Ong before he had his own talk show in the form of Adult Swim's long running Space Ghost: Coast To Coast, Space Ghost was a superhero created by the legendary Alex Toth. Starring in his own television series from September 1966 through September 1968 on CBS, Space Ghost (voiced by Gary Owens) would team up with two kid sidekicks, Jan (Ginny Tyler) and Jace (Tim Matheson), and their monkey friend Blip (Don Messick of Scooby-Doo), to fight evil every week. Different villains would provide different scenarios for our heroes but recurring bad guys like Zorak, Moltar and Brak gave episodes and characters a sense of familiarity. Space Ghost, who yelled out his own name far too often, had the power to become invisible which came in handy while dealing with alien villains day in and day out. When you've got to keep the peace in space, being able to turn invisible is a good thing.
Interestingly enough, the last two episodes of the series make up one length story entitled The Council Of Doom wherein, much like the Super Friends' Legion Of Doom that would follow, Space Ghost's many enemies join forces to take him down once and for all. As campy as the series was, there is some actual legitimate suspense to be found here, as the chapters all end as cliffhangers.
While the characters weren't exactly deep or, to be honest, all the interesting they were at least hyper-stylized and extremely cool to watch. Toth's clean line work made sure that the character designs were sleek and that they looked 'space age' for the time they were created. Add to this the fantastic voice work from the entire cast, Gary Owens in particular, and you've got a slick and entertaining little cartoon that may not teach us anything but which will certainly entertain. Owens' voice would later be recognizable in other endeavors such as Captain Caveman where he served as the narrator and Garfield And Friends where he served as the announcer. He's the perfect voice for Space Ghost, sounding noble and heroic and just a little bit full of himself.
Following the same format as Birdman & The Galaxy Trio, which was also shown on CBS around the same time and also created by Alex Toth, in between Space Ghost episodes there would be a second feature, this time in the form of a short Dino Boy In The Lost Valley cartoon. Dino Boy (voiced by Johnny Caron) was a modern day kid named Todd who jumped out of a plane over the South American jungle to avoid a crash. When he landed, he found himself in a prehistoric world where he would befriend a caveman named Ugh (Mike Road) and a dinosaur named Bronto (Don Messick again).
The episodes all move along quickly - each of the three stories runs roughly eight minutes each - and the characters, as simple as they are, are quite fun. The dialogue is hammy but it suits the material well and the sound effects and music should definitely send out some waves of nostalgia to those who remember the show from either its original run or the various syndicated reruns which have been broadcast over the last four decades. The series stands as a sterling example of the sixties pop art aesthetic and as a testament to Toth's unsung creative talents - it's also a heck of a lot of goofy, interstellar fun.
