The Lone Ranger (1966 TV series)

The adventures in this Lone Ranger series were similar in tone and nature to CBS' prime-time Weird Western, The Wild Wild West, in that some of the plots were bizarre and had elements of science fiction and steampunk technology included in the story. One of the Lone Ranger's archenemies in the animated series was a dwarf named Tiny Tom and his giant henchman named Goliath; an analogue to The Wild Wild West's Dr. Miguelito Loveless and his giant companion Voltaire. Other supervillain-style foes in the series included the Fly, the Frog People, the Black Widow, the Queen Bee, the Iron Giant, Mephisto, Mr. Happy, Mr. Midas, the Rainmaker and Shandarr the Puppetmaster. ==Cast==

• Michael Rye — Lone Ranger • Shepard Menken — Tonto • Dick Beals — Tiny Tom • Agnes Moorehead — The Black Widow • Hans Conried — Mephisto • Paul Winchell — The Rainmaker ==Production==

The Lone Ranger's voice was provided by Michael Rye {r.n. John Michael Riorden Billsbury}, and Shepard Menken provided that of Tonto. The narrator in the opening titles was Marvin Miller, whose narration ran: Other guest voices were provided by Paul Winchell, Agnes Moorehead, and Hans Conried. The animation was limited. But the backgrounds had a dark style, with blocks of color elided from the line, which visually set the show apart from many other cartoon TV series of the time. The distinct atmospheric music was composed by Vic Schoen, who also provided the powerful arrangement of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture for the show's memorable opening sequence. Along with the Halas and Batchelor animators, the background department, led by Tom Bailey, Ted Petengel and designer Chris Miles, were responsible for setting the graphic style. The drawings were produced by chinagraph pencil on cell. Colored papers were cut or torn under or against the lines of the background, producing a dramatic and rich textural effect. == List of episodes ==