Roger Ramjet

This animated Comedic Hero from the mid-1960s was the Air Force's answer to Popeye. Roger Ramjet (voiced by Gary Owens, best known as the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In) led the American Eagle Squadron (comprising Yank, Doodle, Dan and Dee) in defense of truth and justice. Ahead of Batman by one year, episodes of Roger Ramjet displayed sound effects, and sometimes dialog, on the screen.

The animation, from Ken Snyder and Pantomime Pictures, was crude, but the tone was snarky, even a bit subversive. The show's production coordinator, Fred Calvert, went on to produce animated shorts for Sesame Street. Most of the jokes went over the heads of the kids, but were appreciated by the parents.

Roger's proton pill gave him the strength of 20 atom bombs for 20 seconds, enabling him to fight assorted spies and criminals. When the pill's effects wore off, the Eagle Squadron was always there to rescue Roger. In his leisure time, Roger competed with Lance Crossfire, playboy and ace test pilot, for the affections of Lotta Love. More information can be found here.

In the early 1990s, the PBS series Square One TV featured a character named Dirk Niblick, whose segment used the same animation style and the same voice talent as Roger Ramjet.

This series provides examples of:
"Shelia: We missed them! Noodles Romanoff: That's Impossible! We blew up the whole house and didn't even put a scratch on Ramjet! How can this be? Shiela: Poor animation?"
 * Animated Series
 * Banana Republic - San Domino
 * Beware the Nice Ones - Dee, the littlest and youngest of the American Eagles, typically serves as the sweet, happy homemaker. Intellegent and often matching the boys in joke-telling. When an episode focuses on her, she will often be kidnapped or otherwise seized by baddies. Usually Noodles Romanoff. One time she was assisted by a genie, however, she Took a Level In Badass when bound and helpless, her only weapon was an earth-shattering scream that she can hold indefinitely until the No Goods from N.A.S.T.Y. give up. Then there was the show where she sensed a miscarriage of justice when her homemade Cherry Berry pie wasn't even sampled by the spy judge in a contest. So she takes the said pie and proceeds to rapid-fire hammer into the ground the four spies on their heads like nails. Gotta wonder what that pie was really baked with.
 * Blinding Bangs - Roger's girlfriend, Lotta Love
 * Catch Phrase - "As today's [insert random adjective] episode begins ..."
 * "One for all and all for one, the Eagles fly 'til the job is done!"
 * See Hour of Power.
 * Comedic Hero
 * Forgotten Birthday - The American Eagles kids surprised Roger during a nap that scared him to jump out the window. Everybody came to the surprise party even his arch-rival Lance Crossfire, and his arch-nemeses Noodles Romanoff and the No-Goods
 * Fun with Acronyms - N.A.S.T.Y., the National Association of Spies, Traitors and Yahoos
 * Hour of Power - Roger Ramjet's proton pills gave him "the strength of twenty atom bombs for a period of twenty seconds".
 * Hunting the Most Dangerous Game - Roger and his sidekicks meet up with one of these hunters. They deduce that the hunter is, in fact, afraid of animals, so they defeat him by wearing animal costumes. Ramjet wears a bunny suit. It works.
 * Inherently Funny Words - A parrot called Carlbob
 * Not to mention 'Lompoc'.
 * Lemony Narrator
 * Limited Animation - The frames of animation in a typical shot can be counted on one hand. In fact, the show almost seems to revel in its low production values.

"Ramjet: Say, General. You do a wonderful impression of me. Can you do Lionel Barrymore?"
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed - In "The Shaft", Roger accidentally drills a hole through the Earth, creating a whistling noise as the planet rotates. Several people are shown complaining about the noise, including a stereotypical Texan shouting "Yahoo! Heck of a noise, ain't it Hubert?" (Think about who the President was in the mid-1960's.)
 * Parental Bonus
 * A Pirate 400 Years Too Late - Red Dog
 * Punny Name - Far too many to list. Just one: femme fatale superspy Jacqueline Hyde.
 * The Rival - Lance Crossfire
 * Running Gag - Every time Roger took off for a mission, his commander was standing directly behind the jet engine (which had a chicken nesting in it).
 * The hotline was literally too hot to touch, yet Roger always had to answer it and let out various forms of "Ooh Owie Hurt Burn!" It was once turned around on the General.

"Ramjet: I don't get it. How can a teddy bear walk and talk?"
 * Shout-Out:
 * Little Orphan Annie appears briefly in the background in one episode.
 * Ramjet reads Nancy in the funnies page.
 * Winnie the Pooh:


 * The recurring bit with the President of San Domino and his Cabinet is a shout-out to a routine by the ventriloquist Señor Wences.
 * So Once Again the Day Is Saved
 * Superhero
 * Super Serum
 * Title Sequence Replacement: Cartoon Network's reruns included a rock cover of the theme song.