Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles

Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles
Format	Animated Series
Genre	Science Fiction, Action, Superhero
Starring	Ted Cassidy Dick Beals Don Messick Hal Smith Paul Frees John Stephenson
Country	United States
Language	English
Production
Executive Producer	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Runtime	22 minutes (approx.)
Company	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
First shown	1966
First aired	September 10, 1966
Last aired	September 7, 1968

Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles is an animated science fiction television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It debuted on CBS on September 10, 1966, and ran on Saturday mornings until September 7, 1968.

The program consists of two segments: Frankenstein Jr., depicting the adventures of a heroic robot named Frankenstein Jr., and The Impossibles, centering around the exploits of a superhero team that poses as a rock band.

CBS ran two new segments of The Impossibles each Saturday, separated by a new segment of Frankenstein Jr.

Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles appeared in reruns on Cartoon Network from 1992-2000. In 2000, The series began airing on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang.

Overview

The program contained two segments, which each served as a middle ground between Hanna-Barbera's traditional cartoon early output and its superhero-based late-1960s cartoons.

The show was the target of complaints about violence in children's television, and was canceled in 1968. The Frankenstein Jr. segments were later recycled in the 1976 series The Space Ghost/Frankenstein Jr. Show, which aired on NBC from November 27, 1976 until September 3, 1977, replacing the canceled Big John, Little John.

Frankenstein Jr.

Frankenstein Jr. takes place in Civic City, where boy scientist Buzz Conroy (voiced by Dick Beals) and his father Professor Conroy (voiced by John Stephenson) fight supervillains with the aid of a powerful heroic robot named "Frankenstein Jr." (voiced by Ted Cassidy). "Frankie", as Buzz usually referred to him, was more than a little reminiscent of the title character in Gigantor. Buzz built "Frankie" and activated him through an energy ring.

The Impossibles

The Impossibles are a trio of superheroes (Multi Man, Fluid Man, and Coil Man) who pose undercover as a Beatles-esque rock music band. The characters' names are descriptive of their powers: Multi-Man (voiced by Don Messick) can create identical copies of himself; Coil-Man (voiced by Hal Smith) can form into a super-springy coil; and Fluid-Man (voiced by Paul Frees) can transform his body into any fluid. The heroes receive assignments from "Big D" (also voiced by Frees), who contacts them via a receiver in the base of Coil-Man's left-handed guitar.

Episodes

Episode 1

• "The Bubbler"
• "The Shocking Electrical Monster"
• "The Spinner"

Episode 2

• "The Perilous Paper Doll"
• "The Spyder Man"
• "Beamatron"

Episode 3

• "The Burrower"
• "The Menace From The Wax Museum"
• "Timeatron"

Episode 4

• "Smogula"
• "The Alien Brain From Outer Space, Part 1"
• "The Sinister Speck"

Episode 5

• "Fero, The Fiendish Fiddler"
• "The Alien Brain From Outer Space, Part 2"
• "Mother Gruesome"

Episode 6

• "Televisatron"
• "UFO - Unidentified Fiendish Object"
• "The Diabolical Dauber"

Episode 7

• "Aquator"
• "The Unearthly Plant Creatures"
• "The Wretched Professor Stretch"

Episode 8

• "The Devilish Dragster"
• "The Deadly Living Images"
• "The Return Of The Spinner"

Episode 9

• "Satanic Surfer"
• "The Colossal Junk Monster"
• "The Puzzler"

Episode 10

• "The Scheming Spraysol"
• "The Incredible Aqua Monster"
• "The Scurrilous Sculptor"

Episode 11

• "The Artful Archer"
• "The Gigantic Ghastly Genie"
• "The Insidious Inflator"

Episode 12

• "The Dastardly Diamond Dazzler"
• "The Birdman"
• "The Return Of The Perilous Paperman"

Episode 13

• "Cronella Critch The Tricky Witch"
• "The Invasion Of The Robot Creatures"
• "The Terrible Twister"

Episode 14

• "Professor Stretch Bounces Back"
• "The Manchurian Menace"
• "The Terrifying Tapper"

Episode 15

• "The Anxious Angler"
• "The Mad Monster Maker"
• "The Rascally Ringmaster"

Episode 16

• "Billy The Kidder"
• "The Monstermobile"
• "The Fiendish Dr. Futuro"

Episode 17

• "The Crafty Clutcher"
• "The Pilfering Putty Monster"
• "The Infamous Mr. Instant"

Episode 18

• "The Bizarre Battler"
• "The Spooktaculars"
• "The Not So Nice Mr. Ice"

In Other Media

• A single issue of a "Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles" comic was released by Gold Key Comics in 1966 as a tie-in to the TV series, and the contents were reprinted in "The Impossibles Annual" by Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd, UK in 1968. The two "Frankenstein Jr." comic stories were titled "The Image Invasion" and "Frankenstein Jr. Meets the Flea Man". A new text-based story, specially written for the annual, was "A Spook in his Wheel". The character reappeared in the comic Hanna-Barbera Presents #8 published by Archie Comics in 1996.

Home Release

On April 26, 2011, Warner Archive released Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles: The Complete Series on DVD as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.

Hanna-Barbera Series

• 1950's
• 1960's
• 1970's
• 1980's
• 1990's