Oh my god, I'm not crazy!!!!!! I had this association of a full-length film about a journey through a body with Time for Timer shorts, but no one knew what I was talking about. Lo, here it is! Thank you so much!
OMG OMG OMG! I have been hunting for this for years! A lot of people saw those "Time for Timer" cheese ads, and I always wanted to point out just where Timer originally came from -- this special! I have not seen this since the 70s but it left a big impression -- I always felt great pity for that poor put-upon heart!
Forty plus years and I still remember this! Also, this was probably the first time that I have ever seen this in color. Last time I watched this was on a black and white television set.
Cool. It’s also the 50th year KLBJ 93.7 FM. In Austin Texas. Started broadcasting Rock. The 50th year since ACDC first played the U.S. It was also in Austin. Led Zeppelin Played MSG. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was released. Nixon pulled our troops out of Vietnam. So many great things happened in 73. I been counting the days until this year. Because I too will turn 50.
This was one of two ABC After School " TV specials from DePatie-Freleng,the first one,"THE INCREDIBLE,INDELIBLE,MAGICAL,PHYSICAL,MYSTERY TRIP" first aired around March 1973,which introduced "Timer",eventually voiced by Lennie Weinrib,the animated character became a commercial spokesman-of a sort,for ABC Saturday mornings in the late 70s. the live action sequence opening shows the snoring uncle,played by veteran character actor and voiceover Hal Smith,better known to TV viewers as "Otis the drunk" from CBS's "THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW" (1961-68) DePatie-Freleng Enterprises supplied several Saturday morning cartoon shows from the late 1960s to the 1970s,before leaving Saturday morning TV in 1980 after their last cartoon series,"SPIDER WOMAN" for ABC in Fall 1979,produced in association with Marvel Comics. but of course,DePatieFreleng is best remembered for "THE PINK PANTHER" cartoon shorts and eventual series made in association with Mirisch and United Artists.
This was really cool! So this was where Timer came from! I thought he was just developed by ABC to do health related public service announcements! Didn't know he had a whole TV special! And I didn't know he dated back to 1973! Earliest recollection I have of him is from about 1975-76! Great show! Very informative! Thanks for posting it!
The "I Wonder" song is really rather good. With some more lyrics and more mature arrangement, it could be a hit. I'm staggered by how much of this I remember considering I haven't seen it in at least 40 years. This needs to be remade with better animation and information even more than "Cosmos" did.
Susan, thank you thank you thank you. My girls and I watch this every chance we get. Their lungs, teeth and stomachs thank you too! I reference this often when we're working on healthy choices.
I could never recall the name of this, but I knew there was one before the trip through Little Red's Head (and the series of PSAs that followed.) Couldn't have told you anything about it, other than it was a sort of Grand Tour of the human body in cartoon, which was one of the reasons I would watch it. It sure impressed upon me the badness of smoking and the importance of eating well. In spite of that, I'm surprised how much of it is familiar, though it had obviously made an impression. Many, many thanks for finding and posting this. I can only wonder how you did it.
They try to tell him at the end but he just laughs and keeps eating junk food. Timer hasn't helped save him, he's just told them not to expect Uncle Carl to be with them much longer and enjoy being with him while they can.
It was an episode of a series that dealt with subjects like divorce, substance abuse, alcoholism, dealing with disabilities, cancer, AIDS, and death of loved ones. Only a few of the episodes were cartoons.
As a six year old this show produced many nightmares - 1) thoughts of little people running around all over the inside of my body or 2) being very tiny and somehow trapped in someone elses body.
Wouldn't be great if we got a lot of DePatie-Freleng cartoons with television shows and TV specials and cartoon shorts in their franchise?, and then we'll call it "The Funtastic World of DePatie-Freleng"!
I knew i wasn't crazy and this existed! Anytime i told someone about this they always tried to convince me i was misremembering the Time For Timer snack PSA with the cheese wagonwheel.
Thank-you so much for posting this video; was very cool to get to see it. I swear Hal Smith's (Uncle Carl) resume must be pretty impressive. Every time I watch a classic TV show/special or movie he's in it somewhere.
