Dodo, the Kid from Outer Space Online

Dodo, the Kid from Outer Space, was a regular Saturday morning staple for me and my friends back in the late 60's. A brilliantly inventive program, Dodo's short-lived TV life here in the States is symptomatic of creativity being the sacrificial lamb of the marketing department. Had Dodo been exploited commercially as was The Archies, maybe it would have lasted. I heard last that Dodo had been on cable in Europe a few years ago. Anyone else out there remember Dodo? Would Cartoon Network have an interest in this missed classic? Can this Kid be saved for posterity?

I remember watching this in Canada as a kid in the mid-'60s. It was on weekday afternoons.

Yeah, there was Dodo, and Compy the Computer Bird, and Professor Fingers. I recall that Professor Fingers had a coat with pockets that could hold anything he wanted to put in there. Compy could project educational films on the wall. I think there was one story where they encountered an alien world where the aliens cried when they were happy and laughed when they were sad. There was one story where criminals framed Professor Fingers by tricking him in to putting something incriminating in his pockets. It's been 45 years since I've seen this, so I don't remember everything clearly, but I think I recall the voice of Ed Bishop playing various characters.

Ah, memories.

I used to watch this cartoon when I was a kid years and years ago when I was only 6. It was on every Saturday morning at 6 or 7AM. I remember DODO and his side kick bird (what's it's name?) and the professor (sound like Gigantor). Was it black and white or color? I only remember the theme that said "Dodo...Dodo, The kid from outer space.

They should try to make a classic cartoon channel for the old cartoons for us old die hard fans when cartoons where the Old good guys vs. the Bad guys.... Wouldn't it be fun to watch gigantor, Astroboy, Eight man, Dodo all in one day...

I would buy the 1st couple of videos once it hit the stores....

it was on on Sunday mornings not Saturdays!!!! the bird was called Compo the Computer Bird but i can't remember the professor's name. the song went.... "Do do the kid from outer space, do do can go any place with propellers on his heels, antennas on his ears he's a science fiction pixie from a strange atomic place... do do the kid from outer space. It was supposed to be like a Japanese cartoon and was made for American audiences. Dodo was always there to save the day and do justice. he was very very good and could fly and could send messages with the antennas on the end of his ears. lazy brown fox jumped over the quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.

Last week I did an online search and found an episode of Dodo to watch.

While I still love the song - really catchy and the best part of the cartoon - the characters speaking in rhymes really got on my nerves.

The rhyming distracted me from the storyline. I hadn't remembered that the characters did speak in rhyme. My memory of the cartoon is really just the song. And how powerful and memorable all those cartoon songs are!

I don't think the cartoon has stood up to the test of time. Sometimes too how we remember something is better than the reality of it as an adult!

I *totally* forgot about "Dodo" until I saw a few clips of it again on You Tube recently (the one I saw was about where Professor Fingers threw a first anniversary party for Dodo, and he and Dodo recall how they met each other; unfortunately, the soundtrack was *out of sync* on that You Tube video). One short I remember in particular was the one in which Professor Fingers takes How, Why, and a group of kids to the ice-skating rink; Dodo just sat on the side wall and dangled his feet while everyone else was skating, and the Professor fell flat on the ice!

When "Dodo" premiered in 1965, I was only 3, but I don't recall seeing these shorts until 1967, when I was 5. At that time, they were shown daily as part of the "Bozo the Clown" show on CKLW-TV (now CBET), Channel 9, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada/Detroit; I would watch that every weekday afternoon after coming home from kindergarten.

Although I couldn't find any info on the voice cast, I'll probably bet Dodo was voiced by Lucille Bliss ("Crusader Rabbit" and Smurfette in "The Smurfs"), How and Why by June Foray, and Professor Fingers by Don Messick. As I said, this is only a *speculation,* so once I get more facts about who voiced whom, I'll start a thread on the bulletin board for this show.

I also wondered what that drawing was in the lower right corner of the Halas/Batchelor title card during the opening credits; I thought it was a smiling worm or possibly a representation of an alien from Dodo's home planet. It turned out to be a drawing of an artist's palette with a smiling paintbrush! I also thought the singers sang "lone pixie-dixie" in the theme's lyrics, but it was actually "science fiction pixie" (which I didn't find out until recently).

I believe "Dodo" is now in the public domain, since I discovered somewhere on the web a DVD was put out by one of those small-time video companies that made the disc compatible for all regions; I'll bet they *didn't* remaster the shorts and used scratchy, deteriorating film elements. I can only hope Shout! Factory or some other "TV classics" DVD company might contract with Halas and Batchelor's estates themselves (John Halas and Joy Batchelor were husband and wife; Halas died in 1995 and Batchelor died four years earlier) - perhaps they have archival copies of "Dodo" - and give the series a *proper* treatment for a DVD box set!

("Dodo" was first syndicated by Embassy Television, when Joseph E. Levine was President of the company; the company became Avco Embassy Television in 1968, and held onto the TV syndication rights until the early 1980's, although most stations were no longer airing "Dodo" by then. In 1982, Norman Lear purchased Embassy from Avco and renamed the company Embassy Pictures, then around 1985 Embassy was bought out by Coca-Cola and finally - in 1989, three years before "Dodo"'s copyrights expired - by Sony Pictures Entertainment, who promptly absorbed Embassy Television into Columbia Pictures Television. It is a *real* shame Sony wasn't even aware they had this series in their vast library and didn't even bother renewing the copyrights on it - sad for us baby-boomers!)

In the meantime, *please* be sure to vote for "Dodo" at TV Shows on DVD.com; so far, it has amassed a puny *43* total votes. If the number of votes is 100 or more, then it just might get Shout! Factory's, or another DVD label's, attention. (You might also want to telephone or e-mail Shout! Factory about "Dodo;" their addresses and phone number are given at their website. That should also help influence them to get the DVD rights to "Dodo.")