El Fantasma del Espacio

Ong before he had his own talk show in the form of Adult Swim's long running Space Ghost: Coast To Coast, Space Ghost was a superhero created by the legendary Alex Toth. Starring in his own television series from September 1966 through September 1968 on CBS, Space Ghost (voiced by Gary Owens) would team up with two kid sidekicks, Jan (Ginny Tyler) and Jace (Tim Matheson), and their monkey friend Blip (Don Messick of Scooby-Doo), to fight evil every week. Different villains would provide different scenarios for our heroes but recurring bad guys like Zorak, Moltar and Brak gave episodes and characters a sense of familiarity. Space Ghost, who yelled out his own name far too often, had the power to become invisible which came in handy while dealing with alien villains day in and day out. When you've got to keep the peace in space, being able to turn invisible is a good thing.

Interestingly enough, the last two episodes of the series make up one length story entitled The Council Of Doom wherein, much like the Super Friends' Legion Of Doom that would follow, Space Ghost's many enemies join forces to take him down once and for all. As campy as the series was, there is some actual legitimate suspense to be found here, as the chapters all end as cliffhangers.

While the characters weren't exactly deep or, to be honest, all the interesting they were at least hyper-stylized and extremely cool to watch. Toth's clean line work made sure that the character designs were sleek and that they looked 'space age' for the time they were created. Add to this the fantastic voice work from the entire cast, Gary Owens in particular, and you've got a slick and entertaining little cartoon that may not teach us anything but which will certainly entertain. Owens' voice would later be recognizable in other endeavors such as Captain Caveman where he served as the narrator and Garfield And Friends where he served as the announcer. He's the perfect voice for Space Ghost, sounding noble and heroic and just a little bit full of himself.

Following the same format as Birdman & The Galaxy Trio, which was also shown on CBS around the same time and also created by Alex Toth, in between Space Ghost episodes there would be a second feature, this time in the form of a short Dino Boy In The Lost Valley cartoon. Dino Boy (voiced by Johnny Caron) was a modern day kid named Todd who jumped out of a plane over the South American jungle to avoid a crash. When he landed, he found himself in a prehistoric world where he would befriend a caveman named Ugh (Mike Road) and a dinosaur named Bronto (Don Messick again).

The episodes all move along quickly - each of the three stories runs roughly eight minutes each - and the characters, as simple as they are, are quite fun. The dialogue is hammy but it suits the material well and the sound effects and music should definitely send out some waves of nostalgia to those who remember the show from either its original run or the various syndicated reruns which have been broadcast over the last four decades. The series stands as a sterling example of the sixties pop art aesthetic and as a testament to Toth's unsung creative talents - it's also a heck of a lot of goofy, interstellar fun.

This was the BEST time to be a kid, as a 10 year old, Space Ghost was my hero. No more Cowboys or Army, I made a set of Space Ghost Energy Bands. The shows on Saturday morning were the coolest, especially Hanna Barbera, and I remember we would all watch until lunch and then go out and BE our favorites. Sometimes we would even get together to watch at someone's house that had a COLOR TV, since (a lot of people forget that) not everyone had one yet. Gary Owens' voice was perfect for this larger than life character, who had his own spaceship, the Phantom Cruiser. I recently purchased the complete series of 20 episodes and cannot wait to watch them all. I think the reason this show was/is so popular is because it has the Jonny Quest factor...Action, Adventure, and Fantastic music. I remember being on the edge of my seat back then, and I noticed now that the action is still just as good and probably even better than today's shows. Great in 1966, still phenomenal 40+ years later.

This series was (and still is) brilliant! I only saw one episode, but I've already gotten excellent for this one. We have yet another cartoon based on a famous comic-book hero(es), like with Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles. Not to mention that Gary Owens, a famous person to voice superheroes and narrators (even on Garfield and Friends!) voices Space Ghost himself. Rather elusive to find on Cartoon Network, but it's worth finding! This really seems good on tastes of mine along with Garfield, TMNT/TMHT, Pink Panther, and Inspector Gadget.

Spaaaaaace Ghooooooost! 9.9999999999999999 out of 10 stars (since I'm hoping to look for more episodes).

Really amazing cartoon series!

It's been forty three years since I first heard that Space Ghost was coming this September on CBS. And golly, I just couldn't wait. It was the Summer of 1966. I just turned 12 and Summer vacation was really swell. But after seeing the trailers for the coming Fall line up for Super Saturday, I found myself looking forward to September,even if it meant the return to school.

While the new line up looked pretty good, new cartoons and all, the one series that stood out above the rest was SPACE GHOST.

SPACE GHOST was even better than we expected. Along with the adventures of Space Ghost as he stood guard over the galaxy from any evil doers who would ever dare cross path with the Space Ghost and his loyal crew, Jan, Jayce and their monkey, Blip, this program also took a distant step into the past with Dino Boy, a boy who got lost in a prehistoric world that was full of danger and exciting adventures, along with a caveman named Ugh, who befriended Dino Boy. Together, the two faced this dangerous world, armed with Dino Boy's cunning, Ugh's brute strength and a mutual affection between the two that would carry them through both good times and bad.

Metallus, Brak, Cyclo and the rest of all those intergalactic bad guys have always had it out for our intergalactic super hero. Unfortunately, these bad guys had an Allie that would succeed where they had all failed, namely the PTA, who felt that for any cartoon to be this good, there had to be something wrong.

Well it was decided that Space Ghost was too darned violent so the PTA wielded their forces and when they were done, Space Ghost was little more than a shell of what he was in earlier episodes.

Before he had a talk show he was the guardian of the spaceways; the intergalactic crime fighter, Space Ghost. Hanna-Barbera had been looking for something to counteract the popular Filmation Batman cartoons. They turned to Alex Toth, the master of the H-B hero shows, who came up with Space Ghost. They really lucked out with Gary Owens, popular DJ and Laugh-In regular. They also got Tim "Jonny Quest" Matheson.

Space Ghost was brilliantly designed and executed, although the shorter stories limited character development. We never got to see what SG looked like under the hood (I have seen a model sheet with his real face) or where Jan and Jayce came from. Still the villains were inventive and the plots exciting. The pinnacle was the multi-part tale of SG's battle with the Council of Doom, a conglomeration of SG's nastiest enemies. He even traveled through time to meet up with Dino Boy, Mightor, and Shazaan.

I still find the "Coast to Coast" show funny, but this is the real Space Ghost, the one that inspired Steve Rude and Mike Baron's classic Nexus comic. The Dude even created the ultimate Space Ghost comic. Now, when will see this on dvd?