C.L.U.T.Z.

This is one of the few cartoon adaptations of kids' books made for this show that I remember well and most. It's a little before my time, so I caught a repeat of this and other episodes of adaptations of individual stories in the '90s. This was also my most favorite of the stories, partly because of the setting. For a time, I'm not quite sure of the reason, but I had a fascination with cartoons and certain episodes of certain cartoons featuring a futuristic setting. That all began with The Jetsons and its influence on some other cartoons since has been clearly impactive on popular culture. This was the story that got me interested enough to want to read the book. Some time after watching this, later, I attempted to borrow the book from a library. I wasn't successful in doing so, as it was unavailable, so I never got to read it. I didn't even think about trying to search for it elsewhere.

As the title and the eponymous character's name suggests, C.L.U.T.Z. is the story of a robot who is prone to inadvertently bungling things, though he really means well. He is taken in by a family to help around their home and the son befriends him. But after one too many mishaps, C.L.U.T.Z. fears possibly being replaced by a better model and that he'll end up in the scrap yard. Is C.L.U.T.Z. destined to be doomed or is there a way for him to be rescued from his dire fate?

Although this page and similar ones only mention the cast of voice actors but not the characters they voiced, it's easy for me to point out at least a couple in this. Great trivia I learned a while back that one of the Abdulsamad brothers, Hakeem, from the '80s R&B/urban music group, The Boys, was involved in this, voicing the son. And I'm going to presume or speculate anyway that C.L.U.T.Z. was voiced by the late Hamilton Camp. Several animated adaptations of certain kids' books were done for both this show and the ABC Weekend Specials by Hanna-Barbera, and in my opinion, they're among the best material ever done by the company/studio. This and other CBS Storybreak episodes are among the best T.V. cartoons of not only the '80s, but of all time, and in all animation in general. Fine examples of high quality entertainment. Some movie and T.V. adaptations of books may actually turn out to be better than the books; in other cases, it's vise-versa. Despite never having read the book on which it's based and others, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that most, if not all of these and the ABC Weekend Specials are much better than the books. Watching again years later after this series left the airwaves, I still find it enjoyable. Previously released individually on VHS under the Video Storybreak banner, I would've liked to own this on home video and wish I did. I'd like to see this and the rest of the show released as a complete series DVD set. I loved the cartoons in this program so much, I wish they were expanded into separate T.V. series. Recommended viewing not only for this generation's kids, but for everyone in general and anyone who would rather watch some better programming than the majority of programming today, which is junk.