7.3 /10 2 Votes
Number of seasons 2 Genre Animation | 6.5/10 TV Number of episodes 52 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Touché Turtle and Dum Dum (pronounced too-shay Turtle) is one of the segments from The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series, produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1962.
Contents
This show was originally on the The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series along with Wally Gator and Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har. It has also aired twice on the BBC in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s.
History
Touché Turtle (voiced by Bill Thompson, best remembered as the voice of Droopy) and his sheepdog sidekick Dum Dum (voiced by Alan Reed, better known as Fred Flintstone) were a pair of heroic fencers who battle villains and heroically save Kings, Queens, and others in distress. Touché was the brave (if not entirely competent) leader brandishing his trusty sword and exclaiming his catchphrase "Touché away!" He wore a plumed musketeer type hat. Dum Dum was more of a simple minded follower in a smaller plumed hat and a scarf.
During the run of the show, Touché Turtle used a standard fencing foil as a weapon. But in the opening title sequence, Touché Turtle uses a firehose against a firebreathing dragon, ties up an octopus with its own tentacles and pits his foil against a lightning bolt. Though not especially bright, he was an accomplished fencer and could hold his own against other sword-fighting opponents.
Despite his expertise at fencing, Touché always mispronounced the word "sword" when speaking. He always pronounced the "w" rather than leaving it silent.
The series did not follow any lasting timeline or continuity. Touché would have adventures in the Old West and in medieval eras, as well as battling villains during the modern era of the 1960s.
A running gag in nearly every episode showed him keeping a telephone inside his shell, and it would ring at inopportune moments when someone called for help. Touché would politely excuse himself, duck into his shell, and take the call regardless of where he was at the time.
DVD release
The first episode "Whale of a Tale" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960's Vol. 2. “Rapid Rabbit” is available on DVD on disc 2 of The Best of Warner Bros.: Hanna-Barbera 25 Cartoon Collection.