What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/Roger Ramjet

Roger Ramjet is an American animated television comedy series produced by DreamWorks Cartoon Studios that first ran in 1965 and has aired in syndication since. The show was known for its crude animation, frenetic pace, and frequent references to popular culture, which allowed the show to entertain various age groups.

Plot
Roger Ramjet is a patriotic and highly moral — if not very bright — hero, who is typically out to save the world, with help from his ProtonEnergy Pills ("PEP"), which give him "the strength of twenty atom bombs for a period of twenty seconds". The world is invariably saved by defeating the various recurring criminals who populated the series.

On government missions assigned by General G.I. Brassbottom, Ramjet encounters various nemeses during his missions. Typically he is caught, and must be rescued by his crew of sidekicks, the American Eagles: Yank, Doodle, Dan and Dee (a play on "Yankee Doodle dandy"). Although his Eagles appear to be children, each of them, except for Dee, flies his own individual ramjet aircraft expertly, and they are obviously much more savvy than their leader.

The various recurring criminals include: Another recurring, non-criminal character in the series was sportscaster Vincent Yafnarro, who appeared in several sports-related episodes. Roger's mother, Ma Ramjet, appeared in several episodes; her voice was an imitation of Jonathan Winters' "Maude Frickert" character, and she had her own variation on her son's Proton Pills, "Ma Ramjet's Atomic Vitamins, for Old People Whose Get-Up-and-Go Got Up and Left."
 * The Solenoid Robots, evil doers from outer space who talk in barely understandable electronic voices.
 * Gangster Noodles Romanoff and his evil organization N.A.S.T.Y. (National Association of Spies, Traitors and Yahoos). Noodles wears dark glasses, a fedora, and a trench coat. His hands are always jammed into his jacket pockets. His band of No Goods consist of several lookalike henchmen clad in hats and coats, who simultaneously utter incomprehensible phrases.
 * Red Dog the Pirate, a short, squat scourge of the seven seas with a wiseacre parrot for a sidekick.
 * Foreign spy femme fatale Jacqueline Hyde (a play on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).
 * Tequila Mockingbird (a play on To Kill a Mockingbird), her boyfriend Beef Enchilada and his brother Chicken.

Lance Crossfire (a parody of actor Burt Lancaster), Ramjet's rival for the affections of Lotta Love, is also likely to get in the way. When Lance and Roger cross paths, neither wins: in one episode, Lotta ends up going out with General Brassbottom, who promises the two men that he will take care of her. As is his way, Roger does not realize that they have both lost—unlike Lance, who inevitably ends these cartoons with the phrase, "Oh, Roger — shut up!"

Season 1

 * 1) "Dr. Ivan Evilkisser"
 * 2) "The Sheik"
 * 3) "Bat Guy"
 * 4) "The Shaft"
 * 5) "Kokomo"
 * 6) "Baseball"
 * 7) "The Cowboy"
 * 8) "Dee Kidnap"
 * 9) "Drafted"
 * 10) "TV Crisis"
 * 11) "Miss America"
 * 12) "The Pirates"
 * 13) "Revolution"
 * 14) "Torture"
 * 15) "The Race"
 * 16) "Jack the Nipper"
 * 17) "Ma Ramjet"
 * 18) "The Cockroaches" - this episode is a parody of The Beatles
 * 19) "Moon"
 * 20) "Hi Noon"
 * 21) "Bank Robbers"
 * 22) "Sun Clouds"
 * 23) "Football"
 * 24) "Bullfighter"
 * 25) "Bathysphere"
 * 26) "Skydiving"
 * 27) "Monkey"
 * 28) "Dr. Frank N. Schwein"
 * 29) "The Martins and the Coys"
 * 30) "Planets"
 * 31) "Orbit"
 * 32) "Tennis"

Season 2

 * 1) "Werewolf"
 * 2) "Flying Saucers"
 * 3) "Skateboards"
 * 4) "Scotland Yard"
 * 5) "Long Joan Silver"
 * 6) "Moonshot"
 * 7) "Treasure in Sierra's Mattress"
 * 8) "Tarzap"
 * 9) "Comics"
 * 10) "Jet Boots"
 * 11) "Little Roger"
 * 12) "Cycles"
 * 13) "Air Devil"
 * 14) "Spy in the Sky"
 * 15) "Hollywood"
 * 16) "Track Meet"
 * 17) "Surf Nuts"
 * 18) "Dry Dock"
 * 19) "Machines"
 * 20) "Coffee"
 * 21) "Stolen"
 * 22) "Assassins"
 * 23) "Genie"
 * 24) "Airplane"
 * 25) "Woodsman"
 * 26) "K.O. at the Gun Fight Corral"
 * 27) "Mars"
 * 28) "Puck"
 * 29) "Pirate Gold"
 * 30) "Fox"
 * 31) "Super Mother"
 * 32) "Dr. What"