I just watched Fantastic Voyage for the first and probably only time. Made me think of this video and the sequel the following year with the Red Head's brain. Which Ive seen a few times during the 70s and early 80s. Thanks for uploading these!
At least Missy and Joey avoided exiting Uncle Carl's body the way you'd figure; that would have kept them in therapy to this day. Speaking of which, I'd think it must be repressed memory why I don't remember this. But having found the following year's follow-up where Timer goes through a girl's head, it turns out these were Afterschool Specials, which I didn't follow. (The completely live-action ones sounded drearily alike: a shy kid gets moved to a new town, has trouble making friends, and falls into a bad crowd--smokers and shoplifters and vandals, oh my--until an angelic handicapped kid comes to the rescue.) If this had been a prime time special, undoubtedly it would have been a part of my curious childhood.
Even with animation not quite as good as it could've/should've been (this DID come out in the 70's), this show definitely had guts to touch upon big subjects.
Before TIME FOR TIMER DID ALL THOSE NUTRITION MESSAGES FOR ABC, HE DEBUTED ON THIS ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL ABOUT THE HUMAN BODY. Kenneth Huang 7/12/23.
That’s the girl from the “Witch Mountain” series of Disney movies! Kim Richards. If you Google her “Movies and TV” this one doesn’t come up. Oddly enough, “Devil’s Advocate”DOES….yet, I can’t find her in the cast of that movie. Google! You let me down again!! Ha, but I forget RU-vid is Google too; so, I take it back! (I’m so confused: I need Z’s 😅) I too have been wondering about where to find this….and what was it called, etc.!
Still looking for this one on DVD. (Probably didn't get a disc release.) This was an ABC Weekend or Afterschool Special, back during the big TV pro-education movement with American schools: this one is about exploring human anatomy, and promoting good health & nutrition. Hokey, yes. Entertaining, yes. Informative, I hope so. This was also in the time of TV history when other inner-space works like "Fantastic Voyage" (movie & TV cartoon series) were just starting their syndication repeat runs. Probably too preachy and spooky for today's children, without responsible adults watching with them to talk more about it as they watch. (Something today's beligerent, alarmist, sue-at-the-drop-of-a-hat Karens & Kevins are just too lazy to do, which always ruins the value of vintage TV content.) Timer & other characters are voiced by Lennie Weinrib, of Hanna-Barbera & Krofft fame. (Ex. H.R. Puf'nstuf.) Hal Smith's (Uncle Carl's) resume' is just as impressive: "Andy Griffith Show, Hanna-Barbera shows, Clutch Cargo, Space Angel, Disney's Welcome to Pooh Corner, DuckTales" and LOTS, lots more!!
In this particular special, commercial voice artist Len Maxwell (who also starred in the Academy award winning “Crunch Bird” cartoon) speaks and sings for Timer and company. The following year brought a sequel, “The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red’s Head” (also on RU-vid) and the Time For Timer PSAs, and for those programs Lennie Weinrib is established as the full time voice for Timer.
I have a vague-ish memory of them running this on KTLA-TV one weekend in the 1980s, and KTLA was an independent station in LA and this was originally an ABC production......so I have no idea how they did it.
Thank you for posting this, Susan, it brings back memories. I think that it left such an impression that some kind of copy-cat special came out a while later. This one involved the cartoon characters going inside a toe whose nail was about to come off. Also, there was some other bad character spraying around a cold wind in order to make the host body sick. Does anyone know which special that one was called?
so these kids hear a voice while their uncle is sleeping and aren't frightened? And then they see a singing cartoon thingee who zaps them into a cartoon?? And still nobody actually screaming. I actually expected the way out of Uncle Carl to be um you know. ....Uncle Carl is a VERY nice version of Archie Bunker the kids wake him up all excited about their 'trip' and he just stuffs his face pretending to care.
42:49 Marcella’s Lament Marcella, who loved Raggedy Ann and Andy and their friends since she was a kid, is now a full grown up teenager who always excels in college and is about to get into the esteemed graduate’s program next year.
