''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.
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.
[''Rod Rocket'']
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...
Archived
from the original on February 9, 2017. Scheimer and Sutherland had met while working at
Larry Harmon
Lawrence Weiss (January 2, 1925 – July 3, 2008), better known by the stage name Larry Harmon and as his alter ego Bozo the Clown, was an American entertainer.Dennis McLellanLarry Harmon, 83; entrepreneur made Bozo the Clown a star ''Los ...
Productions on the made-for-TV
Bozo the Clown and
Popeye cartoons. They produced the series for SIB Productions, a Japanese company.
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.
Voices
The voice cast included:
*
Sam Edwards - Rod Rocket and Joey
*
Hal Smith - Professor Angus
*Pat Blake - Cassie
Episodes
*"Slave Labor in Space"
*"The Lava Trap"
*"Lost in a Lunar Mist"
*"Lights On"
*"The Acid Test"
References
External links
*
''Rod Rocket''at Toon Tracker
1960s American animated television series
1963 American television series debuts
1963 American television series endings
American children's animated space adventure television series
Television series by Filmation
Television series by MGM Television
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
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