The Lone Ranger

This 1966 cartoon series was a fun ride that I still remember to this day.First off, the animation style was unique compared to all the other cartoon TV series on at that time.It resembled the opening credits animation from the Wild,Wild,West TV show. And like that series,this cartoon had the Lone Ranger & Tonto fighting colorful,larger than life villains. Some of whom had technology that was anachronistic to the era that this series was set in.It was a fun way to update these characters for the audience.It was also nice to see Tonto featured solo in several episodes.The voice talent captured the roles perfectly, and the music was also distinctive.This series was clearly influenced by the Wild West TV series,but that's what made it outstanding.

This classic cartoon series from the mid-1960's was very innovative not to mention highly impressive. From one comment about this show was that this cartoon was not the sort of tight marked loud western featuring your various assortment of gunslingers,hostile Indians,and cattle rustlers but this was something out of the ordinary. First off,this cartoon was not only scary,but a totally different perspective from which the characters of George W. Trendle were based. Secondly,this was a far cry from the classic television series as well. This was a cartoon that was indeed totally out of the ordinary. For a cartoon that was ahead of its time,the animation style was very unique compared to the other Saturday Morning animated shows that dominated the airwaves at that time not to mention one of Filmation's second animated series to be produced after the success of "The New Adventures of Superman"(which was also Filmation's first-ever animated cartoon based on the DC Comics Character)under the supervision of director Hal Sutherland and also Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer.

It resembled the opening credits animation from which the producers of this show took cues from "The Wild,Wild,West" with The Lone Ranger in the James West role and his faithful Indian sidekick Tonto in the Artumus Gordon role. And like that series,the Lone Ranger and Tonto fought larger than life villains whose technological achievements were way advance. This was a great update on a classic in which the producers took full advantage of this and used it brilliantly,being for the time this cartoon came out around 1966...the same year that other superhero Saturday Morning action-adventure shows like "The Adventures of Superman",and "Space Ghost"(produced by Hanna-Barbera),not to mention the updated version on the animated series "King Kong"(produced by Rankin-Bass) as well. This new adapted of the animated version of "The Lone Ranger" was part western and part science fiction with a hint of high adventure. Excellent series that produced 16 episodes and was recycled in repeated episodes until 1969,when CBS replaced these action-adventure shows with wuzzy cartoons .

Not many people would have seen this and its as unknown as obscure as they come. However, for one of the earliest cartoons I ever saw (in the 1960s!), it still remains etched in memory for some brilliant atmosphere and depth of drawing the viewer in.

You'd expect this to be some sort of tightass, cowboy, loud western showdown but it is actually something else. This cartoon is a very dark, scary, yes scary, look at the some of the locations and happenings in the wild west from a very different perspective. The use of long silence, atmospheric sounds, music and impactful characters and villains gives a very unique viewing experience.

The animation is as professionally done as they could afford in the 1960s but you can't really expect anything as high end as Tex Avery or MGM toons. The animation style is somewhat minimal and simple but they concentrate on atmosphere. A very notable episode was a "Whisperer" episode where Tanto and an entire town are traumatized by the scary, hypnotic sounds of what turns out to be, not a monster. Its really rare to see such stuff from earlier times. This cartoon may not be for everyone, but does have a psychological impact by very skilled use of content.