Lancillotto 008

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!

I don't know where to begin...

This is welded into my childhood memories, more so even than Thunderbirds (tt0057790). This is pure anarchic, demented children's teevee that simply will never be made again. Ever. As a species, we have become so jaded with multimedia that we forsaken our innocence and no longer play with with wisps of imaginative folly and allow them to run free and unrestrained.

This is another '60s styled espionage show (Man from UNCLE, Avengers et al.) - except with a cast entirely of chimpanzees. That are in a psychedelic band as a cover. This will never happen ever again anywhere in the universe. But it happened then. It brought so much joy to my eight year old mind. And it still does.

Plebs now will watch it and dismiss it with a hipster "meh". Your loss. Contextualize and imagine. This was made in a world on the brink of annihilation. This is how we reacted - absurdist farce delivered with a chimp middle finger salute. Bravo.

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.

When I asked people about this seldom seen and forgotten show,I noticed I get a strange look. However,I vividity remember this show as a child back in the early 70's when it was shown mostly on Saturday Mornings. This was a show that had a combination of "The Monkees" mixed throughly with key elements of Robert Vaughn's spy spoof,"The Man From U.N.C.L.E" (in which you had a chimpanzee in the Robert Vaughn role and a man in a gorilla suit played the head agent in the Leo G. Carroll role)for good measure and believe me it didn't last long when it premiered in the fall of 1970. The series was cancelled that same year.

It may have been fun back in its heyday but executives at the network as well as kids weren't buying it one bit since it was pathetically stupid as one of the worst children's TV shows of all time--second to another monkey show called "Me And The Chimp"(case in point-kids were watching it). The show back in its day was part of ABC-TV's(which the show originally ran)grand and sometimes lame lineup of live action and cartoon shows which were mostly shown on Saturday Mornings under the supervision of the head of children's programming for ABC at the time--the late producer-animator Chuck Jones which in point had shows like during his tenture were "The Curiousity Shop","Make A Wish","The Funky Phantom","Goober and the Ghost Chasers","The Jackson Five",not to mention the animated shows like "Lassie's Rescue Rangers" and he also

had under his belt "The Superfriends"(the first two seasons only) and his own short lived series called "Chuck Jones Presents".

PS-THe producer of Lancelot Link was Alan Landsburg who produced several shows under his tenture which included the Leonard Nimoy documentary "In Search Of...","That's Incredible!",and the sitcoms "Gimme A Break",and "Kate and Allie".