''Butch Cassidy'' also known as ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids'' is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by

Hanna-Barbera Productions Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

and broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from September 8, 1973, to December 1, 1973. The series title is a play on the name of the unrelated 1969 film ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western (genre), Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, k ...

''. The character's music group is called the Sun Dance Kids.

Plot

Similar to both ''

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on Septem ...

'' and '' Josie and the Pussycats'' on CBS, the show depicts the adventures of the titular teen pop group. The band consists of 4 heartthrobs: Butch Cassidy (lead vocals and lead guitar); mini-skirted blonde beauty Merilee (tambourine); sensible Stephanie, nicknamed Steffy (bass guitar); and curly-haired Wally (drums). Accompanied by Wally's dog Elvis, these popular rock stars lead double lives as government-backed crime-fighters. The teens are advised by a

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

named Mr. Socrates, who is (somehow) violently allergic to dogs. When the group meets with Mr. Socrates in his lair for their latest assignment, Elvis is always told to stay outside. Yet Elvis always ends up inside the lair, by his own ingenuity and/or by Wally's forgetfulness. Elvis's mere presence causes Mr. Socrates to sneeze and go haywire; Mr. Socrates then sends the group out of the lair, and off to their assignment. Butch, designated as "Sundance 1", wears a special communicator-ring which keeps him in contact with Mr. Socrates.

Cast

* Lloyd "Chip" Hand II as Butch Cassidy *

Micky Dolenz George Michael Dolenz Jr. ( ; born March 8, 1945) is an American musician and actor. He was the drummer and one of two primary vocalists for the pop rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and reunions until 2021), and a co-star of the TV series ''T ...

as Wally * Kristina Holland as Stephanie * John Stephenson as Mr. Socrates * Judy Strangis as Merilee *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

as Elvis, Wally's dog

Episodes

Other appearances

* Butch Cassidy was also the subject of Issue #11 of

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. History Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...

' ''Hanna-Barbera Fun-In'' in 1974; the story, "The Pearl Caper," was adapted from the October 6, 1973 ''Butch Cassidy'' TV episode of the same name. * Characters from ''Butch Cassidy'' appeared several times on the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

animated television series ''

Sealab 2021 ''Sealab 2021'' is an American adult animated television series created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. Cartoon Network aired the show's first three episodes in December 2000 befor ...

''. The whole band appeared in the episode "All That Jazz" in a long shot at a concert, standing in for MC Chris as Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kids and performing the song " Fett's Vette". In a later episode, "Let 'Em Eat Corn!", the band appears again as inhabitants of SeaLab Pod Six, with both Butch and Wally both sporting mustaches on their faces. Then again, in the episode "Butchslap", the characters appeared alongside Marco, who was revealed to be one of the Sun Dance Kids. The character models for Butch and Wally were also used for the animated likeness of John Miller (the series director) and Adam Reed (one of the series writers) in the episodes, "Swimming in Oblivion" and "Return to Oblivion". * Four songs from the show were released as singles on Romar Records. A full LP was mentioned on the labels as forthcoming, but was never released.

Home media

On January 15, 2013,

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the int ...

released ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids: The Complete Series'' on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. The series is also available at the iTunes Store.

References

External links

* {{Children's programming on NBC in the 1970s 1973 American animated television series debuts 1973 American television series endings 1970s American animated comedy television series 1970s American children's comedy television series 1970s American musical comedy television series 1970s American mystery television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated musical television series American children's animated mystery television series Animated musical groups Television series by Hanna-Barbera American teen animated television series American English-language television shows NBC animated television series