Next Hanna-Barbera set? (6 Viewers)

[JoeDoakes]

Trust me--your parents had a problem with the Saturday morning cartoons you watched. They moaned over the fact that the animation was nowhere near as good as the theatrical shorts they'd enjoyed in their day. Every parent who lived through the 60s-80s has fond memories of sitting around in their jammies with breakfast cereal on Saturday morning, watching their favorites, and they'd like to sort of relive that experience through their own kids. But times and tastes have changed--today's youth wants today's cartoons--exactly like yesterday's youth wanted their own shows. There's nothing bad or wrong about today's television fare. Your cartoons were not "better," they were just yours, and you have wonderful memories attached to them. Just accept what your kids like and want. That's their fond memories being formed as you stand by. Just tolerate the situation, as did your parents before you.

Not remotely true. My parents never complained about the Saturday morning cartoons I watched in the 1970s. The stuff my father liked from when he was young were John Wayne and Errol Flynn movies and when those were not on tv, he showed edited versions of them on super 8. However, he did complain about the Brady Bunch, especially when you could watch them for an hour and half or two hours straight on different tv channels. It's true that there is a tendency of people generally to look back fondly on what they enjoyed when they were young, whatever that was. But it is not true that the products of every generation are of equal quality. In every area, other than pure technology, quality rises and falls. It's simply the nature of things. For pure animation art, you won't beat the Disney and Warner cartoons of the 1930s-1950s. Although the animation of 1960s and 1970s tv fare was more limited, shows created during that time had a lot to recommend them: great voice acting (drawing on talent developed duirng the radio era), intriguing premises, terrific music and theme songs, and sometimes really great art and stories. Moreover, they were created with a mind to project good values and decent behavior. IMO, the last ten years or so have produced some really good children's programming aimed at pre-schoolers: Rolie Polie Olie, Max & Ruby, The Wiggles, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse really stand out. However, the often crude material that is sold to older children and finds its way to the Cartoon Network is CRAP.

 

[Ejanss]

Although the animation of 1960s and 1970s tv fare was more limited, shows created during that time had a lot to recommend them: great voice acting (drawing on talent developed duirng the radio era), intriguing premises, terrific music and theme songs, and sometimes really great art and stories. Moreover, they were created with a mind to project good values and decent behavior.

Never thought I'd hear anyone else pointing out the connection between "old-school" H-B and old radio--The first three seasons of the Flintstones had Bea Benadaret and Mel Blanc bringing their routines straight over from Jack Benny's show (complete with Fred constantly meeting the "Yeesss?" Frank Nelson storekeeper every time he walked into a store), and writers Michael Maltese and Warren Foster, among others, already loved to play around with radio and Jack Benny catchphrases during their old days on Warner's Looney Tunes.
As for "good values", back when there was the 80's Reagan-era push for "responsible" kids' TV, one survey pointed out that Fred & Wilma were one of the few times we saw an affectionately married couple in a kids' show.

IMO, the last ten years or so have produced some really good children's programming aimed at pre-schoolers: Rolie Polie Olie, Max & Ruby, The Wiggles, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse really stand out. However, the often crude material that is sold to older children and finds its way to the Cartoon Network is CRAP.

As MAD Magazine put it this month, "Adventure Time - Is it a gateway drug to LSD, or vice versa?"
I don't think that particular drug may have been the inspiration for it, but CN seems to have two demons on the shoulders of their programming department and no angel--One demon wants to make the network 24-hour Adult Swim for the stoner kids and Family Guy fans, the other still wants the thrill of passive-aggressively beating up on "outdated" old 70's-80's H-B Scooby and Superfriends reruns like they did in '00 when they were trying to bums-rush the vintage reruns off their schedules.
Between the two, they've now become a network of stoner kids making jokes about all the Saturday morning shows they remember from the 80's. A bit ironic, considering their famous slogan of "Some people want to watch the same shows they saw as kids...Scary, huh?"

Over at Nick, they still have a generation of animators wishing Ren & Stimpy would come back, and believe the look of animation has to be some squalid retro-parody of what they thought 60's animation looked liked--To the point that R&S's John Kricfalusi often says in interviews that he "doesn't want to go down in history with fans as The Man Who Killed Cartoons". Tough luck, John, we've looked at history, and the name is starting to stick.

 

[MattPriceTime]

I think the Flintstone Comedy Show will be 100% in original 1 hour format. The Flintstone Comedy Hour is the one that might not be though. It's second half-hour was reruns and the few new ones were already made available with the Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. They could double dip for completists but that's not been answered.

Most of the things "split for good" are problems with other owners or things caught up in the WHV/WA divide. These flintstones show shouldn't fit into those paramaters of course.

On a related note i did forget to post here that i took a chance a while back asking about the Ruby Spears orphan, Fangface and whether they would put it's "second season" aka the second part of the show on the same release. They didn't have an answer yet since it wasn't started.

 

[derosa]

I think the Flintstone Comedy Show will be 100% in original 1 hour format. The Flintstone Comedy Hour is the one that might not be though. . On a related note i did forget to post here that i took a chance a while back asking about the Ruby Spears orphan, Fangface and whether they would put it's "second season" aka the second part of the show on the same release. They didn't have an answer yet since it wasn't started.

Well, I hope you're right about the Flintstone Comedy Show. The 1979 prime time specials got me hoping for more from this era. One hour anthology shows made up from shorter segments are my favorite cartoon format.Which leads naturally to my frustration with the way the ruby spears show Plasticman Comedy Adventure show was handled on DVD. I wish they put the Fangface and the other segments together as they aired, instead of the chopped up version we got on DVD. And we'll never likely see the second season Baby Plas stuff either.

