Uncovering A Relic of Nickelodeon's Past - "Sports Cartoon"

Play ball...or what ever sport you prefer! For your consideration, a look at a relic of Nickelodeon's broadcasting past, from its "Golden Age" era of the 1980s-1990s.

If you are like me, and a child of the 1980s/early 1990s Nickelodeon era, then you are probably familiar with the programming that aired between the actual programming. One such interstitial program that aired from roughly the late 1980s until the mid-1990s was a import called Sports Cartoon.

Sports Cartoon, or Sports Cartoons when referring to the whole series, was a series of cartoon shorts produced in 1985 by Derek Lamb and Janet Perlman's Lamb-Perlman Productions. Forty-five shorts were produced in all. The cartoons varied in length, from forty seconds to two minutes. The shorts were often used between actual programming on Nickelodeon. If you grew up in this era, and watched Nickelodeon at any point in the afternoon, you definitely ran into Sports Cartoon at one time or another.

So let's dive right in...er, play ball...shoot some hoops...let's just watch some Sports...Cartoons.

The Athletes

The cartoon featured a different sport to fill the animation, participated in by anthropomorphic animals -

...A large pink hippopotamus (or hippopotami for team sports), referred to herein as The Hippo...

...A pig/pigs, very much in tune with the hippopotamus character in terms of personality...

 

 

...A blue cat with a red nose (or multiple blue cats with red noses for team sports). There were two types of blue cats, herein referred to as The Big Blue Cat/Cats and the more common Little Blue Cat/Cats...

 

...And a dog that usually served as the referee, judge, or umpire in the sports engaged in during the cartoon.

The hippopotamus/hippopotami and pig/pigs was/were always the protagonist(s), however unaware of this status, and the cat/cats was/were always the antagonist, who knew his/their role and made sure the other participants knew this as well. The dog was almost always a neutral character, never taking sides in any of the sports he officiates. However, once in a while, he served as an active participant.

The Sports

The sports the characters engaged in were common to both United States and International audiences. Derek Lamb was English; Perlman, his former wife and co-collaborator, is Canadian. Some of the sports were unconventional in terms of being actual "sports" - chess, balloon ride, and jump rope strike me as examples, but nevertheless, there is engagement in some type of physical activity...except chess.

Basketball

Karate

Hockey

Boxing (The Pig makes his first appearance as the literal punching bag for The Cats, with The Hippo as his trainer/masseuse)

Darts

 

 

 

 

 

Jump Rope

 

Gymnastics (featuring the Pig)

 

 

American Football (featuring the Large Blue Cats versus the Pigs)

Chess

 

 

 

Swimming/Diving

Baseball (The Dog is featured in this one)

 

 

 

 

 

Trampoline

Skiing

 

 

 

 

Soccer (American) (Featuring the Dog as the referee, and a whole team of Blue Cats versus a whole team of Hippopotami)

Shot Put (Get it on, bang a gong, yeah get it on!)

 

 

 

 

 

Skeet Shooting (Pull! Pull!)

 

Skydiving (In a salute to the Swimming/Diving short, the Hippo actually lands in the pool this time!)

 

 

Table Tennis/Ping Pong (Hippo and Dog versus two Little Blue Cats)

Discus (The Dog as the athlete, The Pig as the judge)

 

 

 

 

 

Bowling

Volleyball (Big Blue Cats versus The Pigs, with The Dog as the referee)

 

 

 

 

 

Bocce (Part 1 - The Dog gets his turn)

Bocce (Part 2 - The Hippo gets his turn)

 

 

 

 

 

Soccer (Little Cats versus The Pigs Variant - the helmet on the goaltender leads me to believe this is European Football - the Hippo features here as a priest who wanders in and scares one of the Little Blue Cats out of faking an injury that is causing his "demise")

Pole Vault

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Air Balloon Ride (Featuring The Hippo and The Dog - after an incident with the balloon, they go off to play another sport, Golf)

Fencing

 

 

 

Wrestling (Big Blue Cat versus The Pig, featuring The Dog as the Referee, and The Hippo as an audience member enjoying his ice cream until he becomes a part of the action, however unwillingly)

Weight Lifting

 

 

 

Rowing

Golf (Perhaps a nod to the earlier "Balloon Ride" if it featured The Dog, but instead featured Little Blue Cat and one-shot characters, a herd of sheep)

 

 

 

Pool

Tennis (Doubles - Two Little Cats versus The Hippo and The Dog)

 

 

 

Swimming/Diving (Part 2 - He lands in a net)

Curling (two Hippos versus two Little Blue Cats)

 

 

 

 

 

Golf (Part 2 - Deserted Island - The Dog with The Hippo.) I'm convinced this was the nod to the Hot Air Balloon cartoon.

