UNDERDOG
The UnderDog Show was one of the "campy" superhero cartoons that satirized the Batman/Superman/Spiderman shows and ran from 1964 to 1973.
"There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" was the famous line of Underdog, a super-canine who talked in rhyme. Underdog was the alter-identity of Shoeshine Boy. He was usually called into action by his girlfriend, ace TV reporter Sweet Polly Purebred. Whenever he heard Polly's cry of "Oh where, oh where has my Underdog gone?", the humble and lovable Shoeshine Boy would slip into a phone booth and emerge as the champion of justice with the line “When Polly's in trouble I am not slow, it's Hip, Hip, Hip and away I go!" The Underdog Show began with a parody of Superman's famous opening: "Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a frog...a frog?" At that point, the canine would correct the observers with: "Not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, it's just little 'ole me, Underdog !" Like his human counterpart, Underdog was not infallible. While he didn't have to concern himself about Kryptonite, his powers could fade, causing all sorts of trouble. For cases like that, he’d carry a revitalizing energy pill in a secret compartment in his ring. Underdog's main foes included underworld boss Riff Raff, and Simon Bar Sinister, an evil scientist who once created a Big Dipper Machine to steal the world's water supply. He then enslaved the citizens and made them do as "Simon Says" just to get a drink. This fantastically funny and entertaining show has amused us for decades! |