- Written by William J. Keenan and Lou Silverstone
- Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
- September 23, 1972
- ABC
Voice Cast
- Baron Henry von Frankenstein, Harvey-Bob McFadden
- Count Dracula, Igor, the Monster, Claude the Invisible Man, Ron Chanley the Werewolf, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Rosebud the vulture, Harold, Post Office Boss-Allen Swift
- Norman the Bellhop, Additional Voices-Bradley Bolke
- The Bride, Nagatha the Invisible Woman, Wicked Witch of the East, Ghoul the Invisible Boy, Boobula-Rhoda Mann
Dr. Frankenstein plans a wedding for his creature on Friday the 13th at midnight at the Transylvania Astoria Hotel.
The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie was not something I was alive to enjoy nor knew existed until I heard of and viewed another selection from it. Makes me miss the long-gone days of Saturday morning cartoons that were killed by cheap teen-centric shows as well as the extension of network weekday morning ‘news’ shows into the weekend.
The Season 1, third episode The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters is said to be connected to the 1967 stop motion animated film Mad Monster Party? though I have yet to see that. Add it to the long list, I guess. The story here is built around a wedding the fatherly Dr. Frankenstein is throwing for his creature and its newly built bride. Complications arise when Igor becomes jealous that Frankie gets a bride built to specs but not he. Igor is essentially the villain of the story with the bulk of the movie being gags built around monsters encountering a mailman. Really. That is the main goto.
The characters present are humorous versions of classic Universal monsters that also come with their kids who are mini versions of them and even a few pets that are the same. Ugh! Most of the jokes can draw a straight line to bad sitcom writing or are akin to something Henny Youngman might’ve come up with. Norman the bellhop is fanboying out. The kids are always goofing around. The Invisible Man is quite verbally abusive to his endlessly nagging wife. That alone would not fly today.
We have a mailman who gets put in charge of the Transylvania Astoria Hotel when his hotel manager Harold leaves because he’s having a breakdown over the same things as his mailman cousin Harvey is. Each joke is shock over seeing a Universal style monster in real life. It is a cute gag that gets old fast.
Bad monster antics and bad monster humor just stretches the story out. This feels like something much shorter that was extended to make it into an episode for The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. Not that Rankin/Bass never dabbled in hour long specials but even the worst was much tighter than this. This drags on. You can almost tell when the original script ends and the padding begins.
This is done in 2-D animation and not the comforting Animagic stop-motion animation process Rankin/Bass is best known for. If you have seen any of their traditionally animated specials you will see certain things like the overly cute eyes are M.I.A. here. Unlike many Rankin/Bass specials this one contains zero songs. Nothing to playfully set the stage or explain a character. Not even a weak rendition of an older tune. I feel that is an important ingredient. If you cannot do a good story then at least give me a song!
Sometimes these specials are pleasant discoveries. Maybe not great but good and entertaining. This doesn’t even get to a guilty pleasure level. There’s just a lot on screen that does nothing. They milk it for all it’s worth making it kind of boring and not even that pleasant humor that takes you back to your childhood helps.
The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters is an interesting artifact from the past but it’s barely a once and done viewing. Perhaps one of Rankin/Bass’s weaker offerings
Warren Watched A Movie 