Samson & Goliath

This article is about the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. For the cranes in Belfast, see Samson and Goliath (cranes).
Samson & Goliath
Also known as 'Young Samson'
Genre Animated television series
Created by William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Written by Tony Benedict
Walter Black
Dalton Sandifer
Directed by Joseph Barbera
William Hanna
Voices of Tim Matheson
Mel Blanc
John Stephenson
Theme music composer Ted Nichols
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 13 (26 segments)
Production
Producer(s) Joseph Barbera
William Hanna
Art Scott (associate producer)
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Hanna-Barbera Productions
Distributor

Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (1967–73)

The Program Exchange (1973–2016)
Warner Bros. Television Distribution (1996-present)
Release
Original network NBC
Original release September 9, 1967 – August 31, 1968

Samson & Goliath (also known as Young Samson) is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC, where it debuted on September 9, 1967.[1] Primarily sponsored by General Mills, who controlled the distribution rights through its agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, Samson & Goliath was retitled Young Samson in April 1968 to avoid confusion with the stop-motion Christian television series Davey and Goliath.[1][2]

Twenty-six 12-minute episodes of the series were produced (six of which no longer exist);[2] Samson & Goliath cartoons were paired with other General Mills-sponsored shows such as Tennessee Tuxedo and Go Go Gophers to form a full half-hour for their original network broadcasts.[3] Young Samson was later shown in syndication with The Space Kidettes as The Space Kidettes and Young Samson, distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution (current rights owner through Hanna-Barbara) and The Program Exchange.[2][3]

The series was the only Dancer Fitzgerald Sample-sponsored cartoon to be outsourced to Hanna-Barbera; the agency's in-house studio, Gamma Productions, had closed shortly before the series began. (It was also the only cartoon in the DFS portfolio not to be created by Jay Ward Productions or Total Television.) A young Tim Matheson did the voice of Samson, while Mel Blanc supplied the voice of Goliath. John Stephenson did the various character voices.

Plot

The show follows the adventures of a teenager named Samson and his dog, Goliath as they ride around the country on a motorbike. Whenever trouble arises, usually in the form of a menacing mega villain or evil scientist, Samson transforms himself into a superhero version of the biblical Samson by hitting his golden wristbands together. A second slam transforms Goliath into a super-powered lion. He can also direct shock waves from his wristbands, and by twisting his bracelets, can increase his and Goliath's powers to far greater levels. The pair's reverse transformation is never depicted.

Similar shows

Samson & Goliath is similar in format to other Hanna-Barbera adventure shows such as Space Ghost, Mighty Mightor, and Shazzan in its pacing, plots, voices, music and art direction. Many of these characters were developed for CBS by comics artist Alex Toth, but Samson was on NBC. Tim Matheson, who had earlier been the voice of Jonny Quest, provided the voice of Samson. Goliath's vocal effects are done by Don Messick and Mel Blanc. This show is very similar to a 1980s cartoon show, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Like Samson, teenage Prince Adam turns into the adult, muscular superhero He-Man by way of a magical artifact.

Like Goliath, his pet tiger Cringer also turns into the bigger, stronger and tougher Battle Cat. Both Samson & Goliath and He-Man (along with Mighty Mightor) bear similarities to an earlier property, the Fawcett Comics (later DC Comics) superhero Captain Marvel. Samson hitting bracelets on his wrists to transform himself is identical to how Rick Jones summons the Marvel Comics version of Captain Marvel in the late 1960s and the early 1970s.

Samson and Goliath

Goliath

Goliath is an absolute loyal dog of Samson and rarely strays far from him unless instructed by his master.

Goliath derives his name from the Biblical villain Goliath of Geth, Philistia, a giant warrior for the Philistines.

Goliath is Samson's white Airedale breed dog with 12” height and 25 Ibs weight. He has black eyes, black ears, black spot on his back, black right front paw and black colored end of his tail. Goliath wears a brown leather collar around his neck with a small circular gold tag.

