King Leonardo and His Short Subjects

King Leonardo brings back so many good memories of my childhood - this would have had to have been my all time favourite cartoon. I would love to be able to watch again, but it is never on the Cartoon Network channel and unfortunately I don't see a DVD arriving any time soon, but I would love to re-live the memories once again. My husband would know then about the show that I used to love.

Before anything else, I have to make a correction to someone else's comment. Jay Ward and Bill Scott had nothing to do with "King Leonardo and His Short Subjects." In fact, it was the first production of Total Television (AKA TTV), the same folks who brought us "Tennessee Tuxedo" and "Underdog." They used the same animators as Jay Ward and had a similar style, not to mention both were sponsored by General Mills, so it is very easy to get confused! At any rate, "King Leonardo and His Short Subjects" may not be as well remembered as "Underdog" or "Tennessee Tuxedo," but it should be. It has the same wit and sense of whimsy about it as TTV's later work. And the voice work, as with any TTV production, is superb.

I love this show!! You should see it. It's a classic! Never underestimate the power of the TRUE BLUE ODIE COLOGNIE (and his should-be sidekick, King).

*****/***** (this is even better than Wacky Races!)

King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (aka The King and Odie) was the first show produced by Total Television Productions and it turned out to be a success. Even though the animation was limited and produced by the same company who animated Rocky and Bullwinkle, the plots were pretty much the same as King Leonardo and his valet Odie Cologne consistently foiled the plans of Biggy Rat to put the king's brother Itchy on the throne.

There were also the other segments, including The Hunter and Tooter Turtle, best known for the line from Mr. Wizard the Lizard when things got rough for Tooter "Drizzle drazzle druzzle drone. Time for this one to come home." Another segment was Twinkles the Elephant, based on the General Mills (who sponsored the show) character.

But to me, one of the keys to the show's success was the voice cast, including Jackson Beck as the king and Biggy Rat, Kenny Delmar as The Hunter and New York kids show host Sandy Becker as Mr. Wizard the Lizard.

The real star of the show was Allen Swift, who voiced Odie, Itchy and Tooter. The former host of the New York version of Popeye shows his versatility as a voice actor and it paved the way for roles in Tennessee Tuxedo, Underdog and the last show from Total Television, The Beagles.

Confound it! This review is over.

This show was the cradle for other Total Television cartoons such as Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, Tooter Turtle, The Fox and The Hunter, Go Go Gophers, Klondike Kat, The World of Commander McBragg, and others, yet this particular cartoon has fallen into obscurity compared to the others. And it is not really a shock.

King Leonardo himself was the dense king of Bongo Congo, with his loyal skunk assistant Odio Colognie helping him out of various scrapes, mainly Biggie Rat trying to install Leonardo's even denser sibling Itchy Brother onto the throne, with other villains sometimes helping them out-but of course Odio Colognie saves the day every time.

So why did this fall by the wayside compared to the others? Undoubtedly because each episode had basically the same plot, with relatively little variety. Though Underdog always won the day, he at least had a variety of villains to deal with, and different ways to deal with them, sometimes even by solving their problems rather than simply defeating them. Tennessee Tuxedo had to get help from Mr. Whoopee each episode, but his problems were not the same each time. Even little kids don't like the same story each time, and why certain Total Television cartoons became more popular over the others.