Goldie Gold and Action Jack

Former Hanna-Barbera writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears certainly had some interesting cartoon ideas. As the founders of Ruby-Spears Enterprises, they helped to conceive and produce a very lively assortment of cartoon series during the 80s. While Ruby-Spears did not produce as many cartoon series as rivals Hanna-Barbera or Filmation, their shows were certainly unique and inventive.

One of those shows was "Goldie Gold and Action Jack". Imagine Paris Hilton as an adventure heroine along the lines of Lara Croft and you can roughly get an idea of what the show was like. It was obviously a play on the Harvey Comics character Richie Rich but also borrows elements from Dashiell Hammett detective series "The Thin Man" as well as Sidney Sheldon's contemporary equivalent crime drama "Hart to Hart".

Goldie Gold was a wealthy socialite and heiress whose family inheritance made her one of the richest individuals in the world. Unlike Paris Hilton however Goldie Gold uses her riches to establish an idealistic investigative newspaper called "The Gold Street Journal". Along with her boyfriend/adventurer Jack "Action" Travis, she would go out and investigate all manner of mysteries and elaborate crimes.

Goldie Gold wasn't particularly accomplished in firearms, martial arts or archeology like Lara Croft and was more of a "girlie-girl" (she wore tight gold pants and heels). She did however have a very curious nature and that was her greatest asset (aside from her looks).

Her vast fortune afforded her practically whatever she needed (private jets, boats, fast cars etc.) and she also had access to any number of advanced technologies and gadgets that her family's various companies and affiliates could invent.

While the concept was pretty good and the animation, a step above the cartoony Hanna-Barbera 70s action shows like the similar "Perils of Penelope Pitstop", "Goldie Gold" was a bit disappointing. The various adventures Goldie Gold encountered were cliché and seemed like holdovers from "Johnny Quest". The threats weren't really that grand and the perils not too scary or thrilling.

I'm not sure if even Ruby-Spears really knew who the target audience was as sometimes the tone would be typically Saturday Morning kid-friendly and others more mature and adventure oriented.

Judy Strangis (Electra Woman & Dyna Girl) was the voice of Goldie, with Sonny Melendez as Jack and Booker Bradshaw as Gold Street Journal Editor Sam Gritt.

"Goldie Gold" was definitely a favorite of mine as a kid along with Ruby-Spears other action series "Thundarr The Barbarian" but it could have been better. Hence, the probable reason it only lasted one season (13 episodes)

While not as ridiculous as "Turbo Teen" or laughably bad as "Mr. T" it was a definite missed opportunity.

Episode List: 1. Night Of The Crystal Skull 2. Pirate Of The Airways 3. Red Dust Of Doom 4. Revent Of The Ancient Astronaut 5. Prophet Of Doom 6. Night Of The Walking Doom 7. Island Of Terror 8. Curse Of The Snake People 9. Race Against Time 10. Menace Of The Medallion 11. Pursuit Into Perit 12. The Return Of The Man Beast 13. The Goddess of The Black Pearl

Created by comics writer Steve Gerber (who also created Howard the Duck), Goldie Gold was basically a pastiche of other well-known fictional characters. Her super wealth and name were obviously inspired by Richie Rich. She lives in a mansion bedecked with elaborate amenities - just like something you would expect from Richie Rich. She's a beautiful blonde teenage who wears fancy clothes and is primarily associated with one color - just like Barbie (but in this case, gold instead of pink). She's a super genius inventor/crime fighter - just like Tony Stalk and Bruce Wayne. She has an arsenal of bizarre hidden gadgets and flying vehicles that appear inspired by James Bond and Agents of SHIELD. Her boyfriend and partner, Action Jack is a reporter for Goldie's newspaper, The Gold Street Journal. Like another reviewer had already pointed out, the couple dynamic here seems to have been borrowed from The Thin Man movies (rich female socialite partnered up with male love interest who is the more grounded/street smart type). Not surprisingly, this was a source of inspiration for other fictional works like The Maze Agency comic and Moonlighting TV show. Every episode, Goldie and Action Jack would defeat the mystery villain at the end - only to unmask the villain as a character from earlier before - just like Scooby-Doo. The animation was pretty bad even for its time. The stories were goofy, but a lot of fun (especially for a kid). Overall, it was a very cool concept that could be vastly improved upon - especially today. Wish it could be rebooted for a new generation.