Sampson and Goliath

[J'onn J'onzz]

I'm watching this Boomeraction marathon, and man, Sampson and Goliath is hilariously bad. The whole idea that his "power bands" or whatever turn his DOG into a LION makes no sense. Shouldn't he turn into a wolf or something more canine-like? Cats are the opposites of dogs. It'd be like if Goliath's power bands turned him into a woman instead of turning him into a bodybuilder who is constantly smashing through steel. Also, the music is horribly repetitious and the animation is hilariously poor. The screen is ALWAYS still with just one character doing some mouth movement, or sometimes running or something. Also, Sampson spends a whole episode smashing through steel walls, then the alien chains him up, and he can't break out. :confused: How are chains more difficult than WALLS? Also, Goliath's roar broke through some steel prison before, but it couldn't when the alien put him in one. Where's the consistency in this show? Also, the actual animation screens are pretty lame. I think I saw a rip on one of them a little bit back. Also, I think it's pretty pathetic how the lion has laser eyes. I mean, come on. A dog transforming into a lion with laser eyes. Plus, the laser beams look horrible due to the low budget. I know you're not supposed to think about this kind of show, but, man, it's hard not to, it makes so little sense.

Edit: I forgot to mention the awful dialogue. Sampson only seems to speak in questions that end in "EH, GOLIATH?" He also starts a lot of sentences with "WE'VE GOT TO". For example, "WE'VE GOT TO BREAK OUT OF THIS CAGE, EH GOLIATH? YOUR LASER EYE BEAMS WOULD DO THE TRICK, EH GOLIATH?"

[SF4Ever]

What do you expect-this show was made in the late 1960's. I really don't see your point about the premise of Samson and Goliath. It's just a superhero cartoon, and yes, Hanna-Barbera had to come up with some original ideas for all of their original superhero cartoons of the late 1960's. The animation wasn't the greatest, but then again, all studios had limited budgets to work with(that's why we need to stop complaining about the animation quality of that time), back in the 1960's. I don't see your objection to the music score in the show-it was repetitive in all H-B superhero cartoons, back then. My suggestion to you is if you don't like what you're seeing, change the channel.

[hobbyfan]

Samson & Goliath, aka Young Samson, has gotten royally dissed over the years, largely due to how it was treated after its initial run on NBC. In syndication, it was mixed with some Jay Ward cartoons for no reason (same with Space Kiddettes).

In terms of episode quality, yeah, there's a certain sameness to the music, applicable to all HB adventure cartoons of the period, Jonny Quest included. The dialogue was lamer than shiznit, and they also made use of rotoscoping just as much as their rivals did. I'm surprised it turned up during the Boomeraction marathon last night, though. Haven't seen it on Da Boom since I got digital 2 months ago.

Have to remember, too, that Samson's voice was done by Tim Matheson (Jonny Quest, Jace on Space Ghost). Not bad, but some variety in casting in those days would've been nice.

[Eric Brown]

Ya know, I have some of the same gripes about BIRDMAN as J'onn J'onnz has about Samson and Goliath. I used to watch these shows when they aired in the late 60's because they were H-B and I was an H-B fan. Viewing these shows 40 years later, I now realize they were... Ahh....Um....Ohhh....lets's say; "of inferior quality"! The action type animation was very limited. The characters had no real personalities. They were just, kind of "off the shelf stereotype super heros" that were given a singular mission. I really don't have any interest in adding these shows to my library.

I still think that the Space Ghost series was the better of them all. Not the "greatest super hero" show, just the "better" one. Herculoids runs a second, although ZOK's constant screaming gets very annoying.

That's all

THANX

[tucsoncoyote]

Well I too have to agree with Eric Brown and J'onn J'onzz about Sampson and Goliath.. But then we know WHY this is so.. It's part of the cheesiness and lack of creative writing that was part of the HB world of the 1960's. And in fact like SF4ever states, it's all part of the same adventure genre, HB create.. And like SF4ever points out even further, it seems a lot of times that the same VA's were used over and over in other animated Series (Zandor in The Herculoids is in fact the same VA as Race Bannon in Jonny Quest).

But then when you look at this show, this show, definitely shows how cheesey it was.

