Although his career hit it big in the 1960's it was not (arguably) until the 1970's that Muhammad Ali became a mega superstar in the world. Much of this had to due with the fact he was a charismatic showman who knew how to connect with an audience. When he won the highly dramatic bout in Manila against Joe Frazier and then also had a stunning win over the "bad guy" George Foreman (chronicled in the brilliant documentary WHEN WE WERE KINGS) he cemented himself as an icon. You would think that the motion picture business would come calling as it did with Evel Knievel and Joe Namath. (Oh, if you don't remember the films these guys appeared in it was because they were FLOPS) Ali didn't get the motion picture treatment. No, he got something much better: the Saturday Morning TV treatment! I AM THE GREATEST was a shortlived cartoon series (13 episodes) that first aired in 1977 and had a few repeats in subsequent years here and there before disappearing from the face of the earth. Unlike STAR TREK's animated series or those awful, awful, awful cartoons based on HAPPY DAYS (Laverne, Shirley and the Fonz join the army) Ali actually provided his own voice for his character and that also made it a memorable one. ---On a side note, the (lame) 1982 – 1983 animated series GILLIGAN'S PLANET used the voices of the original cast of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.--- The series essentially turned Ali into a boxing version of the GI Joe Adventure Team with Ali scuba diving, running afoul of villains in outer space while dressed up as an astronaut and commandeering a nuclear submarine. While some may think this sounds silly it was actually a well produced action adventure series that came off as a less violent variant of JOHNNY QUEST. If this series debuted maybe 4 years earlier it would have been a much bigger hit, but Ali was quickly becoming yesterday's news. Yes, he was still the World's Champ at the time this cartoon aired but he was past his prime and hanging on as a shell of his former self. Plus, celebrities only last so long before the public tires of them and Ali's fame was fading as the 1970's drew to a close.