Welcome back to the show, everyone!
You’ve heard of the song “Ebony & Ivory”? Well, this next series takes the concept of “racial harmony and kindness” to another level. Oh and it’s 100,000x better.
Get ready to experience “Kid Power”!
Based on “Wee Pals”, the comic strip by Morrie Turner, this series centers on the young members of a club called Rainbow Power who face issues most kids face, and work together to solve and fix them in their own individual and collective ways.
Before we talk about the series itself, here’s a brief background about “Wee Pals”. Morrie Turner is a budding cartoonist, with a mentor in the one-and-only Charles Schultz (you know his main work). One day, after realizing that the comics industry is populated to the brim of characters that are white, Turner asked around why there aren’t any franchises that feature characters of color . After asking this question to Schultz, he suggested Turner create one of his own. Morrie took the suggestion to heart and get set on creating the first ever comic strip featuring non-white characters. And thus, his first attempt Dinky Fellas was born. But unfortunately, while it got published, it was for only one newspaper - the Chicago Defender. Turner was not deterred and refined his creation by adding more characters of other races and ethnicities leading up to the February 15, 1965 debut of Wee Gang. It’s start was rough and , as it was rejected by many newspapers for having black characters; only five agreed to distribute it. It was only after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. three years later that Wee Pals would grow as a comic strip with many more newspapers (dalies and weeklys) signing on to distribute, becoming a big hit and beloved read for kids everywhere, leading Rankin-Bass and ABC stepping in to produce and air (respectively) an animated television adaptation titled Kid Power.
Plots:
Now onto the series itself.
This series centers on the young members of Rainbow Club, a club that meets up each week to discuss whatever problem or issue one, some or all are facing. Along the way, they come across some issues; those issues . During that time, said member(s) then play out the(se) idea(s) with little to no success ideas thrown in to become the solution. But then they begin to realize that whatever weakness they had within themselves wasn’t a weakness after all, but a part of them that shows the best of them that shouldn’t be overlooked.
The point of the series is to teach its young viewers that we are all the same, and - no matter what race you are - that being friends or at least people that care about and appreciate each other through our strengths and flaws makes for a much better world than one spun on hate, pain and destruction. Honestly, not only is it a great message to speak and live by in 1972, it's also still important and timely in 2022, before and beyond.
Characters:
Nipper (Black) ()voiced by Charles Kennedy): He’s a sweet, precocious boy known for wearing an American Civil War kepi and his dog named General Lee (for some reason). He's based on Turner as a child.
Rocky (Native) (voiced by Jay Silverwheels Jr.): He’s a kind and respectful boy with strong pride in his heritage.
Ralph (white) (voiced by Jeff Thomas): He’s the bully and reckless. Honestly, there’s no reason why he’s a member of the Rainbow Club. Hell, the Wikipedia page of Wee Gang even says he's a bigot! But he does change a bit with each episode.
Jerry (Jewish) (voiced by Gary Shapiro): He’s the upbeat, loyal and most friendly member of the club with a very big heart
Connie (white) (voiced by April Winchell [daughter of Paul]): She’s a sweet and kind girl who’s bright and athletic.
Sybil (Black) (voiced by Michelle Johnson): Also sweet and kind, she’s also respectful and is close friends with Connie.
Oliver (white) (voiced by Greg Thomas): The Rainbow Club’s chubby and bookish leader
Diz (Black) (voiced by Donald Fullilove [whom also voiced Michael in The Jackson 5ive]): a chill, smooth-talking, shades-and-beret-wearing trumpet player (he’s based on trumpeter and jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie)
Randy (Black) (also voiced by Donald Fulilove): Oliver’s second-in-command with a (very) one-sided friendship with Ralph.
Wellington (also voiced by Gary Shapiro): a hip young boy who usually pals around with Diz
George (Asian of Chinese descent) (voiced by Carey Wong): A quiet boy with a vivid imagination who often speaks in Chinese parables (he’s also great friends with Nipper, Oliver and Jerry.
(There are more characters from the comic strip like Charlotte, Mikki, Trinh and Sally)
Voice Acting:
Despite their young age, I think the producers hired some very talented and charismatic kids to voice the members of the Rainbow Gang. And I’m very happy that the kids are of the same race and ethnicity as the characters they voiced and that are in the comic strip (or else it wouldn’t have been following Morrie Turner’s creation of and vision for his comic strip. And that it’d be racist and lazy of them to get white people to voice non-white characters).
Animation:
The series totally looks like the comic strip as it features that style of ink-and-paint. (Notice most of the characters’ eyes) The characters look very adorable (although the boys wouldn't like hearing that; and Ralph would clobber a young me if we ever crossed paths. Although he would get these fists too). The backgrounds also look clean, bright and amazing as well.
Songs:
Each episode also features an original song tied to the plot and message composed and performed by The Curbstones. Each song features a -- that teaches young viewers on how `. While I like all the ones I’ve heard featured in the episodes I’ve seen, I can’t help but feel that these songs wouldn’t feel out of place in recording made specifically and exclusively for Sunday school or any of those religious tv shows for kids from back in the day like Joy Junction, Kids’ Club, Colby's Clubhouse and Circle Square (remember those? If you don’t… I really don’t blame you.)
Laugh Track:
Yes, there is one, but it’s much more tolerable than one made for Hanna-Barbera. As mentioned in my reviews of The Osmonds and The New Jackson 5ive Show, the laugh track for Rankin Bass’s weekly animated series is much more nuanced and quieter and even features an applause track featured at the end of song segments. It’s just me but I love this; I despise laugh tracks because I know when to laugh at a joke if it’s funny, and they insult my intelligence every time I hear one; but if I want to watch an older cartoon with a laugh track (if my tolerance for one is high), I’d also want an applause track in one. Because if they’re trying to make an animated sitcom (some of them were actually written by sitcom writers [and I’ll reveal a couple examples later this season]), they have to take it all the way and feature one or else I’d tune out.
To be honest, I‘ve never heard of both the series and its source material until a few years ago. But if I lived in the 60s, I would’ve religiously read and loved Wee Gang - and by extension, I would’ve loved Kid Power if I lived back then, because it features characters that look like and represent me and my people; and (even with the with-it slang that was dated months after airing), they aren’t stereotyped . Because of Morrie Turner (who passed away in 2015; may he rest in power) and the vision he created for kids and adults to finally have a strong, solid, unforgettable representation of their and all races in America at a time where such was slim if not nonexistent (and this was after radio shows like Amos n’ Andy and Beulah -- of which the titular characters were voiced by white actors, and their tv counterparts -- which did have black actors portray the title characters but were still seen by many as playing black stereotypes). And thanks to Turner’s creation, more and more representation for African Americans and other races would grow -- although it would take until the 80s and 90s for it to become more and more and more desirable. I don’t see a series like this being made today -- probably because people won’t see the message as genuine or heartfelt to the cause or certain people wouldn’t
As mentioned earlier, only four episodes (out of seventeen) are available to view on YouTube. So if you’d like to watch as much of the series as we’re lucky to have been given, please do so. Kid Power is a fantastic series with wonderful, loveable characters (and Ralph) and important, powerful lessons and messages teaching its young viewers about needed subjects including love, kindness, acceptance and friendships. Of course, it can’t hurt to have great jokes and kind original music to add to it all. Please check it out if you have a chance.
And that is my review of Kid Power.
I’ll be back next week when I travel back to 1914 and join a kickass group of furry spies traveling the country to stop villains foisting their fiendish plans on and swiping on the unsuspecting locals in their own goofy, wacky, crazy way known as The Houndcats.
I'm Andrew. See you next week.