C.O.P.S.: The Animated Series Information

February 27, 2006 - Perhaps overshadowed by He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and those do-gooder Thundercats, C.O.P.S. has been largely forgotten in the vast wasteland of after-school cartoons. Not to be confused with an animated version of the long-running reality show, the cartoon follows the adventures of Bulletproof and his crime-fighting team as they prevent Big Boss and his gang of thugs from taking over Empire City (okay, so maybe it is a little like the reality show).


Additionally, it's best known for the two tag-lines "it's crime fightin' time!" and "fighting crime in a future time," which should ring true to anyone who chose TV over after-school sports. So it's flashback time - because C.O.P.S. The Animated Series arrives on DVD this week with all 22 episodes of Season One available as evidence that this show may indeed be one of cartoon history's unheralded classics.

That said, to fully appreciate this series one must have a tolerance for clunky, mechanical animation (the kind that says "We really didn't spend too much money on it") and a love for '80s-style action; because this series radiates with signposts of the decade from which it came. Embarrassing as it was, there was a time in the '80s when cartoon heroes were mostly populated by blockish, overly-muscular characters - which naturally translated perfectly into action figures. The success of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe seemed to affect the design of multiple cartoons in it's wake - including such animated mainstays as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As such, it could be argued that C.O.P.S. was He-Man's mutant offspring - from a design standpoint, anyway.

In this "future time," the always-vulnerable Empire City depends on it's elite police force known as C.O.P.S - the Central Organization of Police Specialists. The captain in charge of the operation is Bulletproof. With his crew - the laser-gun toting Bowzer, the armor wearing Barricade, the computer wiz Mainframe, and the cowboy Sundown - the crew challenge Big Boss on a case-by-case basis. Meanwhile, apparently Big Boss and his cronies are only good for one evil plan at time, which usually involves a robbery or, in grander moments, the threat of complete domination of the city. I think my nine-year-old nephew summed-up Big Boss' weak point: "If he's smart, why does he have stupid bad guys?" True. His main henchmen, Berserko and Turbo, are dumb as a bag of hammers.

Each episode has a formula, which goes something like this: Bulletproof introduces the case in voiceover, reading from the case file, quickly setting the stage for Big Boss' or fellow conspirator Dr. Bad Vibes' latest scheme. "Here's how the case went down," he says. And minutes after that, we get the robbery or the domination-of-the-city plot. The robberies, for example, include the episode The Case of the Brilliant Berserko, in which the Berserko steals a device from the science museum that enhances brain power. (The idiot, naturally, is more interested in evening the score with Big Boss for years of insults).

In The Case of the Big Bad Boxoids (whose name practically ensures that no copyright infringement will ever occur), Berserko and Crusher steal three mechanical fighting robots from a boxing arena; in doing so, their goal, predictably enough, is to pound Empire City's police force into submission. "Don't worry, Pard," says Showdown to the owner of the boxoids. "We'll round-up those robot rustlers." On the domination-of-the-city theme, The Case of the Super Shakedown stands-out: Here, Dr. Bad Vibes threatens the city with a series of earthquakes, courtesy of his (thoughtfully named) "ground shaker" device. Says my nephew, "That one was the best one."

It's no surprise that the show offers little in terms of character development. I mean, all any kid needs to know is the C.O.P.S are the good guys and Big Boss and crew are the bad guys. Beyond that, the cartoon does offer one element to behold: it's emphasis on gadgetry. Each episode introduces something tech-oriented, be it a crime-fighting computer, a robot dog, or a neat a looking futuristic helicopter. That's where the true coolness of C.O.P.S. lies. Everything else is standard police procedure.

The Video

Now for the truly disappointing part of this collection. The video quality is abysmal. Maybe the producers of this 4-disc set did the best they could with the existing film elements, but the transfer is sub par, the color is desaturated, there are countless artifacts, and the image is constantly flickering. That sounds bad, but surprisingly the overall isn't so terrible that it's annoying to watch. It's still presentable, if barely.

The Audio

The audio is, also unfortunately, another minus. Simply put, the sound has no dynamic or stereoscopic range; it's flat all the way around. Even hiss from the soundtrack is evident. As for subtitles, none are offered.

Packaging and Extras

The 4-disc set comes in a double-sized Amray case. The discs themselves offer animated menus (each with a short, animated introduction), backed by a sound clip of the show's main theme.

The DVD release for C.O.P.S The Animated Series does offer some bonus features. There's not too much, but what you get on each disc of this 4-Disc set is: a gallery of concept art. Each gallery is sectioned for Vichiles, Crooks, Empire City and Painted Art. And each gallery offers somewhere between three and six images. You also get a collection of C.O.P.S. for Kids segments, which are short public service announcements that wrapped each episode.

