You know that series where the characters are… chimpanzees?

You know that series where the characters are… chimpanzees?

In 1970, two veterans of American comedy shows such as Dean Martin Shaw or tonight!Stan Burns and Mike Marmer are pitching a series to ABC called Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp. It aired every Thursday from January 1, 1970 and lasted only one season.

Evolution Revolution Group

The peculiarity of the show is that the characters are played by chimpanzees. The idea is simple, yet questionable: dress up the animals, style their hair, and interpret the characters dubbed by real actors.

The original idea is that the leaders of the pop group The Evolution Revolution, Lance Link and Mata Hairi are also famous spies in the service of the Prevention of Evil Agency to arrest the criminals of CHUMP.

After working on the comic spy series Max la Menace, Burns and Marmer have a field day with the scripts, an excuse to put the chimps in all kinds of situations and parody moment series and cinematic genres.

On set, the series had to adapt to technical constraints. You have to light the chimps differently than normal people to get their attention. Trainers teach the animals to keep the clothing they are given, which is tailored to their morphology.

Lancelot Link in “Bonana”, a parody of “Bonazza”.

In addition, all males are castrated to prevent female heat. The result of this decision will be mixed, not much will change in the behavior of the monkeys.

ABC doesn’t control the show, leaving Burns and Marble alone in charge, even though the show cost them (adjusted for inflation) about $8 million for 17 episodes. Lancelot Link had enough success to make manufactured products available, including a album group or a lunch box Official.

The reason for the show’s cancellation is unknown, but it may have had something to do with its budget, which was delusional at the time.

Between handling the animals on set, having the voice actors on set to speak their lines out loud, synchronizing the monkeys’ mouth movements with what they have to say and the stunts they are sometimes asked to do. , that’s enough. to get rid of you.

Whenever fan Asked by Stan Burns if he had a favorite episode, he replied with a smile on his face: “Last”.

Source: Allocine

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