''Rod Rocket'' is the first animated cartoon with production credited to

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and ...

, debuting in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

in 1963. The show was produced in five-minute cliffhanger segments, with five segments making a full story. Television stations could broadcast the single-segment version daily on their local children's afternoon show, or package them together to make 26 weekly half-hour shows.

History

''Rod Rocket'' was originally produced by True Line, a small Los Angeles animation studio that subcontracted it the newly formed Filmation Associates created by

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

and

Hal Sutherland Harold H. "Hal" Sutherland (July 1, 1929 – January 16, 2014) was an American animator and painter who began his career as a Disney animator in 1954 working on ''Sleeping Beauty'', ''Lady and the Tramp'', ''Peter Pan'' and the last theatrical s ...

in 1963.''Rod Rocket''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on February 9, 2017. Scheimer and Sutherland had met while working at Larry Harmon Productions on the made-for-TV

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to te ...

and

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Voices

The voice cast included: *

Sam Edwards Sam George Edwards (May 26, 1915 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor. His most famous role on television was as banker Bill Anderson on ''Little House on the Prairie''.D.S.S. Form 1 Military Draft Registration Card completed on October 16, ...

- Rod Rocket and Joey * Hal Smith - Professor Angus *Pat Blake - Cassie

Episodes

*"Slave Labor in Space" *"The Lava Trap" *"Lost in a Lunar Mist" *"Lights On" *"The Acid Test"

References

External links

*
''Rod Rocket''
at Toon Tracker 1960s American animated television series 1963 American television series debuts 1963 American television series endings American children's animated space adventure television series Television series by Filmation Television series by MGM Television First-run syndicated television programs in the United States {{animation-tv-prog-stub