Saturday Supercade

Saturday Supercade is a 1983-1984 animated television series produced for Saturday mornings by Ruby-Spears Productions. It ran for two seasons on CBS.[1]

Saturday Supercade
GenreAnimation
Written byVarious
Directed by
Voices of
Composer(s)Haim Saban
Shuki Levy
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26 (98 segments)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Running time30 minutes
Production company(s)Ruby-Spears Enterprises
DistributorWorldvision Enterprises
Release
Original networkCBS
Original releaseSeptember 17, 1983 (1983-09-17) –
December 1, 1984 (1984-12-01)

Premise

Each episode is composed of several shorter segments featuring video game characters from the golden age of arcade video games.[2]

The segments included:

  • Frogger (from the Frogger arcade game)
  • Donkey Kong with Mario and Pauline (from the Donkey Kong arcade game)
  • Donkey Kong Jr. (from the Donkey Kong Jr. arcade game)
  • Q*bert with Coily, Ugg, Wrongway, Slick and Sam (from the Q*bert arcade game)
  • Pitfall Harry with his pet mountain lion Quickclaw and his niece Rhonda (unlike the others which are arcade games, this segment is from the home console game Pitfall!). The cartoon was simply called "Pitfall!".

Pitfall! and Q*bert rotated weekly while the other three were weekly.

During the second season, Q*bert (now weekly) and Donkey Kong remained while the Frogger, Donkey Kong Jr. and Pitfall! segments were replaced by shorts featuring:

  • Space Ace with Space Ace/Dexter (depending on his form), Kimberly, and Borf (from the Space Ace arcade game).
  • Kangaroo with friends and the "Monkey Business Gang" (from the Kangaroo arcade game).

Segments

Frogger

Frogger (voiced by Bob Sarlatte) is an ace reporter of the swamp who works at The Swamp Gazette. He and his friends Shellshock "Shelly" Turtle (voiced by Marvin Kaplan) and Fanny Frog (voiced by B.J. Ward) go out in search of crazy stories (sometimes about human behavior) to publish in the newspaper. Frogger also has to deal with his gruff boss and editor-in-chief Tex Toadwalker (voiced by Ted Field, Sr.). As in the game, he often has an encounter with an alligator or gets flattened by a passing car.

Episodes
  1. "The Ms. Fortune Story" (September 17, 1983)
  2. "Spaced Out Frogs" (September 24, 1983)
  3. "The Who-Took-Toadwalker Story" (October 1, 1983)
  4. "Hydrofoil & Seek" (October 8, 1983)
  5. "The Great Scuba Scoop" (October 15, 1983)
  6. "The Headline Hunters" (October 22, 1983)
  7. "The Legs Croaker Story" (October 29, 1983)
  8. "The Blackboard Bungle" (November 5, 1983)
  9. "Good Knight, Frogger" (November 12, 1983)
  10. "Fake Me Out to the Ball Game" (November 19, 1983)
  11. "I Remember Mummy" (November 26, 1983)
  12. "Here Today, Pawned Tomorrow" (December 3, 1983)
  13. "Hop-Along Frogger" (December 10, 1983)

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong (voiced by Soupy Sales) has escaped from the circus. He is on the lam, and Mario (voiced by Peter Cullen) and Pauline (voiced by Judy Strangis) are chasing the ape. As with the original game, Donkey Kong will often grab Pauline and Mario has to save her. Plots typically centered on them encountering crime with the villains conning the slow-witted Donkey Kong into doing their work and Mario and Pauline exposing the truth. After Mario and Pauline reveal the truth to Donkey Kong, the three of them team up to stop the antagonists' plans followed by Donkey Kong evading Mario and Pauline again.

Episodes
  1. "Mississippi Madness" (September 17, 1983)
  2. "Gorilla Gangster" (September 24, 1983)
  3. "Banana Bikers" (October 1, 1983)
  4. "The Incredible Shrinking Ape" (October 8, 1983)
  5. "Movie Mania" (October 15, 1983)
  6. "Gorilla My Dreams" (October 22, 1983)
  7. "Little Orphan Apey" (October 29, 1983)
  8. "Circus Daze" (November 5, 1983)
  9. "The Great Ape Escape" (November 12, 1983)
  10. "Apey and the Snowbeast" (November 19, 1983)
  11. "How Much is That Gorilla in the Window?" (November 26, 1983)
  12. "Private Donkey Kong" (December 3, 1983)
  13. "Get Along Little Apey" (December 10, 1983)
  14. "Sir Donkey Kong" (September 8, 1984)
  15. "The Pale Whale" (September 15, 1984)
  16. "El Donkey Kong" (September 22, 1984)
  17. "New Wave Ape" (September 29, 1984)
  18. "Greenhouse Gorilla" (October 6, 1984)
  19. "Hairy Parent" (October 13, 1984)
  20. "Gorilla on the Trail" (December 1, 1984)

