''The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie'' — retitled ''The New Saturday Superstar Movie'' for its second season — is a series of one-hour

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

made-for-television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

s (some of which also contained

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

sequences), broadcast on the ABC

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid ...

on Saturday mornings from September 9, 1972 to November 17, 1973. Intended as a version of the ''

ABC Movie of the Week ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

'' for kids, this series was produced by several production companies — including

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

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 ...

and

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

— and mostly contained features based on popular cartoon characters and TV shows of the time, such as ''

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

'', ''

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, afte ...

'' and ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

''. Some of the films served as pilots for new TV series. The theme music and main titles were composed b
Steve Zuckerman

List of episodes

Season 1

Season 2

For the second season, the series was retitled ''The New Saturday Superstar Movie''.

Home video

Five of the above films have been released on VHS

videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocasset ...

: * "Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters" * "Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid" * "Oliver and the Artful Dodger" * "The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park" * "Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain", along with the ''Lassie's Rescue Rangers'' episode "Lost." "Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters", "Yogi's Ark Lark" and "The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island" have been released on DVD, the latter two on the complete series releases for '' Yogi's Gang'' and '' The Brady Kids'', respectively. "The Adventures of Robin Hoodnik" and "Oliver and the Artful Dodger" have been released on DVD as part of a two-disc set titled ''Hanna-Barbera Specials Collection''. "Lost In Space" was included on the ''Lost In Space'' complete series Blu-ray set.

References

External links