I think it may have somewhat inspired Up as well (directly or indirectly). You have the older adventurer - young boy - dog trio, the southamerican jungle... Charles Muntz could even be kind of a older, twisted take on a Clutch type character too.
Unique and seemingly long forgotten. The live-action speaking mouths are somewhat disturbing .... and who would of thought the flute/drum soundtrack is by Paul Horn. Much appreciated that you offer this.
I don't even remember what rabbit hole led me here, but yeah. The juxtaposition between the full-motion mouths and animation that is literally just still frames is honestly difficult to get past. But the funny thing is that I found it works really well as a radio show. Play it in the background while doing something else. Goodness knows the visuals are essentially unneeded.
I can't believe it didn't last more than one season. It has everything, adventure, good looking adventurer, polite little kid, geography lessons, but my favorite is Paddlefoot. Whoever drew him was a genius!
Clutch Cargo -> Jonny Quest -> The Venture Bros. Maybe not quite what you wanted, but the (likely) chain of inspiration exists. Doug Wildey worked on both C.C. and J.Q., and there's acknowledged homage from V.B. to J.Q.
It was an inspiration for the "Mr. Incredible and Friends" show which was on the Incredibles DVD and had an in-universe riffing by Mr. Incredible and Frozone.
It's actually closer a comic book. The whole idea was as a trade off for a longer story the animation part would be cut down although they still put effort into the backgrounds and such.
No doubt about it. I really enjoy these Clutch Cargo adventures. I used to watch these episodes on WPIX-TV Channel 11 while growing up in the early 60s.
I just read this type of animation, with cartoon stills and human mouths, known as Syncro-Vox, was used to cut costs. This style would run $18K an episode where as a full Disney animation would cost 250K.
It was like a storybook brought to life, without any creepy intentions. It helped moms keep their kids busy and brought us exotic adventures. What's not to like?!
I found a DVD with about a dozen episodes of CLUTCH CARGO a million years ago and loved it, yes at first the mouth thingy is disturbing but at the same tyme it was so original, it reminded me of the old Marvel super heroes t.v. show from the 60's, where the only movement in them was a cut out of a character moved across a still back ground taken from the comic it was taken from, I'm pretty sure CLUTCH CARGO was produced by a South American country thanks for bringing C.C. back to us old adventure nerd thanks for listening ✌️from SPACE RANGER JYM 8/18/2024
The whole "green screen mouth" technique must've blown somebody's mind back then, it certainly worked for the female characters. But man oh man, it aged like a fish out of water.
It always bothered me the headhunters said they were hunting cabbage heads and then at the end 19:00 it is strongly implied they ate the villain. Then more recently I realized, cabbage rolls are stuffed with MEAT. I feel like such a dummy for missing the reference for so long.
That was a surprisingly good joke, considering, y'know. Everything else. And surprisingly "woke" for 1959, too. The headhunters are people like everyone else, but that doesn't mean they aren't cannibals, too. The complete lack of racism here while dealing with subject matter that could be handled really badly is admirable.
I really appreciate the talent it took to maintain the illusion of animation. The immersion is like someone reading a picture book to you. The characters have eyes that occasionally blink, and they add lots of reaction shots to depict movement.
@@mel2000 I mean, personally, there is no illusion to animation for me. It just doesn't look good. I realize it's an old production. But there are lots of cartoons that are even older that just look better. Just personal preference I suppose.
@@saviorself1164 : The Clutch Cargo minimalist animation had nothing to do with cartoon technical limitations of that time. After all, high technical achievement cartoons like Snow White, Fantasia and Bambi had already proven themselves. Clutch Cargo looks the way it does due to clever decisions based on budget constraints.
It's on a free streaming app on the Roku stick called Cartoon Lane. Don't know how long it will be on it though because they play 4 different cartoons on a continuous loop for awhile, and switch them out after a week or so.
Yep. And not only would it be regarded as far too ''dark'' for a kids' show today, it would never pass muster for the politically correct, ''woke'' censors, either.
