Kingzilla

Kingzilla

October 6, 1973 TV Episode Speed Buggy

Studio
Hanna-Barbera Studios

Synopsis

When the plane they are on develops engine trouble, the gang parachutes onto a plateau, unaware that the neighboring jungle is home to Kingzilla, leader of the giant apes. When Professor Grovak and his assistant Karl watch Kingzilla play with Speed Buggy, they realize this is the key to controlling him and the other apes. Speedy is used as bait while Kingzilla is tranqulized, and then the gang is held hostage. They escape and are recaptured, with Grovak gaining Speed Buggy's remote control.

Characters

Speed Buggy, Debbie, Tinker, Mark

Credits

Directing

Director
Charles Nichols (as Charles A. Nichols)

Producing

Producer
William Hanna, Joseph Barbera (Executive Producers)
Creative Producer
Iwao Takamoto
Associate Producer
Art Scott

Music

Music
Hoyt Curtin
Musical Supervisor
Paul DeKorte

Editing

Editor
Chip Yaras
Supervising Film Editor
Larry Cowan

Crew

Production Design
Bob Singer
Production Supervisor
Victor O. Schipek
Titles
Iraj Paran
Character Design
Jerry Eisenberg
Layout
John Ahern, Hak Ficq, Moe Gollub, Grank Gonzales, Adam Szwejowski
Background Styling
F. Montealegre, Eric Semones
Backgrounds
Robert Caples, Dennis Durrel, Venita Epler
Technical Supervision
Frank Paiker
Ink And Paint Supervision
Billie Kerns
Xerography
Robert "Tiger" West
Sound Direction
Richard Olson, Bill Getty
Music Editor
Joe Sandusky
Effects Editors
Clifford Kohlweck, Earl Bennett
Negative Consultant
William E. DeBoer
Post-Production Supervision
Joed Eaton
Camera
Tom Barnes, Ron Jackson, Ralph Migliori, Roy Wade

Companies and other credits

  • A HANNA-BARBERA PRODUCTION
  • © 1973 Hanna-Barbera Productions
  • Inc

Production notes

Add Hanna-Barbera's Speed Buggy to the loveable-animated-cars-who-talk list. Employing a Love-Bug-meets-Scooby-Doo concept, Speed Buggy featured three wacky teenagers whose means of transportation was a remote-controlled, rust-colored dune buggy named Speed Buggy. Speed Buggy had two eyes for headlights, a mouth for a grill, and a heart of chrome.

In giving a voice to Speed Buggy, Mel Blanc took the sputterings he provided for Maxwell (the car on Jack Benny's radio show) one step further- Speed Buggy, unlike Maxwell, could actually talk. He also had the very useful ability to fly. Tinker, who looked eerily similar to Scooby Doo's Shaggy, was the mechanic who raced Speed Buggy, while Mark and Debbie were the show's Freddy and Daphne.

Meddling kids in their own right, Tinker, Mark, and Debbie would cruise around in Speed Buggy, looking for adventure and getting themselves into and out of trouble, all the while solving mysteries.

Apparently, the old Scooby-Doo formula still held up. Speed Buggy was another rating winner for Hanna-Barbera, airing on and off for ten years on each of the three major networks. Speed himself also made guest appearances on Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics.

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