Tennessee Tuxedo
and His Tales – The Complete Collection (1963) + Underdog – Complete
Collector’s Edition (1964/Shout! Factory DVD Sets)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Episodes: B
Two of
the most cherished animated series of the 1960s have finally arrived on
DVD. What would seem like an odd
production process (by today’s standards) both Tennessee Tuxedo and Underdog
(though on different networks) were mainly produced by Total Television and
sponsored by General Mills [yes, the cereal company]. In the end, what children across the world
received were two great series that were cleverly disguised parodies with
crisp, clean, creative animation.
Tennessee Tuxedo and His
Tales
The voice
of late great Don Adams was Tennessee Tuxedo, the loveable, wise cracking penguin. Somewhat reminiscent of his character Maxwell
Smart from the series Get Smart, Don
Adams was what made the character of Tennessee Tuxedo work so well. With his oddly dimwitted Walrus partner,
Chumley, by his side Tennessee Tuxedo set out to improve the quality of life
for all animals at the Megalopolis Zoo.
Most of the episodes involved Chumley,
Tennessee, and their intelligent
friend Phineas J. Whoopee (voice of Larry Starch) scheming against zoo keeper
Stanley Livingston.
Along the
way we get to meet a slue of Tennessee’s friends including Baldy Eagle and
Yakkety Yak (both voiced by Kenny Delmar), as well as some arch rivals [outside
of Stanley] who include Jerboa Jump the Kangaroo Rat (voiced by Bradley Bolke
who also voices Chumley) and his partner Tiger Tornado (again Kenny
Delmar). Tennessee’s schemes would inevitably drag
Chumley along for the ride as they escape the zoo and release their chaos on
the outside world. If they were plotting
against Stanley, escaping the zoo, or outwitting
worthy foes Tennessee
would fill his time problem solving like when Chumley has a toothache and other
veiled attempts at teaching children viewers a lesson.
The
series is crazy entertaining and holds up nicely nearly 50 years after originally
airing. Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales had a 70 episode run that is housed
in completion here in a 6-DVD set.
Running from 1963-1966 the series only truly has two seasons, but
certainly two great ones.
Underdog
As
previously stated, Underdog was created
by the same company that made Tennessee Tuxedo;
trouble is Underdog does not hold up
nearly as well. What started as a
brilliant concept as a tongue in cheek look at the world of superheroes (most
specifically Superman) quickly went down hill as each passing episode was the
same as the last.
The
series premiered in 1964 and ran for a total of 124 episodes (all in this set);
continuing its life in syndication until 1973.
The premise of Underdog was
that a normal ‘shoeshine’ boy would transform into his alter ego Underdog
whenever his love Polly Purebred was in trouble. Wally Cox was the voice behind Underdog and
brought the character to life. Underdog
was very much like Superman in that when trouble would arise he would dart into
a telephone booth (do kids know what those are anymore?) and transform. It wasn’t until episode ten (10) of the
series that it is revealed that Underdog has a ‘special pill’ in the ring that
he wears, ultimately holding the secret to his powers. In its original airing, Underdog referred to
the pill as his ‘Underdog Super Energy Pill” uttering the words “The Secret
Compartment of my Ring I Fill; With Underdog Super Energy Pill.” In syndication the ‘energy pill’ concept was
completely taken out and (oddly) here in this set they changed “energy” to
“vitamin.” My only guess is that they
worried children would get hooked on Red Bull or worse illicit drugs; but in
reality…how many small children are buying this set?
I wish Underdog held up better as I have fond
memories of the series. I thought the
Disney live action film totally destroyed the original concept, but looking
back at the episodes now…I don’t think they had much to work with. As previously mentioned, the original concept
soared, but the production company (knowing their audience) didn’t put much
effort in after a while and it was the same thing time and time again.
I am not
saying the series wasn’t creative. The
series has brilliant villains and heroes, but the parody angle falls flat
quick.
Underdog is worth a revisit and definitely
a must have for any classic cartoon collector as Underdog battles the city’s
most ruthless evils.
The
technical features on both Tennessee
Tuxedo and His Tales and Underdog are
about the same and Shout Factory has done the best job they can with the
material provided to them. The picture
quality on both sets varies from good to sketchy as Shout! Factory had to use a
variety of sources to put the sets together.
Some are obvious old VHS copies and some are original production copies;
both being extremely noticeable. Little
to no restoration work was done and colors can be muted, along with
grain/debris often flying by during viewing.
Both series are hit or miss when it comes to the ‘full’ episode being
present; buy this I mean since they had to use many sources to put this set
together, sometimes we are reviewing syndicated/edited versions. Who knows if we will ever see the original
aired episodes? Both are in their
original Full Frame format. The sound on
both is a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that gets the job done, but comes
mostly from the front without any frills.
The
extras on each set are as follows:
Tennessee Tuxedo and His
Tales
- Featurette “Tennessee Tuxedo Never Fails”
- Get a chance to hear one of
the several original openings the series had
- Commentaries with voice
actors Larry Storch and Bradley Bolke, Co-Creator Buck Biggers and Author
Mark Arnold (Created and Produced by Total Television Productions)
Underdog
- Bonus Cartoons: Tooter Turtle
and The Hunter
- Featurette “There’s No Need
to Fear…Underdog is Here”
- Commentaries with
Writer/Producer/Co-Creator W. Watts Biggers, Voice Actor George S. Irving,
Producer Treadwell Covington, Animation Historian Mark Arnold and More.
-
Michael P.
Dougherty II
