Rocket Robin Hood

"Rocket Robin Hood", known in French as "Robin Fusée", is a Canadian animated television series produced by Krantz Films, Inc. from 1966 to 1969. It takes the characters and conflicts associated with the classic legend of Robin Hood and sets it in a futuristic, outer space setting.

ummary

Rocket Robin Hood leads his "Merry Men", including Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Maid Marian and other characters from the classic story of Robin Hood. They live in the year 3000 on New Sherwood Forest Asteroid, and are determined to foil the despotic plans of Prince John, the Sheriff of N.O.T.T. (National Outer-space Terrestrial Territories), and other villains such as Dr. Medulla, Manta, Nocturne, and the Warlord of Saturn. Rocket Robin Hood and his people fly in spaceships and use weapons such as “electro-quarterstaffs.”

All episodes also feature short vignettes of the various characters.

Background

"Rocket Robin Hood" was animated and voiced by Trillium Productions, an animation studio which was part of the Guest Group—a creative group of companies owned by producer Al Guest. One of the key animators was Jean Mathieson, one of the first female animators, who later formed Rainbow Animation in Canada and Magic Shadows Inc in the U.S. with Al Guest, where they continued to produce animated TV programming.

Background designer Richard H. Thomas joined the group late in the second season and brought a dark, almost psychedelic feel to the production under director Ralph Bakshi, who would later become a well known animation producer and would be responsible for, among other things, the animated versions of "Fritz the Cat" and "The Lord of the Rings". Third-season episodes were animated at Ralph’s Spot in New York City, although voices continued to be recorded in Toronto.

Bernard Cowan was the narrator of the show and Paul Kligman, who played J. Jonah Jameson in the animated version of Spider-Man, was the voice of Friar Tuck. Ed McNamara, who appeared in the movies "Silver Streak" (1976) and "Bayo" (1985), was the voice of Rocket Robin Hood. Len Carlson subbed in place of Ed McNamara for Rocket Robin Hood in some of the third season episodes. Carl Banas provided the voice of Little John. Chris Wiggins was the voice of Will Scarlet.

Theme Song

"Come gather around me. Space travelers surround me. Hark now to the ballad of Rocket Robin Hood. I may well confound you, astound you, spellbound you, with heroes and villains, the bad and the good. Watch now as our rockets race here from afar. For now, with our Robin, we live on a star. Three. Two. One. Blast off! Band of brothers, marching together. Heads held high in all kinds of weather. With fiery blasts, our roaring rockets rise, beyond the Earth, beyond the skies! At the side of Robin, take your stand, with the gallant leader of our band. Send a joyous shout throughout the land! For Rocket Robin Hood!"

from the end credits:

"Band of brothers, shoulder to shoulder. None dare defy us, none were any bolder. Sound the horn in every astral glen,to rally round our merry men! We stand with Robin to the end, the joys of freedom to defend! Here's the place to be, on the side of the free, with Rocket Robin Hood!" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1-OI0188Vo]

Episode List

Season 1

*Prince of Plotters
*The Time Machine
*Robin versus the Robot Knight
*The Mystery of the Crown Jewels
*The Warlord of Saturn
*Safari
*Wily Giles
*Jesse James Rides Again
*Giles the Great
*City Beneath the Seas
*Don Cayote McPherson
*Michael Shawn the Leprechaun
*Little Little John
*The Marmaduke Caper
*Follow the Leader
*Cleopatra Meets Little John
*Little George
*The Magic Medallion of Morse
*The Awful Truce
*The Sad, Sad Sheriff of N.O.T.T.
*Don't Make a Sound
*Goritang
*The Orbital Salesman
*Marlin the Magician

Season 2

*Dr. Mortula
*The Space Wolf
*Dr. Magnet
*The Manta Menace
*Young Mr. Ulysses
*The Incredible Gem of Cosmo Khan
*Who'll Kill Rocket Robin?
*Genius in a Bottle
*The Tree Kingdom of Caldomar
*Catch a Comet By the Tail
*The Emperor Jimmy
*The Eternal Planet of Romarama

Season 3

*The Dark Galaxy
*Space Giant
*The Haunted Asteroid
*The Plot to Destroy N.O.T.T.
*The Solar Sphinx
*Lord of the Underworld
*The Ghost Pirates
*Dementia Five
*Lord of the Shadows
*The Living Planet
*From Menace to Menace
*Planet of Dreams
*Slaves of Medulla
*Jaws of Steel
*The Storm Makers
*Return Trip

tations

Alphabetized by city.

*WATL (TV) / Channel 36• Atlanta, Georgia
*WXNE-TV / Channel 25• Boston, Massachusetts
*WSBK-TV / Channel 38• Boston, Massachusetts
*WRET-TV / Channel 36• Charlotte, North Carolina
*WKBF-TV / Channel 61• Cleveland, Ohio
*WXON-TV / Channel 20• Detroit, Michigan
*WPIX-TV / Channel 11• New York, New York
*WPHL-TV / Channel 17• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
*WPGH-TV / Channel 53• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Trivia

*Trillium, the name of the production company, refers to the official flower of the Canadian Province of Ontario.
*Krantz Films, Inc. also produced the animated "Spider-Man" series (1967-1970). Some stories, such as “Dementia Five” and “From Menace to Menace,” had part of its animation cells re-used for two episodes of "Spider-Man". The show was first produced in Toronto, Ontario.
*It was transmitted in Mexico as "Meteoro Robin Hood"

External links

*
* [http://thickets.50megs.com/rocket.htm "Rocket Robin Hood" Fan Page]
* [http://www.kevinmccorrytv.com/rrobin.html The "Rocket Robin Hood" Page] - Written by Kevin McCorry
* [http://www.geocities.com/classiccartoons/rocket.html "Rocket Robin Hood" episode clip ]