@@v1e1r1g1e1 : Yes, RUclips still has several Saturday morning kids cartoons that have been removed from televised distribution or have since been politically "corrected" for today's kids. I can't really blame the studios for some of the corrections.
I think it was just a different time with different standards for what was and wasn't appropriate for children. Plenty of older cartoons showed characters attempting suicide, for example.
@@ngoma So? Guardian here, bodyguard there. What I’m worried about is a guardian who takes his ward to the edge of the Amazon and says ‘Let’s rent an old jungle crate and fly in!’
@@vaponyink99 honestly though lol and not even from today's point of view with all of our resources and advancements we have now. All you need is like 15 still frames per episode with a hole cut out where the mouths should be, slap it on an actors face and BAM, clutch cargo. Even in 1959, 30 frames per HOUR is just bonkers
Ah Yes! A Ray Rayner and Bozo Circus Original Series! Loved it when I was a kid along with Diver Dan... Good Quality Programming... before the crap express came rolling through.
They planned it to air on syndication since the beginning so they could air episodes in any order, but so long as 5 parts play in a week, it makes sense
The creators of Jonny Quest said this was one of the inspirations. And Clutch, Spinner and Paddlefoot can totally be seen as the proto Race, Jonny and Bandit
5:38 I love how he uses the wrong side of the machete xD I always had a fondness for old low budget cartoons Edit: THEY DREW A TIGER IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST AH2HEG4GWUWHGEGEHRHRH
“Bugsy old pal, I want you to know I’ve enjoyed our little take or take(No idea if that’s actually what he says) over the years. But now it’s all over-It doesn’t matter anymore!”
It sounded more like he said "tête-à-tête" which means something like "private conversations", which doesn't really match their relatonship but that would be part of the joke
Yeah... they painted the voice actors' mouths with heavy lipstick, smeared blank-out foundation all around the mouths, filmed them speaking, then superimposed the moving mouths over the mouthless animated faces while they filmed the composition.
Not to me, it isn’t; I, an autistic baby-boomer, watched it when I was a real-little kid. The worst thing to have ever existed is SpongeBob. Besides, Clutch is a good role-model for kids.
This must be the origin of every low-budget gag from the cartoons I grew up with in the 90s.
17:15 it's 59 and homies already rocking air pods deep in the jungle
That’s about the size they would be in 59
That's the size required to accommodate the vacuum tubes lol
Damn so this is the cartoon Butch watches in Pulp Fiction, thanks.
BEAT ME TO THE COMMENT!!!
And don’t forget, the Max Headroom Chicago hacker of ‘87 sang the Clutch Cargo theme during his hack. Must have grown up a fan!
Doooo dooooo doooo dooo doooo
Which probably means that the perpetrator was probably in his early 30s, unless I guess they still reran this on TV for a while
Oh so THIS is where that bonus cartoon on the Incredibles DVD got its inspiration from.
I think it may have somewhat inspired Up as well (directly or indirectly). You have the older adventurer - young boy - dog trio, the southamerican jungle... Charles Muntz could even be kind of a older, twisted take on a Clutch type character too.
"DID YOU OKAY THE RABBIT?!"
"I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RABBIT! I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY GOT THE RABBIT!"
@@mariic2 "WELL SOMEBODY OKAYED THE RABBIT!!!"
I never saw that! Thanks for telling me about that
Unique and seemingly long forgotten. The live-action speaking mouths are somewhat disturbing .... and who would of thought the flute/drum soundtrack is by Paul Horn. Much appreciated that you offer this.
Both cost cutting features.🤓😎✌🏻
I don't even remember what rabbit hole led me here, but yeah. The juxtaposition between the full-motion mouths and animation that is literally just still frames is honestly difficult to get past. But the funny thing is that I found it works really well as a radio show. Play it in the background while doing something else. Goodness knows the visuals are essentially unneeded.
Why did they do you live action mouths instead of animated ones?
@@charlieu2b329 Because it was seen as a way of saving money.
@@charlieu2b329it was cheaper
17:49 that sudden actually animated bit caught me off guard. There's the budget.
