Cartoon Disappointment

Did you ever see the old Pink Panther cartoon? It was on TV in the 70's?

It just 'came on' the TV last night - on Channel Boomerang.
Boomerang is the Cartoon Network's attempt to keep their catalog of old Hanna Barbara and MGM cartoons in circulation. It was spun off in 2000, and I'm going to guess they keep airing the old catalog as part of the syndication deal Turner made in 1985.

Anyhow, I sat down and watched the title screen come up, and I grinned. Probably how I used to when I was a kid. I was expecting quite a bit.

Blake Edward's - heh. That's funny, that Blake Edward's name is on a cartoon...
The cat is smoking. Fuggin' Smoking on a kid's cartoon!
No one's talking...
Okay, what's the story?
He's a porter, and now he's a bank robber...
So that's like the movie!
The bad guy's a jerk...
And they're using a nail file to rob a safe?
Is this French?
Hurm.
This sucks.
Oh man...
This sucks ass.

I was disappointed. It wasn't funny. It wasn't even kind of funny. It just wasn't good.

And then I remembered, when I was a kid - the Pink Panther cartoons weren't good THEN either. I always expected that it WOULD be. Maybe THIS time it'd be different...

But you know what? It NEVER was.

Unlike other shows I've researched and re-watched later in life (Battle of the Planets being the best example of this Nostalgia-Trek) and realized after re-watching it and comparing it to my memory of the show, and so far my memory of whatever it was I was re-watching was always better. I realized, always too late, that I was better off with the memory of the thing, rather than the actual thing.

What's another good example - the Charlie Brown [Insert Holiday Title] Special.
Always better left in the memory banks.
The first season of the Muppet Show also disappointed me quite a bit - mostly because I had a sense of context now. I decided that first season was nothing more than a 'Laugh In' rip off with puppets.

But the Pink Panther reminded me of how disappointed I was as a Kid. Now I know I don't need to research the old Filmmation Flash Gordon cartoon - because except for the one time prime-time special on NBC PrimeTime in 1979 - it was terrible too.

I'd still like to find the Hulk cartoon that ran after Spiderman and his Amazing Fiends, and before Thundarr the Barbarian. However, since it is SO hard to find - and after my experience with the Pink Panther and all those other shows I have been able to re-watch... I'm guessing it's being hidden by Marvel for a darn good reason.

If you're scratching your noodle, yes, this is the one where Banner's clothes would 'magically' re-appear after he turned back from the Hulk - but Stan Lee narrated the opening, and it was kind of cool - (ahem) from what I remember.