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The Lone Ranger radio program
- Archive Panic: Want to listen to all existing episodes? Even though many of the early episodes don't exist, since they were originally broadcast live, there are over 2,600 which were recorded. This show ran three times a week for over twenty years, so needless to say, listening to the entire show will take some time.
- Fair for Its Day: First Nation characters often spoke with stilted English and were not represented faithfully, but the writers made a point to never use them as villains without a strong rationale. Tonto was presented as admirable, noble, and courageous as a hero in his own right. All of the times natives appear to be villains, it was an understandable misunderstanding or white villains masquerading as natives or else somehow manipulating Indians into doing their dirty work, or else the Indians were "renegades" who did not represent the larger tribe.
- First Installment Wins: Averted, the television show with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels is far better known than the radio show with Brace Beemer and John Todd, even though the radio program came first and had a much longer run. Television replacing radio as the dominant entertainment medium for most people is probably as good an explanation as any.
- Retroactive Recognition: it can be strange to listen to episodes featuring Brace Beemer playing the Lone Ranger, then go back and listen to Earle Graser episodes where Beemer is the narrator rather than the main character and hear both Lone Ranger actors in the same story. Beemer is much less dramatic and more quiet and matter of fact when narrating as opposed to his energetic performance as the Ranger.
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
- Overshadowed by Controversy: Virtually everything else related to the movie is eclipsed in the popular consciousness by the producers attempting to prevent Clayton Moore — who was the Lone Ranger to many — from appearing in public wearing the Ranger's trademark black mask, and the PR nightmare and ugly legal battle that resulted.
- Questionable Casting: At the time of the movie's release, Christopher Lloyd was best known as spacey ex-hippie Jim Ignatowski on Taxi, so having him play the ruthless Butch Cavendish was widely viewed as an odd casting choice. However, many people in today's audiences have seen Lloyd play villains and play them well, so it doesn't seem so weird now.
Dynamite Comics
- Complete Monster: Butch Cavendish is a Corrupt Politician and businessman who masterminds the deaths of the Texas Ranger group that includes the brother and father of John Reid. Later having the families of the victims eliminated to cover his tracks, Cavendish ends up ruined by the Ranger and builds himself back up to seek revenge, killing tons of innocent people along the way, and framing the Lone Ranger himself. Upon finding John's sister-in-law Linda and nephew Dan Jr., Cavendish orders Linda raped and killed in front of Dan, and later tortures one of John's good friends by pouring a pot of boiling stew over him before trying to kill John and his best friend Tonto.
The NES game
- Hilarious in Hindsight: If you're in the know, consider for a moment that it includes a rendition of the William Tell Overture in its opening...By Konami.
- No Problem with Licensed Games: Though rather obscure, the NES game is fairly popular with those who've played it. Imagine a good version of The Adventures of Bayou Billy and you have an idea of how it works.
