Walt Disney finally finished Alice in Wonderland after a forty-plus year odyssey. As of late, Walt has been tight-lipped about what his next cartoon feature will be. One rumor has Danny Bonaduce and Pamelyn Ferdin attached to a Hansel and Gretel project due for 1971. Another title rumored to be in the works is Robin Hood. With Westinghouse and Metromedia having trouble convincing the FCC that their joint venture network will sustain itself, could Walt be their savior?
After Warner Bros. rejected his pitches for Merlin the Magic Mouse and Cool Cat, Alex Lovy returns to Universal to develop a series that puts the two characters together. After teasing retirement, Walter Lantz has put those plans on hold to reunite with Lovy on the pilot, which they hope will be picked up by the Hughes Television Network.
The modest success of Hey There, It's Yogi Bear and the mixed reception of The Man Called Flintstone hasn't stopped Hanna-Barbera from swinging for the feature fences. The studio has acquired the rights to E.B. White's book Charlotte's Web, which they intend to deliver to theatres for 1973.
MGM Animation/Visual Arts will release The Phantom Tollbooth to theatres for Thanksgiving 1970. Horton Hears a Who! will reach TV screens later this year on CBS.
Karen Sympathy, the Saturday Morning sleeper hit of last year, has been renewed for another season by NBC. Other than that, Jay Ward Productions has focused mostly on commercials for Cap'n Crunch in recent years.
"At the time, some TV critics dismissed Karen Sympathy as just a kiddie version of Agent 99 or Emma Peel. But it was really the first time a cartoon had a smart and competent female lead that wasn't a princess or a shrinking violet and could kick the bad guys' ass on her own."
- Jerry Beck; Animation Historian (2004 interview)
"Karen Sympathy was a surprisingly progressive series when it first aired. Remember, this was at a time when most female cartoon characters were still being rescued by the male heroes. With that said, there are some things in the original that wouldn't fly today, like occasional scenes of Karen lighting up a cigarette, a pantyshot here and there, and of course, the gunplay."
- Doug Walker; Karen Sympathy - Nostalgia Critic (2014 Youtube Video)
With Warner Bros. shutting their cartoon department for good, DePatie-Freleng continues to make theatrical shorts with United Artists handling distribution. These include The Ant and the Aardvark, the Tijuana Toads and The Pink Panther.
