Hanna-Barbera

[Mo Frackle]

Speaking of SCTV players, didn't Rick Moranis have an HB series at one point?

I know DIC gave John Candy "Camp Candy." I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah. Gravedale High. That one at least managed to get a Happy Meal tie in. I wonder if it was supposed to be a rival show to the equally underappreciated one season series about a quirky fictitious high school, Galaxy High.

I think Camp Candy was one of the odd DIC/Saban co-productions. It doesn't get as much hate as it deserves, it's not that terrible. It's not great, but certainly not as bad as everyone else makes it out to be.

But considering that Gravedale High and Camp Candy were completely kid friendly, Ed Grimley was just waaay too ahead of its time. The show would constantly be interrupted for wacky sketches like the Gustav Brothers and the live action Count Floyd bits. At a time when what passed for comedy shows usually amounted in technicolor kids with the same stock personalities, that was a shock to the system. The seeds of 90's cartoon anarchy were being planted both there and with the Bakshi Mighty Mouse series, and while it did eventually lead to the cartoon field we've had since, they were too hip for the room, and lost on the younger, colorful cereal buying public.

 

[Dominicboo1]

YAY for a Hanna-Barbera thread! I am a longtime fan of cartoons in general, of course- and definitely H-B- toons!

I like Mo Frackle's rundown of their cartoon history- nicely done!
I myself feel that H-B had great cartoons throughout its history. I remember the Swat Kats and 2 Stupid Dogs cartoons of the '90s (I love 2 Stupid Dogs! I found that one hilarious- and it was great to have Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole back.) Also in the '90s- Droopy, Master Detective and Fender Bender 500 (part of Wake, Rattle and Roll) and Yo Yogi! were all great. And Pirates of Dark Water.
And there are tons of favorites for me from the 1980s, 1970s, 1960s and 1950s. To go all the way back, Ruff 'N' Reddy was one of their earliest (if not the earliest) cartoon and that is a cool show too. And certainly, I love Tom & Jerry- in all their forms. (particularly The Tom & Jerry Kids Show- loved watching that series!) And there are so many tons of memorable characters that I love- Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear (LOVE Yogi and the gang), Quick Draw McGraw (I was particularly fond of these cartoons as a kid), Touche Turtle, Yakky Doodle, Snagglepuss, Pixie and Dixe, Auggie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Top Cat (LOVE this cartoon!), The Flintstones (definitely love them) and The Jetsons (another childhood favorite)- and of course- Scooby-Doo! (I am a huge fan of Scooby-Doo in all his iterations! Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! will always be the classic cartoon, of course- and The New Scooby-Doo Movies is an awesome follow-up series. Too bad that show will probably never get released to DVD in its entirety. And the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo cartoons are great too- I love the episodes where Scrappy is solving mysteries with the whole Mystery, Inc. gang, as well as the comedic shorts with Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy. The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is probably one of the darkest shows it's seen (until Scooby-Doo, Mystery Inc. came along). And I LOVE A Pup Named Scooby-Doo- one of the funniest cartoons ever! And What's New Scooby-Doo? and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! are cool too.)
And of course- I can't forget Scooby-Doo's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics! I LOVE that cartoon as well. And definitely Dynomutt, Dog Wonder- that's a great, funny superhero send-up cartoon. Of course, I also think H-B had a ton of great cartoons in the '70s- not just Hong Kong Phooey (though that one is great too.) And yeah- I know there were a lot of Scooby clones- but at least in H-B's case, they were ripping off their own material, rather than someone else's- and honestly, I don't care. I still love Clue Club, Jabberjaw, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, The Funky Phantom, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Speed Buggy, etc.
And there were some cool cartoon versions of sitcoms too- Jeannie, The Patridge Family in 2200 AD, and of course- Fonz and The Happy Days Gang, and Laverne & Shirley in the Army (later retitled Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour)- I LOVE the sitcoms they're based on, so of course I LOVE these cartoons too. And for a drama series turned into a cartoon- there's also The Dukes (based on The Dukes of Hazzard).
And there were also shows like The Banana Splits, The Skatebirds, The Super Globetrotters and The Robonic Stooges.
I also love the late '70s efforts like Yogi's Space Race, Space Stars, Galaxy Goof-Ups, and Yogi's Gang, of course. Yogi's Treasure Hunt is a fun series too that unites so many H-B characters- and I LOVE seeing such crossovers. The Flintstone Comedy Hour, The Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm Show, and all the further Flintstones cartoons are great too. I love The Flintstones Meet The Shmoo and The Flintstones Meet The Thing cartoons particularly too. Pink Panther & Sons, Popeye & Son are both fun cartoons too- and particularly The Flintstone Kids- I loved that series as a kid. That show also reintroduced Captain Caveman, who of course was great in his own series with the Teen Angels too. The New Tom & Jerry Show, The Grape Ape Show, Casper and the Angels, The Roman Holidays, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Those Were the Days, Loopy De Loop, Wally Gator, Peter Potamus, Magilla Gorilla, Atom Ant, Inch High Private Eye and so many others- there were all great too. And I love the Pac-Man cartoon! Waka Waka! (Not to be confused with Wocka Wocka!)
And I'm definitely a fan of The Superstar 10 movies from the '80s- The Flintstones Meet The Jetsons, Rocking with Judy Jetson, Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats, The Good, The Bad and Huckleberry Hound- and definitely all the Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo movies- LOVE those!
Top Cat has also recently gotten another movie, which was fun to watch too. For that matter, I also love The Tom & Jerry Movie and the live action Flintstones movies. (The live action Yogi Bear movie- not as much. I'm also not that big on the live action Smurfs movies.)
But The Smurfs cartoons- LOVE the Smurfs! And The Snorks! And Shirt Tales!
And there's Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har, Hokey Wolf and Dingaling, Snooper and Blabber, Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole and so many others. And I can't forget Josie & The Pussycats and Josie & The Pussycats in Outer Space, since I'm also an Archie fan.
I also LOVE the Yogi Bear Christmas specials that were done, as well as The Flintstone Christmas specials and TV-movies of the '90s. I really can't think of any Hanna-Barbera cartoon I don't like- they're all so fun and good.

