Rod Rocket

Rod Rocket is the first animated cartoon with production credited to Filmation, debuting in syndication in 1963. The show was produced in five-minute cliffhanger segments, with five segments making a full story. Television stations could broadcast the single-segment version daily on their local children's afternoon show, or package them together to make 26 weekly half-hour shows.[1]

Rod Rocket
GenreAnimation, Adventure
Written byDick Robbins
Directed byLou Scheimer
Hal Sutherland
StarringSam Edwards
Hal Smith
Pat Blake
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes130
Production
Executive producersMark Lipsky
Walter N. Bien
Running time5 min.
Production companiesFilmation Associates
Sib Tower 12 Productions
DistributorDesilu Sales
Release
Picture formatColor (initially telecast in black-and-white)
Original release1963 (1963)

History

Rod Rocket was originally produced by True Line, a small Los Angeles animation studio that subcontracted it the newly formed Filmation Associates created by Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland in 1963.[2][3] Scheimer and Sutherland had met while working at Larry Harmon Productions on the made-for-TV Bozo the Clown and Popeye cartoons. They produced the series for SIB Productions, a Japanese company.[3]

Plot

A boy named Rod Rocket and his best friend, Joey, are sent by wise codger Professor Argus on an exploratory mission in a spaceship called the Little Argo. He waits for them at home with his teenage granddaughter, Cassie. While in space, Rod and Joey constantly battle two bumbling cosmonauts.[4]

Voices

The voice cast included:[5]

Episodes
  • "Slave Labor in Space"
  • "The Lava Trap"
  • "Lost in a Lunar Mist"
  • "Lights On"
  • "The Acid Test"

References
  1. Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. p. 241. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. Scheimer, Lou; Mangels, Andy (2012). Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 38–39.
  3. Rod Rocket at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 9, 2017.
  4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 685–686. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  5. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 516. ISBN 978-1538103739.


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