"Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer. He's a demon on wheels." -- The beginning lyrics to the theme song of Speed Racer.

In this week's installment of 'Saturday Morning' we take a break from our regularly scheduled coverage to talk about a cartoon near and dear to many readers' hearts. A cartoon that, while not the first anime to reach the shores of America of the 60s, it was certainly the most influential.

Even though it was never part on any official network schedule, Speed Racer was on somewhere at sometime during the era of Saturday morning cartoons. And, why wouldn't it be? It had everything that a child hopped up on sugar-coated, chocolate-filled cereal could want: action, drama, comedy, mysterious heroes, villains, gadgets, cars, and a boy and his chimp. It also featured animated characters with more natural characteristics than those previously seen on American television. Plus, it had a kick-ass theme song that dug into your brain.

Much has been written on the history of Speed Racer since it premiered over four decades ago. However, with the new Speed Racer live-action film now in theaters, it's a good time to revisit the origins of Speed, Trixie, Pops, Racer X, and the rest of the players. So, if you have your Mach 5 model kit in front of you, let's Go, Go, Go!

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The operative word to describe the 1968-69 Saturday morning schedule was 'change'. After two years of superhero and action/adventure cartoons the networks and the animation studios decided to shake things up a bit. When you take a look at the world-altering events that occurred forty years ago, moving away from action and into some more amusing and less dangerous fare was not a surprising move.

That doesn't mean that Saturday mornings were totally void of any type of heroic action in 1968. In addition to shows like Spider-Man, The Herculoids, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, all entering their second seasons, three of the seven new series premiered that featured a hard-action bent. The rest focused more on humor and slapstick then on flying beings who could shoot beams out of their hands. And, out of the seven, five of the shows were the cornerstones of trends that would continue well into the 1970s.

So, if you have your Thing Maker in front of you, let's journey back in time to 1968.

Gallery: Saturday morning: 1968

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Saturday mornings in 1967 were super. And I mean that literally. All eleven shows that premiered during this time featured one form of superhero or another. Be it heroes from the comic books, heroes of the jungle, prehistoric heroes, or alien animal heroes that shot hot lava balls from their horns. It was the heyday for these cartoons, and one that would be short-lived, thanks to outside sources who wished to limit the violence on the Saturday morning schedule. But, more on that in a later post.

Hanna-Barbera led the pack in animated fare with an amazing SIX hours of programming; three of those hours comprised of original material. Filmation was on their heels (and would gain even more next year) with 90-minutes of new shows. Broken down by network, both CBS and ABC, who had finally woken up and gotten into the Saturday morning game, offered four new shows each. NBC wasn't far behind with three new offerings.

Needless to say, the 1967-68 season was an exciting one for a child. So, if you were a child back then, and are interested in remembering what you watched, then grab you box of Quisp & Quake cereal and let's begin the journey.

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When you look at the history of television you can usually connect names to certain eras of programming. For instance, producer Aaron Spelling can be connected with many of the dramas and primetime soap operas of the 70s and 80s; Garry Marshall can be matched to many of the great ABC comedies of the 70s; Mark Goodson and Bill Toddman can be hooked up with the daytime game shows that pocked the television landscape for three decades.

When the names William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are mentioned two words come to mind: Saturday mornings. Without the creations that the Hanna-Barbera studios put out year after year Saturday mornings would have looked much different. Oh, other studios like Rankin-Bass and Filmation would have probably picked up the slack, but then we wouldn't have known about Space Ghost, Scooby-Doo, Mutley, Jabberjaw, or the Wonder Twins.

From the late 50s until the early 90's Hanna-Barbera was a major presence on television. Their shows produced countless imitations (some coming from Hanna-Barbera itself), thousands of characters, and memories that will last our lifetime.

And, it all started with a cat and a mouse.

Gallery: Saturday Mornings: Hanna-Barbera

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Road Runner, that Coyote's after you. Road Runner, if he catches you your through. -- Theme to The Road Runner Show, which premiered in the fall of 1966.

Showtime! After years of playing around on Saturday mornings to find the right mixture to bring in the young viewers, the networks took the bull by the horns in the fall of 1966 and ushered in the Golden Age of Saturday morning cartoons. No less than 11 new cartoon series appeared during the 1966-67 season. Many of them were action and superhero-oriented thanks to the popularity of ABC's live-action Batman series.

The 1966 season also began the domination of Saturday mornings by two animation studios -- Hanna-Barbera and Filmation. For Hanna-Barbera this would be the second year of original Saturday morning programming. For Filmation this would be the first of many years producing fairly entertaining and slightly better animated fare that featured more action and adventure and less in the way of talking animals.

So, if you have your bowl of Cocoa Puffs in front of you, let's see what you were watching back in 1966.

Gallery: Saturday Morning: 1966

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If the years 1960 to 1964 were a time when the networks put their toes in the Saturday morning waters to see what it was like, 1965 was the year where they took a few steps in. Not completely enough to submerge themselves, mind you...that would be left until the Fall of 1966. But, just enough to feel comfortable enough to dive in.

Like the nation, television was changing in 1965, and the shift could be felt on Saturday mornings. Gone were many of the post-primetime, live action shows that filled the schedule during the first few years of the 60's. In its place was more animated fare. And, that programming was geared to current fads that were taking place in pop culture during that time. It was also the year that a certain animation studio known for its primetime and syndicated fare took its first tentative steps back into original Saturday morning programming.

Gallery: Saturday Morning: 1965

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Saturday mornings. For nearly thirty years this small window of time was considered paradise for millions of children across America. With the parents snug in their beds, and a big bowl of sugary cereal precariously placed on the carpet, it was the only time -- long before the invent of 24-hour cable networks -- that children's shows ruled the airwaves. No karate/ballet/piano/soccer lessons back then; parents were lucky to get their kids to go for bathroom breaks during that period of time.

For many it's a time of very fond memories. Some recall radio favorites like Sky King and The Lone Ranger going from their imagination to the small screen. Others remember their first introduction to Space Ghost or Scooby-Doo. Still others, like myself, recall the latter days of Saturday morning programming with shows like The Smurfs, Dungeons & Dragons and Saved by the Bell.

Gallery: Saturday Morning: 1960-64

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