Q*bert

In a 1950s-inspired world set in the town of Q*Berg, a teenage fur-covered creature named Q*bert (voiced by Billy Bowles), his girlfriend Q*Tee (voiced by Robbie Lee), his brother Q*Bit (voiced by Dick Beals), and his friends Q*Ball (voiced by Frank Welker), Q*Val (voiced by Robbie Lee), and Q*Mongus (voiced by Frank Welker) must deal with the resident bullies Coily, Ugg and Wrongway (all three voiced by Frank Welker), and Coily's girlfriend Viper (voiced by Julie McWhirter). As with the video game, the segment features "block-hopping" scenes, "swearing" bubbles and occasional flying discs from the original game. New to the cartoon was Q*bert's use of "slippy-doos," a black ball projectile which he loaded and fired through his nose, producing an oil slick wherever the balls splattered. Slick and Sam (both voiced by Frank Welker) are also featured.

Episodes
  1. "Disc Derby Fiasco" (October 1, 1983)
  2. "The Great Q*Tee Contest" (October 15, 1983)
  3. "Q*Ball Rigamarole" (October 29, 1983)
  4. "Crazy Camp Creature" (November 12, 1983)
  5. "Thanksgiving for the Memories" (November 26, 1983)
  6. "Dog Day Dilemma" (December 10, 1983)
  7. "Take Me Out to the Q*Game" (September 8, 1984)
  8. "Noser P.I." (September 15, 1984)
  9. "Hook, Line, and Mermaid" (September 22, 1984)
  10. "Q*Historic Days" (September 29, 1984)
  11. "Q*bert's Monster Mix-Up" (October 6, 1984)
  12. "Game Shoe Woe" (October 13, 1984)
  13. "The Wacky Q*Bot" (October 20, 1984)
  14. "Q*Beat It" (October 27, 1984)
  15. "Q*Urf's Up" (November 3, 1984)
  16. "Little Green Nosers" (November 10, 1984)
  17. "Rebel Without a Q*Ause" (November 17, 1984)
  18. "Looking For Miss Q*Right" (November 24, 1984)
  19. "The Goofy Ghostgetters" (December 1, 1984)

Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr. (voiced by Frank Welker) is sad to find that his father has run away from Mario and the circus. He befriends a greaser nicknamed "Bones" (voiced by Bart Braverman) who has a motorcycle and offers to help Junior by finding his dad together. Donkey Kong Jr's catchphrase is "Monkey muscle!", which he tells to himself and Bones to inspire self-confidence. Bones often serves as the voice of reason when Donkey Kong Jr. bites off more than he can chew.

Episodes
  1. "Trucknapper Caper" (September 17, 1983)
  2. "Sheep Rustle Hustle" (September 24, 1983)
  3. "Rocky Mountain Monkey Business" (October 1, 1983)
  4. "Magnificent 7-Year-Olds" (October 8, 1983)
  5. "The Ventriloquist Caper" (October 15, 1983)
  6. "The Great Seal Steal" (October 22, 1983)
  7. "The Jungle Boy Ploy" (October 29, 1983)
  8. "Junior Meets Kid Dynamo" (November 5, 1983)
  9. "Amazing Rollerskate Race" (November 12, 1983)
  10. "A Christmas Story" (November 19, 1983)
  11. "Gorilla Ghost" (November 26, 1983)
  12. "Teddy Bear Scare" (December 3, 1983)
  13. "Double or Nothing" (December 10, 1983)

Pitfall!

Pitfall Harry (voiced by Robert Ridgely), his niece Rhonda (voiced by Noelle North), and their cowardly pet Quickclaw the Mountain Lion (voiced by Kenneth Mars) explore jungles for hidden treasures, having many different adventures along the way. Quickclaw and Rhonda later appeared in Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and Super Pitfall.

