvania seems to be the source of counterfeit money, so the kids are sent to investigate.
3"One of Our Ships Is Missing"September 22, 1973 (1973-09-22)
The kids are booked on a cruise ship that has been targeted by boat thieves and their captain.
4"Double Trouble"September 29, 1973 (1973-09-29)

A young prince has been kidnapped and replaced by a lookalike. The Sun Dance Kids must expose the impostor and catch the kidnappers.

Note: This episode mentions a number of real-life artists and songs, including "Woodstock" by Joni Mitchell and "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie.
5"The Pearl Caper"October 6, 1973 (1973-10-06)
The kids go off to Honolulu to locate stolen pearls and the pearl thieves.
6"The Gold Caper"October 13, 1973 (1973-10-13)
London calls as Butch and the kids try to find the mastermind behind a gold smuggling ring.
7"Road Racers"October 20, 1973 (1973-10-20)
The Grand Prix Cross-European race in Venice is the setting for a diamond theft and Butch and the kids are sent to investigate.
8"Hong Kong Story"October 27, 1973 (1973-10-27)
While entertaining their fan club in Hong Kong, the Sun Dance Kids must foil the robbery of a priceless jade statue.
9"Operation G-Minus"November 3, 1973 (1973-11-03)
The kids must recover a stolen anti-gravity device from a toy expo in Munich.
10"Orient Express"November 10, 1973 (1973-11-10)
The kids must deliver an important document to Paris on the Orient Express. To complicate things, Mr. Socrates has been taken over by an enemy agent.
11"The Parrot Caper"November 17, 1973 (1973-11-17)
A parrot who knows an important formula must be delivered to Switzerland.
12"The Super Sub"November 24, 1973 (1973-11-24)
The kids must recover a hijacked experimental super submarine from the Caribbean.
13"The Haunted Castle"December 1, 1973 (1973-12-01)
The kids travel to the British Isles when Wally inherits a castle from a distant relative. However, Wally's castle seems to be haunted.

Other appearances

Home media

On January 15, 2013, Warner Archive released Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. [6]

The series is also available at the iTunes Store. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanna-Barbera</span> American animation studio

Hanna-Barbera was an American animation studio and production company, which was active from 1957 until its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation in 2001. Founded on July 7, 1957 by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, it was headquartered on Cahuenga Blvd from 1960 to 1998, then subsequently at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Sherman Oaks. In 1958, the studio debuted The Huckleberry Hound Show, followed by The Flintstones in 1960.

<i>Super Friends</i> American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1986

Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.

<i>The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan</i> American animated television series

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, animated by Eric Porter Studios in Australia and broadcast on CBS from September 9, 1972, to December 30, 1972, with reruns continuing through the summer of 1973 and in syndication from 1976 to 1982. The show was loosely based on the Charlie Chan series of mystery novels and films, which began with the 1925 novel The House Without a Key.

Carl Robert Fallberg was a writer/cartoonist for animated feature films and TV cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers. He also wrote comic books for Dell Comics, Western Publishing, and Gold Key Comics.

<i>Johnny Bravo</i> American animated television series

Johnny Bravo is an American animated comedy television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, which aired from July 14, 1997, to August 27, 2004. The titular Johnny Bravo, who is loosely based on Elvis Presley and James Dean, is a blonde-haired sunglasses-wearing, muscular dimwitted young man who lives with his mother and attempts to get women to date him, though he always falls short because of his actions. He ends up in bizarre situations and predicaments, often accompanied by celebrity guest characters such as Donny Osmond or Adam West. Throughout its run, the show was known for its adult humor and pop culture references.

<i>Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor</i> American animated television series

Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor is an American Saturday morning animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that ran on CBS from September 9, 1967 to January 6, 1968, airing in reruns until September 6, 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 Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Cassidy</span> American actor (1932–1979)

Theodore Crawford Cassidy was an American actor. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction works such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie, and he played Lurch on The Addams Family in the mid-1960s. He also narrated The Incredible Hulk TV series and voiced The Hulk in the show's first 2 seasons.

