The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo
The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo is an American animated television series produced by United Productions of America that aired for one season on NBC from September 19, 1964 to April 24, 1965. It is the follow-up to the 1960/61 series Mister Magoo, with Jim Backus reprising the title role.
Premise
Unlike the theatrical cartoons, which focused on the extremely nearsighted Quincy Magoo's bumbling, the show features the Magoo character as an actor in adaptations of such literary classics as Don Quixote and "Gunga Din". Each of these roles is played seriously, with few, if any, references to Magoo's nearsightedness. However, introductory segments in each program feature Magoo backstage stumbling into scenery and talking to props, thus connecting the older cartoons to this series. Some stories are contained in a single half-hour episode, but others run for two to four episodes. As UPA did not have its own studio facility, the production was farmed out to the Grantray-Lawrence and Format Films studios.
Stories adapted
Among the most ambitious adaptations mounted in this format were the four-part Robin Hood, in which he took the role of Friar Tuck; Treasure Island, in which he played the villainous Long John Silver; and a version of Snow White in which he portrayed all seven of the Seven Dwarfs.
Background
The series was inspired by the success of the 1962 television special Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, a serious remake of the Charles Dickens classic novel with Magoo playing Ebenezer Scrooge.
Reruns
The series was re-shown in the early 1970s on early Saturday mornings and the early 1980s as part of certain channels' weekday afternoon cartoon blocks. Certain episodes were released on VHS, but these have since gone out of print.
Material not intended for children
The series was originally shown in prime time and not as part of an animated block for juvenile viewers. Therefore, certain more mature elements were present. These included death threats, children in danger, insanity, heroic self-sacrifice, religious themes, and realistic, although mostly bloodless, violence; including swordplay, shooting, clubbing, drowning and character deaths in most of the episodes.
Home video
In November 2011, Shout! Factory released Mr. Magoo: The Television Collection 1960-1977 on DVD in Region 1. This 11-disc collection contains all the episodes from all three Mr. Magoo television series, including all 26 episodes of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo.