Aggie Sports Break Part 3

Part 2

11-27-25

Happy Thanksgiving.    Dad and I had dinner with a couple of very nice neighbors and it was great.    Since I didn’t actually see or hear the games, I’ll only put a little summary here of Aggie Women’s Basketball games for the week.   

On Monday, the Aggie Women lost to San Diego, 57-48.    Imani Warren scored 20 points, but Lucia Yenes held to 6 points.    Lucia Lara had 9 points with 9 rebounds.    The team was shooting 35%.   

Playing at a tournament over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, the ladies lost on Thursday, 72-42, to the College of Charleston.    Lucia had 8 points and Imani had 7 points with 7 rebounds.    The team was shooting 28%.    On Friday, they lost, 64-49, to Fresno State.    Lucia had 13 points and Loes Rozing had 12 points.    Emma Christiano had 4 assists and 3 rebounds.    The team was shooting 37%.    These two games were on Youtube, but I wasn’t able to watch (which might have been just as well).    Yeah, this isn’t encouraging.

11-29-25

It was the Aggie Football finale, along with the regular season of College Football.    The Aggies were playing at home against Middle Tennessee State. The two teams were fairly evenly matched.    Adam Damante was in at quarterback for the Aggies with Logan Fife still injured.    Ryan Hawk would be back kicking.     

In the first quarter, the Aggies got a fumble and might have run it back, but the play was blown dead.    The Aggies did get the ball, but didn’t score.    A 65-yd touchdown pass to TK King was the game’s first score, but MT answered right back.    A couple of missed tackles resulted in a 63-yd rushing touchdown and it was 7-7.

I watched the Southern/Grambling Battle of the Bands and missed most of the second quarter.    1-10 Southern would beat 7-5 Grambling State, 28-27, and they won the band battle (in my opinion).    I missed nothing in the Aggie game.    MT got a TD after a fumble right before the half and it was 14-7 MT.   

Meanwhile, UTEP was playing the Delaware Blue Hens in their final game and lost, 61-31.    The Blue Hens kicked a 45-yd field goal for the last play of the game.    Were they rubbing it in or was there some other reason?    Regardless, I love the Blue Hens!    The Miners finished the season, 2-10.    Delaware, in their first year in FBS, will be bowl eligible with a waiver.    I was checking some other games were on TV.    I noticed on different networks, they were suddenly airing the conversations between the referees and the review booth.    I approve of this.

In the third quarter, the Aggie defense stopped MT on a fourth down in Aggie territory, but give the ball right back on an interception.    This resulted in a field goal to make it, 17-7 MT.    The Aggies come back with a TD to make it, 17-14 MT.   

To the fourth quarter.    A bomb to TK King to put the Aggies on the goal line and Damante was tush-pushed in.    21-17 Aggies.    The Aggie defense got a couple of sacks on next series, but the offence gave up an interception right after.    This led to MT taking the lead with a touchdown, 24-21.   

Late in the game, the final Aggie drive seemingly ended with an interception with a pick 6 on a fourth down.    However, this was waved off for pass interference and gave the Aggies a first down instead.    A dropped touchdown pass would have won it, but the Aggies had to instead settle for a tying field goal, 24-24, to send it to overtime.    Worse, Damante was hurt on the drive (with a broken leg) and third string QB, Parker Awad, was in.    MT scored a touchdown on their possession in OT.    The Aggies kept taking penalties (false starts) on their possession and did not score.    Middle Tennessee wins, 31-24.

On the good side, TK King had the best day as an Aggie receiver in 10 years with 10 catches for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns (nearly 3).    The Aggie Defense also finished with getting a takeaway in every game this season.    For today though, the Offense had 2 interceptions and a fumble.    On the Aggie Coach’s Show, Coach Sanchez offhandedly blamed the officiating.    He has a point.    On a couple plays, the officials threw flags and then picked them up, along with some other issues.    That said, the Aggies had plenty of chances to win this.