<i>Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks</i> American animated television series by Hanna-Barbera

Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions as part of The Huckleberry Hound Show from 1958 to 1961.

<i>Wally Gator</i> American animated television series

Wally Gator is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that originally aired as one of the segments from the 1962–1963 block The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series. The other two segments that compose the series are Touché Turtle and Dum Dum and Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har. The segment consisted of 52 episodes over one year. Wally Gator appears in the HBO Max series Jellystone! where he is portrayed as the town ditz and played by Jeff Bergman.

<i>The Roman Holidays</i> American animated TV series

The Roman Holidays is a half-hour Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1972. It ran for 13 episodes before being cancelled, and reruns were later shown on the USA Cartoon Express during the 1980s, Cartoon Network during the 1990s, and Boomerang during the 2000s.

<i>Yogis Gang</i> American TV series or program

Yogi's Gang is an American animated television series and the second incarnation of the Yogi Bear franchise, which aired 16 half-hour episodes on ABC from September 8, 1973, to December 29, 1973. The show began as Yogi's Ark Lark, a special TV movie on The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie in 1972. Fifteen original episodes were produced for broadcast on ABC, with the hour-long Yogi's Ark Lark thrown in as a split-in-half two-parter. The show confronted social and cultural issues like ecology and bigotry, with villains named Mr. Waste, Dr. Bigot, the Envy Brothers, Lotta Litter, the Greedy Genie and Mr. Cheater.

<i>Goober and the Ghost Chasers</i> American animated television series

Goober and the Ghost Chasers is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, broadcast on ABC from September 8 to December 22, 1973. A total of 16 half-hour episodes of Goober and the Ghost Chasers were produced. It was later serialized as part of the syndicated weekday series Fred Flintstone and Friends during 1977–78. On cable, it was shown as part of USA Cartoon Express and on Boomerang starting in 2000.

A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony.

<i>Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!</i> American animated television series

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on September 13, 1969, and aired for two seasons until October 31, 1970. In 1978, a selection of episodes from the later animated series Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and The Scooby-Doo Show were aired on ABC under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! title name, and was released in a DVD set marketed as its third season. It also aired on BBC One in the UK from 1970 to 1973. The complete series is also available on Boomerang, Max, and Tubi streaming services.

<i>Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles</i> American animated TV series (1966)

Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It premiered on September 10, 1966 on CBS, and ran for two seasons on Saturday mornings.

Van Partible is a Filipino-born American cartoonist, writer, producer, director, and animator best known for creating the animated television series Johnny Bravo.

<i>The Addams Family</i> (1973 TV series) American TV series or program

The Addams Family is an American animated sitcom adaptation of the Charles Addams single-panel comic for The New Yorker. The show was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Saturday mornings in 1973, and was later rebroadcast the following season. Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy, who played Uncle Fester and Lurch, respectively, in the 1960s television series, returned in voice-over roles. The cast also included 10-year-old Jodie Foster, who performed the voice of Pugsley Addams. The show's theme music was completely different and had no lyrics or finger snapping, but retained a recognizable part of the four-note score from the live-action series.

The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, a.k.a. The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series or The Wally Gator Show, was a syndicated television package of animated cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, starting in 1962. The show included three unrelated short cartoon segments featuring talking animal characters:

<i>The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</i> Television series

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American live-action and animated fantasy television series that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1968, through February 23, 1969. Produced by Hanna-Barbera and based on the classic Mark Twain characters, the program starred its three live-action heroes, Huck Finn, Becky Thatcher, and Tom Sawyer, navigating weekly adventures within an animated world as they attempted to outrun a vengeful "Injun Joe". After the show's original run, the series continued to air in reruns as part of The Banana Splits and Friends Show syndication package.

References

  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 101. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  2. Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN   0-8108-1557-5 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  3. Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. Studio. p. 165. ISBN   978-0670829781 . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 166–167. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  5. "The Sundance Kids (2)". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  6. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids - 'The Complete Series' DVD is Now Available from Warner". Archived from the original on 2013-01-16.
  7. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, The Complete Series". iTunes Store (US). Retrieved March 26, 2019.