Low Spark of Lyman
You remind me of the babe.
Colonel Bleep is an animated series that first aired from 1957 to 1960. The show stars Colonel Bleep, an alien from the planet Futura, along with his two space deputies: Squeak, the cowboy puppet boy, and Scratch, the caveman that literally slept through time. Scratch, Squeak and Bleep represent the past, present and future, respectively.
The trio reside on Zero Zero Island (named for its location: where the equator and prime meridian intersect). Bleep came to Earth due to Futurian concern about the development of nuclear weapons. While the show has recurring evildoers- most notably Dr. Destructo, a cloaked being- many episodes do not involve villains. Other episode plots include exploration of Earth and development of technology.
Colonel Bleep is perhaps best known for being the first animated television series produced in color, as well as its Googie art style. It was originally shown in syndication via children's television shows; later, it was more commonly seen on Saturday mornings. Its premiere was a few months before that of The Ruff and Reddy Show, the first television cartoon series from Hanna-Barbera. At least one later cartoon known to have been influenced by Colonel Bleep is The Ren & Stimpy Show, especially in the episode "Space Madness".
The series was produced by Soundac, a studio that opened in 1951; originally in Buffalo, New York, it moved to the metro Miami area of Florida in 1955. While 104 has been given for the episode count, vintage sources have it at 100. It has been said that when Soundac was moving, a van carrying company materials (including the episodes of Colonel Bleep) was stolen by car thieves. The series thus went missing, and has been only partly recovered since then. Colonel Bleep is in the public domain, its copyright having expired in 1985.
Crew members for Colonel Bleep include creator/writer Robert D. Buchanan, director/designer Jack Schleh, and artists Hal Lockwood, Fran Noack, George Ghyssels and Patricia Dick. The show was produced by Richard H. Ullman, whose company also started out in Buffalo. Narration and character voices were provided by newscaster Noah Tyler.
One of the earliest stations known to air Colonel Bleep was WGR-TV (now WGRZ) in Buffalo, as seen here. The last known airing was on WNBC in New York City on September 11, 1971. KBYU-TV, then an affiliate of NET (the predecessor of PBS), aired the series from 1968 to 1970 (it came on immediately before Sesame Street sometime after that show premiered).
Since 1991, some episodes of the show have been made available on home video, and more recently online. Episodes have been released by Streamline Pictures, better known for dubbing and distributing anime, Alpha Video, a public domain company, and Ron Kurer, aka Toon Tracker. Several episodes still missing can be found in vintage sources.
Episode Guide
Found episodes
Streamline Pictures
Colonel Bleep #1 (1991)
Colonel Bleep's Arrival on Earth
Scratch and His Feathered Friend
The Lunar Luger
The Killer Whale
The Firebomb
The Pirate Plot
Colonel Bleep #2 (1991)
The Bat and the Bottle
The Wicked Web
The Evil Eye
Fire Water
Tunnel in Space
The Treacherous Trio
Knight of Death
The Hypnotic Helmets
The Speed Racer Show (1993) - released on home video as Speed Racer: The Movie
The Treacherous Pirate
Alpha Video
Colonel Bleep, Volume 1 (2005) - also includes 3 previously released episodes
Scratch and the Sea Serpent
Building an Island Base
The Earth from Outer Space
The Uncharted Island
Squeak and the Terrible Termite
The Runaway Rocket
Man Hunt on the Moon
The Greedy Gorilla
Shadows of Suspicion
The Prehistoric Present
War in Robotland
Nightmare
Satellite of Death
Dangerous Holiday
The Ingenious Invention
The Invisible Gorilla
Exposed
Danger Below
The Ghastly Ghost
Test of Friendship
Toon Tracker
The following episodes were uploaded on September 12, 2019 (except where noted)
A Windy Knight
Ball of Fire
Ice Demons Attack
Space Station X-1
The Falling Star
The Magnetic Menace
The Relentless Rain
The Rusty Robots
Winner Take All (October 19, 2019)
Lost episodes
Via The Daily Universe and Business Screen Magazine
Battle of the Aces
In Days of Knights
Scratch and the Sputnik
Squeak and the Black Knight
Terror That Ticks
The Big Picture
The Double Disguise
The Incredible Iceman
The Magic Lamp
The Magnetic Moon
The Martian Mine
The Mechanical Twin
The Missile and the Moonmites
The Sinister Shortcut
The Sinister Statue
The Spell of Doom
The War Game
Traffic Jam in Space
EDIT: Rearranged the Alpha Video episodes to the order they appear on the DVD.