It’s been a disappointing season.    It’s disappointing because the Aggie Football team is so close to being decent.    All these close losses have been hurtful.    It feels like they’re just a couple more good players away from turning it around (unlike the Aggie Women’s sports I’ve seen, where they need wholesale improvements).    The best I can say for this season is that I enjoyed the game I went to (10-2-25) and really enjoyed that win over UTEP ***(11-22-25).***                 

12-2-25

Once again, Aggie Men’s Basketball was playing a neutral site game, this one in Katy, Texas.    They were playing 7-1 South Alabama, so this would be a serious test for the unbeaten 6-0 Aggies.    (Of course, our Football game against the Jaguars on 12-2-17 will live on in every Aggie fan’s memory.)    An impressive singing group performed the National Anthem before the game.    Big man Augustine Ekwe was back playing for the Aggies.

SA ran up an early lead.    Gabe Pickens made a clean steal and a layup to start an Aggie comeback.    “School’s out,” as Russ Langford said on the radio call.    Elijah Elliot made two 3’s to give Aggies their first lead, 20-15, with 11 minutes left in the half.    They ran it up to a 6-point lead, but SA tied it with 4 minutes left.    Elliot then made his fourth 3 to get the Aggies back to a 6-point lead.    It would be 36-32 Aggies at the half.

In the second half, the Aggies had some sloppy play and SA took a 45-38 lead with 15 minutes left.    Jemel Jones tied it at 49 with a 3 with 12 minutes left.    Jayland Randall hit a 3 for an Aggie lead, 52-51, on a shot that went in, then out, and then finally fell in.    Elliot made his fifth and sixth 3’s, along with a Jemel jumper, which gave the Aggies a 70-66 lead with 3 minutes left.   

The Aggies kept scoring.    Randall had a layup and a foul and hit the free throw.    He got another layup after an offensive rebound.    It was 75-70 Aggies with 2 minutes left.    SA was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all 3 free throws to make it a 2-point game with a minute left.    It was a 1-point Aggie lead with 38 seconds left.    SA made 2 more free throws to take a 1-point lead.    With 16 seconds left, the Aggies missed their shot and had to foul.    SA made 1 free throw for a 2-point lead.    Elliot missed a last second shot and SA won, 77-75.

Well, it was an entertaining game with lots of scoring.    Jayland Randall had 21 points, Elijah Elliot had 18 with 6 3’s, and Jemel Jones had 17 points with 9 rebounds.    The Aggies were shooting 42%, but SA shooting better overall and on 3’s and especially on free throws (32 of 39).    The Aggies’ hard play and fouling would have worked had it not been for the Jaguars making their throws. 

12-4-25

To close the loop on local Volleyball this season, UTEP Volleyball was beaten, 3-1 by North Carolina.    I’m kind of ambivalent about it.    Coach Wallis said they’d had too many injuries this season to be competitive in the tournament. C-USA’s other entry, WKU, was also beaten in their first match in straight sets.

The Aggie Women’s Basketball team lost to Southern Utah, 69-59.    The Aggies had three players in double figures: Imani Warren, Lucia Yenes, and Anna Csenyi.    Still, the team lost by 10. Morane Dossou had 11 rebounds.    The Aggies were shooting 37%.    The overall stats were fairly even between the teams, except SU was shooting free throws at 80% (21-26). That’s probably the difference.    The ladies’ record is 1-6 on the season.

 

12-6-25

While watching some College Football Conference Championships with dad, I was also listening to Aggie Men’s Basketball versus Abilene Christian.    We also had lunch at Long John Silvers.    It was so unhealthy and I was a little queasy afterward, but it was so, so good.    You kind of have to wait until you’ve forgotten about the last time you’ve been there before you can go back.

     

The Aggies had a 77-69 loss in their first official road game (as opposed to a neutral site game).    The Aggies got out to an early lead, but lost it by halftime, down by 8.    They came out firing to start the second and got it to within 2, but never fully caught up.    Finally, AC pulled away.

