The Hanna-Barbera thread

For 45 years Hanna-Barbera has produced some classic cartoons such as:

The Flintstones

The Jetsons

Scooby Doo

Top Cat

The Yogi Bear Show

Jonny Quest

The Huckleberry Hound Show

Quick Draw McGraw

Josie and the Pussycats

The Magilla Gorilla Show

Smufs

Aswell as many many others. I thought we would start with The Flintstones. As that seems to be one of the most popular Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

The Flintstones was one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. Inspired by the 1950s live-action sitcom The Honeymooners, The Flintstones originally aired from 1960 to 1966.

The show is set in a town called Bedrock in the Stone Age era. The show is an allegory to American society of the mid-to-late 20th century; in the Flintstones' fantasy version of the prehistoric past, dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, and other long extinct animals co-exist with cavemen, who use technology equivalent to that of the 20th century, largely through the use of various animals. The characters drive automobiles made out of stone or wood and animal skins and powered by foot. Although the characters were set in the Stone Age, that never stopped the show's creators from producing a Christmas episode during the original series' run, as well as several more Christmas specials in the decades that followed.

When i was a little girl i used to watch The Jetsons in the morning before school (Re runs mind you) as well as Magilla Gorilla. Absolutely love them! I think any age group can appreciate a Hanna-Barbera cartoon!

 

Yes, I can sing the theme song. Am I proud of this? Not generally.

Essentially, the Flintstones was a cartoon remake of "The Honeymooners", and a not unclever one, either. Fred always had a scheme to make it big, and he was always frustrated.

 

I used to love the animals they used as technology. They always had a smart arsed comment to make. When i was about 7 i thought it was the greatest thing to have a dinosaur as a pet!

 

An exhaustive summary of the show: The Flintstones

I was right about the derivation from "The Honeymooners". Thought so.

Did NOT know that Mel Blanc supplied Barney's voice.

Shows the actual lyrics of the theme, which means I've been singing it wrong all these years.

 

It was a fun show, as most shows were when I was younger. But I am tired of that Christmas fruity pebbles commercial they play every year!

 

Yes. Classic cartoons. Back when it was OK to insult or still smack someone and everybody wasn't trying to teach us something. The great thing about the Flinstones is it holds up well today because ultimately it is simply an animated sitcom that touches on the same family dynamics that exists today.

 

"The Flintstones" was the first cartoon to be shown in prime time on its original run, where it was very popular. "The Simpsons" has now done the same thing, though for far longer (too long.)

 

Actually, I believe it was a different performer that did Barney's voice in the earlier seasons. I think Blanc came in later on. Incidentally, I think I liked the those episodes from before Barney's voice changed.

What tripped me out is that Fred's voice performer (Alan Reed?) was also the voice for Little John in Disney's Robin Hood cartoon. I never thought the two voices were similar.

 

The summary says Blanc started as Barry, but had a bad car accident in 1961 and was temporarily replaced while he recovered.

Three different men voiced Fred.

 

Scooby-Doo is a long-running American animated television show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking dog named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.

The group drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine", and solve mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to have a rational explanation, typically criminal plots involving costumes and mechanical special effects intended to frighten or distract. Later versions of the show featured different variations on the supernatural theme of the show, and include additional characters, such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo, in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

 

Scooby-Dum? Please tell me you're joking. Please.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Dum

Not Scooby's finest hour, but the whole "Scrappy-Doo" thing wasn't exactly something to be proud of either. Many considered Scrappy-Doo to be a jump-the-shark moment...

 

Okay, I confess that I watched reruns of it as kid. Just shoot me.

 

I have never been a Scooby Doo fan. I can't really give one particular reason why, it's just an all around dislike for the show, which is strange. I'm normally a big fan of cartoons.

Jinkies...

 

There's no reason to like it. The art sucks, the humour is infantile, and the plots are lame. But I watched it when I had no discrimination.

 

Classic formula animation, but yes, even as a child it was easy to hate Scrappy-Doo. But when you think back on cartoons with devices that have been parodied endlessly, Scooby Doo seems to top the list. From the classic Scooby-Doo ending, to the music montage doors in a hallway chase scenes, to Fred always falling for the red herring - the absurdity of it is timeless in a weird sort of way. And to think these guys worked with Batman and Robin, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the 3 Stooges. That's quite a wide-ranging demographic in and of itself.

And let's not overlook the pseudo spin-off Dyno-Mutt and Blue Falcon . . . that was good stuff too.

 

There making a third movie.

 

I didn't know there were two movies in the first place...

 

From Wiki: "Hanna-Barbera was an American animated cartoon production company that produced animated television programming and motion pictures for forty-five years between 1957 and 2001. Hanna-Barbera was founded in 1944 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera as H-B Enterprises, through which the pair used to do freelance television commercial production.

After MGM shut down its animation studio in 1957, H-B Enterprises became Hanna and Barbera's full-time job, and the company became Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1960. For three decades, Hanna-Barbera produced many successful cartoon series, including The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Yogi Bear Show, Jonny Quest, Scooby-Doo, and Smurfs, all of which would go on to become icons of Western pop culture.

In 1991, the company was purchased by Turner Broadcasting, primarily so that Turner could use its library of over 300 cartoon series as the basis of the programming for its new Cartoon Network cable television channel. Re-christened H-B Production Company in 1992, and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in 1993, the studio continued without active regular input from William Hanna or Joseph Barbera, who both went into semi-retirement yet continued to serve as ceremonial figureheads for the studio.

During the late 1990s, Turner turned Hanna-Barbera towards primarily producing new material for the Cartoon Network. In 1996, Turner was bought out by Time Warner. With William Hanna's death in 2001, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation, and Cartoon Network Studios assumed production of Cartoon Network output. Joseph Barbera remained with Warner Bros. Animation as a ceremonial figurehead until his death in 2006. The Hanna-Barbera name is today only used to market properties and productions associated with Hanna-Barbera's "classic" works such as The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo through Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc."


I did notice their names on some old MGM cartoons in the 50 Greatest cartoons thread...

 

Phil Harris is the voice of Little John in Disney's Robin Hood, not Alan Reed. Harris was also the voice of Baloo in The Jungle Book and Thomas O'Malley in the Aristocats.