One of my favorite childhood memories was coming home from school for lunch and watching Rocket Robin Hood while eating lunch. It's one of Canada's few cartoons that endured over the years. I loved the opening theme (which was actually kind of spooky) and the way that each show was divided into three segments. In between, there were interludes in which the Merry Men sang their joy of being part of the band and for having Robin as a leader. Looking back on it as an adult is amusing in that the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John as well as all their guards (who all looked alike and always wore orange uniforms) were so hilariously inept. The guards not only always lost every fight with Robin and his men, they always were getting knocked out from one punch. One wonders why Prince John didn't try to replace them. Actually, it was a violent cartoon in some ways. Each show seemed to feature a fight scene in which the viewer saw a close up of Robin's fist coming at the screen or Little John (who looked like Moose from the Archie comics) clobbering someone with his electro-quardo-staff (which could be used to fly with). Even Friar Tuck often participated in the fighting. Sometimes he used his fists, other times he simply hit oncoming attackers with his enormous belly and sent them flying.
The shows were comic book-like and often featured imaginative monsters. One of my personal favorites was a space vampire with eternal life and a giant robot bat. As a child, I didn't notice but the producers were constantly using the same backdrop over and over again in different episodes. There were also two different versions of Rocket Robin Hood. In one, the colors were all dark green and red. These shows were almost surreal and genuinely scary. The second version (the one most people preferred) was bright, colorful and cheerful. (just like the Spiderman cartoon, made by the same producers, featured two different versions) Rocket Robin Hood may not be the best cartoon ever but it was pretty good and deserves a place in the Canadian history books.
