Uncle Croc’s Block was a monumental disaster for Filmation Associates and arguably the worst program they ever produced. After the show premiered in an hour-long format on ABC on September 6, 1975, the network almost immediately whittled it down to a half-hour and canceled it on February 14, 1976. After that, ABC president Fred Silverman permanently severed all ties with Filmation and turned to Hanna-Barbera for future endeavors.

This dismal production was a mean-spirited, live-action parody of TV kiddie shows, hosted by Uncle Croc (Charles Nelson Reilly in a crocodile costume) and his sidekick Mr. Rabbit Ears (Alfie Wise). Also on hand was the show’s foul-tempered director, Basil Bitterbottom, played by Jonathan Harris (who should have remained Lost in Space).

But enough about this foolishness. Like most kidvid live-action shows, it featured cartoons—three different ones. The first was M*U*S*H (Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes), in which dogs enacted a dreadful parody of the TV hit M*A*S*H. Lou Scheimer, who wrote the episodes, recounted that he made them purposely unfunny. So woeful was this cartoon that 14 episodes went unfinished. It was this horror show that led Silverman to dump Filmation.

The second cartoon, Fraidy Cat, was a morbid exercise in paranoia in which the titular cat, having lost eight lives, is haunted by those ghosts. Worse, he has developed a phobia of the number nine, who shows up as a personification to terrify the cat further. Perhaps John R. Dilworth could have worked with this concept. Filmation, however, could not.

That brings us to the third cartoon, which is the only palatable one given the efforts and resources of Filmation. Wacky and Packy (short for pachyderm) were a duo consisting of Wacky, a red-haired clueless caveman, and his pet (buddy?) wooly mammoth. Wacky and Packy were the brainchildren of executives Lou Schiemer and Norm Prescott. They appeared in 16 cartoons spanning the duration of Uncle Croc’s Block.

The series had a well-worn premise: the “Fish out of Water.” Swept into a cave via a whirlpool, Wacky and Packy emerged two million years into the future in what appears to be New York City. Misadventures naturally follow. The caveman and his mammoth often seek food or a place to sleep and are sometimes even rewarded. Whether crashing a penthouse party, trying to land a job, or being recruited by the Army, the pair create misunderstandings and slapstick-style comedy.

What Wacky and Packy want most is to return home, a seemingly impossible wish. There is a recurring gag where Packy bursts into tears at the word “home.” The two have this exchange when Packy screws up, which is to say, in every episode:

Wacky: “One of these days, Packy—Pow! Right in the kisser!”
Packy: “What I do? What I do?”

Both characters are voiced by Allan Melvin., a veteran actor and impressionist who portrayed hundreds of roles on TV, including animation voiceovers. His voice for Packy resembles that used by comic actor Frankie Fontaine for his creation “Crazy Guggenheim.” Incidental characters are uncredited, although there is evidence that Filmation used a stable of voice artists (and animators) for all three cartoons.

Twenty-five animators are listed for Wacky and Packy, which is highly unlikely. Nearly all were Filmation animators or industry veterans from Fleischer and Paramount. For example, Irv Spector, Tony Pabian, and Otto Feuer had careers dating back to Fleischer’s 1939 film Gulliver’s Travels, while Virgil Raddatz worked on Filmation’s He-Man.

Art director Herb Hazelton worked on all 16 episodes.

Wacky and Packy are far more endearing than the other cartoons in Uncle Croc’s Block but are undercut by shoddy and reused animation across all episodes. It is surprising that the cartoons retained any charm on what must have been a penurious budget. Much of that charm came from writers Barry E. Blitzer, who won an Emmy for Best Comedy Writing for The Phil Silvers Show, and Len Janson, a prolific animation writer.

Musical composers were listed as Yvette Blais and Jeff Micheal, pseudonyms for Ray Ellis and Norm Prescott (who used his son’s names). This pair composed virtually every note of Filmation’s music from 1968-1982. Wacky and Packy’s end credits bop to a jumpy boogie-woogie score that is almost worth sitting through the cartoon for.

Finally, Don Towsley, who had a long and exceptionally distinguished career as a Disney animator beginning in 1935, directed all 16 episodes of Wacky and Packy. Towsley contributed work on Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Fantasia, as well as animating Donald Duck. Towsley also served as animation supervisor for Chuck Jones’ acclaimed short The Dot and the Line before joining Filmation in 1968.

Wacky and Packy still have some nostalgic fans. Their collected episodes are available on DVD and are streamed on many platforms.