Space Stars (1981) User Reviews

The Ultimate Victim of the HB Early 80s Cartoon Strike

[richard.fuller1 · 10/10 · 18 July 2009]

In the early 1980s, there would be a strike at Hanna Barbera which affected the Saturday morning cartoons.

Other shows managed to get their cartoons out, such as Shazam and the Kid Super Power Hour. I think this was the year of Pandamonium as well.

It didn't matter. What stood out more was the cartoons that didn't make it, and as a comic book reader and cartoon watcher, it was apparent which shows this was, as they still appeared in the comic book adverts.

The two biggies were the Flintstones Hour, Show, whatever it was called, and this one, the Space Stars.

Both shows were simply rehashings of older characters in newer varieties (Fred and Barney with the Shmoo, Wilma and Betty with Captain Caveman and so on).

Space Stars consisted of new adventures for Space Ghost and the Herculoids, all new characters in the Astro Force (or Teen Force, Alpha Force, something like this) and Astro and the Space Dogs and the original Jetsons cartoons.

Of them all, in my area anyway, I think only the Jetsons turned up.

With the strike, we were handed the return of Daffy Duck, Dynomutt and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Other areas would get different characters. I think I've read online some people got the Funky Phantom back.

It would take a good couple of years before the strike was over, or the damage to Saturday morning could be reworked, but it didn't matter.

Cable was taking full charge. Saturday morning to appeal to kids was growing redundant.

But this strike, which tarnished Saturday morning viewing, played its role in that tarnishing as well.

These cartoons would eventually air to less than stellar fanfare.

I would later catch the Wilma and Betty with Captain Caveman show later on on Cartoon Network and found it to be merely another Flintstones episode. Yabba Dabba Doo.

Likewise, I've seen the new Herculoids and really couldn't tell the difference in them from the 'classic' 60s versions until a familiar piece of Superfriends music strained thru.

The other two again, were simply rehashings, reworkings, retoolings. Gone and forgotten.

But they have a place in history in that they were victims of the changing of the times from Saturday morning vegetation for kids glad to be out of school, to make your own time for vegetating with cable and tivo and downloading.

Ironic that the two cartoons to be affected would be one from the dawn of time and one from the future.

Underrated Hanna Barbera cartoon released the same year as the Smurfs...

[justin-fencsak · 9/10 · 7 June 2017]

When Space Stars first came out on NBC in the fall of 1981, it was originally slated to debut the year before but was delayed to a writer's strike that impacted many TV shows, including Space Stars. The other show that was impacted was the Flinstones Funnies. During that fall, a little show by the name of the Smurfs captivated the imagination of youngsters old and new and gained Emmys in the seasons ahead. Not so with Space Stars. It lasted only one season since it was made that way and consists of several segments revolving around Space Ghost, Astro and the Teen Force, and the Herculoids. Nearly all of the cast members from the original 1960's TV show return to voice them. The animation is still American made and was one of the last cartoons to be made in the USA before Hanna Barbera focused on Asian studios for work. The visual effects by Laserium used for the space travel scenes as well as the closing and opening credits are amazing. I started watching it in reruns on USA Cartoon Express and have seen the full episodes online in stunning 480p quality and it holds up today.

Space-tacular Series.

[Dawalk-1 · 10/10 · 22 May 2021]

This wasn't among the Hanna-Barbera cartoons I watched growing up, so I wouldn't have been made aware of this one until years later and after I reached adulthood, I'd read about it on another site, Skool Days. Besides the couple reviews before mine on here, I also read several reviews about the DVD set of this on Amazon. And with all the good things I've read about it, I knew this seemed to be another one that's worthy enough for me to check out and I just had to do so, showing plenty of curiosity and interest in it. Due to what was available at the time I checked and last time I checked on a video site. I began by watching the first couple of Teen Force segments on Kiss Cartoon (most of the segments are available there, with a couple missing). I enjoyed both of those featuring the diverse trio of newer superheroes and their sidekicks. I'd been wanting to order and get the DVD elsewhere for sometime and I finally obtained my copy a few months ago. I've seen all the segments on the first two discs and been enjoying every minute of them. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best animated series by the studio ever made, has since become one of my most favorites, is one of the better 1980s cartoon programs, and one of the few, strong, great HB shows of that same decade, let alone ever. This is even among my picks for best T. V. toons in general. This is amongst the HB series I wish I had watched in my childhood. I'm probably rambling more than I should here, but when I come across something I really love a lot, I get so enthusiastic so much I usually type a lot about it and have a lot of things on my mind that I just have to get on screen.

What more can I say about this since the two, other reviewers prior to me already gave the history behind this and mentioned some other things about it? Well, this is a better crossover series by HB, definitely much better than Yogi's Gang (one of the HB toons I saw growing up) and Super Friends (which I've never seen, but based on others' comments and reviews about that, I'll still take their word for it). It's also one of the best crossover toons generally ever. Essentially, a couple segments are revivals of Space Ghost and The Herculoids whereas the other, two segments are the aforementioned Teen Force and The Jetsons' Astro, who is the lead in the more comedic The Space Mutts, both of which are the two, newer, segment series. There are also segments known as Space Fact (which gives various facts pertaining to what's in space), Space Magic (which features a character performing a magic trick for the others and explaining how the trick is done), and Space Code (which displays some letters on screen that are scrambled or written backwards, and the viewers try to figure out and decode the message). I read on the back of the DVD set cover that these three became unavailable after the episodes' original airings, but they're now available again. Most of the Space Codes I've seen so far are easy to solve, except the one from the first episode, that got me stumped. The final segment is Space Finale, which has the characters from the assortment of series come to one another's aid and form an alliance to take down the antagonists (though in some, certain, other segments, they are also one another's allies). Through online reviews and video reviews, I've read and heard from those who have beefs with the Astro and The Space Mutts segments. Although the three others may be better, I didn't find Astro and The Space Mutts all that bad. I find that they made those sound worse than what they really are, as I find some, particular moments to be, at least, lightly amusing.

Speaking of the art and animation, the art of the newer Space Ghost and Herculoids segments remain accurate to those from the originals. The animation looks fluid enough in these, as well as the Teen Force and Astro and The Space Mutts segments. I watched all the original Herculoids segments and the animation in those looks great, as much as the newer ones. I've seen only a few of the original Space Ghost segments, but I've read at least one user's comments elsewhere about the animation in the originals not being perfect. Maybe it is in some and not so much in others, so I can't say for sure, but I think, at least, in most cases, the animation in those I've seen seems fine enough. Compared to the first Galaxy Trio segment I watched. Despite the art style of some of the characters in The Space Mutts being more realistic whereas others are more cartoony, I'll still give that are pass and let it slide anyway. The color palettes of the backgrounds and layouts are just right, not too dark, not too bright. The writing of the stories and scripts in many of these are among the strongest ever written within HB's oeuvre. The cast of mostly original voice actors who reprised many of the roles still sound fine, while the new voice actors for the newer characters sound great as well in their roles. The music is just stellar, especially the theme with it's theremin-sounding, space age pop.

Although it seems that HB didn't put as much effort into its shows more often than it did, this is a paragon of a show in which it did. Even though it may had been done so only occasionally, it proved that it still was capable of putting out worthy material for everybody, not just kids. There have been exceptions to the routine and this is, indeed, exceptional. I agree that this is one of the better HB series, among the best ever made, and for those who are looking to get into the better ones, I say that this is one of them and what all would be searching. It is an essential that is considered to be not only a must-watch, but a must-own on DVD as well. One of the best one will find. Recommended.