I noticed that there are many, many glowing reviews for this show, so I felt compelled to write my response to "The Banana Splits". In my opinion, this was an absolutely dreadful show--even if, as kids, we enjoyed it. And, when I tried watching it years later, I nearly felt suicidal--I hated it that much! The show was a hippie-fied hodgepodge of third-rate cartoons and terrible live-action shorts. And, it was all strung together by some completely unfunny and LOUD appearances by four folks dressed up as the Splits (my favorite was Snork--as he said nothing!).
Each episode featured several possible arrangements of shorts/cartoons. The one I disliked most was "Danger Island"--sort of like a movie serial but less interesting. With it's cries of "Uh, oh...Chongo!" it made my skin crawl even as a kid--and all my friends hated this show as well. Little did we know that it was an early chance to see Jan Michael Vincent as 'the cute blond guy'! "Tom Sawyer" wasn't bad--and was an unusual combination of live action and cartoons. As for the rest, they ranged from adventure cartoons (like "The Arabian Knights") to silly but fun cartoons (the best of which I think were "Secret Squirrel" and "The Hillbilly Bears"). However, even the best of these are really limp compared to most kids shows today--and also feature astoundingly low cel counts--making the cartoons seem rather robotic in movement and style.
All in all, my childhood recollections of this show are MUCH different from the other reviews. I dreaded the show...and as an adult, I didn't like it nearly this much!!
Each episode featured several possible arrangements of shorts/cartoons. The one I disliked most was "Danger Island"--sort of like a movie serial but less interesting. With it's cries of "Uh, oh...Chongo!" it made my skin crawl even as a kid--and all my friends hated this show as well. Little did we know that it was an early chance to see Jan Michael Vincent as 'the cute blond guy'! "Tom Sawyer" wasn't bad--and was an unusual combination of live action and cartoons. As for the rest, they ranged from adventure cartoons (like "The Arabian Knights") to silly but fun cartoons (the best of which I think were "Secret Squirrel" and "The Hillbilly Bears"). However, even the best of these are really limp compared to most kids shows today--and also feature astoundingly low cel counts--making the cartoons seem rather robotic in movement and style.
All in all, my childhood recollections of this show are MUCH different from the other reviews. I dreaded the show...and as an adult, I didn't like it nearly this much!!