After transformation, Goliath becomes a huge lion, 5’6” in height, and his weight increases to 800 pounds. His eyes's color turns to piercing green and his hair turns tan, with a dark brown mane and a dark brown tuft of fur on his tail. Despite the power transformation, Goliath still sports the same black right front paw.

Powers of Samson and Goliath

Gold Power Bracelets

Upon encountering a very tough situation, Samson touches both of his bracelets with each other by crossing his wrists and with the magic words, "I need Samson Power", or "Time for Samson Power", and is transformed into the biblical strong-man, and the lad's pup named Goliath morphs into a mighty lion.

Goliath

Goliath is a brave and resourceful pet in both his super-powered and non-powered forms.

Goliath as a Dog

Goliath as a Super-Lion

In lion's form, Goliath is an incredibly powerful animal with a vast array of super-abilities.

Episodes

No. Title Original air date
1"The Curse of Monatabu"September 9, 1967 (1967-09-09)
A giant lizard-like monster emerges from an active volcano on a remote island, frightening the natives. They believe it to be an evil spirit of Monatabu, an evil witch doctor. When Samson and Goliath arrive at the village, the chief of the tribe tells them how they punished Monatabu by making him leap into the volcano. Ever since, his spirit returns every year to seek revenge. The boy and dog go into the volcano for investigation. Samson leaves Goliath, and finds the witch doctor is still alive. Not only that, but the monster is there, too, who is actually a prehistoric Iguanasaurus. Monatabu discovers Samson, and captures him by knocking him out with magic energy from his skull wand. Samson is then tied to a slab. Monatabu reveals that he befriended the Iguanasaurus when he entered the volcano. It is this beast that has been terrorizing the natives. Samson calls Goliath, who unties the ropes, and frees him. Then, Samson becomes the biblical strong man, and Goliath turns into a giant, Super Lion. When things get too tough, Samson uses Super Samson power to make himself and Goliath more powerful. Eventually, they seal Monatabu and the Iguanasaurus inside the volcano for keeps. When they leave, they tell the natives they no longer have anything to fear, and drive away on their motorcycle.
2"The Aurora Borealis Creature"September 16, 1967 (1967-09-16)
Upon their visit to Northpole, Samson and Goliath encountered a gigantic electrically charged monster manifested from the Aurora Borealis, and begin terrorizing an Eskimo village. With the combine efforts of Samson and Goliath, they saved the day.
3"The Great Colossus"September 23, 1967 (1967-09-23)
The Colossus Of Rhodes comes to life by a mysterious energy from an asteroid, and goes on a rampage. Samson and Goliath send it back into the sea.
4"Cold Wind from Venus"September 30, 1967 (1967-09-30)
An A.I pair of android robots from planet Venus arrives on their spaceship on Earth and begin to conquer human world by freezing it with their ice-rays to make the environment suitable and compatible for the Venusian race. When Samson and Goliath thwarts all of their attempts, then as a contingency plan, they initiate their mega-ice ray but again Samson and Goliath foil their plan by deflecting their freeze ray and melting them.
5"The SSX-19"October 7, 1967 (1967-10-07)
A group of terrorists are watching over monitor about the unveiling of the newly developed Super Sonic experimental transport plane called The STX-19. Their leader have a plan to dismantle the plane and ship it out of the country. For very same purpose, they intruded the top secret military area in a Crop-Dusting plane and renders everyone unconscious by the gas, including Samson and Goliath. In order to make sure that Samson may not come in their way, they slipped Samson's gold power bracelets with imitation of lead one, and finally steals away the STX-19. Goliath come into senses and awake Samson to discover the plane stealth. On their way to find the plane, Samson and Goliath are captured by the terrorists. Samson is put behind the bars, while Goliath succeed in eluding them. Soon Goliath found the real bracelets from the leader terrorist and brings them back to Samson, and capture the gang, and bring back the STX-19 to the military. However the title slide says the SXX-19.
