Spunky, a boy (played by Joan Gardner, a.k.a. Joan Janis, wife of the producer) and Tadpole, his bear (played first by the always versatile Don Messick, then by series producer Ed Janis) are detectives - who get themselves into and out of improbable situations while chasing and catching the bad guys - working in locations as mundane as the Police Department (Gumshoe Division) and as far-flung as the moon. Along the way they spoof old movies and then-current TV shows, and find themselves working with characters such as detective Trick Casey and famous spaceman Trash Borden (both played by the always versatile Don Messick).
The show was serialized, with ten short episodes comprising one story. The series was sold to local stations for use during their locally produced kid shows.
The animation, although typical of the "limited" made-for-TV animation style of the period, looks not quite as good as comparable product from other TV animation producers of the day. The stories range from so-so to pretty good, but the gags are anywhere from groaners to hilarious.
Despite the budgets for the Spunky and Tadpole episodes looking not to be particularly high, the writing and production values were pretty good. And the producers, Beverly Hills Productions, had the foresight to make the shows in color - even though most TV's were black and white at the time. Unfortunately, the show didn't live up to expectations and was dumped from the major markets in which it ran fairly early on. It continued for a while in secondary markets until it disappeared from TV altogether in the mid-1960's.
"The Adventures of Spunky and Tadpole" started around the same time as Hanna-Barbera's "The Huckleberry Hound Show", in which Messick played Boo Boo Bear and Ranger Smith in the "Yogi Bear" segments of that show's first season, as well as additional voices in other segments. Yogi was then spun off to star in his own series, and Messick's Boo Boo and the Ranger went with him.
In 1978, "Spunky and Tadpole" was purchased for home video by ZIV, who edited the serialized episodes together into complete stories that ran roughly half an hour each. They actually play better that way than as individual episodes.
