Lancelot Link - Geheimagent und Schimpanse

This television show is not only amazing, but has actually shaped my entire adult life. When I was nine years old, I was shipped off to a remote Aventist commune in Waco, Texas, and kept there until I turned 21. In this commune, we were given few luxuries, with activities mostly consisting of frolicking outside and shooting firearms at stray dogs and cats. But one of the scarce luxuries we were given was a dvd recording of this very show, Lancelot Link. As children, we would all pretend to be the characters from the show, walking around with our fists on the floor and screeching at anyone we saw. I remember our group's leader David would always turn the show on and laugh, and would even sometimes shoot his gun into the air out of laughter. This show alone made my life in the compound enjoyable, and I still wonder to this day what became of the fun little compound that my youth was spent at.

When I left the compound in 1992, I went out into a strange, foreign world of which I had little contact with. The only idea of the outside world I had was from this show, Lancelot Link. Because of this, I chose my lifelong profession; chimpanzee wrangler. Basically, if you don't already know, a chimp wranglers job is to wrangle chimps. We usually use large nets, shaped similarly to butterfly nets that you would see, but will also occasionally use net guns, or pieces of meat on enlarged fishing poles. We go around from city-to-city and find stray chimps, usually escaped from circuses or homes or nightclubs, and wrangle them into our special chimp-pen, where we return them to their original owners. One day however, as I was doing my job, a perculiar chimp drew my attention. We had been called to retreve it, and had located it in a dark alleyway. I looked at the chimp, and noticed something strange. The chimp was wearing a trenchcoat and a really cool little hat. I thought to myself, is this Lancelot Link??? And this brings me to a realization, that has forced me to take a star off of my review. Lancelot Link is not particularly sneaky or secretive. In fact, he sticks out like a sore chimpy thumb in a crowd, making him a terrible secret agent. For this reason alone, I am forced to make the tough decision to rate this show a 9/10. I love Lancelot Link, but it is totally unrealistic, simply because Link is not very sneaky.

When I described this show to people, they gave me the look over. NO ONE believed me when I said there was a show about a chimp in a high rise building, wearing a grey suit with a red tie, sitting in a leather chair, speaking English. And another girl chimp in a dress, also speaking English (Yeah, would YOU have believed me?).

I remember Nickelodeon briefly showed it, and it's one of the shows that I vividly remember when I watched back in the good ol' days of Nick with "You Can't Do that On Television," and "Double Dare" (aka the 1980s). I remember it either came on before, or after "The Monkees." I highly enjoyed this, because the chimps were talking! And it was so cool how they got them to interact, and I guess "act" human. It was so funny. And I was like, 4 or 5 or something. So basically anything that came on I got a kick out of.

I have searched high and low for information on this show. It has taken me forever to figure out what the title was. I heard it was on TV Land, but I don't think it is anymore. Everytime I see someone doing a "chimp" thing where they have clothes on, I totally think of this show. I finally have closure on it now. I know I'm not crazy.

If you have a chance...look around for it on TV! The one scene I described is the only thing I can remember. If I enjoyed it when I was 4, then it has to be good, something good for the kids.

I remember this show. I really do. I was a kid in 1970 when Lance Link: Secret Chimp went on, and sadly, off, the air. Even after it was cancelled, it was still on in reruns on Saturday mornings. Lancelot Link was a pop star by day. He played in a rock band called The Evolution Revolution. (A good question for a JEOPARDY! Rhyme Time category.) He was also a secret agent for a spy agency called APE. (The Agency to Prevent Evil.) Lance's two enemies were Dr. Strangemind and the Dragon Lady. I loved it at first but as the show went on, I didn't buy it. I mean chimps playing musical instruments? Yeah, right! Lance Link, Secret Chimp, whatcha gonna do when that Dr. Strangemind comes after you?

When I asked people about this seldom seen and forgotten show,I noticed I get a strange look. However,I vividity remember this show as a child back in the early 70's when it was shown mostly on Saturday Mornings. This was a show that had a combination of "The Monkees" mixed throughly with key elements of Robert Vaughn's spy spoof,"The Man From U.N.C.L.E" (in which you had a chimpanzee in the Robert Vaughn role and a man in a gorilla suit played the head agent in the Leo G. Carroll role)for good measure and believe me it didn't last long when it premiered in the fall of 1970. The series was cancelled that same year.

It may have been fun back in its heyday but executives at the network as well as kids weren't buying it one bit since it was pathetically stupid as one of the worst children's TV shows of all time--second to another monkey show called "Me And The Chimp"(case in point-kids were watching it). The show back in its day was part of ABC-TV's(which the show originally ran)grand and sometimes lame lineup of live action and cartoon shows which were mostly shown on Saturday Mornings under the supervision of the head of children's programming for ABC at the time--the late producer-animator Chuck Jones which in point had shows like during his tenture were "The Curiousity Shop","Make A Wish","The Funky Phantom","Goober and the Ghost Chasers","The Jackson Five",not to mention the animated shows like "Lassie's Rescue Rangers" and he also

had under his belt "The Superfriends"(the first two seasons only) and his own short lived series called "Chuck Jones Presents".

PS-THe producer of Lancelot Link was Alan Landsburg who produced several shows under his tenture which included the Leonard Nimoy documentary "In Search Of...","That's Incredible!",and the sitcoms "Gimme A Break",and "Kate and Allie".

The earliest kids' show I can recall watching with any regularity, and probably still one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

In the grand tradition of "The Man from Uncle", "Secret Agent", and "The Avengers", comes this late 60s spy series, with a twist.

The twist? It was done ENTIRELY with live chimps acting out the roles of the characters, with voiceover artists providing the dialog. It was incredibly funny watching the chimps talk, brandish weapons, drive cars, ski, and doing just about anything we higher-order primates are capable of... and probably with more sincere acting!

Lancelot Link is a brilliant (though slightly inept) secret agent with the Agency to Prevent Evil (APE) fighting to thwart the evil schemes of CHUMP - a renegade syndicate bent on world domination, run by a vicious Baron, and his horde of evil-doers. Trotting around the globe waging a covert war against CHUMP, Link is aided in his battle against the forces of evil by his trusty lady agent sidekick, Matta Hairy, as they carry out the orders of the venerable Commander Darwin (who usually runs afoul of Link's attempts to be helpful).

The show provides a big tip of the hat to "Get Smart", which it parodies mercilessly (a spoof of a spy spoof!). Veteran character actor Bernie Kopell (Conrad Siegfried on Get Smart, and Doc on The Love Boat) even reads the role of the villainous Baron in all his "Goot Evenink Shmart!" nastiness. The episodes were always filled with simian puns (a rock group called "The Evolution Revolution", etc.) The Baron's Rogues Gallery of Bad Guys included the despicable strong monkey, Creto, the Hong Kong-based Dragon Woman, and the despicable Dr. Strangemind.

The real fun of this piece is that after a few minutes, you get so involved in the plot and the action that you almost forget you are watching a group of live monkeys performing tricks. You really begin to believe that they can talk and do all that other stuff. I loved it as a kid, and years later when a local affiliate ran a few reruns, I loved it as a teenager. I imagine if I see it again on cable, I will love it as an adult.

This series was semi-recreated years later on Fox with a series of bumpers for their Saturday morning series, called "Dynamo Duck" - a secret agent baby duckling thwarting the evil plans of guinea pigs, lab mice, and other small creatures. A little hipper and edgier than Link, but it's Link that everyone remembers.