Roger Ramjet was the star of a self-titled cartoon show that was on the air in the 1960's, starting in 1965. Roger Ramjet's job was to protect the
American way from the bad guys in
N.A.S.T.Y. (the National Association of Spies, Traitors and Yahoos), led by
Noodles Romanoff. He was assisted by his
American Eagle Squadron, which was made up of three boys and a girl;
Yank,
Doodle,
Dan, and
Dee. General G.I. Brassbottom at the Pentagon gave Roger his assignments. Roger had a love interest, who was named
Lotta Love. His arch-rival for her affections was
Lance Crossfire.
Roger Ramjet got his super powers from using drugs. When he needed to open up a can of whoop-ass, he would take one of his Proton Energy Pills. These gave him the power of 10,000 atomic bombs for 10 seconds. When he ran out of pills, the American Eagle Squadron would pick up the slack. He would end most shows with a helpful tip - "Hey there kideroos ...
remember to brush your hair after every meal."
The show was produced by Snyder-Koren Studio, and resembled Rocky and Bullwinkle in its animation style. Roger was voiced by Gary Owens from Laugh-In, who is now known as the voice of Space Ghost. Roger's 156 episodes (which aired at a rate of four per half-hour show, but were sometimes split up to fill tiny time slots) were syndicated from the start and never part of any network schedule. As a result, they were seen in the odd time slots of most markets. I remember seeing the show on KPDX in Portland in the 1980's between other cartoons. The Family Channel also aired it occasionally in the late 1980's and early '90s. Roger was reportedly seen on Cartoon Network as recently as the late 1990's.
IMHO, the best part of Roger Ramjet was the theme song played at the beginning of the show. I loved to sing along with it, and still do. It was sung by kids (or adults pretending to be kids) and had fun lyrics. Here they are:
Roger Ramjet and his Eagles
Fighting for our freedom
Fly through in and outer space
Not to join 'em but to beat 'em.
Roger Ramjet, he's our man
Hero of our nation
For his adventures just be sure
And stay tuned to this station.
Come and join us all you kids
For lots of fun and laughter
As Roger Ramjet and his men
Get all the crooks they're after.
Roger Ramjet, he's our man
Hero of our nation
For his adventures just be sure
And stay tuned to this station.
When Roger takes a Proton Pill
The crooks begin to worry
They can't escape their awful fate
Of Proton's mighty fury
Roger Ramjet, he's our man
Hero of our nation
For his adventures just be sure
And stay tuned to this station.
Sources:
- ToonTracker - http://www.toontracker.com/ramjet/ramjet.htm
- Fan page at http://www.stelzer.com/ramjet.html
- Toonopedia - http://www.toonopedia.com/ramjet.htm