The trio reside on Zero Zero Island (named for its location: where the equator and prime meridian intersect). Bleep came to Earth due to Futurian concern about the development of nuclear weapons. While the show has recurring evildoers- most notably Dr. Destructo, a cloaked being- many episodes do not involve villains. Other episode plots include exploration of Earth and development of technology.
Colonel Bleep is perhaps best known for being the first animated television series produced in color, as well as its Googie art style. It was originally shown in syndication via children's television shows; later, it was more commonly seen on Saturday mornings. Its premiere was a few months before that of The Ruff and Reddy Show, the first television cartoon series from Hanna-Barbera. At least one later cartoon known to have been influenced by Colonel Bleep is The Ren & Stimpy Show, especially in the episode "Space Madness".
The series was produced by Soundac, a studio that opened in 1951; originally in Buffalo, New York, it moved to the metro Miami area of Florida in 1955. While 104 has been given for the episode count, vintage sources have it at 100. It has been said that when Soundac was moving, a van carrying company materials (including the episodes of Colonel Bleep) was stolen by car thieves. The series thus went missing, and has been only partly recovered since then. Colonel Bleep is in the public domain, its copyright having expired in 1985.
Crew members for Colonel Bleep include creator/writer Robert D. Buchanan, director/designer Jack Schleh, and artists Hal Lockwood, Fran Noack, George Ghyssels and Patricia Dick. The show was produced by Richard H. Ullman, whose company also started out in Buffalo. Narration and character voices were provided by newscaster Noah Tyler.
One of the earliest stations known to air Colonel Bleep was WGR-TV (now WGRZ) in Buffalo, as seen here. The last known airing was on WNBC in New York City on September 11, 1971. KBYU-TV, then an affiliate of NET (the predecessor of PBS), aired the series from 1968 to 1970 (it came on immediately before Sesame Street sometime after that show premiered).
Since 1991, some episodes of the show have been made available on home video, and more recently online. Episodes have been released by Streamline Pictures, better known for dubbing and distributing anime, Alpha Video, a public domain company, and Ron Kurer, aka Toon Tracker. Several episodes still missing can be found in vintage sources.
Episode Guide
Found episodes
Streamline Pictures
Colonel Bleep #1 (1991)
Colonel Bleep's Arrival on Earth
Scratch and His Feathered Friend
The Lunar Luger
The Killer Whale
The Firebomb
The Pirate Plot
Colonel Bleep #2 (1991)
The Bat and the Bottle
The Wicked Web
The Evil Eye
Fire Water
Tunnel in Space
The Treacherous Trio
Knight of Death
The Hypnotic Helmets
The Speed Racer Show (1993) - released on home video as Speed Racer: The Movie
The Treacherous Pirate
Alpha Video
Colonel Bleep, Volume 1 (2005) - also includes 3 previously released episodes
Scratch and the Sea Serpent
Building an Island Base
The Earth from Outer Space
The Uncharted Island
Squeak and the Terrible Termite
The Runaway Rocket
Man Hunt on the Moon
The Greedy Gorilla
Shadows of Suspicion
The Prehistoric Present
War in Robotland
Nightmare
Satellite of Death
Dangerous Holiday
The Ingenious Invention
The Invisible Gorilla
Exposed
Danger Below
The Ghastly Ghost
Test of Friendship
Toon Tracker
The following episodes were uploaded on September 12, 2019 (except where noted)
A Windy Knight
Ball of Fire
Ice Demons Attack
Space Station X-1
The Falling Star
The Magnetic Menace
The Relentless Rain
The Rusty Robots
Winner Take All (October 19, 2019)
Lost episodes
Via The Daily Universe and Business Screen Magazine
Battle of the Aces
In Days of Knights
Scratch and the Sputnik
Squeak and the Black Knight
Terror That Ticks
The Big Picture
The Double Disguise
The Incredible Iceman
The Magic Lamp
The Magnetic Moon
The Martian Mine
The Mechanical Twin
The Missile and the Moonmites
The Sinister Shortcut
The Sinister Statue
The Spell of Doom
The War Game
Traffic Jam in Space
EDIT: Rearranged the Alpha Video episodes to the order they appear on the DVD.
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