Here's the Colonel

Before Hanna-Barbera came along with Ruff and Reddy in 1957, another studio was putting a half-hour of new animation on the air.

Soundac’s Colonel Bleep debuted in syndication earlier in the year. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera talked about their “planned” animation. Well, ALL animation is planned. Director Jack Schleh at Soundac had to plan when to reuse cels or cycles, how to make camera movement substitute for animation and when to use a held background and narration.

Here are some examples of the main characters coming into view in one scene from War in Robotland. Each pair are consecutive frames. The director simply holds the drawing in the first frame of each pair for two or three frames before the burred character snaps into focus. The background is continuously moving from right to left, creating the movement. The last one you see is held for 12 frames before an animation cycle is seen on the screen.



Here they are skidding to a stop and taking off past the camera. The drawings are on twos.



Colonel Bleep made up for animation shortcuts with interesting background designs. The stories are directed at children so they likely wouldn’t hold your interest, but the series is worth a look for the artwork.