My Top 6 Favorite Ruby-Spears Cartoon Shows

Recently, the animated kidvid world lost two legends within a month: Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. Famous for creating legendary Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon character Scooby Doo, Joe and Ken eventually went off on their own to form Ruby-Spears Enterprises and create their own legendary shows like THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN and FANGFACE. Here are my Top 6 favorite Ruby-Spears cartoon shows, in no particular order:

GOLDIE GOLD AND ACTION JACK

GOLDIE GOLD AND ACTION JACK was Ruby-Spears' answer to Hanna-Barbera's RICHIE RICH cartoons, with a bit of a HART TO HART twist. Goldie was the extremely wealthy owner of the newspaper THE GOLD STREET JOURNAL who traveled the world solving mysteries with her two best friends: Jack Travis, aka "Action Jack," handsome but slightly klutzy reporter for the GSJ; and Goldie's pet golden retriever Nugget. Of course, she had all the trappings of wealth, including a flying limo, at her disposal.

I don't remember any certain episodes, just the fun, jet-setter mood of the series. However, I do remember moments, like the time Jack's tough GSJ editor threatened to fire him if he didn't get on the ball; Goldie leaving Nugget behind, only to have him chew up her entire shoe collection; and any time Jack tripped and fell at Goldie's feet.

GOLDIE GOLD AND ACTION JACK lasted one season on ABC, and years later became part of the syndicated umbrella series THE PLASTIC MAN COMEDY ADVENTURE SHOW (the one with the live-action Plas as host).

THE PLASTIC MAN-BABY PLAS SUPER COMEDY SHOW

This half-hour spinoff of THE PLASTIC MAN COMEDY ADVENTURE SHOW had our stretchable hero decide that he did love his blonde pilot Penny after all, married her and was blessed with a son, Baby Plas, a literal "bouncing baby boy." The show followed the animated kidvid trend at the time of "kiddification"--giving grown cartoon characters kid dopplegangers of themselves.

The show had three segments: "Plastic Family", with the three of them fighting crime together; "Baby Plas," with the stretchable tot going through milestone moments (his first haircut, being baby-sat); and a typical "Plastic Man" crimefighting adventure with Plas, Penny and Hoola-Hoola.

This series lasted one season on ABC before joining the syndicated PLASTIC MAN COMEDY ADVENTURE SHOW years later.

MR. T

Would you believe this series is a spinoff of ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS? In an episode called "The C-Team," the animated version of the A-TEAM star helps Alvin, Simon and Theodore defeat a bunch of bullies. In his own show, he coaches a multiracial team of teenage gymnasts who, of course, solve mysteries and learn "pro-social values" between meets.

The most frequently-seen teammates are Jeff, a boastful white guy; Robin, a sharp-tongued Irish-American girl; Kim, a sweet Asian American girl; Woody, a smart Black guy; and Spike, Robin's little brother and Mr. T's biggest fan, who serves as the team's towel boy and imitates his idol to an annoying degree. Other gymnasts on the team pop up, as do Ms. Bisby, the team bus driver, and Dozer, the dog with a Mohawk.

The one standout episode for me (and a lot of viewers, I'm sure) was "Mystery of the Stranger," in which Spike is lured into a car and kidnapped by a couple. There was a scene where Robin is comforted by her teammates and Mr. T turns his back to shed a tear for his Number One Fan. Eventually, the team catches the kidnappers, with Spike learning the hard way to never talk to strangers--and getting a kiss on the cheek from his idol Mr. T.

MR. T ran for three seasons, a whoppin' 30 episodes, on NBC, with the real T not only voicing his cartoon counterpart but appearing in live-action segments at the beginning and end of the episodes to drive home the lesson.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS

This reboot of THE ALVIN SHOW from the 1960s was inspired by a radio DJ's prank of playing a sped-up record and calling it "Chipmunk Punk". Real -life requests for the fictional album inspired a real album, and lead to the Saturday morning cartoon, which became a staple of 1980s kidvid.

This version of Alvin, Simon and Theodore were a little nicer, a little softer, and sang their versions of then-current hit songs. Alvin himself was portrayed as a boastful braggard whose big mouth got him and his brothers into trouble. There was also a trio of singing sisters called The Chipettes--Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor--because you had to have some Girl Power in 1980s kidvid.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS inspired countless spinoff series, like CHIPMUNKS GO TO THE MOVIES, and many theatrical movies, animated and live-action.

POLICE ACADEMY: THE SERIES

There has always been an argument in kidvid whether or not to create animated series based on obviously non-kid-friendly movie series, usually R-rated ones. I'm glad Ruby-Spears won that argument with this show.

This series follows the antics of the nine cops Mahoney, Jones, Hightower, Callahan, Hooks, Tackleberry, Zed, Sweetchuck and House as they bungle their way through assignments while working at the Academy Precinct under the stern eye of Capt. Harris and his bumbling partner Lt.Proctor. Academy head Commandant Lassard is here, as is a new recurring character, the Professor, who creates the cops' wacky gadgets. The "Police Academy Safety Tips" at the end of the episodes were funnier than most "pro-social" segments, especially "A Scareless Halloween, Parts I-IV," where the cops gave trick-or-treat advice while on their way to the Police Academy Halloween Party.

Like most 1980s cartoons, POLICE ACADEMY: THE SERIES had a toy collection, in addition to a Marvel Comics series. Popular-at-the-time rap trio the Fat Boys did the intro's theme song and appeared in animated form in two episodes, "Fat City" and "Survival of the Fattest."

RAMBO: THE FORCE OF FREEDOM

Another argument for kidvid cartoons based on R-rated movies won by Ruby-Spears, this cartoon stars a certifiably sane, shirt-wearing, book-loving John Rambo, who led a team called The Force of Freedom and fought a terrorist group called SAVAGE (the better to sell action figures with, my dear). Rambo eventually got barechested and armed with his knife in the episodes' climaxes, and his team consisted of Eddie "Turbo" Hayes, gadget man and former race car driver; Kathleen Ann "Kat" Turner, mistress of disguise; and their commanding officer Col. Samuel Troutman, a character from the movies. Like most syndicated kidvid series, it ran for one season of 65 episodes.

Like most 1980s kidvid shows, this one had a "say-no-to-drugs" episode simply titled "Just Say No," in which the son of Rambo's old friend is discovered to have a drug addiction. That leads to the team exposing SAVAGE's drug pushing operation and destroying it. The oddest part of the episode is Kat, a grown woman, passing herself off as a teenage cheerleader. No master of disguise is THAT good!

So there you have it--my favorite Ruby-Spears cartoons. Thank you and Rest in Power, Joe and Ken.