Jemel Jones had 19 points, Juice Mims had 10 points, and Kyrese Mullen had 13 points.    The team shot 37%.    AC shot an impressive 50%, 47% on 3’s, and 82% on free throws.    AC was also up 28 points in the paint to 18 for the Aggies.    It wasn’t the Aggies’ best effort on offense or defense, so little wonder they lost.   

The ladies had better luck today.    Aggie Women’s Basketball won, 58-55, over Utah Tech.    From the recap, the Aggies were down 9 points in fourth, but came back for the close win.    On an assist by our dear Emma Christiano, Imani Warren hit a jumper to give the Aggies the lead near the end of the game.    Imani had 13 points, Keira Hudson 16 points in a career high, Lucia Yenes had 12 points and 7 rebounds, Morane Dossou pulled down 12 rebounds, and Emma had 5 points.    The Aggies were shooting 39% and had 12 steals overall for the game.   

This is the final break report.    I plan on being at the Aggie Women’s game ***next weekend.***

Aggie Sports Break Part 2

Part 1

11-22-25

It’s the 102-nd I-10 Rivalry Football Game with NMSU playing UTEP for possession of the Old Outhouse Corncob.    Wait.    What?    Oh, they’re playing for the Silver Spade and the Brass Spittoon.  Well, I wasn’t far off.    Anyway, this is potentially the final meeting between these two teams for the foreseeable future, as they won’t be in the same conference next season.

The UTEP coach said that this was going to be like a bowl game for the Miners (who aren’t going to a bowl game this season).    Aggie Coach Tony Sanchez, who has played in this game as a player said, “Calling it a bowl game diminishes it.”    The Aggies started off the game from behind before it began.    Quarterback Logan Fife and kicker Ryan Hawk were both out for the game.    Not to mention, the head ref muffed the coin toss, which seemed like a bad omen for the officiating.    (He did have a good sense of humor about it.)

The Aggies literally got behind in the game in the first quarter, 21-0.    Yikes!    An interception and a fumble by backup QB, Adam Damante, and some big runs by the Miners got them those three touchdowns.    However, the Aggies ran a fake punt at midfield.    This led to an Aggie touchdown to Donovan Faupel to start the second quarter.    The Miners got an interception on the next Aggie drive, but it was waved off on a Ruffing the Passer call.    The Aggies would take that and Faupel scored again.    Before halftime, Dijion Stanley ripped off a 57-yard run and the Aggies would tie it at 21.

27-year old freshman Australian kicker, David Barker, would put the Aggies up on a long field goal.    The Miners answered that with a field goal before the end of the quarter and we were tied at 24.  This set the stage for an absolutely operatic fourth quarter.     

Barker put the Aggies up with another field goal, 27-24, early in the quarter.    In the final minutes, Skyler Locklear led his team back down the field.    He converted on a 4-th and 1 and ran for it on a 4-th and 11.    UTEP scored the go-ahead touchdown, 31-27, with just under a minute left.    No problem.    Stanley ripped off another big run to get the Aggies to the UTEP 10.    There, Damante picked out TK King in the endzone for the winning touchdown.    34-31 Aggies win!     

Most of the 16k in attendance at the Sun Bowl went home disappointed, but hardly cheated.    Broadcaster Adam Young almost lost his voice in excitement after calling that final touchdown.    There wasn’t a call-in show for the Aggies after the game, which was too bad.    They probably would have gotten some happy calls.   

I tried to listen to the UTEP show, but they’d powered down for the night and I could barely hear it.    Surprisingly, former NMSU AD, Mario Moccia, called in.    His connection was bad, but the first thing I heard was, “Long time listener, first time caller.”    Mario was saying that the schools really needed to make sure to get the rivalry going again as soon as possible.    He advocated for playing the game early in the season for better attendance (before the inevitable disillusionment later in the season).    I’m sure the hosts would have liked to have had a long talk with him.    My dad told me earlier that he’s suing New Mexico State over his firing.    From what I read, I won’t be surprised if he wins.   