Why couldn’t they just animate everything and not the Annoying Orange-like mouths?
I'm 72 years old and remember these cartoons !
Me too.
@@lytnin88 same
You're telling me that this is real?
@@adamofblastworks1517 Yep
I'm sorry
This is.....surprisingly better than I expected!
Boy does Clutch Cargo look depressed most of the time, too!
I'd be depressed too if this is the quality of animation I had to be in.
@@Ohflipsnap Paddlefoot doesn't look like he's complaining ;)
Those mouth movements are still unsettling.
They should have had a real dog superimposed over the cartoon one!!!
That's just weird.
" I thought you said this thing is animated."
"It *is* animated-"
"Why they ain't movin'? Ain't nothing movin' but their lips."
shoot, where is that quote from?
@@jackblack3718I think it's from "Mr. Incredible and Pals", a short based on The Incredibles.
@@ernovincze2900 oh yeah! I remember that! I think they parodied this show's style!
I can't believe it didn't last more than one season. It has everything, adventure, good looking adventurer, polite little kid, geography lessons, but my favorite is Paddlefoot. Whoever drew him was a genius!
It- it did. 2 seasons
A show like this could only be successful during the time of leaded gasoline
The perfect beverage to wash down a heaping bowl of asbestos laden Rice Krinkles!
Oh man, that gasoline really burns on the way down
This person is clueless
This style of "animation" could work for a show with Smiling Friend type humor
There's something kind of YEEEEEEESSSHHHH...😬unnerving about their real life SynchroVox lip movement in such cartoons like this.
How has this not become inspiration for an Adult Swim series
Clutch Cargo -> Jonny Quest -> The Venture Bros. Maybe not quite what you wanted, but the (likely) chain of inspiration exists. Doug Wildey worked on both C.C. and J.Q., and there's acknowledged homage from V.B. to J.Q.
Because it's too shitty.
@@fortniteharambe close enough for me
It was an inspiration for the "Mr. Incredible and Friends" show which was on the Incredibles DVD and had an in-universe riffing by Mr. Incredible and Frozone.
GO TEAM VENTURE
I swear, this animation makes Hanna-Barbera look like Studio Ghibli.
🤣
You can’t even really call it animation can you? There look even less than fucking flip o ramas.
Like they say, crawl before you walk.
I like Hanna-Barbera. And this isn't as the worst animation I've seen. Still, it's a bit strange that this was seen as "good enough" to air on TV.
You haven't seen much animation if your standard for bad animation is hanna barbera....seriously. you know Jack about animation If you say that.
I had no idea these were actually in color, because my family only had B&W until the 1970s.
Everything in the world was black and white until color television came out in the 60’s. Slowly people began to see color in the world.
@@betweentwomillennium5057 Thanks, Calvin’s Dad! 😅
This feels like an old radio play but with added visuals.
It's actually closer a comic book. The whole idea was as a trade off for a longer story the animation part would be cut down although they still put effort into the backgrounds and such.
this is single handedly one of the most unsettling things I've ever seen on my 19th years on this Earth, but this may change.
@@justinholoviak5357😂😂😂😂😂
You have not lived then
No doubt about it. I really enjoy these Clutch Cargo adventures. I used to watch these episodes on WPIX-TV Channel 11 while growing up in the early 60s.
I just read this type of animation, with cartoon stills and human mouths, known as Syncro-Vox, was used to cut costs. This style would run $18K an episode where as a full Disney animation would cost 250K.
That still seems too high when there's like 50 unique drawings over the entire episode
This is surprisingly charming if you can get past the weird mouths
I think the mouths makes it look chaming
Swampy said the tiger was toothless when he was introduced, but at the end we see the tiger has a mouthful of teeth.
Tiger dentures?
18:48
Boy I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder!
Catch the wave
It was like a storybook brought to life, without any creepy intentions. It helped moms keep their kids busy and brought us exotic adventures. What's not to like?!
😮❤ I am Gonna Go watch
"Beaney and Cecil" Next!
