Saturday Morning cartoons and live-action programs swung the pendulum when it comes to satire: during some decades, these series have gotten away with a degree of satire that few live-action television series managed (such as *Rocky and Bullwinkle* and *George of the Jungle* or *G. I. Joe* during its first two seasons), but during other decades, neurotic executive and political panic reduced Saturday Morning fare to the point that tepid pablum such as *The Get-Along Gang* was the norm.
Charles Nelson Reilly's clever *Uncle Croc's Bloc* came about during one of the latter periods. Watching an episode, one could see the remnants of genuine satire and insight throughout the script, and Reilly as always managed to make the most of even the more uninspired lines, but generally, the satire had been sanitized into poorly executed zaniness and a bland mimicry of "edginess".
As part of the series' futile efforts to smuggle in "edgy" satire, *Uncle Croc's Bloc* tried to include satirical cartoon shorts -- shorts which sound good but which never had a chance to come close to their potential during that more sanitized time. These included a short about a cat on his ninth life haunted by the ghosts of his previous eight lives as they constantly try to murder him (an "edgy" idea at the time), a caveman and his pet trying to understand a dystopic modern big city (Bob Clampett or Jay Ward could have had a field day with the idea), and M*U*S*H, a parody of the popular adult live-action series M*A*S*H.
The series M*U*S*H (Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes) tries so hard to come across as funny that an adult viewer finds himself or herself cheering it on even though there is never a moment's doubt it will fail to provide any amusement at all. Although this cartoon series allegedly parodies the activities of Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John from the TV series, the plots have more in common with *F Troop* -- but with none of the vaudeville talent and unapologetic shtick that made that series work.
The animation is neither particularly terrible for a Saturday morning short nor above the baseline norm, and the voice actors perform their lackluster script dialogue as though they were performing honestly comedic lines. In M*U*S*H, Hawkeye Pierce becomes Bullseye, a schemer with the annoying verbal tic of laughing at his own alleged witticisms before he even makes them. Trapper John becomes Trooper, an uninspired mimicry of John Wayne characters. "Radar" O'Reilly becomes Sonar, a source of tacky jokes about near-sightedness and with an odd verbal tic of chirping just before or just after he speaks. Margaret "Hot Lips" Hoolihan becomes Cold-Lips, who sounds and behave like a rote imitation of Flip Wilson's Geraldine character. Frank Burns becomes Hank Sideburns, the mustachioed designated villain. And Colonel Henry Blake becomes Colonel Flake, for whom the voice actor inexplicably uses the sort of voice usually used in cartoons to represent a stereotypical Southern Confederate Cavalry Officer.
Watching this series in the 21st century is definitely an interesting experience, but only for the insight it gives a person into what the Saturday Morning writers and actors of the time had to work with.
Charles Nelson Reilly's clever *Uncle Croc's Bloc* came about during one of the latter periods. Watching an episode, one could see the remnants of genuine satire and insight throughout the script, and Reilly as always managed to make the most of even the more uninspired lines, but generally, the satire had been sanitized into poorly executed zaniness and a bland mimicry of "edginess".
As part of the series' futile efforts to smuggle in "edgy" satire, *Uncle Croc's Bloc* tried to include satirical cartoon shorts -- shorts which sound good but which never had a chance to come close to their potential during that more sanitized time. These included a short about a cat on his ninth life haunted by the ghosts of his previous eight lives as they constantly try to murder him (an "edgy" idea at the time), a caveman and his pet trying to understand a dystopic modern big city (Bob Clampett or Jay Ward could have had a field day with the idea), and M*U*S*H, a parody of the popular adult live-action series M*A*S*H.
The series M*U*S*H (Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes) tries so hard to come across as funny that an adult viewer finds himself or herself cheering it on even though there is never a moment's doubt it will fail to provide any amusement at all. Although this cartoon series allegedly parodies the activities of Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John from the TV series, the plots have more in common with *F Troop* -- but with none of the vaudeville talent and unapologetic shtick that made that series work.
The animation is neither particularly terrible for a Saturday morning short nor above the baseline norm, and the voice actors perform their lackluster script dialogue as though they were performing honestly comedic lines. In M*U*S*H, Hawkeye Pierce becomes Bullseye, a schemer with the annoying verbal tic of laughing at his own alleged witticisms before he even makes them. Trapper John becomes Trooper, an uninspired mimicry of John Wayne characters. "Radar" O'Reilly becomes Sonar, a source of tacky jokes about near-sightedness and with an odd verbal tic of chirping just before or just after he speaks. Margaret "Hot Lips" Hoolihan becomes Cold-Lips, who sounds and behave like a rote imitation of Flip Wilson's Geraldine character. Frank Burns becomes Hank Sideburns, the mustachioed designated villain. And Colonel Henry Blake becomes Colonel Flake, for whom the voice actor inexplicably uses the sort of voice usually used in cartoons to represent a stereotypical Southern Confederate Cavalry Officer.
Watching this series in the 21st century is definitely an interesting experience, but only for the insight it gives a person into what the Saturday Morning writers and actors of the time had to work with.
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