The Beatles

The thing I remember most about this series was the fact that George's speaking voice sounded exactly like Frankenberry's, from the Frankenberry/Count Chocula breakfast cereal commercials that were popular at the time...In other words, nothing even remotely resembling the baritone nasal scouse of the real George Harrison. I also seem to recall a couple of occasions where the animators didn't quite get the lead vocalist correct (in one episode, Paul was singing lead on "No Reply"). In spite of all that, the series still managed to be quite entertaining, and was the first place I had ever heard the songs "From Me To You" and "Paperback Writer." I only owned Beatle albums and not singles, and neither of those songs were on any Beatle LPs at the time.

I recall only bits and pieces of the show and would love to see it again on TV. It probably is dated but would bring back a lot of memories. I remember the scene where the Beatles were performing in the Roman Coliseum and the beat was causing it to fall apart.

In 1965 Ed Vane took over as head of daytime programming at ABC. Saturday mornings were dominated by CBS- Vane wanted to change that. He felt the best bet was a Beatles cartoon. Working with Al Brodax at King Features, a deal was made for 26 shows with 2 cartoons per show at a budget of $32,000/show (cheap for 1965). And Brodax had just 5 months before the premiere. Result was a rush job with all the animation outsourced outside the U. S. Results were as you would expect-simple animation with lots of cycles repeating. Still, "The Beatles" was the top rated cartoon for the year, and ABC came in #1 on Saturday mornings. That shocked CBS into opening its wallet and spending millions on a complete revamp of their lineup.

13 more Beatles cartoons were made over the next two seasons- since they're not as rushed the quality is noticeably better. Al Brodax went on to produce the Yellow Submarine film.

love these cartoons. the animation looks like cartoon veteran Gene Dietch had something to do with them. it looks more like Dietch than the style of Brodax's other Beatles toon 'Yellow Submarine'.

i can't say the voices sounded anything like the Beatles, and i very much doubt the Beatles would say things like "guv'nor". still, the animation is very cute and lively and the sing-a-longs just adorable. i even heard a few Beatle songs i'd never heard before (thought i'd heard 'em all).

these little cartoons are so cute and adorable that i'm surprised they aren't easier to get ( i had to order from a foreign seller). and i wish someone would restore them and make a better DVD transfer. but then again, just try to find a decent, restored copy of the BBC television classic 'Magical Mystery Tour'.

these are a great way for parents to introduce their babies to the ever pleasing sounds of the Fab Four.

The Beatles cartoon has become beloved and notorious for its production values: wonderful songs used as a backdrop for cookie-cutter stories and shoddy yet funkylicious animation that fits the time period these shorts were made. I've only ever seen this cartoon through bootlegs; and that's another thing, this cartoon has NEVER seen an official release on home video formats. There aren't even official VHS tapes of the show. You can only get bootlegs on eBay or YouTube if you're lucky. This show is like The Star Wars Holiday Special of hard-to-get television 'gems' that we're still waiting to be released on DVD.

This show has The Beatles, and the real stars of the show are really the songs themselves; it doesn't matter what context they're played in, they're always good tunes to listen to. Now Apple Corps, King Features Syndicate and company, can we PLEASE get an official DVD release of this nugget of television animation history?