Lance A Lot Link Secret Chimp
The novelty can wear off after a couple of episodes to be sure and this complete series collection is a lot to take in and best enjoyed spread out over at least a few days, but all in all Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp is still a pretty entertaining show - and it really does owe quite a lot to Get Smart, sometimes working on that same sort of. Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp (1970– ) A member of pop band Evolution Revolution, Lancelot Link is called upon by the Agency to Prevent Evil (APE), in their ongoing fight against CHUMP.
| Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action/Adventure Comedy |
| Created by | Stan Burns Mike Marmer |
| Starring | Tongo (chimpanzee) |
| Voices of | Dayton Allen Joan Gerber Bernie Kopell |
| Narrated by | Malachi Throne |
| Composer(s) | Bob Emenegger |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13[1]/17[2] |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Stan Burns Mike Marmer |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes (1970–1971) 22–24 minutes (1971–1972) |
| Production company(s) | Sandler-Burns-Marmer Productions |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 12, 1970 – January 2, 1971 |
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is an American action/adventurecomedy series that originally aired on ABC from September 12, 1970 to January 2, 1971.[3] The Saturday morning live-action film series featured a cast of chimpanzees given apparent speaking roles by overdubbing with human voices.
Production[edit]
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp had a 'seven-figure budget'[1] with location filming, props and costumes, and the laborious staging and training of the animals. The filmmakers made the most of the budget, staging multiple episodes with the same settings and wardrobe, occasionally reusing the more elaborate chase footage. Lance Link drove a 1970 Datsun Sports 2000 while villain Baron Von Butcher (and his chauffeur Creto) used a late-'50s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. The primates themselves rode Kawasaki MB-1 Coyote minibikes in a number of episodes.
Two of the three producers/creators were Stan Burns and Mike Marmer, former writers for Get Smart! Both resigned from their jobs as head writers on The Carol Burnett Show to work on Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.[1]
According to The Believer, 'to make the dialogue fit the chimps’ lip action, Burns and Marmer went to ridiculous lengths. Voiceovers were ad-libbed on the set, giving birth to beautifully absurd moments of the chimps breaking into songs at the end of sentences or spontaneously reciting Mother Goose rhymes just so it would look right.'[1]
Plot construction[edit]
Owing considerable lineage to Get Smart, the plot was always played for laughs and featured Lancelot Link and his female colleague, 'Mata Hairi,' whose own name in turn was a play on Mata Hari, in secret agent and spy satires. Link worked for A.P.E., the Agency to Prevent Evil, in an ongoing conflict with the evil organization C.H.U.M.P., the Criminal Headquarters for the Underworld's Master Plan.
APE's chief Darwin gave Link and Hairi their orders as part of his 'theory,' a play on the Charles Darwin (after whom the character had been named) theory of evolution. CHUMP's monocled chief Baron von Butcher inevitably hatched the latest plan to endanger the world. The Baron's network of international fiends included his shifty chauffeur Creto, mad scientist Dr. Strangemind, imperious Dragon Woman, drowsy Wang Fu, singing sheikh Ali Assa Seen, and the cultured Duchess. One or more would appear in each episode.
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A regular weekly feature was chimp TV host 'Ed Simian' introducing a musical number by an all-chimp band, 'The Evolution Revolution.' An album of these songs was released on the ABC/Dunhill record label. There were also Lancelot Link comic books and other merchandise, including Halloween costumes. Another regular feature consisted of a short series of brief comedy sketches which showed a chimp sneezing causing a funny gag to happen.
A curious feature of the apartment set which Lancelot Link and Mata Hairi used as their base was that the sofa had a secret entrance/exit which was opened by simply lifting one of the cushions.
The episodes were all narrated, in a mock-sober delivery, by Malachi Throne.[4]
These pets are equippable by survivors in the Off-hand slot, which cause them to appear in front. 
Contents.Overview Chibi-Pets are items added in, with 6 more added during. Moving or climbing up causes the chibi to follow, always positioned at where the survivor is facing, and always at the upper-left. Each level from the Chibi also boosts the survivor's maximum level by 1, up to 5 level max for the survivor.List of Chibi-Pets Chibi-Pets may refer to:.Obtaining Chibi-Pets ARK: Winter Wonderland 4 Most chibis can only be found from Presents dropped by, or from the regular Gacha Crystals dropped. If the survivor is sitting on a mount, or on a bed (excluding which they still follow the position, except facing upwards at the survivor's right), the chibi will not be seen anywhere, but inside the survivor.They can be leveled by killing and while having them equipped.