6"Operation Peril"October 14, 1967 (1967-10-14)
A renowned scientist, Prof: Talos is on his way to Pentagon with the plans of Solar Jet. Meanwhile, the agents of P.E.R.I.L, a criminal organization led by Monarch, the head of the organization follows the protocol of Prof: Talos. When the Prof: Talos' protocol knew the impending danger, they tried to elude them but P.E.R.I.L immobilizes the whole city's transport including cars, bikes, trains and even an Aeroplane with the strange waves. In state of stand still, an aeroplane was about to fall but Samson managed to transform himself on time and saved it from free falling by carry landing it on ground safely. On very moment, P.E.R.I.L succeed in abducting Prof:Talos. Samson and Goliath follow P.E.R.I.L's aircraft and both jumps upon it to rescue Prof: Talos. P.E.R.I.L saw them coming and tries to get rid of them by rotating the aircraft at different angles but then Goliath hits his paw to create a break-through the aircraft and enters. Upon their entry, the main gate gets closed with five heavy metal slides but Samson twists his bracelets to increase his powers and then ripped out all of the slide doors. They then encounter a pair of robots approaching them with weapons, but Samson throws a heavy rod at them that causes them to short circuit each other out and gets electrocuted. Samson and Goliath then advance to the control room, where Monarch tricked them to fall into his trap to face his most destructive weapon "The Living Element", an anthropomorphic fire monster. Goliath tried to repel The Living Element with his Power Beams and when the monster's extremely hot body touches the steel wall of the aircraft, it gets melted and the monster falls into the water and gets evaporated. Samson and Goliath then returns to the control room and are welcomed by the P.E.R.I.L agent with the LASER gun that Samson managed to blast off and then Monarch tries to eliminate them with the Solar Gun but Goliath whips him with his tail. Monarch fall back and accidentally hits the button that reveals the Prof: Talos being held. Goliath warns something to Samson and both saw that the aircraft is heading right for the mountain. Monarch destroys the control panel so that Samson may never clear it but Goliath hold them down. After control panel being destroyed, Samson throws some excess weight out of the aircraft to make it light that results in the aircraft lifting itself up and successfully passing the mountain. They then saved the Prof: Talos and the trio returns on land safely.
7"The Secret of Evil Island"October 21, 1967 (1967-10-21)
With help from a native named Maori, Samson and Goliath head for Evil Island to investigate the disappearance of a missile. After encounters with mechanical sharks, hostile natives, and a talking flame, they meet Boltor. Boltor launches fifteen missiles, but the heroes destroy them. Boltor pulls a switch that sinks the island, but Samson and Goliath escape just in time.
8"The Monsteroids"October 28, 1967 (1967-10-28)
Samson and Goliath are teleported to an asteroid to deal with Zargo, an evil alien, and his robot army, the Monsteroids.
9"The Idol Rama-Keesh"November 4, 1967 (1967-11-04)
General Tong and Ramu send Rama-Keesh, a mechanical idol, to terrorize a village. Samson and Goliath break into their temple, destroy the idol, and defeat the villains.
10"Salamandro"November 11, 1967 (1967-11-11)
In an undersea laboratory, three villains see a ship passing by. Salamandro, the ringleader of the trio, sends his henchmen to the ship to steal the gold bullion it's carrying. The men enter the transportation machine their boss has invented, and seconds later, materialize on the ship's deck. There, they paralyze the captain and his first mate. Then they go down to the vault, freeze the guard, and remove the gold. One of them sends a signal to Salamandro to let him know they have the loot. He brings them back, and gloats over the successful theft. Sometime later, Samson and Goliath are on a ship carrying a crate load of paintings. The captain expresses concern that the art will be stolen. The heroes go into the vault via a funnel, and hide themselves in the crate that holds the paintings. Salamandro sees the ship go by, and sends his goons directly