The Skatebirds

The Skatebirds
Directed by Sidney Miller
Hollingsworth Morse
Charles A. Nichols
Chris Cuddington
Voices of Scatman Crothers
Bob Holt
Don Messick
Lennie Weinrib
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 16
Production
Executive producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Producer(s) Terry Morse, Jr.
Running time 30-60 minutes
Production company(s) Hanna-Barbera Productions
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network CBS
Original release September 10, 1977 (1977-09-10) – January 21, 1978 (1978-01-21)

The Skatebirds is a 60-minute Saturday morning live-action/animated package program produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 10, 1977 to January 21, 1978.

Overview

The Skatebirds consisted of three large costumed birds on roller skates: Knock Knock, a woodpecker (voiced by Lennie Weinrib); Satchel, a pelican (voiced by Bob Holt) and Scooter, a penguin (voiced by Don Messick); their nemesis was a cat named Scat Cat (voiced by Scatman Crothers). The live-action sequences featuring The Skatebirds mostly revolved around the nasty Scat Cat perpetually chasing the roller-staking trio and trying to get the best of them.

The show was divided into four short segments introduced by live action wraparounds with The Skatebirds characters which included three animated segments (The Robonic Stooges, Wonder Wheels and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives) and a 10-minute live-action segment (Mystery Island). The appearance of the characters and the show's format was similar to The Banana Splits Adventures Hour. Unlike its similar predecessor and most Saturday morning children's shows produced in the 1970s, The Skatebirds did not contain a laugh track.

A total of 16 episodes of The Skatebirds were produced in its original run from September 10, 1977 to January 21, 1978. In the fall of 1979, the show returned to CBS in a shortened half-hour version with Wonder Wheels and Mystery Island segments (The Robonic Stooges and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives segments had been spun off into a separate half-hour) and broadcast on Sunday mornings from September 9, 1979 until January 25, 1981. In the late 1980s, a different syndicated half-hour version of The Skatebirds with The Robonic Stooges and Wonder Wheels segments was shown on USA Cartoon Express and later resurfaced on Cartoon Network in the 1990s and Boomerang in the 2000s.[1]

Opening and closing credits

The opening credits for the original one-hour version with voice-over narration by Wally Burr:

It's Skatebird time and here come The Skatebirds – Knock Knock, Scooter, Satchel and Scat Cat. Then, The Robonic Stooges, plus the spine-tingling suspense-filled excitement of Mystery Island, and the doggone it daffy doings of those dog detectives, Woofer & Wimper, and more...the unbelievable adventures of an unbelievable motorcycle, Wonder Wheels. For all-out fun, it's Satch, Knock Knock, Scooter and Scat Cat...and for suspense, mystery and adventure, it's The Skatebirds Show!

The opening credits for the syndicated half-hour version with voice-over narration by Ronnie Schell:

It's Skatebird time starring Knock Knock, Satchel and Scooter, those featheared clowns of fantasy. Along with Willie the Wheeler and the superhero cycle known as Wonder Wheels, as well as those three mechanical marbles, The Robonic Stooges. One big collection of wild, wacky and wonderful characters...The Skatebirds!

The music featured in the closing credits is the CB Bears theme which was also later used as the ending credits for Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.

Segments

The series featured the following four short segments:

Broadcast history

Original CBS broadcast:

Broadcast schedules (all EDT):

Skatebirds cast

Character Costumed actor Voice actor
Scat Cat (cat) Maurice Cooke Scatman Crothers
Knock Knock (woodpecker) Bruce Hoyt Lennie Weinrib
Satchel (pelican) Ken Means Bob Holt
Scooter (penguin) Joe Giamalva Don Messick

Production credits

Other appearances

Merchandise

References

  1. ↑ The Skatebirds Series Overview at NYTimes.com, retrieved September 22, 2015.
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