"Rocket Robin Hood" (1966) TV series 1966-1969

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Writer:

Ralph Bakshi (writer)

Release Date:

2 January 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Fantasy

Plot:

The futuristic adventures of the legendary outlaw and his Merry Men in outer space.

Plot Keywords:

Space | Robin Hood | Character Name In Title

Cast

Carl Banas	...	Titanor / Dr. Manta (voice)
Ed McNamara	...	Rocket Robin Hood (voice)
Chris Wiggins	...	Will Scarlet / Infinata / Baron Blank (voice)
Bernard Cowan	...	Narrator (voice)
Len Birman	...	(voice)
Paul Kligman	...	Friar Tuck (voice)
Gillie Fenwick	...	Sheriff of N.O.T.T (voice)
John Scott	...	(voice)

Runtime:

22 min (52 episodes)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-Y7 | Canada:G

Company:

Grantray-Lawrence Animation

Trivia:

During the late second and third seasons, the show shared a lot of animation and background music with "Spider-Man" (1967). Two episodes of the series ("From Menace to Menace" and "Dementia Five") had almost all their animation recycled for episodes "Phantom from the Depths of Time" and "Revolt in the Fifth Dimension" of "Spider-Man" (1967) by simply substituting Rocket Robin Hood with Spider-Man on the animated cels. The dialogue from these episodes was reused too with Spider-Man saying the same lines and Rocket Robin Hood and his supporters.

Quotes:

Narrator: Soaring through the far reaches of outer-planetary space is New Sherwood Forest Asteroid. Fantastic headquarters of that swashbuckling cosmic highwayman of the thirtieth century Rocket Robin Hood. Yes, here comes the one and only Rocket Robin Hood, gliding through galaxies in his search for star-shattering adventure...

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Hoverboy (2000)

Overlooked slice of Canadiana!

One of my favorite childhood memories was coming home from school for lunch and watching Rocket Robin Hood while eating lunch. It's one of Canada's few cartoons that endured over the years. I loved the opening theme (which was actually kind of spooky) and the way that each show was divided into three segments. In between, there were interludes in which the Merry Men sang their joy of being part of the band and for having Robin as a leader. Looking back on it as an adult is amusing in that the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John as well as all their guards (who all looked alike and always wore orange uniforms) were so hilariously inept. The guards not only always lost every fight with Robin and his men, they always were getting knocked out from one punch. One wonders why Prince John didn't try to replace them. Actually, it was a violent cartoon in some ways. Each show seemed to feature a fight scene in which the viewer saw a close up of Robin's fist coming at the screen or Little John (who looked like Moose from the Archie comics) clobbering someone with his electro-quardo-staff (which could be used to fly with). Even Friar Tuck often participated in the fighting. Sometimes he used his fists, other times he simply hit oncoming attackers with his enormous belly and sent them flying.

The shows were comic book-like and often featured imaginative monsters. One of my personal favorites was a space vampire with eternal life and a giant robot bat. As a child, I didn't notice but the producers were constantly using the same backdrop over and over again in different episodes. There were also two different versions of Rocket Robin Hood. In one, the colors were all dark green and red. These shows were almost surreal and genuinely scary. The second version (the one most people preferred) was bright, colorful and cheerful. (just like the Spiderman cartoon, made by the same producers, featured two different versions) Rocket Robin Hood may not be the best cartoon ever but it was pretty good and deserves a place in the Canadian history books.