Noice! 🌟💫💋🤔💟🧐
A lot, actually.
I love the Clutch Cargo cartoons. 😊
okay
This brings back great memories! Those bongo drums and of course the mouths. This cartoon and also super chief from the funny company!
I'm 67. I used to love this show when I was little.
Another masterpiece for the world's greatest newspaper nerds and it's a lot better than Chuck Swirsky. Friggin' liberrrrraaaaallll!!
Why I searched this out too!
Can you link me to whatever you are speaking of?
@@drewbocopcheck out the "max headroom override incident"
@@drewbocopwe came from Wikipedia Max Headroom signal hijacking and found this demented cartoon.
@@egosumabbas oh ok, thanks
We played this cartoon at my first TV station job. All the film prints were Kodachrome.
That's really cool, I'm jealous! I would have loved to work in that industry back then.
Saw it when it came out in America as a kid. Really l liked it!!! Thanks for posting.
I found a DVD with about a dozen episodes of CLUTCH CARGO a million years ago and loved it, yes at first the mouth thingy is disturbing but at the same tyme it was so original, it reminded me of the old Marvel super heroes t.v. show from the 60's, where the only movement in them was a cut out of a character moved across a still back ground taken from the comic it was taken from, I'm pretty sure CLUTCH CARGO was produced by a South American country thanks for bringing C.C. back to us old adventure nerd thanks for listening ✌️from SPACE RANGER JYM 8/18/2024
I think it would so weird to put on your acting resume, "Irish Police Officer, mouth only."
I remember Clutch Cargo on Saturday mornings. There was nothing else like it.
omygosh they ate him. that is the best!
Appetizer maybe
man it would have been even cheaper to just use 3 frames of their mouths opening and closing like anime.
The whole "green screen mouth" technique must've blown somebody's mind back then, it certainly worked for the female characters. But man oh man, it aged like a fish out of water.
It feels like a proto "facial capture" for modern movies but it worked better on paper than in practice.
Also the Canadian (québecois) show "tête à claques" used a similar technique as well (with the eyes and denture on clay dolls in 2D).
@@ikagura welp...time to have nightmares again
I'm sure the chief head-hunter is based on Alec Guinness. Nice video, thanks.
This was 1959. Did that boy really hear the drums and say "Listen Clutch. The jungle wireless"? Crazy.
"Wireless" = radio
I never thought the moving mouths were creepy.
It always bothered me the headhunters said they were hunting cabbage heads and then at the end 19:00 it is strongly implied they ate the villain. Then more recently I realized, cabbage rolls are stuffed with MEAT. I feel like such a dummy for missing the reference for so long.
I'm sure they're most vegetarians unless someone is a jerk
That was a surprisingly good joke, considering, y'know. Everything else.
And surprisingly "woke" for 1959, too. The headhunters are people like everyone else, but that doesn't mean they aren't cannibals, too. The complete lack of racism here while dealing with subject matter that could be handled really badly is admirable.
@@bluegum6438 "Woke" is the wrong word. "Progressive" would be better.
@@jackblack3718 I was saying it ironically but yeah
Takes me back to when this was all I had to watch (only DVDs, no cable or internet), unsettling at first but the stories were very interesting.
Despite the animation not looking as impressive, the acting is surprisingly well done.
I remember clutch cargo when it was on tv. 1959 rings a bell. I thought the only moving mouths was pretty cool. I was easy to impress I guess
Clutch Cargo sounds like every 1950's perfect dad/boy scout leader/documentary narrator.
Creepy and classic at the same time.
17:13 He's got airpods in
"Right-o" 🧐
I love it. I don't mind the mouths at all.
definitely gives it it's charm.
Same here
It's uncanny and kind of creepy nowadays, but at the time this probably seemed like the peak of animation!
It's done better than I expected!
It doesn't bother me either
.....there is no animation. It's still images with Syncro-Vox. And that's what makes it three times more creepy than it needed to be.
I really appreciate the talent it took to maintain the illusion of animation. The immersion is like someone reading a picture book to you. The characters have eyes that occasionally blink, and they add lots of reaction shots to depict movement.