11-25-25

After last week’s game, Anita Skipper teased fellow broadcaster, Russ Langer, about having to go to Cancun for this week for the Men’s Basketball tournament.    Augustine Ekwe was not able to enjoy the resort with the team because of passport issues.    (I seem to recall from a different player that “travel issues” was a euphemism for “parole issues.”)    The Aggies’ first opponent was UC Irvine.   

In the first half, the Aggies took a 9-point lead.    Lots of fouls were being called, but both teams were missing their free throws.    The Aggies had a 3-minute scoring drought and UCI took a brief lead.    Aggies got it back, 26-20, before the half.

Juice Mims had his fourth foul 4 minutes into the second half and had to take a seat for a while.    Chris Terrell was fouled on a 3 and converted on 3 free throws for a 35-29 Aggie lead.    The Anteaters would tie it and Mims came back in with 8 minutes to go.    Gabe Pickens hit a big 3 to give the Aggies a 42-35 lead with 6 minutes left.    They expanded it to a 10-point lead with 2 minutes left.    The Aggies finished it off with a 57-45 win.

Not bad for coming into the game a 3-point underdog.    The Aggies had some incredible team defense, and the team was now 5-0 for the first time since 1990.    Jemel Jones had 12 points and 5 rebounds.    Jae’Coby Osborne had 10 points and 5 rebounds.    They’d be playing again tomorrow morning.

11-26-25

I got to listen to this game with the Aggies playing Georgia State at home before going to work.    Both teams were missing their big men due to passport issues.    The Aggies went down 11-2 on some poor shooting and GS hitting 3 3’s.    The Aggies came back and tied it at 16 by halfway through first half.    Chris Terrell gave the Aggies the lead with a 3.  He hit another to make it, 21-16 Aggies.   

It was a back-and-forth game, but the Aggies stayed in the lead.    Jaelynn Randall hit a 3 to make it, 35-26, but then he got a technical foul.    Coach Hooten was unhappy.    Russ said, “I’m not a lipreader, but I don’t think he said “Happy Birthday.”    It was 37-28 Aggies at the half.

The second half started with an alley oop to Juice Mims and the Aggies poured it on from there.    Their lead was 21-points at its largest.  It was a 77-58 Aggie win.    Russ summed it up best, “Adios, amigos.”    The Aggies are now 6-0 for the first time since 1970 when the Aggies went to the Final Four.

Part 3

Aggie Sports Break Part 1

The Aggies are still playing, but I won’t be seeing them in person until next month, so I’ll recap some games here.

11-21-25

The Aggie Volleyball season ended this afternoon with a 1-3 loss to WKU at the C-USA Tournament.    The Aggies won the first set, 25-15.    Two of other 3 sets were close.    Maggie Lightheart had 16 kills, Jaelynn Kohli had 12, and Tess Fuqua and Mia Fox had 9.    Makayla Martinez had 16 digs and 8 aces.    Maggie and Mia were hitting over .360 and Jae was hitting an astounding .390.    Given those stats, WKU obviously played really well.    The Hilltoppers would win the tournament over host FIU in 5-sets.   

The story of the tournament, however, happened in the previous game.    Eight seed, Missouri State swept top seed, UTEP.    Oh my goodness!    Here poor UTEP fans, despondent over their Football team and Men’s Basketball teams, were so proud of their Volleyball team.    I almost feel sorry for them.    [They would get into the NCAA Tournament with WKU anyway.]   

I guess I’m going to have to write some sort of summary for Aggie Volleyball this season.    From the first exhibition, I was immediately struck by the lack of university transfers into the program.    It also seemed like a bad sign that the Aggies weren’t going to be hosting a home tournament here this season.    I was briefly hopeful the team could be competitive after splitting with the Lobos.  Jae and Tess were really good additions to the team (Tess coming off of injury last year).   

