Samson and Goliath in their transformed forms.
Samson and Goliath, later renamed to Young Samson to avoid confusion with Davey and Goliath, was a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.note It premiered on NBC on September 9, 1967.
A teenager named Samson (Tim Matheson) and his dog, Goliath (Mel Blanc), travel the country on a motorbike. Along the way, they encounter all manner of villains, ranging from evil scientists to robots from Venus. When trouble arises, Samson slams his golden wristbands together to become an older, stronger superhero, clearly drawing from The Bible's Samson. Meanwhile, Goliath transforms into a lion. Alex Toth of Space Ghost fame provided the character designs.
In syndication, it aired alongside shows from Total Television such as Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales as part of General Mills' Program Exchange. Later on, it was paired with fellow Hanna-Barbera series The Space Kidettes. So a Red Oni, Blue Oni duo, kinda.
Young Samson and Goliath contains examples of:
- Aside Comment: "The Colossal Coral Creature": After the title monster shoves Samson down a chimney and puts his hands over the top, Samson looks at the audience and says "He's got the chimney blocked!"
- Attack Reflector: "Cold Wind from Venus": The Venusians are sending an invading army in a beam of laser light. Samson uses the giant reflecting mirror from a observatory's telescope to reflect the laser light back to Venus, destroying the invasion.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: "Moon Rendezvous": Kunev Khan flies his rocket ship to the Moon with the title characters as stowaways. After arriving, Kunev Khan, Samson, and Goliath cheerfully walk around in the Moon's near-vacuum with no side effects at all. And Samson and Goliath's superpowers don't explain it: they exposed themselves to the non-existent atmosphere before they changed to their super-powered forms.
- Big Electric Switch: "The Secret of Evil Island": The Big Bad Voltor throws a switch to launch 15 missiles that will each destroy a world capital. After the title characters destroy the missiles, Voltor throws another switch that activates a Self-Destruct Mechanism that causes the Island Base they're on to sink.
- Big Red Button: "The Dome": The title villain tries to push a red button that will launch nuclear missiles against six targets, but Samson has Goliath destroy the button with his power beams.
- Bring It: "Cold Wind from Venus": While fighting an ice monster Samson beckons it toward him with a finger while saying "Come get me!"
- By the Power of Grayskull!: Samson uses the magic words "I need Samson Power" or "Time for Samson Power" to turn into a superhero.
- Deflector Shields: "Nerod": One of Nerod's gladiatorial robots can generate a force field to protect itself, and Nerod activates a force field around his arena box when Samson throws a robot at him.
- Eye Beams: When Goliath is changed into his giant lion form, he can fire power beams from his eyes to destroy things.
- Foreboding Fleeing Flock: "Cold Wind From Venus": As Samson and Goliath ride their motorbike they notice flocks of birds and herds of deer fleeing in the other direction. This is due to two robots from Venus imposing "environmental control" over the area — i.e. reducing the air temperature to below zero.
- Freeze Ray: "The Colossal Coral Creature": The villain Darvo uses a freeze ray to solidify a cloud in an attempt to destroy a plane that Samson and Goliath are riding on.
- Hostile Terraforming: "Cold Wind From Venus": Two robots from Venus plan to impose "environmental control" over the entire Earth by reducing the temperature to -200 degrees Fahrenheit (turning it into an Ice Planet) so Venusians can settle here.
- Hypno Ray: "The Colossal Coral Creature": After the villain Darvo releases the title monster, he uses a "hypnotic ray" to control it.
- Island Base: "The Secret of Evil Island": The Big Bad Voltor has his base on Evil Island, which is just off the coast of New Guinea. From there he imitates Dr. No by hijacking satellites and using their fuel to power his city/continent destroying missiles.
- Just Between You and Me: "The Terrible Doctor Desto": After the title villain captures Samson, he gives him a demonstration of his Time Shield in action.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: When Goliath is changed to his lion form, he can make a roar that selectively destroys objects in the nearby area.
- No Ontological Inertia: When Goliath breaks the wand of Monatabu, his magic stops working.
- Older Alter Ego: Teenage Samson turns into an adult, muscular superhero by way of his golden wristbands.
- Palate Propping: Used in the episode "The Lost City of the Dragon Men." Samson rips a tree trunk out of the ground and sticks it into the mouth of an attacking crocodile to prevent it from attacking him.
- Put Their Heads Together: "Moon Rendezvous": Samson and Goliath throw two Moon Beasts at each other head first. Their heads slam into each other and the monsters are knocked unconscious.Samson: That's what you call using their heads!
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: "The Idol Rama-Keesh": Ramu is the priest of a temple of the deity Rama-Keesh. He constructs a robot in the shape of an idol of his deity and uses it to scare the local villagers into leaving. He later meets with General Tong, who had him do it so he could invade and use the village as his headquarters. When he asks General Tong for his reward, Tong hits him over the head with a mallet, knocking him unconscious. He tries to have the robot drop Ramu in a fire pit to kill him, but Samson appears and saves Ramu from death.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism:
- "The Secret of Evil Island." In the end, the Big Bad Voltor throws a Big Electric Switch to activate a device that causes the Island Base he's on to sink into the ocean.
- "From Out of the Deep." After being defeated by Samson and Goliath, the enemy activates a self destruct device inside their ship before escaping. Goliath detects the device's activation and warns Samson, allowing them to escape before it detonates.
- Single-Biome Planet: In "The Monsteroids," Samson and Goliath need to get to a Volcano Planet planetoid orbiting the Earth in order to stop the villain based there.
- Take Me to Your Leader: A non-alien variation in the episode "Salamandro." When Samson captures one of the villain Salamandro's Mooks, he tells him "Take me to your leader" (i.e. Salamandro).
- Teleportation:
- "The Monsteroids." Samson and Goliath need to get to a Volcano Planet planetoid orbiting the Earth in order to stop the villain, so the U.S. Army sends them there using a newly-developed teleportation device.
- "Salamandro." The title villain has a Negative Matter Transmitter that can send creatures and objects from his underwater base to the decks of nearby surface ships. At the end the villain and his Mooks use it to escape.
- Timmy in a Well: Goliath was Samson's pet dog, who could be turned into a super-powered lion by Samson's power bands. Golaith could understand English and carry out complex orders as well as a human being.
- Transformation Trinket: Samson turns into a superhero by striking the bracelets on his wrists.
- Trap Door: "Operation Peril": After Samson and Goliath reach the ship's control room, the Big Bad pushes a button and the floor slides open underneath them and they fall into a containment area.
- Witch Doctor: "The Curse of Monatabu" has an evil witch doctor terrorizing a vaguely Mayan/Aztec looking village.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: "Moon Rendezvous": After Kunev Khan delivers the Graviton ship to the Moon Leader, the Leader tells Khan that he is no longer necessary to his plans and pulls out a weapon with the intent of murdering him. Luckily for Khan, Samson and Goliath show up to interfere.