It was pretty cool at the time, though, or so I've been told.
@@mel2000 I mean, personally, there is no illusion to animation for me. It just doesn't look good. I realize it's an old production. But there are lots of cartoons that are even older that just look better. Just personal preference I suppose.
@@saviorself1164 it might have been! That would make sense.
@@saviorself1164 : The Clutch Cargo minimalist animation had nothing to do with cartoon technical limitations of that time. After all, high technical achievement cartoons like Snow White, Fantasia and Bambi had already proven themselves. Clutch Cargo looks the way it does due to clever decisions based on budget constraints.
Funny thing about this show is that it’s in the public domain 😅
Oh, is it now? Then i guess it's free to meme on and parody! LOL
@@worthybutter2004 hell yeah
I don’t know how I ended up here but I’m weirdly enjoying it
I was 12,it was weird for times,but we " trusted America,so we shut up and waited for laurel and hardy... good thing LSD was 15 yrs away 🤯
I still see the X
What I want to know is how this still exists at all... Let alone in such good condition, and with such good color!
It's on a free streaming app on the Roku stick called Cartoon Lane. Don't know how long it will be on it though because they play 4 different cartoons on a continuous loop for awhile, and switch them out after a week or so.
Was Whiplash's fate as dark as what's being implied? That's pretty intense for a children's show.
I think so too. Clever joke that I'm sure kids wouldn't understand but adults enjoyed.
Yep. And not only would it be regarded as far too ''dark'' for a kids' show today, it would never pass muster for the politically correct, ''woke'' censors, either.
Me too great cartoon 👍
@@v1e1r1g1e1 : Yes, RUclips still has several Saturday morning kids cartoons that have been removed from televised distribution or have since been politically "corrected" for today's kids. I can't really blame the studios for some of the corrections.
I think it was just a different time with different standards for what was and wasn't appropriate for children. Plenty of older cartoons showed characters attempting suicide, for example.
Haha! Great use of Synchro Vox
Never really cared about Clutch Cargo that much, but I absolutely loved Space Angel from the same animation studio.
Saw somewhere that Swampy the jungle tramp was voiced, (and lipped) by Hal Smith, who played Otis Campbell on Andy Griffith.
I think maybe Race Bannon of Johnny Quest was copied from Clutch Cargo. Both have white hair, black eyebrows and strong chins.
And they both travel around with a school age boy...
@@ngoma So? Guardian here, bodyguard there.
What I’m worried about is a guardian who takes his ward to the edge of the Amazon and says ‘Let’s rent an old jungle crate and fly in!’
@@ngoma …with a dog.
The budget for the entire series can not have been anything more than $6
18K actually per episode versus 250K with normal hannah barbara animation.
@@slimstrait780 I can't help to feel like you can do better animations with 1% of that budget
I venture to guess they gave them $2,000 for the time, and only used about $6 per episode
@@slimstrait780sorry, i stand instantly corrected
@@vaponyink99 honestly though lol and not even from today's point of view with all of our resources and advancements we have now. All you need is like 15 still frames per episode with a hole cut out where the mouths should be, slap it on an actors face and BAM, clutch cargo. Even in 1959, 30 frames per HOUR is just bonkers
Hal Smith, Otis from the "Andy Griffith Show", did voices for this show. In this episode, he's voicing Whiplash.
This is like when you release the 'planning' phase of animation, instead of the final phase.
Ah Yes! A Ray Rayner and Bozo Circus Original Series! Loved it when I was a kid along with Diver Dan... Good Quality Programming... before the crap express came rolling through.
They must have had to stock-up on lots of lipstick at Cambria Studios.
Another exciting adventure.. but it's the first episode! What, was there a Pilot episode or an episode zero or something?
They probably had an pilot made but it didn't air yet.
They planned it to air on syndication since the beginning so they could air episodes in any order, but so long as 5 parts play in a week, it makes sense
Nice shade of lipstick Spinner.