Right after that, reality set in with three losses at the Tulsa Invitational.    The Aggies would win four in a row at the start of the conference season, but then came those two humiliating home losses to UTEP.  That seemed to be the turning point.    The Aggies would win some more matches in conference, but never seemed to get their confidence back.    There was even an inexplicable 3-set loss to a winless in conference, LA Tech.    In their final series against Kennesaw State, the Aggies played hard, but seemed like a shell of their former selves.   

Some lingering injuries seemed to hobble the team a bit, but it may have mental damage that affected more players.    The rotating setter drama was surely diminishing everyone’s confidence.    Maggie and Tess getting pulled for serve receive issues seemed to get into their heads.    Serving, which seems to be mental than physical, was great at the beginning of the season, but as soon as they hit a trough, it mostly ceased to be an asset.   

I felt that the team had six players capable of scoring in double figures in any game.    Not all of them in the same game, just that it would be very hard to shutout the whole team in one game.    They’re just not getting the teamwork to put it together, which would include digging and setting.    A former assistant coach said it before: everyone can hit and block at this level, but setter and libero are the positions that differentiate great volleyball teams from good ones.   

Are this team’s issues because their players aren’t as good as the top teams’ players in the conference and they’re getting exposed?    Is Coach Jordan not being hard enough on them to master certain basic skills?    Is he degrading their confidence too much by taking players in and out of the lineup constantly?    These are questions you don’t ask when you’re winning.    The announced strategy of recruiting freshman and JC players in hopes of molding them didn’t pay off this season and feels more like an excuse for not being able to get high-quality transfers.         

I’m already kind of mentally checking out on going to as many Aggie events next season as this season.    I probably won’t get a Country Pass and will skip some sports.    I hope the new AD, Joe Fields, can drum up more funding and donations, but I’m not really hopeful.    So that said, I’m expecting more of the same next season for Volleyball.    I wouldn’t be shocked if the best players on the Aggies leave.    I know Tess and Maggie love playing in front of their families, but that would be the only thing possibly keeping them here.    Without those two specifically, I’m not sure how much I want to show up.                             

Also today, the Men’s Basketball team played Samford here.    I’d originally thought that they were playing on Saturday and was actually hoping to ask somebody out to the game.    It was a bit overly optimistic.    Oh, well.    As it was a Friday night, I was instead working and listening to the game on the radio.   

Samford is not that impressive an opponent, so there was only half the crowd from the Lobo game last Saturday.  However, the team has Jaden Booth, the nation’s eighth leading scorer.    He was held scoreless in the first half though, and it ended with the Aggies having an 8-point lead.    I’m sorry I wasn’t at the game, because I missed the Wiener Dog Race at halftime.     

The Aggies put in a couple of 3’s to start second half.    They’d buried Samford by 21 points pretty early in the half.    But with a minute and a half left, that lead was down to 9 with the Samford bench in playing.    It was a 7-point lead with a minute left, but the Aggies held on and won, 81-72.    Four Aggie players in were double figures with Juice Mims leading the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds.    Coach Hooten also praised Anthony Wrzeszcz.    He did most of the guarding of Booth and held him to 3 points.    The Aggies are 4-0 going to an invitational in Mexico next week.

Part 2

Comics Review: Dark Age and Filmation Part 2

 

Part 1

Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation

At nearly 300 pages, I have a decent excuse for not reading this thing quickly.    I already had preview copy of this that I’d used for a reference about the Josie and the Pussycats cartoon (though not a Filmation cartoon) and the Sabrina cartoon (7-22-24 and 9-29-23).  Even the preview was pretty informative.    Getting the full version of this seemed like the best option as a substitute for my original, unfulfilled order.    (Twomorrows had given me the option of getting anything comparable or three magazines.)

