Poke Check Professor...

One of my blurry, distant childhood memories is watching a cartoon puck talk about the some of the greatest moments in hockey on "Hockey Night in Canada". I don't have very many memories before I was five but Peter Puck is definitely one of them. I remember having one of the three Peter Puck books, which is apparently a collectors item now.

The show was created by Hanna-Barbera, and only nine original episodes were made. The nine 3-5 minute episodes were played between the first and second periods over two seasons. Over the next five years, the creators spliced in clips of Peter with live action footage to create "The Story of the Stanley Cup" segments to keep Peter Puck alive. Click here for a detailed outline of the Peter Puck story.

Over the last year, there has been a bit of a comeback for our little puck friend. All of his episodes are now available on DVD, there is a Peter Puck fanclub on Facebook and according to the Globe and Mail:

"A line of Peter Puck apparel [has hit] store shelves and a national financial institution has secured a three-year deal in which Peter will be its official 'spokespuck'... [there are] big plans for the character, which could involve books, toys, breakfast cereal — even his own computer animated television program ... there's been interest from various broadcasters in a half-hour television program depicting the adventures of Peter Puck."

I can't see anything that would be negative about a Peter Puck comeback. I think it would be a great idea for Versus/NBC and the NHL to add to their broadcasts. Some new, younger viewers is something the NHL could definitely use.

If you really need your fix, episodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 are available on YouTube. Otherwise, check out Peter Puck in the introduction clip to "The Story of the Stanley Cup":

ProStars - Hall of Fame

Today we're happy to elect another member to the exclusive "Waikiki Hockey - Hall of Fame". The lucky recipient today is the 1991-92 cartoon starring Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Bo Jackson...ProStars:
For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of seeing an episode of ProStars you really missed out. It was originally intended to air on ESPN but soon after it's creation NBC realized the awesomeness of this show and put it into their vaunted Saturday Morning time slot. Remember how in the 1990's kids actually got up early to watch their cartoon's...not like these spoiled punks today with their Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

The show stared Jordan, Jackson and Gretzky as three part time athletes - part time superheroes who help children in trouble, protect the environment and junk like that.

Each of the stars had their own unique (and unexpected) character trait:

Jordan was the brains of the operation. He had many little contraptions to assist in the ProStars' crimefighting and in every episode he advised children of the importance of studying Mathematics and Science. Sounds like "His Airness" to me.

Jackson was the muscle of the group. In the opening theme, he was shown using a giant tree trunk as a baseball bat. He would also find as many chances as possible to reference his famous Nike advertising campaign "Bo Knows...".

But the most odd character of the three was definitely Gretzky's. He was the comic relief of the squad (if you've seen the clip that this website was named after you'll realize that comedy is not what's great about "The Great One"). Also, Gretzky for some odd reason constantly had the munchies in each episode.

The three heroes lived with 'Mom' in her gym, which was also the ProStars headquarters. Mom was a older jewish lady who invented little gadgets to help the ProStars with their adventures. Make sense?

Here's a blow-by-blow of one episode.

The actual athletes (well only Jackson and Gretzky...Jordan must have been busy) introduced each show with questions from kids, an important lesson or the moral of the story but none of the celebrities provided their own voices for the animated segments of ProStars.

I remember liking this show a lot...which is a lot disturbing for me since I was 16 at the time. I'm hoping I had a well developed sense of kitsch value by that time. I can also remember buying the ProStars cereal because Wayne Gretzky was on the box. That cereal was lacking in the little sugar marshmallows department though.

I searched high and low for some footage of an episode but to no avail. Instead, I present you with the theme song from the show. Welcome to the "Hall of Fame" ProStars!