1 9 6 6 – 1 9 6 8 (USA)
18 x 25 minute episodes
Frankenstein Jr (a 30-foot crime-fighting robot) was the invention of redheaded boy scientist Buzz Conroy, son of the eminent Professor Conroy.
A huge talking, thinking, rocket-powered robot, Frankenstein Junior looked just like his horror movie namesake but was used entirely for good causes, such as defeating super villains like Dr Shock and Birdman.
Buzz controlled FJ with a special radar ring and also joined the robot on his missions.
Clambering up on his back, Buzz uttered the magic command “Allakazoom”, which blasted them off from the professor’s mountain lab.
Once in action, Buzz donned his rocket-belt which enabled him to fly, and FJ employed an armoury of ingenious weapons.
Any actors worried about typecasting ought to consider Ted Cassidy’s role in this series. Fresh from playing Lurch in The Addams Family, he now found himself voicing a Frankenstein robot.
In a separate segment, The Impossibles were a three-man touring pop group whose performances were constantly interrupted by their boss, Big D, who spoke to them from a video screen hidden in a guitar.
With the cry of “Rally-Ho” the trio would bound into action against crooks like the Fiendish Fiddler and the Diabolical Daubler, making full use of their incredible abilities.
Coil Man had spring-loaded extending limbs, Fluid Man had the power to become any kind of liquid (anyone fancy a beer, then?) allowing him to trickle under doors for example, and Multi-man could make instant and unlimited copies of himself. The ‘Impossicar’ took them from gig to gig.
Frankenstein Jr was forced off the air in 1968 due to excessive violence. Once the outcry cooled off, the mound of metal could be seen in reruns, in the form of Space Ghost and Frankenstein Jr. on NBC in 1976.
Frankenstein Jr
Ted Cassidy
Buzz Conroy
Dick Beals
Professor Conroy
John Stephenson
Multi-Man
Don Messick
Fluid Man
Paul Frees
Coil Man
Hal Smith
Narrator
Paul Frees