Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, with a fiery horse, the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty HI-YO SILVER!
The LONE RANGER started out as a r…
Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, with a fiery horse, the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty HI-YO SILVER!
The LONE RANGER started out as a radio show in the '30s, immediately spread to print media, then loosely-based movie serials, then became the first Western on American TV in the '40s. (That's probably the best known and loved incarnation of the character, and has previously been featured on this channel.)
The WILD WILD WEST was a popular TV Western with Sci-Fi and Spy Show elements blended-in back in the '60s. (Before being remade into a Will Smith movie bomb in '99.) When Format Films (small studio that also made some of the farmed-out era Looney Tunes, King Features Popeyes, and animated bits for HEE-HAW) did their Lone Ranger series for CBS, they were clearly influenced by Wild Wild West, incorporating what we now call steampunk into the Mask Man's adventures.
Despite Saturday Morning budgets, the series managed to be visually striking. 26 episodes were made, with three segments apiece. This segment is from the premier show, September 10, 1966.
Video quality is a bit sketchy, I know. Due to rights confusion, it hasn't been released on DVD or other proper digital form. The available episodes seem to be from tape, but VCRs weren't really a thing when the show ran. Maybe somebody had access to old studio tapes.
Funny the way the Ranger, who is usually averse to killing, tries to shoot the Dynamo's lungs out! Imagine if the electro suit hadn't been bulletproof!
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