While others will praise the late, great, Bob Newhart's hit TV seriesThe Bob Newhart Show, andNewhart...
...we at the Secret Sanctum choose to celebrate his final TV series, set in the world of comic books! Here's the pilot episode, which sets the scene and introduces the cast...
The first part appeared at Western Comics Adventures! Just click on the link above!)
Dr Bill Baxter is told that his elderly uncle David Sheldon has been murdered! But he left a will with a lawyer mentioning an inheritance of a gold mine, of which Bill will receive half. The other half is to go to an orphanage run by Miss Mary Fuller. However, to locate the gold mine and fulfill the terms of the will, Baxter must journey to Canada, where his uncle lived and died, and meet with Miss Fuller since both he and the lady each have only 1/2 of the map that leads to the mine. What he doesn't know is that the criminals who murdered his uncle lie in wait to ambush him, steal the map along with his identification and little black bag, and pretend to be him. They waylay the sawbones, who barely survives, but manages to get to a nearby RCMP station. The doctor and policeman confront the imposter, who manages to bluff the Mountie into thinking Baxter is the imposter! But when a medical emergency happens to a child at the orphanage, the fake doctor is forced by his confederates to attend to the deathly-ill patient...
This adaptation of the episode "Storm Over King City" in Dell's Four Color Comics #877 (1958) was illustrated by Alex Toth, whom Old West comics fans remember as the artist on the comics based on Disney's Zorro TV series! The writer, however, is unknown, As for the 1958-59 syndicated TV series' protagonist...
Though he did not carry a gun, Dr Bill Baxter was not a wimp by any measure. The medical man used his wits, medical knowledge, his fists, and, occasionally, other people's shooting irons, to aid those who needed help.
Rex Allen, who played Baxter, performed as a rodeo rider while in high school.
After graduation, he took up singing, first in vaudeville, then on radio, becoming a popular country/Western singers.
Like most of his contemporaries, he soon was doing Western b-movies as a singing cowboy nicknamed "The Arizona Cowboy", teamed up with comedy-relief sidekicks including Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens.
After a couple of dozen films, Rex tried to make the transition to TV with Frontier Doctor, but the show was cancelled after a single season.
But Allen made yet another transition, and became a successful voice-over artist and narrator, primarily for Disney film and tv productions.
TRIVIA:
Besides Frontier Cowboy, Rex had his own self-titled comic book series from Dell Comics that ran for thirty-one issues!
Allen was a cousin of Gunsmoke cast member Glenn Strange, who played bartender Sam Noonan.
Rex's son, Rex Allen, Jr., is a successful singer.
I attempted to contact film critic Katie Walsh, but was unable to find a working e-mail on her LinkedIn, personal Katie Walsh Writes, or Tribune Content pages, so I thought this might work...
Hi, Katie:
Just curious, but why didn't you list the venues the two TV series (live action and animated) are available on in your current article "Start Your 'Planet of the Apes' journey with this guide" which appeared in recent Sunday newspapers (but isn't, as yet, available on-line from any of your sources)? You did list the venues for the feature films, but not the TV series!
Do you believe them to be "lesser" elements of the Apes Multiverse compared to the feature films?
Please consider that the animated series was helmed by Doug Wildey, who created the classic Johnny Quest animated TV series, and deliberately followed the Pierre Boule novel's premise of the apes possessing technology contemporary to Earth's, while utilizing characters and plot elements from the (only) first two movies!
Return to the Planet of the Apes and the 1974 live action TV series (which also suffered from network restrictions on primetime family-hour programming) are available to rent/buy on Amazon.
We Have Already Seen... ...After Gaia, the mystic embodiment of Earth's life force is awakened by polluters running amok, she summons five exceptional teens to work together using rings which enable them tu utilize nature's ancient elements, earth, wind, fire, and water, along with the power of the human heart.
The teen team, christened "Planeteers", manage to stop the vandals dead in their tracks...
Like the TV show, the comic included a little Public Service Announcement at the end of the story (also adapted from the episode itself)...
Marvel Comicspublished twelve issues from 1990 to 1992, none of which have been reprinted since! The last four issues featured serialized stories done by British-based comic creatives including Simon Furman and Bryan Hitch, originally-used in theMarvelUKversion of the book, shownHERE.
The voice cast for the pilot episode was impressive, led by... Whoopi Goldberg asGaia Star Trek the Next Generationcastmate LeVar Burton asKwameandNarrator(twodifferentcharacters)
Frank Welker asSuchi All were ongoing cast members. Guest voices in the pilot included... Ed Asner asHoggish Greedly John Ratzenberger asRigger Whoopi would've been thesecond-biggest cast member if the original choice to voiceCaptain Planethadn't bailed (for reasons unknown to this day)... Tom Cruise! You can see thecompleteversion of the pilot episode with the original openingHERE! (Bloggerdoesn't allow embedding of any non-YouTubelinks, and the episode available onYouTubeis the modified syndication package edition with adifferentopening andwithoutthe PSA!)