I even like the Tom and Jerry movie.....as corny as it is.

 

[Drtooth]

I do not mean to be passive aggressive about that... but in the long line of embarrassing Tom and Jerry products ranging from Gene Dietch being forced to create Tom and Jerry cartoons due to a contractual thing with Ken Snyder (Gene hated Tom and Jerry and it shows) to Filmation's Droopy cartoons (and I give the Tom and Jerry ones a pass, mind you... but their Droopy cartoons are unwatchable), the Tom and Jerry movie is their personal Batman and Robin. And even Batman and Robin's a better film.

I mean, nostalgically, if you grew up with the film and have fond memories of it, then that's okay. But if you're a dyed in the wool classic cartoon fan, it's almost worse than what Disney did to Underdog. Almost. It's not so much as Tom and Jerry the Movie as it is "Cheap knockoff of The Rescuers because We Want that Little Mermaid Cash Movie with Tom and Jerry Tossed In to Sucker People to Actually See it." It's so bait and switch, and even Tom and Jerry are screwed up. While I don't actually watch the new DTV Tom and Jerry projects (except the Nutcracker one, which was meh, but not terrible), I hear they're more in spirit of what Tom and Jerry really are.

As far as the Gene Dietch cartoons are concerned, there's a couple good ones. I strongly recommend "Buddies Thicker than Water" as it plays around with the Tom and Jerry as friends/vitriolic best buddies concept. But the earlier ones were some of the most screwed up, incomprehensible cartoons I've ever seen that weren't abstract. And they technically did come from a part of the world known for abstract animations. I love how the animation double takes and gags make no sense half the time. In "The Cartoon Kit" Tom's eyebrows knit him a sweater. And that's one of the more straightforward cartoons.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Yes, the "Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit", where we can also learn about the joys of poison gas, according to the narrator.
But even Gene's weaker efforts are masterpieces compared to the 1975 series.

 

[Drtooth]

I owe the humor of the Cartoon Kit to future Bullwinkle and Rocky writer, Chris Jenkins.

But, yeah. Even Gene knew something was off... here's a quote:

. 'Tom and Jerry' I always considered dreck, but they had great timing, facial expressions, double takes, squash and stretch, The Czech style had nothing in common with these gag-driven cartoons.

And, I erred... it's William Snyder, not Ken Snyder. Thinking of the wrong animation guy with the same last name. But the only reason Gene did them was because William had him contractually.

