Siren Entertainment, an Australian company, has released eight volumesof THE MILTON THE MONSTER SHOW, available in both VHS PAL and NTSCformats. In the fall of 1964, THE MUNSTERS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY,sitcoms about families of monsters, appeared on US TV. Attempting tocash in on their subsequent success, Hal Seeger Productions produced THEMILTON THE MONSTER SHOW for ABC's 1965-1966 season. Milton is a giantFrankenstein monster-type created by Professor Weirdo and Count Kook.His creators meant Milton to be scary, but he turns out to be agood-hearted monster who attempts to make friends with everyone hemeets. His voice sounds a bit like Gomer Pyle, a character played by JimNabors on the US sitcom, GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C. (1964-70), and hiscompanions have names such as Heebee and Geebee, and Abercrombie theZombie. (Did Tim Burton name the dog, Abercrombie, in his short film,VINCENT, in homage to Milton?) If you like Rankin/Bass' MAD MONSTERPARTY, you will probably like MILTON. The animation is limited, but thebizarre character designs are memorable. Each half hour show alsoincludes two other cartoons starring various characters. Unfortunately,these characters are not as interesting as Milton. Fearless Fly is asuperhero fly whose power comes from his eyeglasses; Stuffy Durma is ahobo who inherits ten million dollars, hires an advisor to handle hisaffairs, and opens his mansion to his hobo friends. Other supportingseries are Penny Penguin, Muggy-Doo, and Flukey Luke, a cowboy with alucky streak who lives in a city. Each tape includes three half hourshows. Siren Entertainment also distributes two volumes of RalphBakshi's SPICY CITY (PAL only), as well as several other animationtitles. For more information contact Siren Entertainment, 23 WangarattaSt., Richmond, Victoria, Australia 3121. TEL. (03) 9429 9555; FAX (03)9429 9333; or e-mail: alley@sirenent.com.au; or visitwww.sirenent.com.au.
