Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp

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?

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.

I absolutely loved this show when it came out in 1970, and I would be thrilled to have the episodes on DVD. It was clever, campy and utterly silly - qualities which some viewers may not fully appreciate. How could you not laugh at Ed Simian and the bad banana jokes? The parody of the spy-show genre was dead-on. Exotic locations (chimps skiing is a sight one never forgets), cool gadgets, villains with accents - this show had it all.

Of course, in today's world the chimps would be computer-generated so as not to upset the animal rights folks, and therefore the charm of the original would be totally lost.

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 was a small child when this ran during its one season in 1970, and it had a profound effect on me, although at the time I had no idea why. While some people argue that "H.R. Puffinstuff" was the most psychedelic, drug-fueled kids' show of all-time (and of that period), I would say it comes in a close second to "L.L."! Watching "L.L" now, you can almost picture the haze of pot smoke and LSD trips the creators and writers of this show must have gotten their ideas from! It's like a stoner's PhD thesis! "L.L." is a surrealistic masterpiece worthy of Salvador Dali (wonder if the old boy ever watched it? Now THAT would be something to behold!). It's easy to understand why it only ran for one season, and equally easy to see how it has achieved the cult status it enjoys today. Truly a time capsule of the late 60s/early 70s, thank goodness that it's now preserved for posterity on DVD! Children and heads of the world unite!