Skippy

I remember watching Skippy when I was little. It was in syndication here in the U.S. back in the late '60s and early '70s. Skippy was a kangaroo. There was one episode in which Mike Hammond had to dart a wild kangaroo to relocate it away from a populated area.

Sonny, Mike's son, didn't want him to shoot Skippy by mistake.

Mike's love interest in the show was Clarissa "Clancy" Merrick. I haven't seen the new series.

This show, which revolves around an Australian bush kangaroo, is best described as Australia's "Gentle Ben" Television show. The show has the same story lines of a ranger, his son, their pet kangaroo, and the misadventures they get into. I like the show, as corny as it is, probably because it does remind me of other late 60's & early 70's adventure shows that I grew up with. If you like "Gentle Ben", "Flipper", "Lassie" and "Daktori!", you'll have fun with this Show.

I recently stumbled upon Skippy again after not seeing it for 40+ years and I still love it. I used to pretend that Clancy, Mark and Sonny were my siblings and Skippy was mine too. I thought Clancy was beautiful and envied her her long blonde hair. I also had a crush on Matt Hammond, completely overlooking the eye-candy helicopter pilot, but I was only 7, what did I know? It's a nice, fun little show that modern parents can watch with their kids and not worry about what they're seeing, and can also show modern kids that things managed to get done without smart phones or the Internet. They might also find Sonny's homeschooling via two-way radio interesting, too.

I thought even as a kid that this show was really nice, and revisiting this show after several years of not being able to find it I still do. The theme song is wonderful, and stuck in my head for a long while, and the Australian locations are really striking. The story lines were gripping, original and touching, yes perhaps there were moments when it was predictable but that is occasionally. The dialogue was also good in my opinion, not superb but it was humorous with some levels of intelligence. The acting from all the human actors is very good and the characters aren't annoying, but Skippy the Kangaroo steals the show, he is really cute and endearing not to mention smart. Overall, a nice show, that is worth watching for Skippy and the scenery. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I remember watching this show on our cable TV back in 1969 (WPIX in New York, I think), and I was immediately hooked. Out of all the animal shows being made at that time--Gentle Ben, Lassie, Daktari--I liked this one the best of all.

It had a great ensemble cast, in addition to Skippy. Everyone in the cast did a great job, and it was fun to see them interact with each other in every episode.

And since I had just studied about Australia during the 1968-69 school year, the locales Down Under were also of interest to me. I have not seen the show since, and I know it had aired on Animal Planet some time ago. Seems to me that it's time to revisit this show!