One of Hanna Barbera's
Greatest Cartoon Series

Episode Guide

J. T. Holtz wrote "Seven characters voiced by six great actors (The wonderful Leo de Lyon pulled double duty as the voice of both Brain and Spook), each with a distinct and endearing personality. Arnold Stang is brilliantly cast as Top Cat, bringing a sensitivity and vulnerability to the role of this "hukster." Marvin Kaplan is hilarious as Choo-Choo. And Allen Jenkins is perfect as officer Dibble."

Benny the Ball, the character that corresponded to Bilko's Pvt. Doberman, was voiced by Maurice Gosfield — the actor who played Doberman.

Why didn't it get taken up for a second series, or even a later revival? Who knows - but I suspect it was simply ahead of its time, and had not quite got the balance of speaking simultaneously to adults and children, never mastered until The Simpsons, 30 years down the line. For me, it was streets ahead of The Jetsons and Yogi Bear.

I'd put it neck and neck with The Flintstones; if it had been given time, who knows - and it's a matter of record that Hanna-Barbera realised the error once syndication started to pay for the series, again and again. I'm sure I'm not the only viewer who was amazed to find there had only been 30 episodes, filling Saturday morning and early evening TV for years!

The DVD package has some great extras:

• Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish (all Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• All 30 episodes
• Three episodes include commentary by series veterans and historians
• Two documentaries on the series
• Storyboard comparison
• Singalong
• Art gallery - sketches and storyboards
• Vintage commericals
  

See the Episode Guide

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