''Hammerman'' is an

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

, starring

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

MC Hammer Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper known for hit songs such as "U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit", and "Pumps and a Bump", flashy dance movements, e ...

, which aired for thirteen episodes on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in the fall of 1991. It was produced by DIC Animation City and Italian company Reteitalia S.p.A., in association with Spanish network

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

Synopsis

Youth center worker Stanley Burrell (Hammer's real name) owns a pair of magical dancing shoes (which are alive and can speak), which when worn cause Burrell to transform into the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

Hammerman. He frequently gets advice from his "Gramps", who was a former owner of the shoes and was known as Soulman. While in the guise of Hammerman, Burrell was dressed in MC Hammer's signature purple Hammer pants and myriad golden chains. The show was hosted by the real

, who also sang the show's theme song, telling about the origin of Hammerman. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Gramps (Robert Nameson) was the superhero Soulman, but as he grew older, he grew weaker and was forced to retire. Gramps and his granddaughter Jodie traveled to find the next new superhero. Their search was over when they met Stanley and he put on the shoes. Each episode, Hammerman faced various social issues; at the end of each episode, MC Hammer would speak to the audience and provide methods to address these issues themselves.

Cast

- Hammerman/Stanley Burrell (live action) *

Neil Crone Neil Crone (born May 29, 1960) is a Canadian actor and writer. He is known for portraying Fred Tupper in '' Little Mosque on the Prairie'', Jerry Whitehall in '' Cube 2: Hypercube'' and the voices of Gordon, Diesel 10 and Splatter in ''Thomas an ...

- Ludwig *

Clark Johnson Clark Johnson (born September 10, 1954) is an American-Canadian actor and director who has worked in both television and film. He is best known for his roles as David Jefferson in ''Night Heat'' (1985–1988), Clark Roberts in ''E.N.G.'' (1989� ...

- Hammerman (cartoon) * Jeff Jones * Miguel Lee * Joe Matheson *

Susan Roman Susan Roman (born April 17) is a Canadian television and voice actress and voice director, best known for voice acting the role of Lita/Sailor Jupiter in the Canada DiC (and later Cloverway/CWi) dub of the anime ''Sailor Moon''. She is one of ...

- Hammerman's Would-Be Girlfriend * Ron Rubin - Righty * Carmen Twillie - Fly Girls *

Louise Vallance Stephanie Louise Vallance, commonly known as Stevie Vallance, also credited as Louise Vallance during the 1970s90s, is a Canadians, Canadian actress and musician who has worked on numerous films and television series, both live-action and animat ...

- Jodie * Maurice Dean Wint - Showbiz

Additional voices

Philip Akin Philip Akin (born April 18, 1950) is a Canadian actor. Akin has been acting and directing for over 40 years. He has had roles in major American films such as ''The Sum of All Fears'', '' S.W.A.T.'', and '' Get Rich or Die Tryin. He has also d ...

* Réal Andrews * Jason Burke *

George Buza George Buza is an American and Canadian actor who is best known for voicing Beast (Dr. Hank McCoy) in '' X-Men: The Animated Series'' and ''X-Men '97''. Personal life Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, as a young man and be ...

Len Carlson Len Carlson (September 2, 1937 - January 26, 2006) was a Canadian voice actor who voiced various characters on many animated television series from the 1960s to the 2000s, an occasional live-action TV actor, and a Kraft Canada TV pitchman during ...

* Rob Cowan * Michelyn Emelle *

Dan Hennessey Daniel Robert Hennessey (September 11, 1942 – November 13, 2024) was an American-born Canadian voice actor. He was perhaps best known for voicing Brave Heart Lion in the ''Care Bears'' franchise. In addition to his well-received voice work ...

- Boss Grindenheimer * Marc Marut * Greg Morton * Jackie Richardson *

Judith Scott Judith Scott may refer to: * Judith Scott (artist) (1943 – 2005), American fiber artist * Judith Scott (American actress) (born 1965), American television actress * Judith Scott (British actress) Judi Scott (1957–2018) was a British the ...

* Errol Slue * Michael Stark * John Stocker - Defacely Marmeister * Marlow Vella *

Richard Yearwood Richard Yearwood is a British-Canadian actor, television host, director and producer, who is best known for providing the voice of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong in ''Donkey Kong Country (TV series), Donkey Kong Country''. Career Yearwo ...

Episodes

While the airdates and order of most episodes is unknown, "Defeated Graffiti", the first episode (as confirmed by MC Hammer's comments at the beginning of the episode), aired on September 7, 1991. The cartoon aired on Saturday mornings at 10 AM on ABC.

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' journalist Dalton Ross listed ''Hammerman'' at the top of his list "Top 5 Most Ridiculous Things to Be Turned Into a Saturday Morning Cartoon", and described the show as "idiotic".

Home media

In 1994, 3 of the 13 episodes were released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

Buena Vista Home Video Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

. There are currently no plans for a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release.

References

External links

* {{Children's programming in the American Broadcasting Company in the 1990s MC Hammer 1990s American animated comedy television series 1990s American black cartoons 1990s American children's comedy television series 1990s American parody television series 1990s American superhero comedy television series 1991 American animated television series debuts 1991 American television series endings 1990s Canadian animated television series 1990s Canadian black cartoons 1991 Canadian television series debuts 1991 Canadian television series endings 1990s Italian animated television series 1991 Italian television series debuts 1991 Italian television series endings American English-language television shows Animation based on real people Television series based on singers and musicians Television series by DIC Entertainment Parody superheroes American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated musical television series American children's animated superhero television series American television series with live action and animation Canadian children's animated comedy television series Canadian children's animated musical television series Canadian children's animated superhero television series Canadian parody television series Canadian television series with live action and animation Italian children's animated comedy television series Italian children's animated musical television series Italian children's animated superhero television series Italian television series with live action and animation Cultural depictions of American people Cultural depictions of hip-hop musicians American Broadcasting Company animated television series