The characters[edit]
A.P.E.[edit]
- Lancelot Link (played by Tongo, voiced by Dayton Allen imitating Humphrey Bogart) - His surname is possibly a reference to 'The Missing Link'
- Mata Hairi (played by Debbie, voiced by Joan Gerber. Mata spoke in a high, whiny voice reminiscent of the Jewish American Princess caricature popular at the time.) - Her name was a take-off on Mata Hari.
- Commander Darwin (voiced by Dayton Allen) - Named after Charles Darwin.
- Bruce - Official A.P.E. courier.
C.H.U.M.P.[edit]
- Baron von Butcher (voiced by Bernie Kopell) - Modeled on Kopell's character of 'Siegfried' in the television show Get Smart! Kopell is believed to have approached his voicings of the Baron as if Siegfried were the head of KAOS.
- The Dragon Woman (voiced by Joan Gerber) - Her name was a take-off on the Dragon Lady, a villainess in the Terry and the Pirates comic strip series.
- Creto (voiced by Bernie Kopell) - His name was basically a play on the word 'cretin.' Also a play on Kato, the Green Hornet's chauffeur and crime-fighting 'sidekick'.
- Wang Fu (voiced by Bernie Kopell) - His name was a play on Kung Fu.
- The Duchess (voiced by Joan Gerber)
- Ali Assa Seen (voiced and sung by Dayton Allen) - His last name was meant to sound like 'assassin.'
- Dr. Strangemind (voiced by Dayton Allen impersonating Béla Lugosi) - Name inspired by Dr. Strangelove.
Additional characters[edit]
- Marty Mandrill - Former songwriter for The Evolution Revolution turned C.H.U.M.P. spy.
- Unnamed Orangutan - Appeared in cameos as a picturesque extra. Often referred to by Lance as 'that weirdo'.
- Blackie - The drummer in The Evolution Revolution.
- Ed Simian - A parody of famous television MCEd Sullivan.
- Parnelli Smith - An auto racing champ and supplier of cars to A.P.E., his name was a take-off on former Indy 500 champion Parnelli Jones.
- Bart Sparks - MC of the Miss Globe contest (parody of Miss America host Bert Parks).
- Herman - C.H.U.M.P. henchman.
The Evolution Revolution[edit]
This all-chimp band, dressed in colorful hippie-style wigs and wardrobe, featured Lancelot Link (played by Tongo) on guitar and Mata Hairi (played by Debbie) on tambourine, with Blackie as 'Bananas Marmoset'[5] on the drums. 'SweetWater Gibbons' (in fringed vest and granny glasses) was credited for playing Farfisa organ,[5] although the organ usually pictured in the clips was a Vox Continental organ.
In the episode 'The Evolution Revolution', it was established that the band's music was used to communicate coded messages for A.P.E. agents.
The songs were usually co-written and performed by Steve Hoffman,[6] in the Bubblegum pop style then in vogue; Hoffman received 'voices' credit along with the various character actors. A Lancelot Link record album was released on ABC/Dunhill,[6] as well as a single titled 'Sha-La Love You', a song originally intended for The Grass Roots; the music shared some of its style with the music of The Grass Roots, who used the same recording facilities and studio musicians.[7] Some songs contained heavy guitar riffs, reflecting the growth of hard rock.
An Evolution Revolution song, 'Wild Dreams, Jelly Beans', was later covered by the Spanish alternative rock band Hello Lilliput.
Episodes[edit]
The show's first season episodes were an hour long each and also included Warner Bros. cartoon shorts from that animation studio's final years. The second season consisted of repeats from the first season with the cartoons removed.[citation needed] The original network broadcast included a laugh track; this was later removed for the syndicated and video releases.
Sources vary as to the number of episodes;[1][2] the following list is taken from TV.com:
- There's No Business Like Snow Business
- The Lone A.P.E. / Missile Beach Party
- The Mysterious Motorcycle Menace / The Great Beauty Contest
- C.H.U.M.P. Takes A Holiday / To Tell The Tooth
- The Great Brain Drain / The Great Double Double Cross
- Lance Of Arabia / The Doctor Goes A.P.E.
