Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels - The Kooky Case of the Cryptic Keys - Season 1, Episode 1

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels - The Kooky Case of the Cryptic Keys

Season 1, Episode 1

Premiered September 10, 1977

Underrated

I never really sat down to watch Captain Caveman in the past. No reason. I had seen a few episodes but never really gave it any attention. I was looking up Vernee Watson-Johnson's filmography and discovered she was the voice of Dee Dee Sykes in "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels".

Then I watched the series starting with "The Kooky Case of the Cryptic Keys". This is one of those shows that just hit all of the right notes for me. I love the 70s girl private detective crew trope and I love the Scooby-Doo format. The "Scooby Clones" range in quality from not worth the watch to highly underated. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels is highly underated. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!"

The show did not have a big budget or really any budget. This is evident in the limited animation and the errors. But it's fun and that's what I ask for.

Decent Mystery

The team is waved down by a woman, Nancy, fleeing something. She gives them a key then disappears. While the Teen Angels are searching for clues (in a random stretch of road), the key is stolen from their van. 

They go to a house where three heirs are gathered to learn about their own keys. Nancy is revealed through dialog to be the fourth heir. Taffy disguises herself as Nancy.

While convening with the Great Mysto, the keys all of the keys except Taffy's are stolen. Taffy is abducted along with the key through a secret passage in a wall. They find a tunnel to where Taffy, Nancy and the Great Mysto are being held. The thief is revealed to be one of the heirs.

Captain Cavema-a-an rescues everyone and brings the felonious heir to justice.

A Wooden Captain Caveman

Here's something I realized about carving. After paying for the tools, it's an affordable hobby. I got hours of fun from a block of wood I bought for 60 cents at an unfinished furniture shop. It's also an art with irreversible moments. I know the slip of the hand can gouge my project or my hand.

I began with roughing out the general shape of him with a larger knife. Then I used another carving tool to gouge out his legs. Then I worked on his feet. I smoothed him off then I gouged in fur. I used a wood burning tool to highlight his fur and features.

After that, I drilled a hole through his torso. I put a thick piece of armature wire through for the arms. I used polymer clay to sculpt his arms. I 

Sun Valley Freeze - New Looney Tunes

Season 1, Episode 2B

Premiered September 21, 2015

The Short

Bugs is traveling in his traditional underground way. He finds that Bigfoot is following him. Bigfoot and Bugs are then attacked by a bunch of agents in white hazmat suits with laser sighted laser weapons. Bugs has to save the naive Bigfoot. Bigfoot constantly misunderstands the situation and injures Bugs but nothing deters Bugs from his efforts to save him. 

This short is the debut of Bigfoot and the Hazmats though from the dialog it is not the first meeting between Bugs Bunny and the characters. I could have done without the "as you know" dialog explaining Bigfoot's relationship with the Hazmats. The episode illustrated the dynamic between the characters fine. But I am an adult and I guess they explained it for the benefit of child viewers (although I think the children didn't need the overly explained explanation).

Overall, this is a great short. I liked Bigfoot, I loved the Hazmats. The Hazmats are as good as Elmer and Yosemite as gun wielding, dimwitted antagonists in my opinion.

The Project

I wrestled with what I wanted to make and how I wanted to make it. I found a piece of wood in the wood box (a less than clever but apt name) that was the perfect shape for Bigfoot. 

As I begun carving into the wood, I found it to be the hardest wood I had worked with. Considering I can count the number of carving projects I've done on one hand, that's not saying much. I also found that I could only carve in one direction on each side, otherwise big splinters would come off. I came upon the solutions of sand paper and soaking the wood in water. Both methods helped and I made my Bigfoot.

The Inside Bugs - New Looney Tunes - Toonstalgia

The Inside Bugs - New Looney Tunes

Wabbit/Bugs!

Season 1, Episode 2a

The Short

Bugs picks up Yosemite just after he robbed a bank. He drives Yosemite to his destination, to the brink of madness and into the arms of the law.

This short continues with the same dynamic as the first episode short, "Buddha Bugs" where Bugs meets Yosemite just after he robbed a Buddhist temple or monastery.

This short reminds me of "Bugs and Thugs" from 1954. Bugs Bunny gets into Rocky and Mugsy's getaway car right after they robbed a bank. I like to see Rocky but I'm glad he's not in this short because if Rocky and Muggsy were in it in place of Yosemite it would feel less like an homage and more like a remake.

My Project

I created a polymer magnet that now resides on my fridge.

I folded a piece of foil into a rectangle in roughly the shape and sign I wanted. I put a magnet in the center of the aluminum foil. I mashed the white clay around it until I got it covered.

I worked on a notebook to stop the magnet from getting ripped out by my desk. I should have made sure it was a fresh sheet of paper because I had written a note in pencil and pencil marks wound up all over the white clay. 

I baked this on a nonmetallic dish. When it came out, I gave it a fresh coat of white. Once the paint dried, I started drawing in the details. This was the point that I made my second avoidable mistake. I used red marker to draw in the letters. 

I painted in colors then I painted the black outlines in over that. The red marker didn't make the letters dark enough so I went over them with red paint. I went in with some white paint to highlight areas. 

Then I glazed it and realized my mistake with the marker as the red spread. After the glaze dried, I went in with red and white to clean it up. Then I finished it with a second coat of glaze. Fortunately, it didn't bleed again.