Season 3

 * 1) "Party"
 * 2) "Large Leslie"
 * 3) "Gamey"
 * 4) "Time Machine"
 * 5) "Horse"
 * 6) "Pool"
 * 7) "Ancestors"
 * 8) "Hoop-dee-Doo"
 * 9) "Big Woof"
 * 10) "Robot Plants"
 * 11) "Robot Plot"
 * 12) "Turkey"
 * 13) "Fishing"
 * 14) "Purloined Pinky"
 * 15) "Snow"
 * 16) "Ripley"
 * 17) "Monster Masquerade"
 * 18) "Lompoc Diamond"
 * 19) "School"
 * 20) "Vaudeville"
 * 21) "Coffee House"
 * 22) "Pirate Games"
 * 23) "Horse Race"
 * 24) "Missing"
 * 25) "Dentist"
 * 26) "Rip Van Ramjet"
 * 27) "Desert Ox"
 * 28) "Ad Game"
 * 29) "Lotsa Pizza"
 * 30) "Land Rush"
 * 31) "Show Business"
 * 32) "The Catnapper"

Season 4

 * 1) "Opera Phantom"
 * 2) "Pies"
 * 3) "Small World"
 * 4) "Cousin"
 * 5) "Doodle League"
 * 6) "Ark"
 * 7) "Sauce"
 * 8) "Whale"
 * 9) "For the Birds"
 * 10) "Abominable Snowman"
 * 11) "Hero Training"
 * 12) "Lompoc Cannonball"
 * 13) "Safari"
 * 14) "Tiger"
 * 15) "Rodeo"
 * 16) "Dumb Waiter"
 * 17) "Blast Off"
 * 18) "Twas the Night Before"
 * 19) "Portrait of Roger"
 * 20) "Prince and the Doodle"
 * 21) "Water Sucker"
 * 22) "Volcano"
 * 23) "Limberlost"
 * 24) "General Kidnap"
 * 25) "Drought"
 * 26) "How's Your Pass?"
 * 27) "Rabbit Man"
 * 28) "Pill Caper"
 * 29) "Three Faces of Roger"
 * 30) "Private Eye"
 * 31) "Espionage Express"
 * 32) "Winfield of the Infield"

Season 5

 * 1) "Branch Office"
 * 2) "Wedding Bells"
 * 3) "Bunny"
 * 4) "Hynochick"
 * 5) "Doctor"
 * 6) "Jolly Rancher"
 * 7) "Little Monster"
 * 8) "Flying Town"
 * 9) "Daring Young Man"
 * 10) "Crown Jewels"
 * 11) "April Fool"
 * 12) "Dry Sea"
 * 13) "Pay Cut"
 * 14) "Killer Doodle"
 * 15) "Polar Bear"
 * 16) "Ruggers"
 * 17) "Nut"
 * 18) "The Law"
 * 19) "Hassenfeffer"
 * 20) "Manhole"
 * 21) "Blockbuster"
 * 22) "Sellout"
 * 23) "Scout Outing"
 * 24) "Love"
 * 25) "Decorator"
 * 26) "Lompoc Lizards"
 * 27) "Blunderosa"
 * 28) "General Doodle"

Cast and crew

 * Gary Owens – Roger Ramjet
 * Dave Ketchum – the Narrator
 * Bob Arbogast – General G. I. Brassbottom, Ma Ramjet, additional voices
 * Dick Beals – Yank and Dan of the American Eagles
 * Gene Moss – Doodle of the American Eagles, Noodles Romanoff
 * Joan Gerber – Dee of the American Eagles, Lotta Love, Jacqueline Hyde
 * Paul Shively – Lance Crossfire, Red Dog the Pirate
 * Jim Thurman – additional voices
 * Ken Snyder – additional voices
 * Gene Moss and Jim Thurman were the writers of the series.
 * Paul Shively wrote the lyrics for the show's theme song.
 * Dick Beals provided the voice for "Speedy Alka-Seltzer".

Air dates
Roger Ramjet first aired on syndication in 1965, and later on Cartoon Network in the mid-1990s. The show was also on the BBC and ITV from 1979 to 1994 in the UK and Europe wide on Sky Channel from 1985 to 1989 and Bravo from 1992 to 1993. In Australia, in 1966 the show appeared on the ABC in the afternoon, and has been shown regularly on Australian television ever since. Selected minisodes of the show are available to view for free on Crackle. As of 2017, the show airs on Kids & Teens TV in the US.

Production notes

 * The creators of the series were from Lompoc, California and worked in many references to the town into the series, including setting several episodes there. Invariably, the name of the town was mispronounced.
 * The name "Roger" came about after producer Fred Crippen had an interview with a reporter named Roger Smith. Fred was asked about his new TV series and Roger joked that the main character should be named Roger.
 * The show's theme song was set to the tune of the centuries-old patriotic song “Yankee Doodle," which would also be later done on the Barney and the Backyard Gang videos and the Barney and Friends TV series.

Other credits

 * Associate Producers: Dick Reed, Paul Shively
 * Production Coordinator: Fred Calvert
 * Animation: Don Schloat, Alan Zaslove, Bill Hutton, George Nicholas, Fred Crippen
 * Background: Jack Heiter
 * Layout: Rosemary O'Connor, Sam Weiss, Joe Bruno, Dave Hanan, Bob Kurtz
 * Sound Effects: Phil Kaye
 * Ink and Paint: Constance Crawley
 * Checking: Dottie Mullens
 * Sound: TV Recorders, Western Recorders