       

The preview maybe gave me the impression the full book would have more information about Filmation’s cartoons and live action shows.    This really isn’t the case.    It’s more about the production and financing of the shows.    There’s no episode synopsis of any shows and barely any information on individual episodes.    We do get plenty of anecdotes about the making of the shows, at least.

   

This is also something of an autobiography for Lou Scheimer, one of the three original partners at the studio.    Honestly, probably the most interesting part of the book was Lou describing his early years before starting the studio.    I wouldn’t say he led an extraordinary life, but he had a great recollection of his colorful life.

The small studio had done some small jobs and was essentially out of business, but somehow picked up the rights to do a Superman cartoon.    They had to fool the investors into thinking they were fully staffed to get the funding.    This led to producing cartoons featuring other DC superheroes.    This relationship would continue on for many years in many itinerations.    Unfortunately, this would include a Batman show featuring Bat-Mite.    (Lou made sure to say that the character came from the comics.    They didn’t invent him.)               

The studio used limited animation to save money.    They’d use a library of stock footage for certain common scenes.    They felt it was a tradeoff to reuse some high-quality loops, rather than use subpar animation all the way through.    Also saving money, Lou used his own voice for some minor characters in various cartoons, along using with family members.   

Filmation’s first big hit was Archie.    The shows were greatly helped by the Archies’ musical group soundtrack, including the big hit, Sugar, Sugar.    Lou was extremely pleased that Archie Comics went out of their way to promote the cartoons, unlike DC.    Again, this relationship lasted for the several years and many different series.   

They also launched Sabrina.    She’d been an obscure, but memorable, Madhouse character that Filmation successfully turned into a star.    You can probably thank them for Sabrina’s lasting popularity and also Josie and the Pussycats.    Rival studio, Hanna-Barbera, wanted in on the action and developed another minor Archie character into a singing group.    Sabrina would even spawn a spinoff cartoon in the Groovie Goolies.                         

Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert cartoon had a long and twisting development, but it would turn out to be Filmation’s longest-running cartoon series.    Interesting, the show was never considered a black show by the kids or adults watching.    (True.    That’s how I felt watching it.)    The kids were also not poor.    (Certainly, Fat Albert wasn’t missing any meals.)    The gang was hanging out at the junkyard, because that’s what kids do.    (Again true, from my own childhood hanging out in a vacant lot.)    Still, Cosby felt the show was discriminated against because it never won an Emmy.   

Gene Roddenberry wanted to continue the just-canceled Star Trek series and turned to animation.    It was envisioned as a continuation of the series, not a kid’s show, with the original actors providing the voices along with some great sci-fi writers doing the scripts (such as Larry Niven, one of my favorites).    It was also produced without network interference, which explains why it turned out so well.    This show did win an Emmy, though Lou was sloshed at the ceremony while accepting it.       

This led into a live action era of Filmation.    I watched some of these shows as a kid.    This included Shazam, Isis (be still my heart), Ark II, Space Academy, and Jason of Star Command (which was my favorite).       

One of my favorite Filmation series was their Flash Gordon show.    This was a great-looking cartoon.    They rotoscoped actual models for the animation of the spaceships, not to mention the characters.    The show was originally part of an animated movie.    I didn’t know this and haven’t seen it.    There’s some discussion about having this movie and the more famous Flash Gordon live-action movie out at about the same time.    Filmation also made series for other action heroes: Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, and Zorro.

An original action hero they produced was Blackstar.    I remember this show.    It was kind of cool and kind of dumb (in a word: Trobbits). However, it would serve as a prototype for their future He-Man show.    (Thundaar the Barbarian, produced by Ruby-Spears, has also been cited by others an inspiration.)    By the way, Filmation produced a whole bunch of other Saturday morning cartoons I’m skipping over, but are covered in the book.    

       

The live action models

I'm admittedly a Teela fan.

