Shirt Tales
Series, 1982, The '70s and early '80s, Set in Oak tree in the park
Shirt Tales is #4 of 16 in release order and #4 of 16 in chronological order in the NBC Saturday Morning Cartoons.
The story
Shirt tales is an American animated series that aired on NBC from September 18, 1982 to January 21, 1984. The series featured animal characters, created in 1980 by greeting card designer Janet Elizabeth Manco, that were among Hallmark Cards' best sellers at the time.
Shirt Tales recap
Shirt Tales (1982) follows a team of animals in message T-shirts who secretly fight crime from their home in an oak tree in a city park. Hanna-Barbera adapted the characters, which Hallmark Cards created for greeting cards in 1980, for NBC. The team lives in Oak Tree Park in Mid City and keeps its crime fighting hidden from the park custodian, Mr. Dinkel (Herb Vigran). Rick Raccoon (Ronnie Schell) leads at first, with Tyg Tiger (Steve Schatzberg), Pammy Panda (Patricia Parris), Digger Mole (Robert Allen Ogle) and Bogey Orangutan (Fred Travalena), who talks like Humphrey Bogart. Each half hour holds two 11-minute cases. The second season changes the format: Kip Kangaroo (Nancy Cartwright) joins without explanation, leadership moves from Rick to Tyg, and superhero touches arrive, with the team's shirts turning bright red during "Shirt Tale Time" and a vehicle, the STSST (Shirt Tales' SuperSonic Transport), that can turn into a car, jet, boat or submarine. The series ran two seasons and 23 episodes, 13 in 1982 and 10 in 1983, from September 18, 1982, to November 19, 1983.
Shirt Tales ending explained
Shirt Tales ends with "Mayhem on the Orient Express", paired with "The Cuckoo Count Caper", aired November 19, 1983, the last of its 23 episodes. Both are standalone capers, and nothing in them closes the series; the gang is still hiding its crime fighting from Mr. Dinkel when the show stops. NBC ended the run after the second season, and the Hallmark characters have not had a new series since.
Where to watch Shirt Tales
Shirt Tales is streaming on Tubi in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon and Apple TV.
Ratings
IMDb 6.9/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after The Smurfs, before Alvin and the Chipmunks.
- Chronological order: after The Smurfs, before Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Cast
- Ronnie Schell as Rick Raccoon (voice)
- Steven Schatzberg as Tyg Tiger (voice)
- Patricia Parris as Pammy Panda (voice)
- Bob Ogle as Digger Mole (voice)
- Fred Travalena as Bogey Orangutan (voice)
- Herb Vigran as Mr. Dinkel (voice)
- William Woodson as Commissioner (voice)
- Nancy Cartwright as Kip Kangaroo (voice)
Created by Joseph Barbera, William Hanna, Janet Elizabeth Manco.