R.I.P. Bob Hastings.

Actor Bob Hastings passed away on June 30, 2014, at the age of 89.

Hastings began as a radio actor, and voiced the character of Archie Andrews in that medium, but he will always be best known for his many and varied television roles.  
  

And, “best known” was he for the role of Lt. Elroy Carpenter, the prissy, nervous, and brownnosing aide to Joe Flynn’s Captain Binghamton for four seasons on McHALE’S NAVY (1962-1966).    

After that, Bob Hastings embarked on a long, nearly four-decade, association with characters from DC Comics, starting as the voice of Filmation’s SUPERBOY…

…thru his now-iconic portrayal as Commissioner Gordon in BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES.  Imagine that the youthful-voiced portrayer of characters like Archie and Superboy, in his later years, could so perfectly epitomize the older, hardened crime-war veteran that is James Gordon!   

 
There was even an unusual stopover at the BATMAN 1966 TV series, where he essentially recreated Lt. Carpenter as an Army major, doing the “prissy, nervous, and brownnosing” thing to a general played by Alan (voice of Fred Flintstone) Reed! 
 

Call me "SIR!"

Along the way, Hastings was “Kelsey” the bartender for several seasons of ALL IN THE FAMILY…

 

And he even returned to the sea, as the First Officer to a cruise ship’s captain (played by the great character actor Henry Jones), in “The Werewolf”, a 1974 episode of KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER. 

"Call ME "SIR", too!" 

Don't worry, Kolchak!  Bob Hastings' Commissioner Gordon's got that Werewolf  covered in the illustration below!   

Bob Hastings’ long list of credits can be found at THIS LINK

 

"D-D-Don't SHOOT!  It's ME, Bob Hastings, in a PAST ROLE!"  Look it up at IMDB!

Rest in Peace, Bob Hastings… and thank you for all the great moments!   
 

R.I.P. Casey Kasem

With so much talk, here at TIAH Blog, about both the 1968 Filmation Animated Batman and Scooby-Doo, it is particularly sad to report the death of animation voice actor and iconic disc jockey Casey Kasem, on June 15, 2014, at the age of 82.

To many, Casey Kasem was best known as the voice of radio's "American Top 40", from 1970 until 2009. 

His sign-off still echoes on:  "And don't forget, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!" 

But, before that, to us animation enthusiasts, he personified two roles -- one already iconic, Robin the Boy Wonder of Filmation's BATMAN (1968-1969) and other animated DC Comics series of the era...

...and one HE made iconic, Shaggy of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU and more subsequent Scooby-series than I'm willing to count.  

Indeed, Casey Kasem was the voice of Shaggy from the character's origination in 1969, thru an appearance in 2009 (!), giving him a 40-year association with the character! 

"Like, that CAVEMAN'S been around more than 40 YEARS!"

"ZOINKS!"  Ya didn't think I would leave out "ZOINKS!", did ya?

After that, he moved on to playing Shaggy's Father! 

He even portrayed Shaggy AND Robin in the same show twice, in team-ups like this! 

And, speaking of "team-ups", I'd be remiss if I didn't cite this wonderful reference to Casey Kasem having voiced both Shaggy and Robin in the comic book SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 4! 

 

Farewell, Casey Kasem.  If I may be bold enough to borrow from a former mystery-solver and boy wonder:

...Both in the same panel here!

"...Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!" 

...On the GROUND, Shaggy!

Round (and Round-ed) Robin!

Ruh-Roh!  Don't look now, but I think I might have a NEW favorite comic book! 

Back in THIS POST, I told of my purely accidental discovery of the new SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP title, by spying the issue below on a comic book retailer's racks. 

I enjoyed all three of the Batman-related team-ups offered by this title, Batman and Robin, Ace the Bat-Hound, and Bat-Mite, and looked forward to more. 

Recreating that wondrous Saturday afternoon chronicled in the linked post, I picked-up the current issues of BATMAN '66, ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, and (of course) SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP, on Saturday, May 17. 

Guess which one I read first? 

Also, which two, of the three comics above, have a character in common on their respective covers?

My first impulse would be to say NONE... but, here is the beauty of the SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP title... at least over its first four wonderful issues. 

When we last saw ROBIN in the pages of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP, he looked like this...

Yet, in the new SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 4, he looks like this! 

Yes, that's really Robin, folks! 

But, if THAT'S Robin, who is THIS? 

Well, just as SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 1 reconciled the respective "worlds" of THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES and BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD below...

...Let's let SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 4 handle THIS burning question, shall we?  (Click to Enlarge comic panel images for greater clarity!)

DAMN!  Isn't that magnificent?!  Even a reference to Casey Kasem, who actually voiced Robin BEFORE he voiced Shaggy (in THIS SERIES), not to mention in the Batman team-ups of THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES! 

I can't quite find the connection between someone voicing both Robin and Speedy -- but, given this title's brief but spectacular track record, I'm certain it's a great gag too!

Let's run down the list of ALL our voice actors, from Filmation -- on, and see who we have in common! 

 In fact, that's precisely what I (pardon the expression) "marvel" over from this new DC Comic...  The fact that it ACTUALLY SAYS (out loud and for all to hear... er, READ) exactly what we are obsessively thinking, as fans! 

Extreme kudos to the writer of this series, Sholly Fisch, for bringing some exceptionally clever bits to his stories! 

After all, if SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP is going to have, as its playground, all of DC Comics, Warner Bros., and Hanna-Barbera to work with, character version conflicts are bound to come up...

...And I can't think of a better way to deal with them than what Sholly Fisch has done. 

 Can't wait for more... and still holding out hope for a team-up with Freakazoid!

Scooby-Doo is my PAL, Cosgrove!  He'll return my calls... eventually!

 ...Oh, and Sholly... Please title it "Freaka-zoinks!", you can have the title free of charge, if only you'll use Freakazoid!