Pretty Good

not as good as all the hype

Lack of good storyline.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The Red Hand Gang theme song still runs in my mind, and I'm really pleased the gang was multiracial sort of, and had at least one female. The kids were quite intelligent being able to crack down on crime without having to engage in illegal wiretaps or poke an eye into the Bill of Rights. This series introduced me to the surname Labyorteaux. It's a tongue twister and I do associate it with Little House on the Prairie. The Red Hand Gang is ripe for a reboot, just like 21 Jump Street. I'm thinking maybe Spike Jonze can direct it and even feature stars such as Ryan Gosling, Zoe Kazan, Russell Crowe and Will Smith's son. The original cast can make cameos just like The Brady Bunch movie.

Little House on the Prairie is joining the (American) Tvland lineup and I was looking up various castmembers to see if they had done anything else. I am well caught up with what many of them did, but Matthew Laborteaux must be the most evasive. He just couldn't escape Albert Ingalls. His brother, Patrick, seems to have done rather well on the show, JAG. Maybe Matt just hasn't gotten the same break.Anyway, I see The Red Hand Gang, a show made for Saturday mornings that I vaguely recall, as it just didn't live up to its amusing expectations. It was too overly serious for this eleven-year-old and for Saturdays of Scooby-Doo, Bugs Bunny and the Superfriends. It is very surprising to see so many posts from the UK. Clearly the show was taken overseas and went into endless syndication there. It seems this is rather the same thing that was done with other shows, such as Land of the Giants and Time Tunnel. Had it remained in America after its run, it would have only been "It's Albert Ingalls, It's Albert Ingalls, look at how young he is!" so the show seemed to rarely, if ever, appear in any kind of rerun. Plus it only had one season. Of this cast listed, Anthony Zerbe has done the most. James Bond III has several appearances, but is still a standout in only one other childhood appearance, when he was on The Love Boat with Sandy Duncan and Jim Stafford, the country singer.As I said, it was overly serious for me. I remember a few things (the boy in a mask is recognized by the bad guys by his shirt, he takes off the mask and it was now the girl, James Bond seeing 'a woman with no head!') and so on. There would be a handful of childhood detective groups like this left and right back then. But to see so many posts from the UK is what is most interesting!

I loved watching 'The Red Hand Gang'! The three series were shown several times during the late 1970s and early 1980s. One involved a chimpanzee, the second the kidnapping of a rich boy and the third the capture of a famous footballer as part of a plan to steal jewellery. I enjoyed the children's adventures more each time I watched them.The 'Gang' consisted of four boys - Frankie (the leader), J.R., Little Bill (Frankie's younger brother) and Doc - and one girl, Joanne. All the children were highly observant, imaginative and capable of taking the initiative. These skills were invaluable in their pursuit and outwitting of the crooks - and, usually, very successful. One such comical episode during the third series was when they kept disturbing one of the crooks in his hotel room by sending up services he didn't want, including Doc dressed as a singing telegraph boy!The series was quite 'Enid Blyton-ish' in its form of a club of children discovering mysteries, outwitting the crooks and everyone receiving his or her just deserves at the end. This was one of the reasons it appealed to me. Also, it was cleverly written in that each episode ended with a cliff-hanger, making young viewers want to watch on. There was also the catchy theme music, with the children jumping in on trampolines (presumably!) and its montage of their adventures.Simply but effectively made, 'The Red Hand Gang' deserves to be repeated - or, at least, remade and updated - so that it can be enjoyed by today's children.

This series was what I was brought up on. I watched every episode. It was on in the mornings in the UK. Made me want to have a Chopper bike just like one of the kids in the show. I thought the little kid on his skateboard was ultra-cute. I remember the kidnapping episode, one with baseball cards, one where they were trapped in a basement with one of those dumb-waiter things, lots of chopper biking, that one at a marina, and I think there was one with a horse or stables. All in all, good clean child-friendly fun. Great for a 6 year old like I was. Wouldn't mind seeing it again. Can anyone let me know of any place that I can get hold of a copy to watch?