Never quite thought of this show like that. 1972's "Goober and the Ghostchasers" may be closer to what X-Files did.
Shmoo was of course a 1950s character from Al Capp's "Lil Abner" comic strip that graduated to his own cartoon here, right after Capp's death, believe it or not.
The cartoon failed as it was largely perceived as just another Scooby Doo clone; a gimmick with the young people gang.
An episode that I always remembered was "The Amazing Captain Mentor" where the mysterious superhero staged his own crimes to prevent; bank-robbery, out of control bus, etc., to get a reputation for himself, so he could be trusted with the security of the banks.
He would reform criminals who actually worked for him.
It seems most Shmoo adventures consist of plots similar to this; everything would be staged and people would be in on the scam.
In "Pyramid of Peril" the rich man thinks a pyramid device will make him younger. An 'experiment' on his 'unwilling' chauffeur makes the elderly chauffeur young, but it turns out the chauffeur is in on the crime.
Watching adventures like this with a strange off-twist from the typical Scooby Doo stories is intriguing.
I'm watching "Dr. Morton's Monster" now and the robot just ripped up a tree. I will be surprised if at the end, the tree isn't revealed to be a cardboard fake.
Shmoo himself is largely irrelevant to the distinction of the cartoon. Shmoo would get some form of retribution when he teamed up with Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in "The Bedrock Cops".
Shmoo was of course a 1950s character from Al Capp's "Lil Abner" comic strip that graduated to his own cartoon here, right after Capp's death, believe it or not.
The cartoon failed as it was largely perceived as just another Scooby Doo clone; a gimmick with the young people gang.
An episode that I always remembered was "The Amazing Captain Mentor" where the mysterious superhero staged his own crimes to prevent; bank-robbery, out of control bus, etc., to get a reputation for himself, so he could be trusted with the security of the banks.
He would reform criminals who actually worked for him.
It seems most Shmoo adventures consist of plots similar to this; everything would be staged and people would be in on the scam.
In "Pyramid of Peril" the rich man thinks a pyramid device will make him younger. An 'experiment' on his 'unwilling' chauffeur makes the elderly chauffeur young, but it turns out the chauffeur is in on the crime.
Watching adventures like this with a strange off-twist from the typical Scooby Doo stories is intriguing.
I'm watching "Dr. Morton's Monster" now and the robot just ripped up a tree. I will be surprised if at the end, the tree isn't revealed to be a cardboard fake.
Shmoo himself is largely irrelevant to the distinction of the cartoon. Shmoo would get some form of retribution when he teamed up with Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in "The Bedrock Cops".