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Super President

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Super President
Voices ofTed Cassidy
Paul Frees
June Foray
Shepard Menken
Don Messick
Lorri Scott
Mark Skor
Narrated byPaul Frees
Theme music composerDoug Goodwin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes30
Production
ProducersDavid H. DePatie
Friz Freleng
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesDePatie–Freleng Enterprises
Mirisch-Rich Television Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 16, 1967 (September 16, 1967) –
December 28, 1968 (December 28, 1968)

Super President is an American animated cartoon that aired Saturday mornings on NBC from September 16, 1967 to December 28, 1968. The series was produced by the DePatie–Freleng animation company.[1]

In the show, the President of the United States has extraordinary superpowers, including increased strength and the ability to change his molecular composition, and uses them to protect the Free World, as well as his hapless Vice President. The show was relentlessly criticized for its bad taste and low quality, and was cancelled after thirty episodes, midway through its second season.

Plot

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The President of the United States, former astronaut James Norcross (voiced by Paul Frees) is given superpowers as the result of a cosmic storm during a space mission. The future President gains increased strength and the Metamorpho-like ability to change his molecular composition at will to any form required (like granite, steel, ozone, water and even electricity). A hidden panel in the Oval Office allows him access to his secret base, a hidden cave beneath the "Presidential Mansion" (a somewhat modified White House). Super President travels either by using a futuristic automobile/aircraft/submarine called the Omnicar, or by using jets built into his belt.

Despite the fact that the character's name is "Super President", for some reason only Norcross' chubby, pipe-smoking advisor Jerry Sales knows that the leader of the Free World is also a red and white-costumed superhero in his off-hours.

A total of thirty episodes of Super President were produced. Two episodes appeared in each show. Each episode also included an episode of Spy Shadow starring secret agent Richard Vance (voiced by Ted Cassidy) who had learned in Tibet how to command his shadow (also voiced by Ted Cassidy) to act independently of himself, an ability he put to good use as an Interspy operative battling a variety of villains, including the evil forces of S.P.I.D.E.R. ("Society for Plunder, International Disorder, Espionage and Racketeering"). Spy Shadow had the power to slip through small openings, hide himself in another person's shadow, and was invulnerable to harm thanks to his insubstantial nature, but his fists remained decidedly solid. Spy Shadow's only weakness is the inability to appear in total darkness for "there can be no shadow without light".

Reception

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Super President came under fire from critics and TV watchdog groups, including Action for Children's Television, for its depiction of a national leader who was an invincible superhuman (especially since it debuted less than four years after John Kennedy's death).[2] The National Association of Broadcasters said: "An all-time low in bad taste, with the President of the United States in a Superman role. NBC was responsible for this direct ideological approach to totalitarianism. We fear that there may be other broadcasters who are irresponsible enough to keep it in circulation".[3]

In The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows, David Perlmutter says that the show is "perhaps the worst animated program in the late 1960s (its producers admitted it themselves)" and calls the superhero president "arguably the most implausible superhero narrative idea ever invented".[4]

Episodes

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  1. The Great Vegetable Disintegrator
  2. The Billion Dollar Bomber
  3. The Electronic Spy
  4. Day of the Locusts
  5. The Case of the Destroyer Satellite
  6. King of the Sea
  7. The U.F.O. Mystery
  8. No Time Passes
  9. Man of Steel
  10. The Earth Robber
  11. Monster of the Atoll
  12. Return of the Vikings
  13. The Cosmic Gladiators
  14. The Condor's Eye
  15. The President and the Pirate
  16. Interplanetary Menace
  17. Red Ray Raider
  18. The Treachery of Jerry Sales
  19. Rangled Terrors
  20. Dound and Doom
  21. Spears from Space
  22. Toys of Death
  23. Birds of Terror
  24. The Menace of the Moles
  25. The Chameleon
  26. The Gravity Destroyer
  27. Ice Invader
  28. Electronic Giant
  29. Time Crimes
  30. A Million Years of Menace

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 273–274. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. ^ Hollis, Tim (2001). Hi there, boys and girls! : America's local children's TV shows. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 20. ISBN 1578063965.
  3. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 806–807. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 617. ISBN 978-1538103739.

Further reading

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  • Kevin Scott Collier. The Animated Administration of James Norcross, a.k.a. Super President. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017. ISBN 1982056495
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