Crusader Rabbit

HI there. I love and collect classic animation. Somehow, in my entire lifetime, Crusader Rabbit eluded me. I discovered it only a day ago, when Richard mentioned the series on Leave It To Beaver (season 5 episode "Beaver's Jacket"). This review is mainly about a few reviewers earlier in this review timeline, complaining about voice actresses portraying male characters.

This has nothing to do with gender confusion. It's not uncommon for females to voice male characters in a cartoon. Bart Simpson is voiced by a woman. Bobby Hill is voiced by a woman. Lots of classic animal cartoon characters have a woman's talent behind them. This kind of casting decision is not a political or social statement. Females have a particular voice quality that often makes them best to portray a young boy or an animal. The lovely June Foray was perfect as Rocket J. Squirrel in "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle". To dismiss a series because a girl voices a guy is folly. It's also upsetting to see someone use the name, "Bimbo" substituted in every instance for "female". TV is not real life. Escape the real world and enjoy the show.

I managed to watch the first episode of Crusader Rabbit, "Crusader Rabbit vs Texas." It's filled with the fun, adult, irreverent humor via which I immediately identified it as a Jay Ward series. And, as such, the animation is cheerful, imaginative, and very static. TV animation, especially early animation, was on a budget and was very limited. Fortunately, the drawings are stylized and expressive and compensate for such limitations. Crusader Rabbit is whimsical for children, but written on an adult level, so the entire family can watch it and not get bored. It may seem dated to today's "sophisticated" audience, but Crusader Rabbit is a forgotten series that deserves more recognition for its significance in TV history.

Yes, Jay Ward could certainly tell the difference between boys and girls. Almost anyone can! He also knew that if he got himself a male brat and the show happened to last, pretty soon he'd have to get himself another boy. Anyway, those women's voices were great! And the show was funny, charming, and sweet--designed to be something parents and kids could enjoy together.

Ah Yes, the fantastic days of early New York TV, let see, what channels were available?? Ch 2, 4, 5,9, 11, and 13 before it was a Public Station.

Thank, gawd, I wasn't the only child to get up early to watch Modern Farmer, ha ha ha ha There was another farm related program which I can't remember the title, about an old geezer and his daughter. Then of course Crusader Rabbit, fantastic, some of the episodes can be seen on Youtube. I'm trying to figure out the theme music to Crusader Rabbit. I watched as a very young kid and then as a teenager, does anyone know if the 2nd version in the 60s used Swedish Rhapsody as the theme music or am I remembering wrong?

My sister, who is now 63, and I (60) still enjoy reminiscing about Crusader Rabbitt, which in 1952 was on in the late afternoon or early evening. She and I would rush home from playing outside, eat dinner, and frantically wash and dry the dishes so we could watch Crusader Rabbitt. After all these years I really do not remember specific details about the cartoon, but I do remember that Crusader was my hero, that I always wished the show were longer, and that there was always a cliffhanger at the end to ensure that you would watch the next day. Crusader Rabbitt, Space Patrol, and Super Circus were my favorite programs.

What a pity that "Crusader Rabbit," Jay Ward's first wild and wacky TV animation series is all but lost to the modern world. Only five-minutes long, each segment was a splendid combination of humor, satire and comedy that was a delight for 1950's children and adults. "Crusader Rabbit" is the seminal work that led Ward to go on and produce such memorable series as "Rocky and Bullwinkle," "Dudley Do-Right," and "George of the Jungle." Can't someone get this material back into circulation on video or dvd? It is a gem in its own right as well as an important first step in the evolution of TV animation and satire.