Unsung Cartoon Hero Of The Day.

I've decided to start this thread devoted to unsung cartoon heroes, and my thoughts about them. Each day will feature one who's often overlooked by cartoon fans. Today, I begin this thread with.....

Billy. This young boy was a recurring character in the Casper shorts, and the one the friendly ghost befriended the most often. Invariably, he wanted to do what the older boys did, whether it was ice skating, joining the Boy Scouts, or seeking buried pirates' treasure. Each time, he put his own life in danger, and Casper would come to the rescue. At least Billy did his best to prove himself heroic.


Feel free to express your own thoughts about this character.

Today's unsung cartoon hero of the day is Toothless.

No, this isn't Hiccup's dragon from the film series. This Toothless is an old mountain lion from Filmation's "Lassie's Rescue Rangers." Aside from Lassie herself, he was the only rescue animal who appeared in every episode, including the pilot film that aired on "The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie." As implied, he had no teeth at all, and couldn't bite anyone. Makes you wonder how he chewed his food. Anyway, he was always there when someone was in trouble, and acted more like an overgrown housecat than a predator. Most memorably, he befriended a lost teenager who took refuge in his cave. So he deserves a place of honor.

Yesterday's unsung cartoon hero of the day was Horse, the faithful steed of Dudley Do-Right. I don't know whose idea it was to have a horse decked out in a Mountie uniform, but it worked. And Nell's love for the equine was also a brilliant gag.

Today is devoted to not one, but two unsung heroes: Lt. Arex and Lt. M'Ress, from "Star Trek: The Animated Series."

Both of these extraterrestrial officers were created for the animated spinoff. Arex was a replacement for Chekhov, the only character from the original live action show who was absent from the cartoons. M'Ress was most likely a replacement for Yeoman Janice Rand. At any rate, these two were the reason I was hooked on the animated adventures of Kirk and company. Too bad M'Ress was only in a handful of episodes. Being an alien cat, she was purrfect.

May I try one? Auntie Shrew from Don Bluth's The Secret Of NIMH. While Mother Brisby tried to stop Farmer Fitzgibbons's tractor, she was ultimately overwhelmed by this leviathan mechanism. It was Auntie Shrew, the thorny busybody, that disconnected the tractor's fuel line, saving the four Brisby offspring from being mulched in one pass. Her thanks? Not even a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Today's unsung hero is Chief Boulder, from "The Man Called Flintstone."

The head of the spy agency that hired Rock Slag discovered that Fred was Rock's doppelganger. Fred agreed to go after the Green Goose. Boulder met up with Fred in Paris and Rome, but was eventually knocked out by Ali and Bobo. Since neither he nor Rock Slag were seen after this(Rock had been struck down by Wilma, Betty, and Barney when they mistook him for Fred), his fate left a lot of unanswered questions. Did Rock revive, find his boss, and call an ambulance for both of them? Did someone else find them? Or was the Chief killed outright by the villains? I guess we'll never know, since this film never had a sequel.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Priscilla Bisbee, from "Mr. T."

This woman was the only other adult in the series. Although she mostly drove the team bus, there were times when she was just as proactive as Mr. T himself. She had tenure as a college professor, and knew how to fly a helicopter. She even had her own focus episode, "The Crossword Mystery," in which she and two college professors were hypnotized into stealing the crown jewels. So she deserves a certain amount of credit.

Today's unsung hero is Deputy Droopalong, the faithful sidekick of Ricochet Rabbit.

He was modeled after Chester from "Gunsmoke." His gun was slow on the uptake, and he was never able to copy Ricochet's fast-paced moves, except for one episode when both law animals and a human outlaw ran from a bear. Still, he deserves some credit for helping the sheriff bring in the bad guys.

Today's unsung heroes of the day are Baby Huey's fellow ducklings from most of the Baby Huey shorts.

Sure, these boys disliked Huey for his stupidity, refused to let him take part in their activities, and played dirty tricks to get rid of him. But down inside, they knew all he wanted was to make friends. Whenever they saw him with the fox, they feared for his life. The reason being that the vulpine villain had targeted them first. In fact, during the climax of one short, one actually prayed, saying, "Spare him. He's dumb, but harmless." In the end, after Baby Huey took out the fox, the boys let him participate. So kudos to these young ducklings for seeing their errors in judgement.

Today's unsung cartoon hero of the day is Imp.

This was the seahorse ridden by Aqualad in the 1960's Aquaman cartoons. Like Storm and Tusky, he was in every episode, but didn't do nearly as much as the other two. In fact, he's probably best remembered for accidentally making plankton grow to giant proportions. Still, he was very loyal to his human friends. Here's to you, Imp.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Dante Dreamer.

He was a one-shot character from a Famous Studios short. Like Walter Mitty, his "heroism" was merely a daydream. His mom became a princess, a bag of trash a bag of priceless jewels, and the incinerator a fire-breathing dragon. As his mom said, "That boy and his imagination." This should have become a regular series of shorts, with Dante having a different "adventure" each time. Oh well.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Taka.

This bald eagle was the pet of Tonto from the 1960's Lone Ranger animated series. He was in all of Tonto's solo adventures, and a handful of those with both the Lone Ranger and Tonto. He even had a self-titled episode in which he and a group of wild animals opposed a band of hunters. He was useful whenever he was there, but never got the same merit as the human heroes. So I salute this loyal American bird.

Today's unsung heroes are Cauliflower Cabbie/The Champion and Gene Hat Tree.

Both of these characters were created by Total Television, and were only in animated pilots. These cartoons were shown on syndicated reruns of "The Underdog Show," but deserved to become full series. They were eventually removed from the syndicated package, and have not been seen since 1974. I'd love to see both of these again.

Actually, that was his nephew.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Petunia the maid from the "Little Audrey" cartoons.

She was the one who provided adult supervision for Audrey, lecturing her about the consequences of her actions. In the first two cartoons, her lectures and discipline led to Audrey having nightmares that would make Freddy Krueger cringe. Sometimes I wonder where Audrey's parents were at those times, but she did her job so well that it doesn't matter. So bravo, Petunia.

Today's unsung hero is Marco Smurf.

This was one of many Smurfs who was only seen in one episode. When captured by the Pepper Pirates, he made light of his predicament, and boasted that he'd escape. The reason I picked him is that he was clearly modeled after all the legendary sea explorers like Columbus, Balboa, Magellan, and last but not least, the one he was named after: Marco Polo.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Marilyn Mouse.

She was one of the few characters on "Courageous Cat And Minute Mouse" who wasn't a criminal. She was mainly there to act as the show's damsel in distress. And she was clearly a caricature of Marilyn Monroe, copying the late star's hairstyle and sexy looks. Minute Mouse had a more than evident crush on her. I'll bet she and Minute would have eventually become a couple had the series not ceased production.

Today's unsung cartoon hero of the day is Sheldon Snail, from "Claymation Comedy Of Horrors."

Along with Wilshire Pig, this snail seeks out Frankenstein's monster. Yes, this post is Halloween-related, and dedicated to the memory of the late Will Vinton at the same time. Unfortunately, it doesn't air annually, so I guess the only way to see it is on YouTube or something.