Hockey (Part 2 - Large Blue Cats versus Large Blue Cats, whose Centers decide to not be fighters and figure skate together; The Dog serves as the bewildered referee - all the Large Blue Cats engage in a kickline to the disgust of the crowd of rabid hockey fans)










Review

The animation was on par with cartoon shorts produced by the National Film Board of Canada. They were minimal in terms of visual and audio style - simply put, the cartoons contained music set to very basic animation with little to no vocalization from the characters (vocalization always came from that menacing Little Blue Cat). When compared to cartoons of the "Product Placement Age" that dominated television at the same time, Sports Cartoons paled in comparison in terms of artistic quality, but made up for this with their cleverness. Unlike much of the cartoons from the "Product Placement Age," they have a timeless feel and age very well.


I'm absolutely nuts over The Hippo, who is absolutely adorable and lovable, with his "dancing radar ears." His ears remind me of my brother and sister-in-law's four-year-old Yorkie, Howie, who also has very animated ears when he is happy or excited (which is often, despite his sad eyes). The Hippo is an active participant in the sports he engages in, and comes to win (despite the fact that his victories are all bourne out of dumb luck, which is better than no luck at all), but shows his sensitive side when the safety of a butterfly or bird is at risk.

The Cat is a poor sport, but it is hard not to love his tenacity to win and how it backfires in his face. I especially love how vocal he is in "Darts," hollering "NOOOOO!" quite often, the only actual spoken word in the series of shorts - otherwise, the sounds the animal participants make are merely that, sounds.

Of the forty-five shorts that were made, my favorite shorts are Darts, Gymnastics, and Skydiving.

Darts seems to be the one that stands out as the most memorable of the lot, probably because it is the longest and has the funniest moments. The Little Blue Cat gets his, and bangs his head on a wall when he gets loses. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

Gymnastics was one of those "well put, well said" shorts, and coming in as one of the shorter segments, The Pig's determination to mount the perfect dismount into his Easy Chair was just too darn cute. A perfect "10" in my book!

And what can I say about Skydiving? The music was pretty, The Hippo's string collection got a little laugh from me...and he had a perfect landing in the pool. And there are those "Happy Radar Ears" again!













Screening/Availability

As mentioned earlier, Sports Cartoon aired on Nickelodeon during the late 1980s, until the mid 1990s. They were used as interstitial programming between actual programs airing on the network during these years. They were originally created in 1985, and since they didn't arrive in the United States until several years later, it can be assumed these shorts aired on Canadian children's television prior to their being imported into the United States, which constituted much of Nickelodeon's programming during this era.

The entire compilation (approximately 47 minutes) was released on VHS by Family Home Entertainment in 1985, and again in 1989. The 1985 packaging is a clamshell case (I recall seeing this print's cover art, but it doesn't come up in a Google search), and the 1989 issue is in a cardboard case (I found the image below on Amazon.com). The VHS release is out of print, but can be found on eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Some of the cartoons are also available on You Tube, including the entire 47-minute presentation, which more than likely was uploaded from the VHS print of the film. If you have forty-seven minutes of time, and want to look back on a little piece of nostalgia, these cartoon shorts do not disappoint. Even if you don't have the time to sit through the whole video, You Tube has individual videos of Sports Cartoons available.

This setup was obviously taken from one of the VHS releases of the cartoons, though You Tube searches did not yield any extra material from its home video release (video opening/closing, previews, if any existed on the VHS print).

In all, special little treat from an arguably great era in Nickelodeon's past. I smile a little over seeing these again.

Do you remember this little relic of Nickelodeon's past? What was your favorite "sport"? How about character(s)? Also, if you have a copy of the original clamshell VHS cover, I'd love to see it.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Follow Allison on Twitter @DancerChick1982