Before being endearingly spoofed on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim with Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the superheroes Space Ghost and Birdman thrilled Saturday morning audiences with their cartoon capers. Now Warner Home Video has released both complete series on DVD as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. Also making ites way to disc today is Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, a four-disc set from Shout! Factory.
Space Ghost & Dino Bo: The Complete Series offers all 20 episodes of the show that aired on CBS from 1966 to 1967. The show introduced the villainous Zorak, Brak and Moltar, and featured the voice of a young Tim Matheson (Animal House) as Jace, one of the fraternal twins who joined Space Ghost on his missions. The role of Space Ghost was voiced by Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens, who has don a fair share of animation work over the years. Each pair of 8-minute Space Ghost stories is augmented by a seven-minute installment of Dino Boy, a show about a boy who is stranded on a prehistoric islandinhabited by dinosaurs and a cavemen named Ugh.
Birdman & The Galaxy Trio premiered in 1967, introducing young viewers to Ray Randall, a man who was given wings and special solar powers by the sun god Ra. Working for a top-secret government agency, Birdman is joined on his adventures by Birdboy, Birdgirl and an eagle sidekick named Avenger. Packaged with the episodes are the exploits of the Galaxy Trio’Vapor Man, Meteor Man and Gravity Girl’who worked for an interplanetary law enforcement agency known as Galactic Patrol. The new DVD set features all 20 episodes and also lists for $26.98.
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is the first volume of episodes from the ’90s cartoon series based on the popular Sega video game. The show features Family Matters‘ Jaleel White as the voice of Sonic, who, along with sidekick Tails, must defend Mobius from the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his notorious gang of robots. The four-disc set carries a suggested retail price of $29.99.
