From Bikers To Biblical Superheroes.

A young girl and a handsome teenage biker boy. Was it Betty and Jimmy from "Leader Of The Pack?" No, it was just me watching "Samson And Goliath" on Saturday mornings.

These heroes I came to regard as among the coolest from Hanna-Barbera. Here I was, looking at a boy and dog who travelled by motorcycle for the most part, and took on villains who would make Delilah and the Philistines run for their lives. But I wonder why Young Samson never wore a helmet and other gear when he and Goliath were on their cycle. Was he that sure of himself? Luckily, there were never any motorcycle accidents. And the motorcycle itself was something else. The heroes were able to ride it up a volcano, rough terrain, and even a Mayan pyramid! Who wouldn't want a motorbike like that? Equally amazing was the use of bright colors for scene changes. And Samson always patted Goliath on the back(when he was in lion mode) after a job well done.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing the show so much that I followed it syndication and even on "USA Cartoon Express" in the 80's. And I even provided episode synopses here and on TV.com. I also described the villains and monsters on Wikipedia.


What I really noticed was that there were never any villainesses. This was probably to avoid the detail about Samson's inability to resist women. There were female characters in "The Curse Of Monatabu," and "The Terrible Dr. Desto," but these ladies just appeared in crowd scenes, and had no dialogue. Also, none of the villains even tried to cut off Samson's hair, the true source of his strength. Guess H-B felt that he wouldn't have been nearly as good-looking had they rendered him bald. But I liked him as he was. And those bracelets were remarkable, the way they turned him into a strong man, and Goliath into a lion. In fact, the villains were often able to prevent him from using them by either stealing them and replacing them with leaden ones, or binding or chaining him hand and foot. One mad scientist even drained his strength just to transfer it to a robot. And his real weakness, as shown in two episodes, was that any rapid whirling motion could knock him unconscious.



But the best part was when he used Super Samson power to make himself and/or Goliath even stronger. There were also several powers that were used only once, like the Ring Of Samson, and the Samson Pinwheel.

Their adventures took them to every corner of the globe, under the sea, and even into outer space. I admit I saw these cartoons before I read the original biblical tale, and thought, "Wow!" after reading it. I've concluded that the duo's escapes before structures collapsed or blew up were inspired by Samson's destruction of the temple. Remember, he had no time to get away before it collapsed. Samson was also known to deliver wisecracks when confronting the villains.

The bumpers were memorable, too, especially the one that showed him saving the Space Kidettes. It was this show that was often shown back to back with it after it was cancelled. Due to ownership by DFS and The Program Exchange, cartoons from Total Television were also shown.

Once again, I've said a heck of a lot about an H-B cartoon. If you're wondering how I found the time to write all this, I'm on vacation now, and able to fit in a lot more. Expect more as the days go by.

Trivia Question 62: What breed of dog was Goliath?

Trivia Answer: Goliath was an Airedale, though in the episode "The Great Colossus," Samson said he was also part water spaniel.