- The Surfin' Spy / The Missing Link
- Bonana / The Greatest Chase In The World
- The Reluctant Robot / The Royal Foil
- The Great Great Race / The Great Plane Plot
- Landlubber Lance / The Temporary Thanksgiving Turkey Truce
- The Dreaded Hong Kong Sneeze / The Great Bank Robbery
- The Sour Taste Of Success / The Baron's Birthday Ball
- The Golden Sword / The Chilling C.H.U.M.P. Chase
- The Spy Who Went Out In The Cold / Too Many C.H.U.M.P.s
- The C.H.U.M.P. Code Caper / Weather Or Not
- The Evolution Revolution / The Great Water Robbery
All titles were shown in the Roberta typeface in Scanimation form (except The Great Bank Robbery, where the word 'bank' was eventually smash cut out).
Syndication[edit]
Reruns aired for one season on Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite during the late-1980s;[1] the program was also shown on Nick at Nite’s TV Land for a brief time in 1999 as part of their 'Super Retrovision Saturdaze' Saturday morning-oriented overnight prime programming block. The Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central) aired reruns of this as well as Gerry Anderson stop-motion series Dick Spanner, P.I. in a block hosted by detective-themed stand-up comedian Tommy Sledge. It aired internationally in such countries as Bulgaria.
DVD release[edit]
In June 2006, most of the episodes were released on a 2-DVD set by Image Entertainment.
On May 29, 2012, SBM Productions and Film Chest released the complete series on a 3-disc collector's edition. The Chimpies skits and Evolution Revolution music videos were included as separate items as well as inside the various episodes. The documentary I Created Lancelot Link was included in the bonus features, along with an interview with the original producer Allan Sandler, an interview with music composer Bob Emenegger, and an interview with Tongo, the chimp who played Lancelot in the series.
Documentary[edit]
A 1999 documentary short, I Created Lancelot Link, was made by Diane Bernard and Jeff Krulik;[8] it includes a reunion between the show's two creators and was 'shot in shlocky Hi-8 video, and [featuring] an entertaining juxtaposition of anecdotes from Burns and Marmer and some of the show's finest moments.'[1]
References[edit]
- ^ abcdefgLancelot Link from the September 2003 issues of The Believer
- ^ abLancelot Link, Secret Chimp Episode List from TV.com
- ^Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 255. ISBN978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ^Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 276–277. ISBN0-8108-1651-2.
- ^ ab'Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution' Original Album Liner Notes
- ^ ab'Lost Treasures - Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution'. Pop Geek Heaven. January 29, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^'Lancelot Link Secret Chimp (part 2)'. TVparty.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^I Created Lancelot Link on IMDb
External links[edit]
- Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp on IMDb
- Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp at TV.com
- Evolution Revolution Album Copy provided by producer Bob Emenegger
- Lancelot Link at Grand Comics Database Lancelot Link comic books
Artist Biography by Al Campbell
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was a live-action children's program that aired on ABC television from September 12, 1970, to September 2, 1972. Created with the intention of cashing in on two proven successful television formulas -- spy shows (Get Smart) and pop music (The Monkees and The Banana Splits) -- it was the Mr. Ed formula taken to the ultimate extreme. Lancelot Link featured actual live chimps with offscreen actors dubbing their goofy voices. It was actually funnier than it sounds. The half-hour series would follow a Get Smart-type plot involving the forces of good A.P.E. (Agency to Prevent Evil) against evil C.H.U.M.P. (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan). The main characters besides Lancelot included Mata Hairi (Lancelot's girlfriend), Darwin, CHUMP the Baron, Creto Dragon Woman, and Dr. Strangemind. At the conclusion of each episode, a new song from the Evolution Revolution would be introduced. The Evolution Revolution consisted of several chimps dressed up in psychedelic threads situated around instruments with freaky out-of-sight camera angles perfected for the Saturday-morning crowd. An album was released on the ABC label, but failed to make an impact on the charts. While the original album has become a prized collector's item, the track 'Sha-La Love You' appears on the Varese compilation Bubblegum Classics, Vol. 3. In the '90s, Lancelot Link reruns were shown for a short period on the cable network Nickelodeon and TV Land.