Episodes
  1. "Pitfall's Panda Puzzle" (September 17, 1983)
  2. "Amazon Jungle Bungle" (September 24, 1983)
  3. "Raiders of the Lost Shark" (October 8, 1983)
  4. "Tibetan Treasure Trouble" (October 22, 1983)
  5. "Masked Menace Mess" (November 5, 1983)
  6. "The Sabretooth Goof" (November 19, 1983)
  7. "The Pyramid Panic" (December 3, 1983)

Space Ace

Space Ace (voiced by Jim Piper) is the always smiling self-confident champion of the "Space Command", whereas when always "wimping out" to Dexter (voiced by Sparky Marcus) after being hit by the Infanto-Ray, he becomes clumsy and weak. With officer Kimberly (voiced by Nancy Cartwright), he works for Space Marshall Vaughn (voiced by Peter Renaday) to keep the peace in the universe. They fight the evil alien commander Borf (voiced by Arthur Burghardt) and keep him from invading Earth. Ace and Kim try to keep his 'wimping' situation secret and pretend that Dexter is Kim's little brother to Vaughn.

Again, as with Donkey Kong, Ruby-Spears took artistic license; in the video game, Dexter had certain chances to revert to Ace, his full-grown self, whereas in the cartoon the Ace/Dexter phases seemed to happen on their own and often at inconvenient times for the hero.

It was aired late night on Cartoon Network in the late 1990s, and segments have been shown between programs on Boomerang.

Episodes
  1. "Cute Groots" (September 8, 1984)
  2. "Cosmic Camp Catastrophe" (September 15, 1984)
  3. "Dangerous Decoy" (September 22, 1984)
  4. "Moon Missile Madness" (September 29, 1984)
  5. "Perilous Partners" (October 6, 1984)
  6. "Frozen in Fear" (October 13, 1984)
  7. "Age Ray Riot" (October 20, 1984)
  8. "Wanted: Dexter!" (October 27, 1984)
  9. "Phantom Shuttle" (November 3, 1984)
  10. "Spoiled Sports" (November 10, 1984)
  11. "Calamity Kimmie" (November 17, 1984)
  12. "Three-Ring Rampage" (November 24, 1984)
  13. "Infanto Fury" (December 1, 1984)

Kangaroo

Joey Kangaroo (voiced by David Mendenhall), his mother "K.O." Katy Kangaroo (voiced by Mea Martineau) and Sidney Squirrel (voiced by Marvin Kaplan) must stop the Monkeybiz Gang members Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Fred (all four voiced by Pat Fraley and Frank Welker), four meddlesome monkeys who are known from making trouble at the local zoo run by the zookeeper Mr. Friendly (voiced by Arthur Burghardt). The Monkeybiz Gang would cause trouble by trying to escape from the zoo and Katy would have to help keep them in line.

Episodes
  1. "Trunkfull of Trouble" (September 8, 1984)
  2. "Zoo for Hire" (September 15, 1984)
  3. "Bat's Incredible" (September 22, 1984)
  4. "The White Squirrel of Dover" (September 29, 1984)
  5. "The Birthday Party" (October 6, 1984)
  6. "Having a Ball" (October 13, 1984)
  7. "The Tail of the Cowardly Lion" (October 20, 1984)
  8. "It's Carnival Time" (October 27, 1984)
  9. "Lost and Found" (November 3, 1984)
  10. "Joey and the Beanstalk" (November 10, 1984)
  11. "Zoo's Who" (November 17, 1984)
  12. "The Egg and Us" (November 24, 1984)
  13. "The Runaway Panda" (December 1, 1984)

Cast

Additional voices

Rebroadcast and home video

The Space Ace segments from the show occasionally appeared as filler in between shows on Boomerang and Toonami.

Warner Archive announced via their Facebook page that Saturday Supercade will be released through their made-on-demand DVD program. However, due to rights issues, some segments may not be able to appear. Currently they are researching the project and have no set release date.[3]

On November 3, 2015, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released The Best of Q*Bert on DVD in Region 1.[4] The 2-disc collection features 17 of the 19 episodes of the series. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively in the US via Amazon.com and their CreateSpace MOD program.

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References
  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 530–531. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 712–713. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. Lambert, David (December 10, 2010). "Saturday Supercade - Could the '80s Coin-Op-Based Cartoons be Coming Home? Warner Says..." TV Shows on DVD. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  4. 'The Best Of' the Cartoons from the CBS 'Saturday Supercade' Archived 2015-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
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