If you were on top of your game,and had a hit television series in prime-time during the 1980's,all you had to do was basically come up with a great catch phrase and be a outstanding role model for kids,then you can be just like Mister T. This is how he got his own Saturday Morning cartoon show.
Ruby-Spears Productions(another animation studio founded by former Hanna-Barbera producers Joesph Ruby and Kenneth Spears during the late 1970's and continued into the early 1990's),the creators of such Saturday Morning shows as "Fangface","The Adventures of Plasticman", "Goldie Gold and Action Jack","Heathcliff and Marmaduke",and the greatest Saturday Morning action adventure cartoon ever made "Thundarr The Barbarian" came up again with another winner as well which became one of the milestone cartoons of the 1980's,"The Adventures of Mister T",or aka "Mister T",that premiered on NBC's Saturday Morning schedule in 1983. At the time this show came on,Mister T was one of the most celebrated stars on television,playing the tough as nails B.A. Baracus opposite George Peppard in prime-time on one of the network's most highly rated show,"The A-Team". In the cartoon which was devised by legendary comic artist Jack Kirby and scripted by cult comic writer Steve Gerber(who also wrote the pilot episode). In the cartoon,Mister T plays basically himself as a coach and mentor not to mention protected guardian to a group of gymnasts who travelled the world while becoming involved in and solving various mysteries. At the beginning of each episode(and this was the live-action introduction)features Mister T himself to explain what is going on. And at the end of each lesson,Mister T narrates a moral lesson for the audience.
In the animated segment of the show Mister T gets to tour around the world with a group of kids who were members of the U.S. Gymnastics team (which consists of an diversity of kids from different countries and cultures)along with their well-mannered team bus driver Ms. Bisby. Not to mention a dog with a mohawk and one of the kids' little brother too who is a Mr. T wannabe with the sleeveless denim shirt and jewelry...and get this as far as the comic relief was concern in some of the episodes,it wasn't the dog with the mohawk,but that stupid little annoying brat who was the most infantile of characters! As far as the episodes were concern,yeah it was a blantant rip-off of the Scooby Doo formula,but still the action never lets up with the gang encountering crimes that take place along the tour,and basically making the badguys PAY! Some of the episodes followed the same pattern by having some crime occurring and one of the kids finding out about it and telling Mister T what they saw. Then Mister T and the gang would catch up and take care of business. During some of the action,the young gymnastics would learn some valuable lesson and doing things the right way...Whilst Mister T steps in to do some damage to the baddies and would often used violence as a last resort(the violence in this show was very mild but always under the radar from the advocate of censors that were consistingly watching the show!!!)
During some of the segments,Mister T often gave out great advice to kids as well as some of the morals lessons in just about every episode like He-Man and G.I. Joe. These lessons involved safety tips for kids like for example telling kids not to talk to strangers and develop a special code or bond with their friend using "the buddy system". Also more interesting enough was him telling kids in case a stranger was picking them up who was NOT a member of the family(inpersonation of a family member)or NOT to except gifts or other stuff from strangers. Geez imagine how many less missing or exploited children there would be if someone told them this? He also mention to kids what can you do in your neighborhood. At the end ,T would punctuate his advice by pointing his finger to the camera to the baddies by saying,"Take it for me MR.T!" Mister T would also blazed the trail for other animated shows featuring Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos,and Rambo:The Force Of Freedom that would set the standard during the 80's.