to the vaults so they won't be seen by anyone. They find the crate, and send another signal. When they open the crate, they are surprised to find Samson and Goliath inside. When the duo transform, the henchmen try to paralyze them, but Goliath melts their guns with his power beams. Salamandro traps the pair inside a steel trap, but Goliath uses his roar to break them out. Noticing that their enemies are gone, Samson and Goliath head for an iron door, but are momentarily stopped by the electro rays that appear on it. Samson lifts the door without touching the rays, and he and Goliath enter the next room. Salamandro is there, but he's behind a glass shield that the heroes can't penetrate. He explains that it's eight feet thick. Then another glass shield appears behind them, and a deadly mist is pumped in. Samson and Goliath escape by crashing through the ceiling. One of the accomplices fires a ray through a hole in the wall, and successfully immobilizes Goliath.
11"Baron Von Skull"November 18, 1967 (1967-11-18)
Samson and Goliath meet Baron Von Skull, a former World War One flying ace from Germany.
12"Moon Rendezvous"November 25, 1967 (1967-11-25)
Kunev Kahn steals the Graviton. Samson and Goliath sneak aboard his space ship, and find themselves on the moon. There, they deal with both Kunev Kahn, and his partner in crime, the Moon Leader.
13"The Lost City of the Dragon Men"December 2, 1967 (1967-12-02)
Samson and Goliath enter an underground city to rescue Professor Kinkaid from the Dragon Men.
14"The Colossal Coral Creature"December 9, 1967 (1967-12-09)
A pair of criminals based in a lighthouse revive a coral monster. It attacks an Australian city. Samson and Goliath defeat it. It destroys the lighthouse and returns to the sea.
15"Zuran's Creature"December 16, 1967 (1967-12-16)
Samson is temporarily weakened when Dr. Zuran transfers his super strength to a robot.
16"The Dome"December 23, 1967 (1967-12-23)
Samson and Goliath prevent the Dome from launching his deadly missiles.
17"Nerod"December 30, 1967 (1967-12-30)
Samson and Goliath pit themselves against Nerod's gladiators.
18"The Terrible Dr. Desto"January 6, 1968 (1968-01-06)
The appearances and disappearances of a Tyrannosaurus, Cyclops, and Rok, send Samson and Goliath to Dr. Desto's laboratory. He uses his time shield to bring in a variety of menaces from the past. Finally, he sends out a plague of locusts. Samson and Goliath drive the insects back. They are pulled back into the machine, but so is Desto. Samson then destroys the time shield for good to prevent Desto from ever returning.
19"From Out of the Deep"January 13, 1968 (1968-01-13)
Samson and Goliath's vacation is interrupted by the Gill Men.
20"Thing from the Black Mountains"January 20, 1968 (1968-01-20)
A missile arouses a creature from the water near the Black Mountains. Samson and Goliath stop its rampage, and send it back to its environment.

Villains

Home Media releases

On March 8, 2011, Warner Archive released all 20 episodes of The Space Kidettes and Young Samson on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[4] The original network broadcasts of The Space Kidettes and Samson & Goliath were formatted to break up the plot line of each episode to include additional animated content not made by Hanna-Barbera, but which were controlled by the series’ sponsor.

After the network runs ended, both stories were re-edited into continuous scenarios, and the two series were joined together as the The Space Kidettes and Young Samson for subsequent forms of distribution. The revised syndication versions of these shows are the only ones available for distribution, as the original network versions were cut and reconformed for the current configuration. These are the versions used for the DVD release.

References

  1. 1 2 McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.), pg. 721. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8
  2. 1 2 3 Sinnott, John (March 27, 2011) Review of Space Kidettes and Young Samson. DVDTalk. Retrieved 2013-05-07
  3. 1 2 http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2011/04/digital-digest-space-kidettesyoung.html
  4. ↑ "Young Samson & Goliath - MOD-DVDs Now Available for 'The Space Kidettes and Young Samson'".
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