Galloping Onward.

Of all the cartoons about talking horses that I've seen in my life, "Wildfire" was the most unique one of all. And not just because Hanna-Barbera produced it.

For starters, it was the only H-B animated series whose opening sequence showed one of the good guys dying. This was Queen Sarana, mother of Princess Sara. I'd like to say right now that the opening sequences of "The Adventures Of Gulliver," and "Jana Of The Jungle" don't count, since neither show revealed if the title characters' dads were dead or alive. Also, having a princess who didn't even know she was one until she met Wildfire was truly original. Since the girl lived on an American ranch, and dressed like a cowgirl, few if any knew her secret. And the theme song was composed by legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb, who hadn't worked with H-B before.

There were several episodes that I saw time and time again during the series' unjustifiably short run. These included "The Ogre's Bride," about a handsome man changed into an ogre by Diabolyn., "King For A Day," in which Diabolyn actually has a brief moment of triumph when her wish for a king comes true, and Wildfire declares loyalty to Diabolyn and the mysterious Majesty, and "Secret Of The Sinti Magic," which has one member of this tribe abducted, creating a magical impasse.

But the episode that really surprised me was "Where The Dreams Come From." Here, Sara was kidnapped by the Spectres when they disguised themselves as a man claiming to be her biological father. The Sinti told Wildfire Sara was in potential danger. What did he do about it? He went to the ranch to get Mr. Cavanaugh, and only then did I learn that this rancher was in fact, Prince Cavin, Sara's real father! Prince and horse to the rescue! Yee hah! Of course, Mr. Cavanaugh only dismissed the adventure as a dream, but still.

So, as I said, this series deserved much better than it got. Hopefully, it'll gallop onto DVD sometime in the future.

BTW, I know of no lawsuits over the name, since the series was totally unrelated to the classic Michael Murphy song.

Trivia Question 12: In the episode "A Visit To Wonderland," what did the children capture Wildfire for?

Answer: They wanted him to be a horse on their carousel.

Another title for this post could be "My Immense Big Bad Black Stallion: A Princess's Friendship is Magic"

Jessica Walter played the voice of evil queen Diabolyn. Of course, her role on "Arrested Development" as Lucille Bluth, the matriarch of the Bluth clan has made her a cult favorite. She is currently the voice of Malory Archer, the mother of super spy Sterling Archer in the FX animated "Archer" series.

John Vernon usually played bad guys in tv shows and movies such as Dean Wormer in "National Lampoon's Animal House" and crime boss Mr. Big in "I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka"...here he played a hero as the voice of Wildfire the stallion.

Georgi Irene played the voice of Sara. She was the voice of Woolma Lamb in "The Get Along Gang" and Jessie in the 1980s "Jonny Quest" series (with her "Get Along Gang" cast mate Scott Menville as Jonny's voice). She played young Barbara Mandrell in flashbacks in the NBC "Barbara Mandrell and The Mandrell Sisters" variety program in a recurring skit when grown-up Barbara and her sisters Irlene and Louise would recall funny incidents in their childhood and then Georgi and two other young actresses would enter the stage and take the roles of the Mandrell sisters and re-enact the incidents.

She also played Leslie in several episodes of "Silver Spoons" who had a crush on wealthy Ricky Stratton (Rick Schroeder). One episode with Leslie had Ricky trying desperately to get the then-hot boy band "Menudo" to perform at a school party on a dare. Another episode had Leslie's divorced mother flirting with Ricky's dad Edward (Joel Higgins), much to the jealousy of Edward's current girlfriend Kate (Erin Gray).

Peter S. Beagle, who wrote many award-winning fantasy novels including "The Last Unicorn" which was made into an animated feature, served as a creative consultant for the "Wildfire" series.

The series deserved a long run.

Not only that, but Ms. Walter had previously played the obsessed fan who stalks a DJ played by Clint Eastwood in "Play Misty For Me."

emeraldisle said:Not only that, but Ms. Walter had previously played the obsessed fan who stalks a DJ played by Clint Eastwood in "Play Misty For Me."

She later worked on the side of the law as a chief of detectives in the NBC Mystery Movie segment "Amy Prentiss" for one season in the 1970s.

Hey, I think I remember this cartoon. Wildfire is a name that's stuck in my memory. Nice to read about it here.