Atom Ant

Spoofing the then-popular superhero and spy genres, The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show was cartoon giant Hanna-Barbera’s first project for the NBC network.




Atom Ant starred a very able arthropod who could not only fly, but also lift more than ten times his own body weight. Atom Ant communicated with his superiors via the antennae on his helmet, awaiting their orders to go capture an array of enemies, whose names were conveniently listed in Atom's "Crook Book." Even though Atom was not so easy to see, he could always be heard, shouting his battle cry of “Up and at ’em, Atom Ant!”



On the other half of the bill was Secret Squirrel, Agent 000, the James Bond of the rodent kingdom. Wearing a trenchcoat and laden with gadgets, the agent and his fez-wearing sidekick, Morocco Mole (who sounded a lot like Peter Lorre), worked for Double-Q Agency in England. Together they eluded such villains as Yellow Pinky, whose name somehow didn't instill as much fear as Goldfinger. But after all, this was Saturday morning.



As powerful as the two heroes were, they were also gracious, sharing their air time with two other Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The first was Precious Pupp, a conniving dog with a very raspy laugh, who lived with Granny Sweet. The young-at-heart Granny was always speeding off on her motorcycle, leaving Precious to play man of the house.



Rounding out the show were The Hillbilly Bears, a clan who lived in the mountains and lazed around to the sound of the banjo. Paw Rugg, the muttering head of the family, spent most of his time asleep, awaking only to blast someone off his property with a shotgun. Maw Rugg smoked a pipe and ran the house, while daughter Floral and son Shagg were constantly wreaking havoc and avoiding responsibility.



After just over one season together, the two title heroes parted ways to star in their own self-titled shows. But less than a year later, ant and squirrel realized they worked better as a team, and The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show was reborn for a final season.



The show would only last until 1968, but Secret Squirrel wasn't done gracing the small screen. More than 25 years later, the nutty agent could be seen in all-new episodes on Hanna-Barbera’s Two Stupid Dogs, accompanied by Morocco Mole and a bull superior.



See also: Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel



Release History

9/9/67 - 9/7/68 NBC





TV Sub Categories

animated



TV Studio

Hanna-Barbera





Television Cast



Atom Ant Howard Morris

Atom Ant Don Messick

Precious Don Messick

Pupp Don Messick

Shag Rugg Don Messick

Maw Rugg Jean VanderPyl

Floral Rugg Jean VanderPyl

Winsome Witch Jean VanderPyl

Morocco Mole Paul Frees

Squiddly Diddly Paul Frees

Paw Rugg Henry Corden

Secret Squrrel Mel Blanc

Superman Classic Cartoon - The Mechanical Monsters

Transformers Animated Episode 36 Predacons Rising Part 2

Spiderman History

Spider-Man is the creation of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, his artistic partner Jack Kirby, and artist Steve Ditko. Spider-Man first appeared in 1962 in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15; his own series, The Amazing Spider-Man, began the next year. According to the story line, Spider-Man is the alter ego of student Peter Parker; an accidental bite from a radioactive spider gave Parker the arachnid's relative strength and agility plus a tingling "spider sense" for danger. After his Uncle Ben is killed by a burglar, Parker determines to use his new powers to fight crime, dressed in a mask and form-fitting costume and equipped with spider-like web slingers. Ongoing characters in the Spider-Man universe include his love interest Mary Jane Watson, kindly worrywart Aunt May, hothead Daily Bugle publisher Jonah Jameson and exotic villains Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin. Spider-Man became a daily comic strip in 1977, and has been featured in a variety of animated TV series.

Captain Caveman

AnimatedNation.com

While technically Captain Caveman didn't get his very own cartoon during Saturday mornings that focused only on him (his original show was Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels), and that once he did, it aired during primetime (in segments within The Flintstones show)...I'm going to write about him anyway.There are two famous characters in the world right now that everyone just seems to take for granted without ever questioning what they are or where they came from. One of them is Grimace. Just what the hell food is he supposed to be representing? The second is Captain Caveman. I mean, yeah, he's from the prehistoric times and he's a caveman...but he doesn't look anything like man, unless he's an EXTREMELY hairy man. But cavemen weren't THAT hairy...were they? So if he isn't a homo sapiens...then...actually he kind of looks like a distant forefather of Grimace, come to think of it. Uh...In Captain Caveman's segment in The Flintstones, he is portrayed as a Superman-like character: secret identity, working in a newspaper company (with Wilma and Betty!), wearing glasses to hide his alter-ego. An absurdly elaborate transformation sequence turns him into Captain Caveman, who actually can't fly on his own. Rather, his magic club allows him to fly, among other things.Thousands of years into the future he would be found encased in ice by a certain group of mystery-loving teenage women. But this raises a question: how, with all his superpowers and stuff, does he get trapped in ice at all?