- ”The Space Kidettes! Starring Scooter, Jenny, Countdown, Snoopy, and Pupstar. And featuring Captain Skyhook, and his evil pal Static!”
The Space Kidettes is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon that ran for 20 episodes from September 10th, 1966, to February 4th, 1967 on NBC. Four kids and their dog, Pupstar, live in a clubhouse in space, while constantly being pursued by Captain Skyhook and his sidekick, Static, for their treasure map.
After its' run on NBC, it aired in syndication with Total Television shows such as Go Go Gophers and Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, as part of General Mills' Program Exchange. Later on, it was packaged alongside fellow H-B series Young Samson and Goliath.
Tropes that appear in The Space Kidettes:
- Aerith and Bob: Jenny is a normal name in a sea of futuristic names.
- All in the Manual: Supposedly, Jenny’s last name is Jet, but that's never mentioned in the show.
- Digital Destruction: The series was not remastered for its' DVD release, and contains dust, grain, and washed out colors here and there.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Captain Skyhook draws the line at torturing the Space Kidettes.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Skyhook and Static always fail at getting the treasure map.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Half the episodes bear the title of "Space (object)".
- Invisible Parents: The Space Kidettes don’t seem to have any. No adult even comes to their rescue when they’re being chased by Skyhook and Static.
- Jet Pack: How everyone mainly gets around.
- Minimalist Cast: The show consists only of the seven characters, barring any monsters of the week.
- More Despicable Minion: While Captain Skyhook will use every dirty trick he can to get the Kidettes treasure map, he draws the line at actually hurting or torturing them. His first mate Static on the other hand is always quick to suggest doing something violent like baking or disintegrating them.
- Noble Demon: Skyhook is a pathological Noble Demon. Static enthusiastically suggests all sorts of gruesome villainy be done to the Kidettes, only to be chastised by Skyhook, who replies that "They're just itsy bitsy, teeny weeny little kids!", and promptly bashes Static's helmet in.
- Status Quo Is God: Skyhook and Static will never get the Space Kidettes' treasure map.
- Treasure Map: The premise of the series is Captain Skyhook and Static trying to get hold of a treasure map the Kidettes presumably have. The map is never seen nor its potential treasure disclosed.
- Vanilla Edition: The complete series DVD for this and Young Samson contains the generic blue Warner Archive menu asking you to choose either "Episode Selection" or "Play All".
- Would Harm a Child: Parodied. Static always suggests doing something violent to the kids, like baking or disintegrating them, to which Captain Skyhook replies with horror that he would suggest hurting "innocent little tykes".Captain Skyhook: I need something humane, but diabolical!
