Lancelot Link: O Agente Secreto

This television show is not only amazing, but has actually shaped my entire adult life. When I was nine years old, I was shipped off to a remote Aventist commune in Waco, Texas, and kept there until I turned 21. In this commune, we were given few luxuries, with activities mostly consisting of frolicking outside and shooting firearms at stray dogs and cats. But one of the scarce luxuries we were given was a dvd recording of this very show, Lancelot Link. As children, we would all pretend to be the characters from the show, walking around with our fists on the floor and screeching at anyone we saw. I remember our group's leader David would always turn the show on and laugh, and would even sometimes shoot his gun into the air out of laughter. This show alone made my life in the compound enjoyable, and I still wonder to this day what became of the fun little compound that my youth was spent at.

When I left the compound in 1992, I went out into a strange, foreign world of which I had little contact with. The only idea of the outside world I had was from this show, Lancelot Link. Because of this, I chose my lifelong profession; chimpanzee wrangler. Basically, if you don't already know, a chimp wranglers job is to wrangle chimps. We usually use large nets, shaped similarly to butterfly nets that you would see, but will also occasionally use net guns, or pieces of meat on enlarged fishing poles. We go around from city-to-city and find stray chimps, usually escaped from circuses or homes or nightclubs, and wrangle them into our special chimp-pen, where we return them to their original owners. One day however, as I was doing my job, a perculiar chimp drew my attention. We had been called to retreve it, and had located it in a dark alleyway. I looked at the chimp, and noticed something strange. The chimp was wearing a trenchcoat and a really cool little hat. I thought to myself, is this Lancelot Link??? And this brings me to a realization, that has forced me to take a star off of my review. Lancelot Link is not particularly sneaky or secretive. In fact, he sticks out like a sore chimpy thumb in a crowd, making him a terrible secret agent. For this reason alone, I am forced to make the tough decision to rate this show a 9/10. I love Lancelot Link, but it is totally unrealistic, simply because Link is not very sneaky.

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?

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.

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.