I’m off from
work today, so for fun I decided to watch some classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons
from the 1970’s. Some of the selections
are shows I fondly remember. Others are
things I don’t recall ever seeing before, which is odd because with only three television
channels you’d think I would have watched everything possible. Maybe even back then scheduling conflicts kept
me from watching stuff- for instance, if The Superfriends was on, I’m sure I wouldn’t
have switched over to another channel. I
do have some thoughts about this selection of cartoons which might be contrary
to my thoughts when I was a kid:
Scooby Doo
is the template for many of the Hanna Barbera shows- the group of precious
teenagers, the funny humanistic pet, “The Mystery Machine” van, solving crime,
spooky ghosts, running in and out of doors and rooms in a house, and so
on. If you didn’t watch Scooby, you
missed out on a childhood pleasure and probably never watched cartoons. This episode has the cameo kings of the 1970s-
The Harlem Globetrotters- and a ghost pirate ship and a spooky inn.
I remember watching
Yogi Bear as a kid but the episode of “Yogi’s Gang” here is weird. It has Yogi, Boo Boo, and other Yogi friends like
Snaggle Puss and Huckleberry Hound but they are on a flying ark! And they get attacked in mid-air by a greedy
genie riding a giant flying lamp. It’s a
decent episode about greed and what is really important in life but I still can’t
get over the flying ark! Was a van too passé? If this was a recurring thing, I either didn’t
watch this show or blocked out the ark out of my mind.
Goober &
the Ghost Chasers sounds familiar but I don’t recall watching it regularly and
after seeing this episode I must applaud my younger self’s taste. This is an awful Scooby Doo knock-off- a
group of friends and a dog travel around in a van and solve mysteries. And for
some reason, the dog turns invisible when frightened. And this is not a big deal!
Amazing Chan
And The Chan Clan – seems to be based on Charlie Chan but it also throws in a Scooby
Doo type crime solving group of kids along with a Josie & The Pussycats
musical interlude with the kids at the beginning of the episode. For some reason the theme song is not sung-
it is whispered. Bizarre. This episode has them running around England
looking for some thieves who stole a royal artifact from the royal palace. Of course, a suit of armor comes to life and
chases the kids around the palace. Yep,
Scooby DNA right there and for the Josie template they close with another
musical number by the kids, although the Asian kids in the band don’t sound
very Asian on the song.
The Roman
Holidays- I have absolutely no recollection of this ever existing. It seems like a knock-off of The Flintstones
but with a Roman theme. The family pet
in this one is, of course, a lion. The family
is a bit more upper class though. The
guys all look like either Fred Flintstone or Shaggy / Fred from Scooby Doo and
the women all look like Ann Margaret or Jane Russell. It
could be that Hanna-Barbera used the same animation studio for all their shows so
they have a similar look to them. It’s
not too bad, for a kid’s cartoon.
There was also
an episode of Batman and Robin. All I
can say about that episode and that permutation of a Batman series is who the
heck thought Bat Mite was a good idea?
Bat Mite spent the whole episode creating havoc and putting the heroes
in danger by ignoring Batman’s orders. Then
when Batman or Robin or both chewed him out, he started crying and saying he
would leave until the heroes calmed him down and made him promise to listen to
them. Then 15 seconds later he ignored
his promise. Bat Mite is beyond useless
and annoying. He is Scrappy Doo times
ten.
Josie &
the Pussycats is like a female driven version of Scooby Doo but with several gratuitous
musical segments thrown in at various points during the show. Everyone knows about this show and probably
fondly remembers it. This episode has
them meeting Captain Nemo and preventing him from sinking all the ships he
encounters. I think Casey Kasem, the voice
of Shaggy from Scooby Doo, also voices a character on this show.
The Funky
Phantom is similar to all the other Scooby rip-off shows except that here one
of the people in the group of mystery solving friends is the ghost of a Revolutionary
War solider and his ghost cat. The ghost
is weirdly voiced by the person who also voiced SnagglePuss but the ghost is
the most likable person in the group. The
other characters are either vain, obnoxious or bullies. OMG- the villain in this episode, the “ghost”
of Jean Laffite, just said “I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t
for you meddling kids”! Talk about a Scooby
wanna-be! I kinda remember watching this
show but it wasn’t a favorite.
I still want
to see episodes of some other Hanna-Barbera shows I remember watching and
loving, like Space Ghost, The Herculoids, Atom Ant, The Banana Splits, but this
was a fun way to pass a couple hours inside with the AC on during a steamy
summer day.
Speed Buggy was
just awful. There is no need to discuss
it, much less to ever watch it.
Hong Kong Phooey, voiced by Scatman Crothers, features
the incompetent but lovable janitor slash martial arts superhero Hong Kong Phooey. I didn’t remember him as being this gullible
and lucky but it is still an amusing show.