On Feb 12, 6:03Â pm, Chris Sobieniak
gmail.com> wrote:> On Feb 12, 10:45 am, Galen
nekomimicon.net> wrote:
> Funny I can't remember if it played for a full season or not, one of
> the affiliates in my area didn't even air the show at all, or moved it
> to a different timeslot sometime before 8AM.
>
>> But it was made by TMS, so I'll post to raam anyway.
SAYS HOWARD FEIN: Yes, GALAXY HIGH played out its thirteen episodes in
the standard four-run cycle from September 1986 through September 1987
and did not reappear in the fall 1987 schedule in new episodes or
reruns. In March or April 1988 CBS placed the show back its schedule
(to replace RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY or somesuch) and reran the same
thirteen episodes through the following September. In the early
nineties, reruns of GALAXY were carried as part of Sci-Fi's Saturday
AM ANIMATION STATION umbrella. (TV GUIDE and newspapers never listed
the specific components. Word-of-mouth of fortuitous channel-surfing
was the only way to know.)
NYC network affiliates generally carried an entire network feed. But
many smaller markets would substitute their own programming. Circa
1981 Rochester NY's CBS affiliate ran its own package of syndicated
post-48 WB cartoons in the Saturday AM BUGS BUNNY-ROAD RUNNER slot.
> At this point I'm more inclined to say, what the hell! Â It was
another
> nice attempt from a Japanese studio's U.S. subsidiary to get a show
> going on Saturday morning much like with Mighty Orbots a couple years
> before (if only to help fund for the production of Little Nemo movie
> perhaps I thought).
If one didn't peruse the credits, it wouldn't appear that GALAXY HIGH
was made by a Japanese outfit. Unlike contemporary 1980s DIC (and some
Marvel asnd Ruby-Spears product) the animation looked downright
American. ORBOTS had more of an anime look. BIONIC SIX, which TMS made
for syndication the following season, looked somewhat less anime than
ORBOTS but more anime than GALAXY.
Abundant use of 'H-B SFX' (Sam Horta is listed as SFX editor) and a
pop/rock underscore (the otherwise unknown Don Felder) made GALAXY
HIGH seem more like a Ruby-Spears or Film Roman series. So too did a
high-profile American voice cast, including up-and-comers Nancy
Cartwright and Neil Ross, durable character actors Pat Carroll, Henry
Gibson and Gino Comforti, and longtime H-B staples John Stephenson and
Howard Morris. Morris had been largely absent from animation for
nearly a decade prior.
The animation and graphics certainly seemed 'domestic' rather than
anime as well. Some familiar names are present in the credits. H-B vet
Allen Wilzbach (a huge studio presence in the sixties) is listed in a
supervisory role. Some of the founding fathers of UPA and TV-era
Disney- Dave Hilberman, Bill Hurtz, Floyd Gottfredson- receive various
technical credits. And as previously mentioned, John K soujourned here
between his self-despised stint on the JETSONS revival and his
groundbreaking MIGHTY MOUSE revival.
>> The series opens with two American teens chosen from Earth
>> to attend "Galaxy High", a school on an asteroid (apparently
>> in the Sol system). One student is a jock (Doyle), and the
>> other is a bookworm (Aimee).
> Did seem kinda interesting how the two's roles get reversed from the
> way they had been on earth the way the had it in the opening sequence,
> Doyle getting all the praise while Aimee is a bookworm.
It was politically correct protocol by 1986 to depict girls as
intelligent. But it was perfectly OK for boys to still be the butt of
jokes, whether nerds or jocks. Ever notice how throughout TV and movie
comedy, fathers are by and large hapless idiots?
Therefore, throughout the series it was constantly depicted that Aimee
could do no wrong and Doyle could do no right.
> If Galaxy High have had a more suitable pilot of such made-
At least there WAS a cohesive pilot setting up the premise to this
show, a rare occurrence in TV animation except for some of the
syndicated Disney shows that would open with full-hour previews. But
first episodes of most other cartoons just aired 'midstream' as if
everything had been going on as seen for years- with maybe a tiny bit
of exposition in the dialogue. The only other shows I can recall off
the top of my head having canonical premiere episodes are THE
ADVENTURES OF GULLIVER, JACKSON 5IVE, 13 GHOSTS OF SCOOBY-DOO and TINY
TOON ADVENTURES. Feel free to chip in with others.
>> In contrast, the students at Galaxy High are normal teenagers
>> in every way except appearance - and being extreme examples.
>> The gossip who never stops talking, the bubblehead with a
>> 7 second memory, the reliable class president who's always
>> there to lend a hand or six (Milo de Venus needs his own
>> hentai doujin), the tart, the bully, etc.
HOWARD: Which just goes to prove that stereotypes are truly
'universal'. For all of its cleverness, GALAXY contained a huge number
of comic stereotypes, many touching on ethnicity:
-Prof. Icenstein is your basic Teutonic genius/instructor, played to r-
r-rolling 'R' perfection by Howard Morris.
-Pizzeriest Luigi LaBounci is your basic "atsa'matta'you"
temperamental Italian, even drawn with a few noticeable body hairs on
his shoulders. Morris again.
-The female gym teacher, depicted as a Cyclops, is your basic- well,
Butch, just like every female gym teacher featured in a comedy. (Kim
Cattrall in PORKY's is a notable exception.) She isn't listed in most
published credits of the show, so I don't recall her name or who
voiced her.
-Ollie Oilslick has your basic Noo Yawk cabbie accent (well done by
Comforti), which was pretty much an anachronism by 1980. By that time,
cabbies could be comedically lumped in with convenience store workers
as being overly polite Indians.
-Recurring in some, but not all episodes, were squabbling middle-aged
couple Sam and Myrt, who despite not being Earthlings, spoke in time-
tested Jewish/longtime smoker/Noo Yawk dialect. ("Mind your own
business, Moit!")
Various episodes featured guest characters who were obvious
caricatures of popular entertainers- a staple of sound animation since
its inception. Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, Mick Jagger and the STAR
TREK crew got their due here.
BTW, I can't seem to edit my profile so my NAME rather than my E-mail
address shows up in the tree- and I really don't feel like re-
registering. Repeated inquiries to Google Groups have led nowhere.
Anyone got any ideas?
HOWARD FEIN, longtime aficianado of animation and rec.arts.animation
when there's a worthy thread.
