Rocket Robin Hood, known in French as Robin Fusée, is a Canadian animated television series produced by Krantz Films, Inc. from 1966 to 1969. It takes the characters and conflicts associated with the classic legend of Robin Hood and sets it in a futuristic, outer space setting.
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Summary
Rocket Robin Hood leads his "Merry Men", including Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Maid Marian and other characters from the classic story of Robin Hood. They live in the year 3000 on New Sherwood Forest Asteroid, and are determined to foil the despotic plans of Prince John, the Sheriff of N.O.T.T. (National Outer-space Terrestrial Territories), and other villains such as Dr. Medulla, Manta, Nocturne, and the Warlord of Saturn. Rocket Robin Hood and his people fly in spaceships and use weapons such as “electro-quarterstaffs.” All episodes also feature short vignettes of the various characters.
Background
Rocket Robin Hood was animated and voiced by Trillium Productions, an animation studio which was part of the Guest Group—a creative group of companies owned by producer Al Guest. One of the key animators was Jean Mathieson, one of the first female animators, who later formed Rainbow Animation in Canada and Magic Shadows Inc in the U.S. with Al Guest, where they continued to produce animated TV programming. Background designer Richard H. Thomas joined the group late in the second season and brought a dark, almost psychedelic feel to the production under director Ralph Bakshi, who would later become a well known animation producer and would be responsible for, among other things, the animated versions of Fritz the Cat and The Lord of the Rings. Third-season episodes were animated at Ralph’s Spot in New York City, although voices continued to be recorded in Toronto. Bernard Cowan was the narrator of the show and Paul Kligman, who played J. Jonah Jameson in the animated version of Spider-Man, was the voice of Friar Tuck. Ed McNamara, who appeared in the movies Silver Streak (1976) and Bayo (1985), was the voice of Rocket Robin Hood. Len Carlson subbed in place of Ed McNamara for Rocket Robin Hood in some of the third season episodes. Carl Banas provided the voice of Little John. Chris Wiggins was the voice of Will Scarlet.
Theme Song
"Come gather around me. Space travelers surround me. Hark now to the ballad of Rocket Robin Hood. I may well confound you, astound you, spellbound you, with heroes and villains, the bad and the good. Watch now as our rockets race here from afar. For now, with our Robin, we live on a star. Three. Two. One. Blast off! Band of brothers, marching together. Heads held high in all kinds of weather. With fiery blasts, our roaring rockets rise, beyond the Earth, beyond the skies! At the sight of Robin, take your stand, with the gallant leader of our band. Send a joyous shout throughout the land! For Rocket Robin Hood!"
Episode List
Season 1
- Prince of Plotters
- The Time Machine
- Robin versus the Robot Knight
- The Mystery of the Crown Jewels
- The Warlord of Saturn
- Safari
- Wily Giles
- Jesse James Rides Again
- Giles the Great
- City Beneath the Seas
- Don Cayote McPherson
- Michael Shawn the Leprechaun
- Little Little John
- The Marmaduke Caper
- Follow the Leader
- Cleopatra Meets Little John
- Little George
- The Magic Medallion of Morse
- The Awful Truce
- The Sad, Sad Sheriff of N.O.T.T.
- Don't Make a Sound
- Goritang
- The Orbital Salesman
- Marlin the Magician
Season 2
- Dr. Mortula
- The Space Wolf
- Dr. Magnet
- The Manta Menace
- Young Mr. Ulysses
- The Incredible Gem of Cosmo Khan
- Who'll Kill Rocket Robin?
- Genius in a Bottle
- The Tree Kingdom of Caldomar
- Catch a Comet By the Tail
- The Emperor Jimmy
- The Eternal Planet of Romarama
Season 3
- The Dark Galaxy
- Space Giant
- The Haunted Asteroid
- The Plot to Destroy N.O.T.T.
- The Solar Sphinx
- Lord of the Underworld
- The Ghost Pirates
- Dementia Five
- Lord of the Shadows
- The Living Planet
- From Menace to Menace
- Planet of Dreams
- Slaves of Medulla
- Jaws of Steel
- The Storm Makers
- Return Trip
DVD Release
Warner Home Video of Canada was to release the entire series on DVD in Region 1 for the first time on Nov. 27, 2007. Subsequently it was revealed that the release has been delayed due to problems with 3 episodes of French language tracks. It will be released sometime in the first half of 2008.
Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Trillium, the name of the production company, refers to the official flower of the Canadian Province of Ontario.
- Rocket Robin Hood resembles Richard Greene who played Robin Hood in the 50s T.V. show.
- Krantz Films, Inc. also produced the animated Spider-Man series (1967-1970). Some stories, such as “Dementia Five” and “From Menace to Menace,” had part of its animation cells re-used for two episodes of Spider-Man. The show was first produced in Toronto, Ontario.
- Several episodes were rebroadcast in 2005 on the Canadian cable channel Teletoon. As of October 2007, they are now shown regularly on Teletoon Retro.
External links
- Rocket Robin Hood at the Internet Movie Database
- Rocket Robin Hood Fan Page
- The Rocket Robin Hood Page - Written by Kevin McCorry
- Rocket Robin Hood episode clip
