The Streamline Episodes
Disclaimer: The following article was originally released on December 20, 2024 and has been transferred from GoDaddy to Mozello for preservation purposes.
A long time ago, in California, three lovers of animation of every kind (Carl Macek, Jerry Beck, and Fred Patten) founded a media company, Streamline Pictures, in 1988. The company helped release video cassettes of anime films (ex., My Neighbor Totoro and Akira) and series in the United States. Besides anime, Streamline also released cassettes of obscure classic cartoons such as Animaland, Musical Paintbox, Cambria’s infamous syncro-vox cartoons Space Angel and Clutch Cargo, and, for the first time, Colonel Bleep.
Two years before Streamline Pictures was founded, Jerry Beck (a college student) and his friend John Kricfalusi (the future creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show, and before he was deemed a criminal) threw small cartoon parties by watching cartoons from stacks of 16 mm film reels. Then, one day, Kricfaulsi suggested Beck bring in the “worst” obscure cartoons nobody could remember in 30 years or more. This is when Beck brought in reels of Colonel Bleep, whom he had watched as a child and remembered the show having severely limited animation but an appealing art style (note that the art style is one of Kricfaulsi’s inspirations on The Ren and Stimpy Show, specifically on the episode Space Madness).
And so it was decided that Beck would begin finding and restoring the first fourteen episodes of Colonel Bleep. These episodes were brought from the original master reels of the show, which were found in a lab in Texas that was falling from bankruptcy. To this day, Tom T. Moore of Reel Media International and Tom T. Reich of Make Business Smarter keep some master reels in their archives. Streamline planned to release five volumes of Colonel Bleep, but only two were released as most of these episodes were too degraded to be restored. Despite this, the people of Streamline were still willing to give the show a chance to be heard once again by the world and start a search to restore the complete adventures of Colonel Bleep.
Volume One
Colonel Bleep’s Arrival on Earth
Colonel Bleep prepares for his first adventures on earth and meets Squeak and Scratch as his new closest friends and deputies, thus starting a series of wacky escapades.
Scratch and His Feathered Friend
Set after the events of Man Hunt on the Moon, the trio investigates Dr. Destructo’s hideout in a strange jungle on Jupiter’s Twelfth Moon. Meanwhile, Scratch encounters a giant Superbird.
The Lunar Lugar
Dr. Destructo creates a gravity gun powered by lunar energy, which is used to try and terminate Bleep’s deputies.
The Killer Whale
A monstrous whale named Colassal attacks the frog-like inhabitants of Aqualand. Squeak and Scratch and an army of Moonmites (not from Aqua Teen Hunger Force) are assigned to stop the creature from his wrongdoings.
(Warning: This episode triggers issues regarding whaling and marine animal abuse, which may upset specific audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.)
The Firebomb
Futurian robots have thrived with Robo-Lube oil, but that all changes when Destructo and his gorilla, Grizzo, send a fire bomb to eradicate the oil industry.
The Pirate Plot
Unknown to the scientists, the moonmites’ home is destroyed by a test rocket. Colonel Bleep and his deputies rescue them all in time and send them to a safer place from any more missiles and other threats. Meanwhile, Black Patch and his space pirates plan to abduct the deputies and moonmites and sell them as enslaved laborers in Pluto's fictional red pepper mines.
Volume Two
The Bat and the Bottle
As the Futura High Command grows more aware of space accidents in various parts of space, Bleep prepares to create a safer map for all by proposing a power ship known as the Trav-a-Lab. Elsewhere, Dr. Destructo assigns his giant vampire bat to deliver a bottle of explosive liquid to destroy the ship to smithereens.
The Wicked Web
The Trav-a-Lab sets off to investigate floating icebergs near Pluto. While on its way, the Black Knight of Pluto builds an electromagnetic web to attract the wondership to its shocking doom.
The Evil Eye
The Trav-a-Lab stops by the sea of liquid air, where Black Patch and his pirates plan to release a missile, which only Scratch knows thanks to a strange periscope.
Fire Water
The Trav-a-Lab voyages to the volcanic planet of Thor to spray off water on its violent lava. Dr. Destructo steals a cargo ship containing rocket fuel that will cause the ship to suffer a burning inferno.
Tunnel in Space
In a city on Jupiter’s fictional moon, Septa. Colonel Bleep leads the construction of a tunnel to protect space travelers from frequent crashing meteorites.
The Treacherous Trio
The Black Knight, Bruto the Black Robot, and Black Patch form a trio to terminate Colonel Bleep by kidnapping his deputies on Zero-Zero Island.
Knight of Death
On a fake rescue mission, the Black Knight and his allies kidnap Squeak and Scratch while setting a trap that will cost the supply Bleep’s futomic energy and the lives of his beloved deputies.
The Hypnotic Helmets
Bruto prepares a pair of space helmets for Squeak and Scratch. They are unaware that they contain the ticking sounds of Bruto’s hypnotic powers, which turn the deputies into the robot’s servants assigned to kill Colonel Bleep.