B Archives — Page 27 of 52 — The Cartoon Databank

Blackstar’s opening theme, slightly paraphrased, does a good job of summarizing the show:

“Astronaut John Blackstar was swept through a black hole, into an ancient alien universe. Trapped on the planet Sagar, Blackstar was rescued by the tiny Trobbit people. In turn, he joined their fight for freedom against the cruel Overlord, who ruled by the might of the Powerstar. The Powerstar was split into the Powersword and the Starsword. And so, with Starsword in hand, Blackstar, together with his allies, sets out to save the planet Sagar.”

Blackstar joined forces with three important allies: the sorceress Mara, a shape-shifter named Klone, and a fire-breathing dragon he used as a steed, called Warlock. When not thwarting the evil schemes of Overlord and his mob of minions, the companions hung out with their tree-dwelling friends, the Trobbits. The Trobbits, who had an assortment of unique but minor abilities of their own, oft-times found themselves embroiled in the action.

The show lasted for a single, thirteen episode season. Stylistically, it was a revealing precursor to Filmation’s later, but better known, fantasy epic, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

In Breezly & Sneezly, freeloading polar bear Breezly Bruin perpetually invaded the Alaskan Army outpost, Camp Frostbite. Always eager for a party, he was especially fond of crashing military dances. The polar bear roomed in an off-base igloo with diminutive buddy Sneezly Seal — so named for his constant fits of sneezing. Less prone to rule breaking, Sneezly was always available for moral support, but wouldn’t otherwise participate in his pal’s schemes. Despite Breezly’s long track record of failure, Sneezly never lost faith in his friend.

The commander of Camp Frostbite, Colonel Fuzzby, obsessed over stopping Breezly’s incursions. Although the colonel’s luck was mostly bad, Breezly’s poorly executed plans nearly always delivered him directly into Fuzzby’s grasp.

Breezly & Sneezly was one of three, 7-minute segments on the 1964, half-hour series The Peter Potamus Show. The other segments were Peter Potamus & So-So and Yippee, Yappee & Yahooey. After one season, Breezly & Sneezly traded places with Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-long, to be included as a segment on The Magilla Gorilla Show.

Breezly & Sneezly consisted of 23 episodes in total. Unlike the majority of Hanna-Barbera characters who took part in ensemble shows, Breezly and Sneezly quietly left the limelight and slipped into obscurity after their own series ended.

When you think of a superhero who operates from a secret bat cave, responds to crisis in a bat-themed automobile, and whose costume is adorned with a cape resembling bat wings, one hero jumps to mind — Batfink! Outfitted in yellow spandex and metallic bat wings, the human-sized bat used his supersonic sonar radar and a slew of gadgets to take down criminals.

An Asian sidekick, literally named Karate, assisted Batfink in his adventures. Acting as chauffeur, Karate raced Batfink to crime scenes in their pink car, the Battilac, and used his martial prowess to chop criminals, and everything else, down to size.

The two crime fighting champions faced oddball villains like Hugo A Go-Go, Ebenezer The Freezer, Big Ears Ernie, Queenie Bee and others for a total of one hundred, 6-minute adventures. These cartoons were released into local syndication, where they aired in locally produced cartoon compilation programs.