Charlie Chan

I have warm childhood memories of watching Charlie Chan and the Amazing Chan Clan, starring the always fabulous Keye Luke and the classic Charlie Chan films starring Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, and Roland Winters. I even enjoyed Ross Martin's Chan movie The Return of Charlie Chan a.k.a. Happiness Is A Warm Clue, and eventually read the original Chan mysteries by the great Earl Derr Biggers and Charlie Chan Returns by Dennis Lynds.Growing up on all things Chan was wonderful, and a big part of that fun was Charlie Chan and the Amazing Chan Clan. Yes it is silly, but what do you expect from a children's cartoon? I loved it as a boy and will always be grateful for the happy memories.

This can be pretty much seen as the end of the line for the teen sleuth cartoon series that pretty much dominated Saturday mornings for much of the late 1960's to early 1970's. Unfortunately, this follows the usual pattern of most of those shows. The kids discover a mystery that is baffling the police and try to solve it themselves. However, the main twist in this series is that the kids are all the children of the famous detective Charlie Chan, who is finally played by an Asian actor, even though it is just the voice of Keye Luke. Of course, Keye Luke played Lee Chan (aka Number 1 Son) in the movie series. However, that is probably the only thing that distinguishes this from the other teen detective series that were on at the same time. Another thing that I didn't like about it was that the kids did all the work while their father who pretty much does nothing during each episode winds up solving the mystery. Also, you know that it is a turkey when this show is pretty much used to try to sell very lame bubble gum rock songs, a la shows like "Josie and the Pussycats" and the second season of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You". Thankfully, this show only lasted one season and it marked the beginning of the end of the teen sleuth comedies.

This is one of the more interesting interpretations of the legendary detective created by Earl Derr Biggers in 1925. For one, it is the only time an Asian actor had taken on the role (voice of Keye Luke, who actually played the Number One Son on the big screen). For another, it follows one of the more popular Hanna-Barbera formulae of the time: a family or group with a pet (in this case, Chu-Chu, probably a Shih Tzu). And for yet another, the voices of the 10 children that form the clan were provided by actors of Asian lineage. (However, Jodie Foster did provide Anne's voice toward the end of its shamefully short run.) While not a particularly amazing rendition of the Chan franchise, the Scooby-Doo-tinged misadventures of the well-meaning and highly dedicated clan as they try to be worthy of Pop's enduring legacy, coupled with the nifty transforming vehicle, make for a hilariously interesting supporting cast. Now, why the animators had to turn around and make Charlie into an incompetent figurehead when he was portrayed on the big screen as so much more is very hard to understand.

The theme track is only truly memorable, if at all, for the whispering male voice ("that's the Chan Clan").

This series stands out from the rest of the teen sleuth cartoons that dominated Saturday morning in the 70's. The focus is primarily on the 10 children of Charlie Chan as they interfere with his cases by trying to solve them. Charlie Chan is in control all of the time and makes the key conclusions in the manner one would expect him to make but as for the children their antics lead them to hilarious encounters with the multiple suspects during undercover work. Often times these acts may hold Charlie back some in solving the case but in their acts they manage to find various clues relevant to the cause. The 10 kids tend to take a lesson from the old JSA/JLA comics where they split up into groups generally age specific. The groups are generally broken up into three. The kids perform many slapstick type routines when pursuing the criminals placing this in the lead in humor. A Few of the kids perform in a band, as was the rage in the day and the viewer is treated to a nice period pop song that still appeals to the modern ear. As for Charlie Chan, he is handled with full respect as to the character and any Chan fan should be glad to experience this wonderful take on the characters.The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan still stands out from other shows of its era and is still featured Prominently on Cartoon Network's Boomerang. Can a DVD release be far behind?

I was in my late preteens when I came across repeats (which were new to me) on Cartoon Network back in the late '90s. I haven't seen every Hanna-Barbera cartoon ever made, so at the time, I didn't know about the amount of shows that imitated or ripped off any other. But after learning more about the less-than-interesting animation studio/company's track record and history, I know that I must not be missing much. Therefore, I'm not in any rush to check for the H-B shows I missed growing up. It's well-known (especially to me now) that Hanna- Barbera was one of the cheapest cartoon studios that ever existed (although Cambria Studios is even cheaper from what I read about them, yet it doesn't seem to get ragged on as much, probably because it had much less shows but still), as well as the most overrated. As such, I now decided that it's one of my least favorite animation companies. It wasn't always like this though. It took some time, but eventually they'd come around gradually with a few of their productions in the '80s, especially those that weren't/aren't T.V. series. As a result, there was more bad stuff than great and I now realize that there are only a few of its productions I truly like or have as favorites. If anyone like me has ever wondered why the majority of the founding duo's shows were so short-lived like I have, the aforementioned about them should answer your question. They deserved to get dropped as soon as they did. It also answers my question of why some adults are so against all cartoons, because of the stereotype that cheap 'toons like this are the only kind that are capable of being made and that all of them are a joke.

Sorry for the rant but I tend to do that when it comes to my passion and love for great cartoons, and I had to get what was on my mind out in the open. Now about the show. What else can I add that hasn't already been mentioned? I used not to mind this at all, but after noticing the difference in the quality of the animation in this and other, better, higher-quality shows, I've been having second thoughts for some time now. It's just among the same-old, same-old, formulaic routine as all the other crime/mystery-themed, Hanna-Barbera series following the original Scooby Doo series, "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?". As much as it pains me to say and admit it, I must concur with the fact that it isn't on the same level as the Charlie Chan movies, one or a couple of which I have seen and I found them more enjoyable. Although the animated Charlie Chan's kids were always the ones who did most of the sleuthing, at least for once, the writers could've and should've had him contributing to do more of the crime/mystery solving to make thing more intriguing. I want to truly like it and I wish it were much better. But for the facts that I and others pointed out, I find it too indefensible. Sometimes I wonder if it would've been better off if Hanna and Barbera had never founded their own animation studio or created most of their material (unless it was for feature-length films), as most everything by them and their studio is a waste of time, and almost only all kids would genuinely be into all of them, more so than any adults. But then, it probably would've taken longer for made-for-T.V. cartoons to hit the small screens and we probably would've had to wait until some people who were able to make better animation productions arrived on the scene. For better, crime/mystery-theme cartoons, I'd recommend Fillmore!, Sally Bollywood, Famous 5: On The Case, and Sandra, The Fairy Tale Detective, rather than any Hanna-Barbera. You seen one Scooby Doo-like show, you seen them all.