Roger Ramjet

It was only a matter of time before ROGER RAMJET was released on DVD, just like most every classic TV show that ever existed (MY MOTHER THE CAR, anyone?). The bad animation and goofy dialog(much of which appeared in words on screen- often misspelled on purpose)add to the appeal of this lost classic cartoon series. I can more fully appreciate the humor now than when I was eight years old and took cartoons more seriously. I would highly recommend this series to anyone who feels the same way I do-believe me, it's that much better 40 years later.

You won't escape the awful fate of proton's mighty fury! Rating: ***** out of *****

The above is part of the Roger Ramjet theme song. Roger Ramjet was a buffoon, a clown, an idiot, and a fool. In short, he was a do- gooder. His groupies were four awe-struck kids named Yank,

Doodle, Dan, and Dee. RR was a member of the American Eagle Squadron. His strength came from his proton energy pill which

gave him the power of twenty atom bombs for twenty seconds. I

used to watch it when I was a kid New Hampshire. My favorite RR episode was the Christmas one where RR was hypnotized by an evil magician and made to think that he was a little kid. Gary

Owens of Laugh In was the voice of Roger Ramjet. He was also

the voice of Space Ghost. Both are good classic cartoons.

Roger Ramjet, he's our man/Hero of our nation/For his adventures please stay tuned/To this same TV station...

Or something like that. It's been a while since I've heard the theme song, but it was sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

Roger Ramjet wasn't exactly a high-budget cartoon show. In fact, there's probably less actual *movement* in this show than any other cartoon ever made (with the possible exception of Clutch Cargo), so every episode looks as if it cost about 75 cents to produce. Still, it was a funny cartoon in the Dudley Do-Right vein--well-meaning but ineffectual hero bumbles his way to saving the day.

I used to work with a guy who was constantly quoting Ramjet's boss: "Ramjet, you always cease to amaze me."

Great Ramjet trivia: There was a classic Cold War villain named Noodles Romanoff.

Roger Ramjet was created in 1965 by Ken Snyder and brought to cel life by director Fred Crippen and voice actor Gary Owens. And, even if the animation was so static it became the butt of jokes to this very day, Roger´s adventures still owe more to the anarchy of Jay Ward and Bob Clampett than, say, Sam Singer. Roger Ramjet, the `Daredevil, Flying Fool and All-Around Good Guy' is an obvious parody of super-hero antics AND patriotism itself, including the cold war paranoia. At first glance, it´s pure formula: our hero is assigned to some mission, always gets in trouble so the kids from the American Eagle Squadron can rescue him, and ends up kicking the villains´ badly animated behinds by ingesting the Proton Energy Pill, that grants him the power of twenty atom bombs for twenty seconds. But the similarities end here, cause RR is filled with clever puns, cultural references, Hollywood in-jokes and a LOT of adult-aimed dialogue which often went over kids´ heads. I´ll give you only one example, and that will be enough to lure you into the zany, adorable world of Roger. Let´s take the `The Shaft' episode from `Hero of Our Nation'. It´s about Roger creating a super-rocket that´s more powerful than… uh, anything else. Problem is, the rocket backfires and burrows a hole through the Earth. The ENTIRE darn planet. What we Earthlings do? Oh, not much. Just watch were we walk, to avoid falling in the hole and getting a free trip to China. Aye, we can live on a donut-shaped planet, no problem sir. The ONLY thing that bugs people is when winds runs through the hole, creating an annoying whistle. THEN the nations decide to join forces to fix the problem! See what I mean?

I'd say that Roger Ramjet is one of the best "second degree" cartoons I've ever seen. The Cold War atmosphere, the tongue-in-cheek theme played on Yankee Doodle, etc.

The closest modern cartoon would be the "Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot" series, made by Dark Horse.

You know what I mean : shining teeth hero, stars-and-stripes in background, and (important) silly-joke-everyone-laughs at the end.