Why do this reminds me of jhonny quest?
Possibly because this might had played a role with creating Jonny Quest a few years later.
Same era, maybe just a little earlier.
The creators of Jonny Quest said this was one of the inspirations.
And Clutch, Spinner and Paddlefoot can totally be seen as the proto Race, Jonny and Bandit
Was the Clutch Cargo character the inspiration for Johnny Quest's Race Bannon? So similar.
ARE YA READY KIDS???
Aye aye, captain!
I CAN’T HEAR YOU
_Aye aye, captain!!_
*OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
"I hear it's FABULOUS."....What a big Mary 😅
5:38 I love how he uses the wrong side of the machete xD
I always had a fondness for old low budget cartoons
Edit: THEY DREW A TIGER IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST AH2HEG4GWUWHGEGEHRHRH
This might be good competition for Chargeman Ken.
This generation seriously overuses the term "creepy."
Lmao the Toucan sounds like a crow.
Even as a kid I thought this show was weird and creepy.
holy shit. I thought this was done ironically by adult swim
Looks like art with real human lips
Unique style for sure - especially for 1959!
who the hell names their dog Paddlefoot
The 1950s, who also named a guy Clutch Cargo
A kid named "Spinner," that's who.
Tigers in the Amazon huh?
When I was a kid, I knew that there was no such thing as an "exciting" Clutch Cargo adventure, or any entertainment on the Lawrence Welk show.
“Bugsy old pal, I want you to know I’ve enjoyed our little take or take(No idea if that’s actually what he says) over the years. But now it’s all over-It doesn’t matter anymore!”
It sounded more like he said "tête-à-tête" which means something like "private conversations", which doesn't really match their relatonship but that would be part of the joke
I still see the X.
Clutch Cargo and Space Angel on Saturday mornings before the Three Stooges, the Herculoids, Space Ghost, and Jonny Quest.
Was this meant to entertain kids, or scare them?
Yes.
Looks like someone took some comic book pages and put Annoying Orange style mouths on the characters.
Hahaha 😅😅
You just took me back 60 years.
All those mouths look female, bizzare stuff.
Yeah... they painted the voice actors' mouths with heavy lipstick, smeared blank-out foundation all around the mouths, filmed them speaking, then superimposed the moving mouths over the mouthless animated faces while they filmed the composition.
17:08 What is that medal pinned to???
Swampy needs to get his nose checked out. That looks like a serious medical problem.
Kinda odd these mouths on the animation. Resembles me of the Annoying Orange
Lmao it does!!!😂😂😂😂
Ok that was a good show. The story was good
Had me on the edge of my seat.
This took so long to find
Why does " Whiplash look like a Mexican bandito/pirate and talk like Uncle Joe from Petticoat Junction?🤷🏼♂️🤓😎🖖🏻
For the same reason there’s a tiger in the Amazon jungle.
He is, what we call, a “pocho”
His name is Anglo
Setting is the Brazilian Amazon valley. The plane landed in Belem.
@@ThePookoshyep probably on the run from US law enforcement, given his sleazy attitude
3:00 LOL a bunch of stereotypical mexican dudes in the Amazon jungle
Not to mention the racist depictions of the South American natives.
I didn't know this existed until I downloaded a cartoon app on my roku stick. This is one of the worst things to have ever existed.
Not to me, it isn’t; I, an autistic baby-boomer, watched it when I was a real-little kid. The worst thing to have ever existed is SpongeBob. Besides, Clutch is a good role-model for kids.
@@user-ul3lx2sl1qI hate SpongeBob. I just thought it looked weird seeing real mouths on them.
The Brown Hornet and Little Bo Peep's lost sheep called Clueless
This feels like something out of a spongebob creepypasta
This animation is something Spongebob would do for a gag.
👄 _actors_ 👄
Why hasn't anyone made an analog horror based on this?
Because analog horror is lame
Even the Lockheed Constellation was poorly animated.
How was everyone NOT creeped out by the uncanny valley animation style???
animation?
Adult Swim should've done a parody of this years ago.