A call goes out for the mightiest heroes of them all: Strong Man, Cuckoo Man, Tornado Man, Rope Man, Diaper Man, Rob Man, and The Irredeemable Shag Man! Grab a bowl of your favorite sugary cereal and enjoy our discussion about the short-lived 1960s classic cartoon THE MIGHTY HEROES!
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I too LOVED the Mighty Heroes! I misremembered them as being part of the Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons. It says something that they’re more memorable then the main series they were a part of.
I watched it in the afternoons in syndication when I got home from kindergarten, just before reruns of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon. (Which is what I was really tuning in for!)
I enjoyed as a rather “straight” superhero adventure as well, except for Cuckoo Man! Good Lord how he irritated me! I was always so frustrated when he inevitably screwed every thing up! “Why do they let him be part of the team!?!” “They should fire him!” Maybe I took it too seriously…
“And peace returns to Goodhaven once more, thanks to… The Mighty Heroes!
Up and away!
Yahoooo!
Wheeee!
Hung-Ho!
Eh Cuckoo…. eh cuckoo.”
I totally loved The Mighty Heroes.
It is pretty funny that I had no interest in Mighty Mouse at all. But I used to keep that show on in hopes of seeing The Mighty Heroes. And I liked Rope Man the best! Crazy!
Even as a kid, you could get the sense of this being completely formulaic. I used to get pretty ticked off in the early part of the episode when the heroes would just undermine their own chances. Why can’t they be a polished team the whole episode!
I love the idea of an updated take on them, especially the older versions!
Thanks for taking me back to yesteryear!
I can’t believe you did The Mighty Heroes! I was also a big fan as a kid (that’s one of my favorite cartoon theme songs) and I’m so glad you found the 80s Mighty Mouse episode too. Definitely a labor of love.
Didja know … Herschel Bernardi who did the voices of Diaper Man et al. was the voice of Charlie the Tuna on commercials for years.
I remember the Mighty Heroes. I watched some older Mighty Mouse at some point and have admittedly vague recollections mostly of Cuckoo Man and Diaper Man.
Impressive podcast. Most impressive. I only know the Mighty Heros from the 80s might mouse cartoon. Ware Dipper Man becomes ruber pants man. Though they only had that one apearance. Since the Mighty Mouse Cartoon had other running cartoons. Like Bat Bat…. the Bat Man movie had just came out so they made Bat Bat as a joke. Though Bat bat did team up with Mighty Mouse some times. And some guy who looked like Goofy but acted like Doodly Do right well sounded like him. And he had a side kick. Can’t rember his name though I heard his voice when I read Kill Kat from Image. Though Might Heros sounds fun.
And if nothing else it gave Brashki a foot in the door. Ware he made all the cartoon movies he made.
Bat-bat? Bat-bat? I had no idea! That is awesome!
I had no knowledge of this series until a few years ago, so sadly, I was NOT the voice of Strong Man. Having now watched an episode on YouTube, I am now filing legal papers to leave the network before I am also accused of being Jim Nabors.
But seriously, just from what I saw, there is something in the animation that is more…artful than your average Hanna Barbara or Filmation show of the time. You can see Bakshi’s genius poking through. I watched the 80s Mighty Mouse cartoon, but don’t recall the episode with the Mighty Heroes, but I will definitely look it up, and more episodes of this series! Oh, and John Krifalusci went from working on 80s Mighty Mouse under Bakshi to creating Ren & Stimpy a few years later. Unfortunately, he is one of many Hollywood types who has been revealed to be a less than admirable type in the last few years, so anything he touched is now kind of tainted with “ick”…which sucks, because I LOVED Ren & Stimpy.
Cornpone Chris
Channel 48….ah, Channel 48, how I miss thee…..where else could you find Mighty Mouse, Popeye, Underdog, The Great Space Coaster, The Brady Bunch and, yes….THE MIGHTY HEROES! This is one of those shows that has rented space in my brain and never left, and I honestly don’t know why. To be honest, I don’t remember any specific episodes or situations, save for the opening montage and theme. The backgrounds and the animation in general always seemed unique and knowing that Bakshi was a creative force on the show makes sense. He brought the same skewed style the later seasons of the sixties Spider-Man cartoon. Thanks for this trip down memory lane, looking forward to what you guys have coming up….Lazer Tag, perhaps……we shall see!
I have no memory of the Mighty Heroes, but as often happens when I have no idea what they’re talking about, I enjoyed listening to Rob and Shag anyway.
This episode did spark a couple questions, though. Shag, isn’t Rope Man just proto-Slipknot, and is that why you like him the best of all?
To me, he evoked Spaghetti Man from the Super Harlem Globetrotters.
Yes, he’s an even closer descendant.
So, a Mighty Heroes t-shirt would just be — (checks notes) — a shirt with a plain capital H on it, looks like. Not sure any shirt maker would need to pay a licensing fee?, but whaddo I know.
I watched this cartoon when I was a lad! And let me tell you how much I loved it — — well, I watched it. It was on. 🙂
Did the TV industry give out awards for Best Hero Battle Cry in the 1960s? If “Hung Ho” didn’t earn some kind of trophy, then Rope Man wuz robbed. Especially after he seemed to be the only one on the team to do more than half-ass his catchphrase contribution.
Hey! That was fun! Over in the UK, we only got a smattering of US cartoons, and missed some of the big ones. I would always look longingly at the Saturday morning ads in my beloved comics. To this day I have never seen Super-Friends, and I fear it’s too late to start.
BUT I’m pretty sure we did get The Mighty Heroes, though I can’t remember how, when or why. And it’s possible I completely imagined this. Perhaps Martin Gray or Andy Leyland other Britishers will back me up or strike me down. This episode definitely tickled a long-forgotten nostalgic quadrant of my brain box though. To YouTube!
SUPER Harlem Globetrotters! OK, I was thinking of an earlier iteration of the show where they traveled the world, solving mysteries without any powers, and wondering how they got jumbled in my mind next to The Mighty Heroes and The Impossibles!
“A CALL GOES OUT FOR THE MIGHTY HEROES!”
Like Rob, I remember seeing this in syndicated reruns when I was a kid, although I never had it connected to Mighty Mouse until adulthood. I found these on YouTube several years ago, and while I agree with Rob that they don’t “binge” especially well, I was glad to have found them and enjoyed revisiting the franchise at that time (I also looked up the “Heroes and Zeroes” episode of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures afterward, and would be curious to hear Shag’s comments if he found that episode after recording this podcast).
I was amused at Shag’s comments about disliking the 70s. My wife (who, like Shag and I, was also born in the 70s and lived throughout most of them) also seems to have an allergic reaction to all things 70s that I’ve never quite understood. She’s very patient with me. 😉
I think my favorite of the MH’s was Cuckoo Man. While he’s arguably the most ineffectual of the bunch (how ironic that the ONE hero based on an avian animal seems to have the most trouble flying. Just watch him struggle to keep up with the others while flapping his arms frantically and barely keeping off the ground, complete with sputtering machinery sound effects), he’s got a lot of heart. I’d be proud to have him on my team (provided I could cover for his inevitable mess ups!).