Saturday, July 28, 2007

Saturday Morning Cartoons--Superman in The Mad Scientist

This is actually the first of the early 1940s Superman cartoons. This cartoon is titled The Mad Scientist and was released September 26, 1941. According to Wikipedia, the first nine Superman cartoons were produced by Fleischer Studios, which produced the Popeye cartoons. Interestingly enough, if you listen closely to the voice of the Mad Scientist, you'll find it is the same voice as Popeye--Jack Mercer. The animation in these cartoons is beautiful, with that wonderful 1930s art deco look in the background. This is a classic. From YouTube:

2 comments:

Annette said...

I'm a cartoon sap. I loved Popeye and you know, the old cartoons are so much better than the crap my kids watch these days. Thanks for sharing!

Eric A Hopp said...

Hello Green_Eyed_Laura:

Welcome to the club! I'll admit that I'm a cartoon lover myself. I love the old cartoons from the movie studios in the 1930s through the 1950s--Warner Brother's Looney Tunes, MGM's Tom and Jerry, Universal's Woody Woodpecker are just a few of the cartoons I enjoy. I also have a love for the satirical cartoons such as Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Underdog of the 1960s. These were the cartoons that I would watch when I was a kid, before the cartoons became glorified commercials for product tie-ins (Can anyone say GI Joe or Transformers?)

Interestingly enough, some of the new cartoons have been reaching back to the satirical humor of the old cartoons. These cartoons can be found on both Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. To give you some examples, there is Fairly Oddparents, Johnny Bravo, Spongebob Squarepants, and Ren and Stimpy. Of course, I have not forgotten one of the longest running cartoon series The Simpsons, or even the spinoff Futurama. So while much of the current cartoons series may be crap or overblown commercials, there is still some great stuff out there.