Hanna-Barbera

[Mo Frackle]

Well, I finally got a chance to check out one of those Mork & Mindy cartoons from the early 80's (produced by HB, but farmed out to Ruby-Spears). I belive Drtooth mentioned this in another thread - the cartoon's biggest issue was that it didn't allow Robin Williams to improvise. I suppose we can't really say for sure if that's true, but when watching an episode, it's far too obvious.

A writer on the series had this to say:

I co-wrote some episodes of the MORK & MINDY animated series. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera but the work was farmed out to Ruby-Spears. The show sucked. Robin Williams was contractually obliged to supply Mork's voice and from what was reported to us, he did all his lines flat on his back in his bedroom rather than come into a recording studio.

Not considering the circumstance. I won't mention the name of the story editor (though he's passed on his sons are still involved in show biz so there's no need to make 'em feel bad), but he was almost willfully ignorant of the prime time MORK & MINDY show and kept changing scripts to reflect what he believed the show was about, not the actual program itself.

For instance, Robin Williams would say "arr-arr-arr" frequently in the live action show, going so far as to make "R" puns ("Care for some R&R? Arr-arr-arr!") but the story editor resolutely changed every scripted "arr" to "onk"! Small wonder Williams opted just to phone it in...

Source: http://my-retrospace.blogspot.com/2008/08/cartoon-adaptations-of-tv-shows.html

 

[snichols1973]

What can I say? Syndication kills. Generic openings, scenes cut out... When I watched Flintstones anywhere else (I guess the DVD's had them uncut, and I wish I actually invested in them when they went deeply discounted), I got the standard "Meet The Flintstones" opening with Fred picking up the Rubbles on the way to the drive in. By that token, the ending was also different (not by much, Fred still orders the ribs and the car tips over, but you see their pets on the side).

When CN Boomerang added the Flintstones to its lineup, the original opening and closing title sequences of Seasons 1 & 2 were restored, with the original "Rise and Shine" theme music, as Fred drives home via the Bedrock Freeway in the opening sequence, and the closing sequence features Wilma asleep in bed while Fred pulls the cover over the birdcage, and the saber-toothed cat runs back into the house and locks the front door so Fred can't get back in.....

 

[Drtooth]

Well, I finally got a chance to check out one of those Mork & Mindy cartoons from the early 80's (produced by HB, but farmed out to Ruby-Spears). I belive Drtooth mentioned this in another thread - the cartoon's biggest issue was that it didn't allow Robin Williams to improvise. I suppose we can't really say for sure if that's true, but when watching an episode, it's far too obvious.

What made Mork and Mindy great was Robin. Even in the dumbest episodes in the dumbest seasons, just letting him go and riff made any episode funnier. There's clearly a difference between cartoon series production and movie production when it comes to animation. Disney let Robin do what he did best, I wouldn't be surprised if Ruby Spears didn't want him to go off script for budget and timing concerns. But for whatever the reason, even if the writing sucked, if Robin was free to go all out, even just partially out, the show would have been a million times better. Of course, a million times one... but you get the idea.

I have to admit, though, I saw Happy Day's cartoon series (it's on hulu) and it's actually not horrible. It has a level of fun to it, despite the fact the dog's pretty annoying. You almost wonder what it would have been if it were the Doctor Who license they tried and failed to pursue.

When CN Boomerang added the Flintstones to its lineup, the original opening and closing title sequences of Seasons 1 & 2 were restored, with the original "Rise and Shine" theme music, as Fred drives home via the Bedrock Freeway in the opening sequence, and the closing sequence features Wilma asleep in bed while Fred pulls the cover over the birdcage, and the saber-toothed cat runs back into the house and locks the front door so Fred can't get back in.....

I'd imagine this was around the advent of DVD or something. It's great that we can see the Flintstones episodes more or less as they once were. Up until I knew about that opening (I was young at the time) I always wondered why Pebbles and Bamm Bamm were there when the characters weren't introduced yet. But I guess it was just easier to market the show with the well known "Meet the Flintstones" theme instead of as they were for syndication markets.

But, honestly, the Meet the Flintstones opening where they just introduced Pebbles but before Bamm Bamm was new to me as of a few weeks ago. I've been watching the show for years, but wasn't aware of that one, like I was Rise and Shine. Again, syndication. I'm glad more companies are trying to preserve the classic versions of the shows rather than the ones that were more accessible in the day.

(though I HATE how when they reran Bosom Buddies on MeTV, they used the crappy other opening theme song that wasn't the Billy Joel song. Music rights issues, amiright?

 

[snichols1973]

When CN Boomerang added the Flintstones to its lineup, the original opening and closing title sequences of Seasons 1 & 2 were restored, with the original "Rise and Shine" theme music, as Fred drives home via the Bedrock Freeway in the opening sequence, and the closing sequence features Wilma asleep in bed while Fred pulls the cover over the birdcage, and the saber-toothed cat runs back into the house and locks the front door so Fred can't get back in.....

 

[Mo Frackle]

I have to admit, though, I saw Happy Day's cartoon series (it's on hulu) and it's actually not horrible. It has a level of fun to it, despite the fact the dog's pretty annoying.