Adam Hughes DVD insert card

Filmation had been dependent on the networks buying their programs.    In the 80’s, they switched to first-run syndication to produce He-Man.    Making 65 episodes kept their studio fully employed for a year.    This was a big deal for them, because Filmation produced their animation in the US.    The other studios were out-sourcing their work.    This kept the animation union happy, who were often on strike against those other studios. (Well, not that happy.    There was no pleasing them.)

He-Man was a huge hit.    More episodes were made along with a spinoff show for girls, She-Ra.    Along with this popularity, the studio was constantly having to defend themselves against media watchdog groups protesting cartoon violence.    This was ironic, since the studio was infamous for doing morals and values messages after every show.    The other criticism was that they were just making commercials to sell toys.    (Angry parents don’t want to buy their kids toys, apparently.)     

Forrest Tucker is in orange.

In the 70’s, Filmation produced a live-action show called, Ghostbusters, about two guys and a gorilla fighting ghosts.    You probably never saw it.    One of the funnier anecdotes from the book describes a story about star, Forrest Tucker’s, ahh . . . manhood.    It was apparently longer than Milton Berle’s.

In the 80’s, this concept was revived in a movie about four guys fighting ghosts using the same name.    You might have seen this one.    Unsurprisingly, Filmation sued Columbia Pictures over the name and concept.    They won, but didn’t get much of out it.    Specifically, they didn’t secure the animation rights.   

Filmation offered to do an animated version of the newer Ghostbusters, but Columbia decided they’d outsource it to someone else.    Filmation brought out their own animated show based on their old live-action show and put it out first.    Columbia later released their own show based on their movie and called it, The Real Ghostbusters.    What a cluster F!    All this did was confuse everybody.    The best that could be said about this is that both shows produced some cool toys.   

One fallout of their syndication focus was that the networks stopped talking to them.    Producing cartoons for Saturday morning for three networks allowed for some failures.    Now, they would no longer buy shows from Filmation.    They had to basically bet the studio on their own productions.    Their Ghostbusters didn’t do so good.    Their next show was BraveStarr, which was attached to a toyline. This didn’t do well, either.    (It might have been the sort of scary anthropomorphic horse.)       

After two failures and a couple of failed animated theatrical fairy tale movies, it was suddenly over.    Filmation was sold to a holding company for their back catalogue.    The studio employees were fired.    Just a few years before, they were riding high with He-Man and now they were out-of-business.    Lou tried to keep the studio going with new projects, such as He-Ro son of He-Man, but the market had changed.       

The ending of the book gets really sad.    Lou worked at his own studio, but couldn’t get any projects off the ground to air.    Unbelievably, he was working on adult animation that was near soft-core naughty stuff.    What a change from shoving in morals and values in at the end of every episode!   

Lou was also promoting shows with gay stuff for reasons that will become apparent later.    He’d regretted not doing a gay awareness episode of Fat Albert.    (Things might have gotten awkward there in the clubhouse.)    There was a constant theme running through most of their shows involving diversity and gender equity.    They kept wanting to have the first this or that token in a cartoon.    The shows themselves were nearly produced just for the sake of promoting diversity.    It got obnoxious to read about constantly.   

Lou’s long time wife became ill and passed away.    He also became sick and needed constant care.    His lesbian daughter was caring for him.    He was estranged from his son, who had adopted children.    Finally, he was contacted by a writer, who wanted to do this book, who was also gay.    Lou was proud of his studio’s work and of his former animators, who went on to be successful themselves.

It was a bummer ending.    This book was interesting, but not quite what I was looking for regarding the subject of old Saturday morning shows.    I don’t know if I could recommend this to anybody, even Filmation fans.    Other than that Forrest Tucker wang story (it is pretty funny), you likely wouldn’t care about the rest of it.   

I’m afraid this is more largely indicative of Twomorrows’ work in general.    They cover so many subjects that I’m interested in, but the material seldom delivers what I’m looking for.    It’s mostly so much behind-the-scenes and scandal stuff, rather than covering the material itself.    I almost have to wonder what the First Comics Companion would have been like, if I’d been able to get that instead.