El Fantasma del Espacio

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.

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!

I have argued again and again and again that kids are smarter than what people say they are and can remove fiction from reality and what they watch doesn't effect their personality.

And the Space Ghost comes along and I LOVED watching the reruns when I was a little kid and then I grew up to love comic books when I started reading and that stayed with me my entire life and....sometimes I wonder if Space Ghost is the reason.

That's what it is...it was made back in the day when kids cartoons were full of Adventure...and I ate stuff like that up. I was an addict...

And maybe because of that I have multiple degrees and still have a Kindle (password protected) filled with Adventure novels and comic books and nothing of any real substance.

So that is what it is. Adventure. Pure Adventure in outer space.

I was a little boy once and cartoons like this were made for me. It's what the spirits of all little boys are made of. It's what makes us want to swing from ropes, climb trees, and battle our friends in our backyards...or the woods a few blocks away that everyone used as a dump and it was really more of a patch of trees than real woods but...Chicago. In Chicago a patch of trees are "the woods" and that is where the adventure takes place and Cartoons like Space Ghost inspired them.

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 show was on before I was even born, but I remember seeing old reruns of it all the time. Boy, does this take me back. It's old cartoons like this that took the place of family and teachers as my primary socialization factor. Thank you for raising me right, TV!