Sapula Pula

I have always liked those strange little, maybe bizarre shows that have always seemed to just appear on TV and then disappear almost as quickly. Few people even know they existed, but for the serious TV watcher, they were what made television exciting. Shows like Gerald McBoingBoing, WinkyDink, Smilin' Ed's Gang (with Froggie the Gremlin). Shows that most likely were the ancestors of later shows like Fraggle Rock, Futurama, and Trippin the Rift, and currently South Park, Family Guy, Drawn Together. (Yes, The Simpsons, too, but that show is way too popular,and no to Beavis and Butthead - just gross for no reason, and no to King of the Hill, actually a rather sad show. Though, Beany and Cecil was really close). Shows that from a distance looked like kids fare,but if you actually took the time to watch and listen, you'd see very mature, adult writing and themes done with humor- shows that challenged you to think a little, while poking fun at every cultural reference one could think of.

Of course, I watched Rocky and Bullwinkle, but when Hoppity Hooper appeared, my immediate thought was that, aha, the writers of R&B are pulling out all the stops and just going for joke after joke, but all rather deep. You had to really know what was going on, to catch it all. And it was all hilarious. All three leads were way over the top, Hoppity with his oh so serious, wide eyed innocence, Waldo with his angles to scam everything and everybody, and Filmore with his absolutely brainless utterances.

I could just see the writers and lead voices having a blast with the barest of plots, but with the sarcasm and irony going full bore. These shows aren't for everyone, but if you like that kind of humor, there are some places around here you can see an episode or two.

Too bad they didn't get that magic 100 shows so there would be enough for repeat syndication. A little gem of a show for the all too brief time it was on.

Today, two types of people know anything about "Hoppity Hooper"-Cartoon historians and collectors, and sixties children who fondly remember this the first time around. I fall in the former category, being born the year it came out in 1964 (it left the air when I was 3, so I have no childhood memory of it). But I saw a good number of episodes recently on the "Giant 600 Cartoon" DVD.

I liked what I saw. Essentially the younger brother of "Rocky and Bullwinkle," this Jay Ward production succeeded the more famous moose and squirrel after they were canceled in 1964. Hoppity is a boyish, Rocky-type frog who travels the country with a con man fox named "Uncle Waldo" (in the pilot, the crooked fox hides out from the cops at Hoppity's house by claiming to be the frog's long-lost uncle) and Waldo's dumb partner, a bear named Fillmore with a classic "duh" voice.

Jay Ward and co. let their imaginations run wild on this one. Adult satire mixes with kiddie fantasy (when Fillore turns into a giant turnip, the frightened townspeople form a lynch mob and shouts "would you let your daughter marry a giant turnip?" Any adult recalling race relations in that era would get the joke). Another bonus is that the stories were ultra-clever and never told the same story twice. However, the humor probably went over the mass audiences head and doomed it to oblivion.

However, if you catch it, it is an acquired taste and you will find yourself searching for more rare episodes. "Hoppity Hooper" is really a lost gem.

"Hoppity Hooper" is one of the cartoons I grew up with thanks to its appearance on the low-budget DVD sets made by Mill Creek Entertainment. As a kid, I liked it but didn't love it, and I feel the same now.

It's a lively and funny show, but suffers from two major issues. The first is one that became more common in children's animation in later decades: there is constant noise. Someone is always talking (usually yelling) or else there's a sound effect, without a moment of silence. This makes it a bit grating to watch more than a couple episodes at once. The other problem is that the episodes are only five minutes long with cliffhangers and recaps in each. That doesn't leave enough time to tell a story properly, even with the stories being spread over four episodes each, so the show always seems to be in a rush.

There are some great episodes though - the Twilight Zone parody "Traffic Zone" for one. The very first episode, "Ring-a-Ding Spring" is also a fun one. The show isn't bad at all, but it could have been better - and it might be better remembered today if it had been.

This has to be one of the more underrated shows in the history of cartoons. To me this show was always overshadowed by the show that Jay Ward was always famous for "Rocky and Bullwinkle". Hans Conreid will always be remembered for being one of the classic comedic actors in television history. But it was what he did in his characterization of "Uncle Waldo" that helped make this what it was. Also, the characters of the serious Hoppity and the dimwitted Filmore helped balance out Waldo's outrageousness. However, the main factor that made it great was the fact that it contained the element of social satire that made all Jay Ward shows enjoyable for both children and adults. Its just too bad that this show always gets lost in the shuffle whenever Jay Ward and his creations are mentioned.

I really liked this series! It's really a shame that they made only one season of episodes. Never mind about what it says, that the show ran 1964 to 1967; only one year of those three years included NEW episodes.

Had they made two or three years of episodes, probably a lot more people would remember this show today. I, also, probably would have enjoyed watching the re-runs much more if there had been in excess of 25+ shows to choose from.

This was a nice lunchtime companion, for me, in the summers when school was out. The frog, the bear and the wolf (or whatever kind of furry character Uncle Waldo was) were cute and also very funny.

Uncle Waldo, voiced by the late, great Hans Conried (who also did Snidely Whiplash on Dudley Do-Right) was actually more than just cute. He was so much like that elderly great-uncle or grandfather, that everyone has.

I also liked Paul Frees as the narrator. Though never really famous, on-camera (he was a priest in A PLACE IN THE SUN--1951-- and a psychiatrist in Disney's THE SHAGGY DOG), I read up on him, over the internet, and learned that his nickname was "THE MAN OF A THOUSAND VOICES".

The bouncy, energetic theme song, was kind of neat, too, because you could see that it was deliberately designed that way to conjure up the image of its star, Hoppity Hooper, in action.

Maybe someday someone will revive this great cartoon series and create brand new episodes! I would much rather see that than a single two-hour movie (I have never thought that those cinematic endeavors ever do an original cartoon series justice).

Hopefully this cartoon, from the Golden Age era of animation, is not so outdated, by today's standards, that it could not be picked up, by some genius, to entertain the future children of America (and some adults too) with all new adventures (hopefully in the same episodic format)!!