Unsung Cartoon Hero Of The Day.

Today's unsung cartoon hero of the day is Skippy, from Disney's "Robin Hood."

This fearless young rabbit enjoyed pretending to be Robin Hood, and playing and interacting with his sisters, Toby Turtle, and Lady Kluck. There was no one who didn't feel bad for him when the Sheriff Of Nottingham swiped the farthing he just got for his birthday. He further showed himself to be a true fanboy when he and all the other citizens thought Robin was dead, and at the end of the film when he joined Robin and Marian on their honeymoon. Such loyalty for one who was merely seven going on eight.

Today's unsung cartoon hero is Old Fred, pilot of the Yellow Submarine.

Think about it. If he hadn't escaped from the Blue Meanies, the Beatles and Jeremy never would have saved the day, and Pepperland would have been at the mercy of the villains for eternity. So hats off to Old Fred. Yes, I intentionally posted this one on what would have been John's 78th birthday. RIP.

Being an old grunk myself, let me nominate one as an Unsung Hero: Rufus the old cat from Disney's The Rescuers. Now, the two RAS agents, Bernard and Miss Bianca, already knew about Penny being in "terrible trouble," but had no idea of her whereabouts. The two tried the orphanage that Penny called home, and there they met Rufus, the housecat. Rather than pouncing on mouses, though, Rufus mentions a "trashy couple" taking an interest in Penny. This was the most critical lead the RAS agents ever got in locating Penny, which ultimately lead to Penny's rescue from the clutches of Madame Medusa and Snoops. Without Rufus's help, would Bernard or Miss Bianca ever have thought to look for Penny in the Louisiana bayou?

Today's unsung hero is Spot, the cat from "Hong Kong Phooey."

This feline sidekick was the one who nabbed the bad guys, and even got his buddy out of the filing cabinet. But invariably, Phooey took all the credit, with his so-called Kung Fu powers. The poor kitty deserved better.

I'd like to do an Unsung hero:

The cat from Fresh Airedale.
He attacks and chases away a burglar. But no one acknowledged the cat's heroic deed. Instead, the dog Shep gets all the credit.
The cat also stops Shep from attacking the "Number 1 Dog." (saving his life) Still, no credit.
Come to think of it, Number 1 Dog ends up saving Shep from drowning, and Shep still manages to get all the credit.

So I guess there's two unsung heroes in this short. The cat, and the #1 dog.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Freight Train, from "Where's Huddles?"

He was the biggest team player, but unlike Huddles and McCoy, he was never the focus of the episodes. He seemed to be just there.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Jezebel Jade, from "Jonny Quest."

This woman was only in two episodes of the original series, but deserved to be in more. She was the one who figured out Korchek was impersonating Race, and later, set out to find out who had kidnapped Dr. Quest while the team was in Hong Kong. After that, she was absent from the 1980's iteration, and didn't resurface until the TV movie "Jonny's Golden Quest." Here, she revealed she was Race's ex-wife, and the mother of his daughter Jessie! She definitely has her place in the Quest canon.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Kyro.

This youngster became the sidekick of Green Lantern in Filmation's cartoons from 1967. To avoid racial/ethnic stereotyping, he became a blue-skinned alien. Filmation had decided not to use the Inuit sidekick from the comics. This guy was quite useful, however. He was able to subdue Evil Star when the villain threatened the Guardians Of The Universe, and stole Green Lantern's ring. As a result, he tossed the ring back to its rightful owner. So Kyro deserves more credit than he got.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Ms. Lion.

Like Herbie the robot and Firestar, this cute little doggie did not originate in Marvel Comics. She came to the rescue of the Spider Friends several times, and also had her own ways of outsmarting the bad guys. In fact, at the end of the classic episode "Seven Little Superheroes," she was called the EIGHTH littler superhero. So she deserves a few doggie biscuits for her heroisn.

Today's unsung cartoon hero is Salty the parrot.

This trusty bird accompanied Sinbad Jr in both the Sam Singer and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. He could always be counted on to toss the magic belt to Sinbad whenever it was taken from him. There was even an episode in which both Sinbad Jr AND Salty used the belt to boost their strength. A superstrong parrot was truly original.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Orko.

This little alien magician was a bungler, but all things considered, he was a reliable ally. And he invariably learned something in each episode. I believe he deserves more.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Good Deed Dailey.

This was a well-meaning Boy Scout who, as his name implied, set out to do good deeds 24/7. But unlike Terrytoons' iconic characters like Mighty Mouse, Heckle And Jeckyl, and Deputy Dawg, he didn't last very long. There were only three shorts. In my opinion, he had great potential, and deserved a longer run.

Today's unsung cartoon hero is Cody the calf, from "Wild West C.O.W Boys Of Moo Mesa."

This young calf looked up to Marshal Moo, and along with fellow calves Carly and Jake, tried to go after the outlaws without adult supervision. This got them in trouble, but at least they tried.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Skreel, the hawk from Filmation's "Hawkman" cartoons.

This trained hawk always went along with the hero, and even alerted him to alien invaders from Jupiter when he saw a skyscraper vanish. He also was able to follow Hawkman's instructions. So let's cut this birdie some slack.

Today's unsung heroes of the day are the original Junior Superfriends: Wendy Harris, Marvin White, and Wonderdog.

This trio often uncovered clues about the bad guys, and set out to deal with them on their own. Due to their lack of superpowers, they always got in trouble. Still, they provided invaluable service, and deserved better. However, the decision was made to replace them with the Wonder Twins and Gleek. That change didn't bother me, but the first trio deserves some credit.

Today's unsung cartoon hero is Felix Flankin, from "Mad Monster Party."

Here we had a nerdy guy who just happened to be Baron Frankenstein's nephew. I guess you could say he was the Hermie of Halloween, since he clearly didn't fit in with the monsters. Even Francesca hated him at first, until she developed genuine feelings for him. Not only did he inadvertently save the day, but he and Francesca were the only ones who survived till the end. So I consider him somewhat heroic.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Zazoom, the small but mighty donkey from "The Arabian Knights."

This little animal was strong enough to carry three men on his back. Even more significant was his ability to go into tornado mode whenever someone pulled his tail! This power really came in handy. So a tip of the turban to him.

Today's unsung cartoon hero is Trixie, from "Speed Racer."

Although usually depicted as both the jealous girlfriend and damsel in distress, this dark-haired beauty is more than a little capable of holding her own against the bad guys. She even pilots her own helicopter, and sometimes rescues Speed instead of vice versa. So I give her a considerable amount of credit.

Today's unsung cartoon hero of the day is Pumpkinhead, from "Journey Back To Oz."

He rescued Dorothy and Toto when they were captured by Mombi. Unfortunately, he was destroyed along with Mombi when she was trampled by her own elephants. Dorothy's tears restored him to life, however. So he was definitely heroic.

Today's unsung hero of the day is Bathsheba the black cat, from "The Trouble With Miss Switch."

Miss Switch's familiar may not have done much in the two specials, but she did advise Rupert and Amelia to sneak into Saturna's lair disguised as witches, so she was helpful to a certain degree.