Examples include:

Sampson Flying (Okay I know he's strong, he can rip through walls with his bare hands. But Flying? Maybe Long Leaps, but flying? (Can we say, Superman Rip off?)

Then there are those Powerbands... Super Sampson power? The Ring of Sampson? Oy... over played and under used.

Then of course like J'onn J'onzz stated, Goliath going from a DOG to a Lion...I mean I could believe a Bull elephant or a Huge Wolf, but come on. Interspecies switching? J'onn you are so right, this is like having a bodybuilder becoming a ballet dancer.

and then finally the biggest flaw of all... and this really hurt the show big time:

Everyone knew who Sampson was! (I mean Hello, Rule #1 of any superhero is never ever to reveal your real identity to anyone! yet in one or two episodes you had Sampson talking to people and it's like, Hello, My name is Sampson and this dog is Goliath, and we're superheroes.) How believable is that?

Now if this show had been ever redone or revamped, I would make some changes to it.

First off, The powers would be toned down...and of course remove the "Superhero Identity rule" and finally of course Get Goliath to be Cerebus (the Three headed dog..(Heck A flying lizard that could shoot energy beams out of it's eyes and tail is one thing. But a dog who turns into a lion and does the same? not as believable.. but then of course what about a 3 headed dog with energy eye beams? That would have been believable.

So in closing I say, This proves that Hanna Barbera was way off their game in the late 60's and early 1970's it wasn't until you got believable characters that the shows improved.. But Like has been pointed out.. this was about as Cheesey as it could get.

:coyote:

[Eric B]

The show is like a cross between Birdman and Mightor.
It takes place in modern times like Birdman, with the Generals calling on him to catch the villains and all, but his powers and the sharing of them with his pet is like Mightor. It's also a lot like the future He-Man.

[tucsoncoyote]

The show is like a cross between Birdman and Mightor.
It takes place in modern times like Birdman, with the Generals calling on him to catch the villains and all, but his powers and the sharing of them with his pet is like Mightor. It's also a lot like the future He-Man.

Very true there Eric, but then I mean it would be believable if Sampson didn't fly.. in some of these episodes it looks like Long leaps, but in others it looks like he's flying like Superman.

But you do make excellent points.. but still if you want a believable Hero cartoon, you might want to take a look at "Shazzam" At least the Genie was believable.

But Sampson and Goliath? Cheesier than Wisconsin Swiss.

:coyote:

[STARTOUNZ]

But you do make excellent points.. but still if you want a believable Hero cartoon, you might want to take a look at "Shazzam" At least the Genie was believable.
:coyote:

That SHAZZAN, which I agree was among the better HB action shows, along with The Herculoids, Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor, Fantastic Four (the original series from '67), and Space Ghost. I didn't care much for Samson or Birdman, although Galaxy Trio was slightly better.

[Mark The Shark]

Samson & Goliath, aka Young Samson, has gotten royally dissed over the years, largely due to how it was treated after its initial run on NBC. In syndication, it was mixed with some Jay Ward cartoons for no reason (same with Space Kiddettes).

I'm told that the mixing and matching of Ward, TTV and H-B cartoons on these two shows dates back to their original network runs...it is not a syndication artifact. Weird, but apparently true.

[hobbyfan]

I'm told that the mixing and matching of Ward, TTV and H-B cartoons on these two shows dates back to their original network runs...it is not a syndication artifact. Weird, but apparently true.

Which would be impossible.

[Jeff Harris]

Which would be impossible.Not really. The earliest incarnations of The Program Exchange (back when they were owned by General Mills) were the ones who syndicated Samson and Goliath and the Space Kiddettes. And they're the ones who added The Hunter, Go Go Gophers, and the General McBragg shorts in the package.

Strange but true.

[Steve Carras]

Not really. The earliest incarnations of The Program Exchange (back when they were owned by General Mills) were the ones who syndicated Samson and Goliath and the Space Kiddettes. And they're the ones who added The Hunter, Go Go Gophers, and the General McBragg shorts in the package.

Strange but true.

I remember that from earlier references and that goes back to late70s books AND my OWN 1960s childhood! But it does seem odd, except for HB artistically the other two studios Ward and TTV do have simiiliar styles, due to the same animation co.(Gamma Productions) for most of their stuff (by this timne, Ward was doing its last series "George of the Jungle" in-house in Hollywood..)