Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Lone Ranger vs. "The Cult of the Black Widow" (1966)

The Lone Ranger was part of CBS' 1966 class of freshman adventure series, but most of the attention was given to the flashier adventures of Superman and Space Ghost.

Michael Rye, who formerly was the announcer for The Cisco Kid, was the voice of the Ranger. Most toon fans will recognize his voice as that of Green Lantern & Apache Chief from Super Friends during the 70's & 80's. Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched) guest stars at the titular villain in the episode, "Cult of the Black Widow".



Format Films (The Alvin Show) produced this version of the Ranger, who would return to Saturdays 14 years later, when Filmation acquired the license. Format's version used more science-fiction/horror elements in order to fit in with the superhero series that sprouted up that same season. We'll have more on both versions in a future post.

Rating: B.

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