That Synchro-Vox thing is no longer a major selling point.
This syndicated Adventure Series from 1959 is most remembered for its Synchro-Vox technique, in which the filmed lips of human actors were superimposed on static drawings. Otherwise the animation was extremely limited. We're talking one frame every two to three seconds. Incidentally, this is partly why Synchro-Vox was near-immediately discredited and is only used for comedic effect now.
The hero, Clutch Cargo, was a brawny pilot who flew to various places around the world with his young ward, Spinner; Spinner's dog, Paddlefoot; and a bearded explorer, Swampy. The 52 stories were serialized into 26 half-hour episodes in five chapters of five minutes each.
This series provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: Clutch Cargo.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first storyline, "The Friendly Head Hunters", uses a significantly more cartoony design for its characters. There is a slightly different arrangement of the theme. There is a different narrator. And the end title card, featuring a cargo ship, is depicted at night rather than day.
- Invisible Parents: The number of times Spinner is put in danger while on adventures with Clutch really would make you ask, "Where are the parents?"
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Clutch Cargo has one, as he is the titular hero of the show.
- Limited Animation: One of the most extreme cases. In some scenes you can even see animation cels being moved by hand.
- Offscreen Karma: In "The Friendly Head Hunters", the villain of the week Whiplash gets the characters to go find the missing people in the jungle, hoping that they get eaten by the Head Hunters. At the end of the episode everyone is fine, but when Spinner asks about Whiplash, the Head Hunters are rubbing their stomachs happily implying that they ate him.
- Punny Name: All the characters are named after their occupations.
- Samus Is a Girl: In the episode, "The Rustlers", Clutch Cargo takes Spinner to see an old friend named Tex, whom the latter thinks is a cowboy. To Spinner's surprise, Tex is actually a cowgirl.
- Silver Fox: Clutch Cargo
- Synchro-Vox: Cambria Studios, the makers of Clutch Cargo, also used Syncro-Vox in their other cartoons produced at the same time, Captain Fathom and Space Angel. The show is the Trope Codifier, and also the reason why it's almost never been used seriously.
- Tagalong Kid: Spinner.
- Walking the Earth: Clutch, Spinner and Paddlefoot always found themselves in a different part of the world in every adventure they went on.
- Wheel o' Feet: Whenever Paddlefoot ran.
