 | It's Saturday, so time for another vintage morning kids TV animation from Hanna Barbera. Based on the fictional Chinese detective, the character of Mr. (Charlie) Chan was played by Keye Luke. The only actor of Chinese decent to ever play the character. Luke played Charlie Chan's "number one son", in the movies of the 1930s and 40s. He also played the original Kato, in the Green Hornet movie series, as well as Master Po in the 70s series Kung Fu, and Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie Gremlins. In the animation series, Mr. Chan, his large clan of children and their dog Chu Chu solve mysteries. As with every Hanna Barbera mystery solving team, the Chan Clan had their vehicle, a van that could transform at the press of a button. In addition the series borrowed the idea of a band from animations like The Archies. So each episode featured a song, which was played over an action sequence. Ex-Archies lead singer Ron Dante provided the vocals for the songs. |
Oddly, Mr. Chan had 10 children, and was supposed to be widowed. Although no wife or mother was ever mentioned, or any other relatives. The voices of the children were redubbed after production, as it was thought that their original "thick" Chinese accents were too strong for young children to understand. The original cast had been mostly ethnically Chinese and Japanese, the new cast were mostly white American, and featured an early voice role for the young Jodie Foster.
| Like many Hanna Barbera animations, The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan had only one season produced, made up of 16 episodes. Originally aired from September 1972 until December that same year. Though as with many of the Saturday morning animations, it was shown on repeat throughout the 70s, and into the 80s on syndication. The show is still shown on reruns today, via Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang. | |
