Colonel Bleep

''Colonel Bleep'' is a 1957 American animated TV series, which was the first color cartoon series made for television. It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh in June 8, 1956, and was animated by Soundac, Inc. of Miami. The show was originally syndicated in September 21, 1957 as a segment on ''Uncle Bill's TV Club''. One hundred episodes, of varying length of between three and six minutes each, were produced. Of these episodes, 44 episodes are known to exist in some form, eight of which are only available in monochrome.

Summary

In 1945, the first nuclear explosion on Earth has cosmic effects: Scratch, a hibernating Stone Age caveman, is awakened/transported to the present by the blast; and the denizens of the possible exoplanet Futura become alarmed. The Futurians, an alien race with heads shaped like Reuleaux triangles and small, slender bodies, send one of their own, Colonel Bleep, to investigate. Upon reaching Earth, Bleep commissions Scratch as a deputy, with Bleep representing the future and Scratch the past. Representing the present day is Squeak, a cowboy hat-wearing puppet ("a happy-go-lucky boy...very much like you") and former actor that can move on his own volition but cannot speak (as a puppet, he cannot speak on his own; this concept was eventually abandoned, and Squeak occasionally spoke in some of the later episodes). Together, the three establish a base at Zero Zero Island in the Atlantic Ocean to protect Earth's Solar System from extraterrestrial threats.

Colonel Bleep was typically seen with a transparent bubble as a helmet, with a helicopter-like propeller and two antennae. The propeller, used in conjunction with Bleep's ever-present unicycle, helped propel the creature through space. The antennae shot beams of "futomic energy" (a portmanteau of future and atomic), which could manifest itself in any number of ways, most commonly as a raygun. The amount of futomic energy Colonel Bleep could absorb at any given time was finite, and in a few episodes he runs out of energy and becomes vulnerable; there were also situations where the heat that the futomic beam generated would pose a hazard and make it an unsuitable choice. His helicopter could also be pressed into service as a drill or auger. Scratch's main weapons were his superhuman strength and a large club. Squeak, other than his unexplained sentience and ability to move on his own, had no identifiable superpowers.

The series drew heavy influence from the Space Age of its time. Occasionally, the planet Futura and its denizens would be seen; most of the series took place within Earth's Solar System, with intelligent life forms existing on most planets. Interplanetary travel was facilitated by robots, and a space station, X-1, served as a transportation hub. The accuracy of the science varied widely from episode to episode.

Episodes could follow any number of formats. Training episodes would often follow a format of binary oppositions in which the savvy learner Scratch would follow Bleep's instructions while the hotshot Squeak blew off his duties and got himself into trouble. Travelogues featured the trio visiting areas such as the Belgian Congo or New Orleans