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In a secret laboratory on top of Old Horror Hill, Professor Weirdo
and Count Kook created the most loveable creature known to mankind,
Milton the Monster, using only the finest of ingredients: Essence
of Terror, Sinister Sauce, and of course a full Tincture of
Tenderness!
During the 1965-1966 season, Saturday morning audiences young and
old tuned into ABC to watch Hal Seeger s new frighteningly funny
creation and his misfit family of ghouls. In addition, the series
also included cartoons featuring equally unforgettable characters
Stuffy Durma, Flukey Luke, Penny the Penguin, and the most
memorable of all, Fearless Fly.
Seeger s distinctive animation style, clever writing and a terrific
voice cast make all 26 episodes of The Milton The Monster Show a
pop culture treasure for the ages.
Bonus Features:
* Hal Seeger Home Movies: Milton & Fearless Fly At The N.Y.C.
Toy Fair
* Sheriff For A Day A Live-Action Short Starring Flukey
Luke
* Test Footage For The Live-Action Short Sheriff For A Day
* Bonus Cartoon: Wilbur The Wanted
One of the least heralded but most enjoyable series that arose during the TV monster boom of the mid-'60s (which included The Addams Family and The Munsters), The Milton the Monster Show was the brainchild of Hal Seeger, a former Fleischer Studios animator and comic book illustrator who also created the Batfink cartoon. The program, which ran on Saturday mornings from 1965-66, offered a rotating series of short cartoons, with the adventures of mild-mannered, Frankenstein-like creature Milton and his friends serving as the hub of the show. The other segments concerned "Fearless Fly," a costumed superhero adventure about a mild-mannered pest and his mighty alter-ego; "Flukey Luke," a timid cowpoke who ran a detective agency; "Stuffy Durma," a hobo who refuses to give up his wandering ways, despite having inherited a fortune; "Muggy Doo," a fast-talking fox (who, like Stuffy, first saw life in Seeger's comics); and "Penny Penguin," a cute girl penguin with abominable manners. What set Milton apart from most of the kid-TV fare of the period was the quality of the production; scripts were clever, the animation bright and expressive, and the voice talent (which included veterans Bob McFadden, Dayton Allen, and Seeger's own spouse, Beverly Arnold) top-notch. And if some of the premises seem dated by today's standards ("Muggy Doo" and "Penny Penguin," in particular, have not aged well), new viewers should still be able to appreciate the gusto with which the stories are delivered. Shout! Factory's four-disc set includes Milton's entire network run, as well as some terrific archival supplements that should delight longtime fans. The never-aired segment "Wilbur the Wanted" (a sort of Fugitive for kids, with a falsely accused dog in pursuit of a scurrilous rabbit) is chief among the extras, as is an unusual live-action version of "Flukey Luke" shot by Seeger that utilized actors in oversized costumes a la Sid and Marty Krofft. Test footage for the live-action "Luke" is also included, as is a short, silent bit of footage featuring actors in Milton and Fearless Fly costume accompanying Seeger himself to the 1965 Toy Fair in New York. The sight of the life-size Milton waving to downtown crowds from the wagon of a horse-drawn hearse as it makes its way through the Big Apple streets should be, for many, worth the price of the set alone. -- Paul Gaita
Ahhhh MemoriesReviewed by J. Miller, 2009-10-04
OMG I still remember all the words to all the themes. The smile never left my face. thank you.
classicReviewed by Mr. Terry Brown, 2009-06-20
this bought back great memories of childhood ,classic series and well packaged with bonus features at a reasonable price .
Milton The Monster ShowReviewed by Kathy, 2008-09-16
This was not quite what I expected as I thought it would be the Milton the Monster Episodes but it is actually Milton and his crew presenting a Cartoon show with shows like Fearless Fly which are good but just not what I expected. The packaging and quality are excellent so if this is what you are looking for then it's great.
Ahhhh memories...Reviewed by L. DiMenna, 2008-04-19
Great walk down memory lane! Sat down with a bowl of Count Chocula and indulged in Milton and the gang. My favorite was and always will be the Fearless Fly toons.I recomend this to anyone that doesn't mind the low bugdet animation. The stories and the characters make up for it by far.
Remember when you were a kid? It wasn't as much fun as you thought.Reviewed by E K Maxmias, 2008-01-04
I'm not going to spend a lot of time beating up this show. It
doesn't take long to say "IT STINKS". Nostalgic value not
withstanding, this show really should be 2 stars at best. If you've
never seen "Milton the Monster" this is a friendly warning from
someone who watched and enjoyed it as a kid; It's not very good. If
you have seen it and have fond memories of it, then you may or may
not enjoy this depending on what entertains you. I received this
from Santa Claus and was pretty excited to get a bit of my past
under the tree. However, after viewing one disc of the 4 disc set,
I'm pretty sure I'm done with it. To save your time (and MINE),
here is a list of what makes this not so good:
-Really bad animation. This makes Hanna Barbera cartoons look like
Disney. (That's really bad). Hanna Barbera invented "limited
animation" to save money for their fledgling studio. "Milton the
Monster" is bad "limited animation".
-"C" grade art work. Again, if you make HB productions look like
museum worthy art, you have third rate artists. The characters are
interesting but not well drawn (I'm an artist so I actually have
SOME cred here).
-Really lame writing. Have you ever seen the "Moe and Joe Show"
jokes in the margins of "BIG BOY" kid's menus/comic books? These
are almost that good. I'm not kidding here folks. They actually try
to get laughs with really bad jokes. The action and situations are
just not that good either.
-The "Milton the Monster Show" theme gets played over and over.
It's an OK theme for its day, but they kill a lot of time
in-between segments by replaying the same thing again and again.
Therefore...
-...Not that many segments per show. I did not count but I think
you get 3 episodes per show at about 7 minutes per. The rest is
"The Milton the Monster SHOW!!!... ... Brought to you by..."
-The other cartoons (Fluky Luke and Fearless Fly) are equally poor
in all aspects with one added exception; incredibly un-PC
characters. I'm not a sensitive guy, but even I found them somewhat
offensive. Examples: Fearless Fly's arch rivals are a pair of Asian
guys with buck teeth. Inexplicably, they are from Tibet, use
Japanese customs and speak with faux Chinese accents. Fluky Luke
has a Native American Sidekick... ...who speaks with a fake Irish
accent (?). If you are from any of the above mentioned cultures,
you might be offended.
-The sound tracks are also third-rate. This is actually a nicely
re-mastered DVD set. The problem is, when you re-master garbage
it's still garbage. The theme music is not particularly clever and
the sound quality is mediocre at best. Also, as much as I hate
sheep-people, Hanna Barbera canned laughter would be highly welcome
in this show to break up the awkward silences.
Well, I did spend a long time beating up this show (I guess I
lied). That was not my intention when I began writing but it came
so easily. In retrospect the standards for cartoons are so much
higher now then back in "The good old days" it's not even close.
That said, why did I give this 3 stars? The 3 stars are for those
of you out there who have clear memories of this show and would
like it regardless of my ranting. The set is actually a worthy buy
if you are a die-hard fan of "Milton the Monster". For the rest of
you, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!
"Brought to you by....."
