I do believe this was a weekday morning
program when I was watching it, as I mentioned in the initial post
for these three little articles. I remember it being on USA Network
in the very early days of their Cartoon Express block. As I recall,
it aired alongside the likes of the Pac-Man cartoon, which I may have
to get to at some point as well, and quite a few things from the late
60s and 70s like Speed Buggy and some Sid and Marty Krofft stuff.
Thing is, I was more a Bozo Show kid when I was in grade school, so
it's really quite the thing that I remember as much about the
Monchicis as I do.
The specifics I do remember are that
the Monchichis were little monkey-like creatures that lived in a
forest sort of place, and that there was a good faction and a bad
one. I can only recall two character names, as well. There was
Thumbkie, a little baby one who was always sucking his thumb and was
under the care of the good guys. The other one that comes to mind is
Yabbut, one of the not-so-nice ones who was skeptical about
everything, questioning things with “Yeah, but...”.
As far as plots actually go, I can't
say too much, simply because I really don't remember. It seems to me
that they were mostly the sort of life-lesson things shows like this
tend to do, being aimed at gradeschool aged kids, but that's just a
guess after a good thirty or 35 years of having this particular show
gathering dust in the back of my mind.
Other than that, there isn't too
terribly much that I do remember. I'm pretty sure this was a
Hanna-Barbera production, as were so many of the other shows in this
block. That's at least how I remember Pac-Man and quite a few of the
other titles that ran along side it, as well as several I've done
lately.
I'm also pretty sure there was the
standard run of merch for this show as well. This was the early to
mid 1980s, after all, and that sort of thing was kind of at a peak at
the time. If it was animated, on television, especially, and aimed
at kids, there were clothes, books, and about three tons of plastic
thingamadoodles associated with it. I was going to say “action
figures” there, but I think part of the reason I'm having such
trouble remembering this one is that the term “action” may be
overstating the nature of the show a bit, and because I was, and
still am, really, so much like the other little boys, it takes a fair
amount more action for something like this to stick in my mind.
Because of that, I'm pretty sure I only saw a few pieces of the merch
here and there in stores. For as many strange things as I may have
had as a kid, I'm pretty sure there wasn't any of this in it. At the
same time, it's been quite awhile, so it's a bit hard to say.
But really, I think I've said all I
really can about this. Monchichis is one of those shows that I
really do barely remember, if only because I hardly ever watched it,
that I can remember. As for what's next, I'll have to give it some
thought. I do have a list, of course, but at the same time, I have
had a bit of fun with these last few pieces as well, so any and all
comments would be appreciated as well.
Either way, see you soon!
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