Meanwhile, I have to admit, rewatching the Chuck Jones ones, they're either pretty good or weird. Not Gene weird, but there was one where two mice delighted in torturing Tom unprovoked. Considering that The Road Runner shorts were supposed to parody that kind of cartoon, it's no wonder they're a little off. But they are beautifully colored and animated. I like Jones's style too much to dislike them.

Still, while I admit that there are good and not that great Tom and Jerrys, I really don't think anyone got Droopy the way Tex Avery did. The Filmation ones are awful, they keep shoving the character in Tom and Jerry projects, and I give the 90's Tom and Jerry Kids Droopy segments credit for trying, but I think Droopy was a Tex signature character only he got. Even the theatrical ones done after he left are kinda... meh.

 

[mr3urious]

Meanwhile, I have to admit, rewatching the Chuck Jones ones, they're either pretty good or weird. Not Gene weird, but there was one where two mice delighted in torturing Tom unprovoked. Considering that The Road Runner shorts were supposed to parody that kind of cartoon, it's no wonder they're a little off. But they are beautifully colored and animated. I like Jones's style too much to dislike them.

Chuck's take on the cat and mouse feels a lot slower-paced with the cheaper animation, but the facial expressions on the characters more than make up for it.

 

[Drtooth]

The music's a bit weird too. But those Chuck Jones patented facial expressions make the shorts all the better.

As for the 75 series, I'd love to throw the entire thing under the bus...except... I have to admit, as a fan of Columbo, I actually like the Mumbley shorts. The Grape Ape stuff's generic, no need to rehash anything about the Tom and Jerry shorts, but they completely slaughtered Columbo's badgering tendencies in that show. I'm still disappointed as to why they had to make an expy of their own character (basically involvement of a game show company sharing the copyright because of some experimental stuff that didn't even make it to Wacky Races). But they actually made one of those three cartoon shows funny.

 

[fuzzygobo]

I owe the humor of the Cartoon Kit to future Bullwinkle and Rocky writer, Chris Jenkins.

But, yeah. Even Gene knew something was off... here's a quote:



And, I erred... it's William Snyder, not Ken Snyder. Thinking of the wrong animation guy with the same last name. But the only reason Gene did them was because William had him contractually.

Meanwhile, I have to admit, rewatching the Chuck Jones ones, they're either pretty good or weird. Not Gene weird, but there was one where two mice delighted in torturing Tom unprovoked. Considering that The Road Runner shorts were supposed to parody that kind of cartoon, it's no wonder they're a little off. But they are beautifully colored and animated. I like Jones's style too much to dislike them.

Still, while I admit that there are good and not that great Tom and Jerrys, I really don't think anyone got Droopy the way Tex Avery did. The Filmation ones are awful, they keep shoving the character in Tom and Jerry projects, and I give the 90's Tom and Jerry Kids Droopy segments credit for trying, but I think Droopy was a Tex signature character only he got. Even the theatrical ones done after he left are kinda... meh.

The short with Jerry and an unnamed mouse torturing Tom, " The Year of the Mouse", was a carbon copy of Jones's own "Mouse Wreckers". Still beautifully drawn, but Hubie, Bertie, and Claude the Cat get the nod for this one.

 

[Drtooth]

They're finally going to release the big WWE X Flintstones crossover movie. And I almost swore they dumped the concept to focus on multiple Scooby-Doo X WWE projects, since Scooby-Doo kids actually know outside of cereal and vitamins. I'm pretty happy to see a new Flintstones project since the Seth MacFarline version will never happen, and that the last one was well over 10 years ago. Meanwhile Scooby gets a couple DTV movies a year. Heck, the Flintstones characters don't even appear in their own cereal commercials anymore!

I'm glad they went with Jeff Bergman's Fred. He sounds closer to the original voice actor, Alan Reed than James Arnold Taylor (who was the official voice for cereal commercials)... strangely Jeff seems to have played Fred more often in unofficial Family Guy cameos than officially. This looks pretty fun, and remember that quite a bit of Flintstones episodes that focused on some random celebrity voice actor. Doesn't seem much different, other than a longer run time.

Though, I must admit, I'm disappointed this didn't happen sooner. Otherwise we'd have seen among the cast of wrestlers Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwane The Rock Johnson. Seems almost like a weird cheat they're not in there.