It was a cartoon that used to come on when I was a kid, and boy, did me and my brother love this freaking show. This was long before cable (yes, kiddies, once upon a time, there was no cable). It came on Monday through Friday in the afternoons, shortly after we arrived home from school, on one of those UHF channels like 33 or 39 or something (this was in South Florida). My brother was a huge comics fan, which made me one by proximity—my brother has always been incredibly brainy and I wanted to be brainy, too, so I was interested in whatever he was interested in when I was very young. We always made sure we were planted in front of the TV with our afternoon snacks when the theme song came on (and what a cool theme song it was…at least, it seemed so back then).
It was a Japanese anime cartoon (you know, like the style of Speed Racer…
It was one of my favorite afternoon guilty pleasures. I wanted a power pendant just like he had, except, instead of a letter “P,” I wanted mine to have a big “L” on it. As soon as the show was over, my brother and I would immediately be at war again over some quickly forgettable thing (that power pendant would have come in real handy to use against him during those times). We were always warring, sometimes viciously, but this cartoon had the ability to make us momentarily declare a truce and chatter happily about who was more powerful, Prince Planet or his archnemesis, Krag.
Just in case you’ve never seen the cartoon, here it is. I can’t believe I actually found the very first episode online.* Dig that crazy theme song!!!
*Man, if videos on the internet aren’t the greatest thing since The 68!!! When I first started writing this post, it was just me sharing with you this beloved cartoon from my childhood. Imagine my surprise when, as I was Googling data about it to post here, all manner of sites popped up with stuff. The world wide web is simply awesome. Piece-by-piece, it’s allowing me to reflect back on memories that I thought were lost to the ether forever. I guess for every wonderful (or sucky) memory of something I’ve seen on tv or film, there’s at least one person out there in the world with the same wonderful (or sucky) memory and the video to go along with it. Boy, I love the interwebs!!!
The Lo Zone 
>for me, growing up in the rural south in the 70's, i was relegated to a t.v. (as most of us living in eastern NC), to get FOUR t.v. channels. WRAL, CH-5 (CBS) WITN, CH-7,(NBC) WUNC, CH-2 (PBS) & WNCT, CH-9 (CBS)…back then, there were no variances on seeing "different" cartoons then. my afternoons were filled with looney tunes, the wild, wild, west or the andy griffith show (a north carolina favorite). on saturday mornings, whatever was on the major networks fill the need.today, kids (and some adults) got it made with 24-hour nickelodeon & the cartoon network…especially adult swim!
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>I'm feeling ya'll on the old school tv, especially the UHF channels. My favorite was "Giant Robot" aka "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot". I was in second grade when that was on. I lived in D.C. back then, so it is one of my fondest memories because when we eventually moved back to Florida after only being in D.C. for a year, I missed the TV shows and the culture that was evidently a lot different than Jacksonville, FL. Lance, I'm feeling you on The Wild, Wild West, I love Westerns. That reminds me of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie (I can't believe I'm admitting to watching that – just seems soft to admit it for some reason). I think everybody watched Andy Griffith at one time or another, and Opie sure writes some good movies these days. That was an entirely different place and time. Speaking of westerns, did any of you go to a theme park in Florida called Six Gun Territory? That place was the bomb as a kid.This has been a nostalgic couple of weeks. By the way, my brother called yesterday and I answered the phone "Damn this water's cold" and like clockwork you know what his response was "Yeah, and it's deep too" — of course the laughter followed.For those in the dark see the Vodoo/Richard Pryor Blog entry from last week.
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>Wow, Rich…Six Gun Territory? Now that just took me back!! As you know, I was from Florida too (and my father was obsessed with westerns, by the way), but that just made me think about when we'd take road trips and be on the Florida Turnpike. Back then (and probably still now), it was a series of billboard after billboard advertising nearing attractions like Six Gun Territory and Gatorland and, of course, Disney World and whatever else was in Kissimmee or Micanopy or Ocala—I think Wet 'n Wild was in Ocala. (Now that I think about it, the Turnpike and I-75 now have a heckuva lot of ads for shake-booty joints…how times have changed.)But my favorite place to stop was Stuckey's. Y'all remember Stuckey's restaurants? We'd get off at an exit (Stuckey's were usually after the turnpike ended and we were on I-75, I think). They'd have burgers and knick-knacks, but the thing I most wanted when we stopped there was a pecan log. It was a long bar of nougat rolled in crushed pecans. Yum!Whenever I go to Florida and do a driving book tour, I always stop at this place in Fort Pierce off of I-95, right before you connect to the Florida Turnpike, and I buy a trough of pecan logs. I've still got about five of them in the kitchen right now. Aaaaaaaaah, memories!!
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>ummmm, I like Tom & Jerry and the Flintstones!Okay, I just wanted to be down like the rest of y'all. I'll sit back and listen to the ole giots now.
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>Nothing like driving through the highways of Florida. If you are ever in the area of Ocala Florida, hit Highway 301 N, as if you are headed to Jacksonville and stop at a roadside stand and get a bag of boiled peanuts (there are signs everywhere). Now that's good eatin'. Alright everybody, show your age, what's the oldest cartoon that you can remember from your time. Who remembers any of these: Yogi Bear, Snaggle Puss (exit stage left), Inch High Private Eye, Josie and the Pussycats, Hong Kong Phuey. Come on, add to the list. Hey, Sheletha, Fred Flinstone is the man, nobody stops cars with their feet like that dude.
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>Rich, boiled peanuts are actually my number favorite road junk food. I used to drive my Daddy nuts (ha, ha), making him pull over at those roadside stands. Fortunately, my daddy was also a boiled peanut fanatic like me. Highway 301…ah, the memories. I often got off the interstate and took 301 on my way back to college (the University of Florida).I'm loving these flashbacks. And I loved all the cartoons you mentioned. Sheletha, I was such a huge fan of The Flintstones that I quote Fred like he's Shakespeare. Dippydoodle-itis, y'all!!
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>Wacky Racers, Flintstones, Scooby (pre-Scrappy only, please), Superfriends and Star Blazers (a Japanime sci-fi, yes even way back then). I was never a big western fan but opted for Gilligan (who didn't want a taste of Mary Ann's coconut pie?) and Munsters."DARN DARN DARN DARN DARN!" – Herman Munster
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>hey matt!!!!…quick!!!! mary ann or ginger?!!!!!
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>Mary Ann…Mary Ann…those cutoffs…I need some time alone, now.
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