Yeah, the HD cartoon was okay. It had decent storylines, for one thing. And the cast certainly didn't mail in their performances. Though I'm guessing Anson Williams didn't want to be involved with the series. Now that I think about it, the dog is almost a fill-in for Potsie (or a poor-man's Scooby-Doo, depending on how you look at it).

Ironic that the cartoon premiered the same season Ron Howard and Don Most left the live action series. Also ironic that Didi Conn (the actress who voiced "Cupcake") appeared in the live action HD series at least once in an early episode.

I've also gotten to see a few of the HB Little Rascals cartoons. Also not that bad of a series. At least the writers got the characters right, something that most of the series' reboots tend to not do so well at.

Now if I can just track down the Laverne and Shirley cartoons...

You know, I never cared much for the 'realistic' character designs HB (and Filmation, for that matter) tried out during the 70's and 80's.

 

[Drtooth]

I want to say I almost saw a Lavern and Shirley cartoon back when I saw the Mork and Mindy one a couple years ago on YT before the copyright police pulled it down.

I was surprised that the Happy Days cartoon was actually decent. There has been a strange line of cartoons based off of sitcoms, and there would have been a LOT more had Filmation got their way. But out of all of them, the only one I think was great was what they did with ALF. Heck, I think it surpassed the sitcom itself. Expanding ALF's backstory on Melmac with wacky concepts that were so defined they pretty much built an entire world of weirdness. And the fairytale based spinoff did some creative things to those stories. Jack and the Beanstalk as a series of Hitchcock films? Amazing.

 

[Mo Frackle]

I've been meaning to look at the ALF cartoons. That catchy 80's theme song is enough to make me interested.

I'll be glad if at least some HB shows will remain on Boomerang once the big rebrand kicks in next year. But I'm not keeping my hopes up.

 

[Drtooth]

I've been meaning to look at the ALF cartoons. That catchy 80's theme song is enough to make me interested.

There's a great level of background development. They built a world, and that's impressive. Everything right on to having Melmacians catapulted across the street instead of walking. I'd say the humor's actually more sharp than the original TV show, especially when you get to ALFTales.

I'll be glad if at least some HB shows will remain on Boomerang once the big rebrand kicks in next year. But I'm not keeping my hopes up.

They've already started putting Teen Titans Go on that thing. Like CN doesn't already have it on way too many times a day as is. I don't see why they can't bring back Boomeraction and the original Titans series. They had it up until a month after I got cable.

 

[snichols1973]

He's too busy and there was no way that would have gotten of the ground. And it would have been far from a travesty. HB did much worse to the Flintstones since their first series. Pebbles and Bamm Bamm being bubblegum musicians, Pebbles and Bamm Bamm being preschool edu-tainers... heck, it's not pleasant to say that The Flintstone Kids is one of the good ones. The 70's really weren't kind to the stone age family, frankly (though the Cave Kids cartoon was from the late 90's, early 00's or something... but it is yeeeeeccccch). I had faith in his project, as he was a huge fan, but it's not happening and all we're getting is the WWE movie.

As for the Flintstones' WWE movie crossover (I'm starting to wonder if the John Cena-Fruity Pebbles special edition box had anything to do with the film's development), The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown has a scheduled Blu-Ray/DVD release date of March 17th, nearly 2 weeks before WrestleMania XXXI is scheduled to take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA:

 

[Drtooth]

I'll be glad if at least some HB shows will remain on Boomerang once the big rebrand kicks in next year. But I'm not keeping my hopes up.

Fortunately, after they did try to pry away The Flintstones for all of 2 weeks, someone must've complained and at least, as far as HB shows go, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, and Smurfs are at least still there. My complaint is that it turned into the Garfield Show network, and he still gets a good 4 hours a day of programming. Also hate that they feel the need to put Teen Titans Go, not even the original series, the cartoon that already gets a crapload of airtime, more than any other show on CN, HAD to be added to the schedule because it's not on nearly enough. Gumball, too... but at least that show's consistently funny and has very biting commentaries in it. TTG is all like, sure we could do hilarious, backhanded references to the comics and original cartoon series, but it's much funnier to do an episode about not chewing your food.

I'm starting to wonder if the John Cena-Fruity Pebbles special edition box had anything to do with the film's development

Quite possibly. Thing is, from what I read a while back, the tie-in was something to do with an inside joke. I think it was that Fruity Pebbles was his nickname somehow. Then there was the unfortunate choice to have a certain Basketball star be the face of Cocoa Pebbles. I can't remember if anything was done about that, or if the promotion ended naturally.

But moreover, it's great The Flintstones is getting another project after the Seth MacFarline series failed to materialize. All due to workload, of course. I still think it should have been made with adult swim in mind, not Fox. While I have to admit, Flinstone projects made after the series initially ended were, at best, mixed bag (it's a shame that the Muppet Babies knockoff Flintstones series is one of the good ones), we're pretty much getting a generation of kids who only know the characters from cereal (they're not even in the commercials anymore), vitamins (we're they're no longer the monopoly of kid shapes), and of course parodies and references and the fact that Fred Flintstone is the first caveman that comes to mind (like Kermit when frogs are mentioned or Mickey with mice). Or that weird and unfair comparison to "The Croods." Yeah, they're a family of cave people. That's where the analogy begins and ends.