 

[Mark Y]

By the way, 1960s Popeye Vol. 1 is out May 7. Apologies if this has been mentioned already, and for mentioning non-HB in an HB thread -- figured it's semi-on topic since we're discussing Warner Archive projects here.

http://www.wbshop.com/product/popeye+the+1960s+animated+classics+collection+1960+1000384543.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=Search

 

[JoeDoakes]

Never thought I'd hear anyone else pointing out the connection between "old-school" H-B and old radio--The first three seasons of the Flintstones had Bea Benadaret and Mel Blanc bringing their routines straight over from Jack Benny's show (complete with Fred constantly meeting the "Yeesss?" Frank Nelson storekeeper every time he walked into a store), and writers Michael Maltese and Warren Foster, among others, already loved to play around with radio and Jack Benny catchphrases during their old days on Warner's Looney Tunes.

Interestingly, one way that animation purists had of complaining about the step down from the full animation of MGM and Warner theatrical cartoons to the limited animation of 1960s television cartoons was to refer to the television cartoons derisively as "illustrated radio." It's a term that's not altogether unfitting.

 

[Greg Chenoweth]

Interestingly, one way that animation purists had of complaining about the step down from the full animation of MGM and Warner theatrical cartoons to the limited animation of 1960s television cartoons was to refer to the television cartoons derisively as "illustrated radio." It's a term that's not altogether unfitting.

I agree, Joe, because they are two totally different forms of animation and they shouldn't be compared to each other. To compare theatrical animation with other theatrical animation releases is comparing apples to apples; the same is true in comparing TV animation to other TV animation. Since they are two different forms, it is not an accurate picture because full animation will always be the preferred method. As much as I enjoyed H-B cartoons in the 1960's and 1970's, there was no comparison with watching THE BUGS BUNNY/ROAD RUNNER HOUR on CBS or ABC. It looked so much better than anything else on TV and that's because it was - it was full animation.

H-B TV animation was designed so that the kids enjoyed the pictures and the visuals and the sound was directed at the parents because they would get the jokes. I remember my mom would be cooking dinner and would be laughing at the Huckleberry Hound cartoons and she couldn't see the television. She was entertained by the sounds and the gags; just like listening to old-time radio shows when she grew up.

 

[Ejanss]

Interestingly, one way that animation purists had of complaining about the step down from the full animation of MGM and Warner theatrical cartoons to the limited animation of 1960s television cartoons was to refer to the television cartoons derisively as "illustrated radio." It's a term that's not altogether unfitting.

Probably because the first prime-time cartoon, Crusader Rabbit, actually WAS static illustrations with narration. Not an auspicious start, in the early days of TV, but the creators did go on to create a slightly more fluid Rocky & Bullwinkle.

H-B TV animation was designed so that the kids enjoyed the pictures and the visuals and the sound was directed at the parents because they would get the jokes. I remember my mom would be cooking dinner and would be laughing at the Huckleberry Hound cartoons and she couldn't see the television. She was entertained by the sounds and the gags; just like listening to old-time radio shows when she grew up.

The "Illustrated radio" comment was also probably purist complaints over the emphasis on dialogue, since it was easier on a low budget to have characters talk than move. With the H-B shorts, though, that turned out to be their strength, as the humor was more in the old-radio silly/snarkiness of the dialogue, rather than the pratfalls Bill & Joe had used on Tom & Jerry.

Anyone of the right age remembers the days before VHS, when we had to audiotape shows off the TV speaker just to keep them. The dialogue-heavy Flintstones turned out to work just as well on "radio"--Had a friend who hated vintage-HB for the same complaints about "looping backgrounds" and cheap 60's animation; I played one of the audiotapes as radio show on a car trip, and he did concede the point.

 

[Brent S]

THE ROMAN HOLIDAYS, April 23

 

[Randy Korstick]

Good news on another HB title. This is one I've never seen except for one episode on the Saturday morning set and I only have mild interest in just like Butch Cassidy. But as a HB fan I'll pick them up down the road during a sale. I've just barely begun to watch Yogi's Gang and Hair Bear Bunch. The quality on both is excellent. Hoping we see Captain Caveman and some more 60's animal HB soon.

THE ROMAN HOLIDAYS, April 23

 

[Nebiroth]

Roll on Marine Boy then

 

[JamesSmith]

I'm kind of curious about the progress of the seventies animated Tarzan, Gilligan's Planet and The Adventures of Gilligan's. I thought they were supposed to come out last year.James

 

[Ejanss]

I'm kind of curious about the progress of the seventies animated Tarzan, Gilligan's Planet and The Adventures of Gilligan's. I thought they were supposed to come out last year.James

Warner may have Tarzan, but the Gilligan series were Filmation, so don't know who still has those.
And like most 70's retreads of 60's shows, the rights might still be with the owners of the original characters. (Which explains how the Addams Family and Sonny & Cher disappeared off the Scooby-Doo Movies set.)

 

[Greg Chenoweth]

I have heard of it but it wasn't one of my favorite H-B shows so I am going to pass on it. I have pre-ordered the Popeye set from Warner Archive and I can't wait for the BEST OF WARNER BROTHERS HANNA-BARBERA set that comes out in May.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

Warner may have Tarzan, but the Gilligan series were Filmation, so don't know who still has those.
And like most 70's retreads of 60's shows, the rights might still be with the owners of the original characters. (Which explains how the Addams Family and Sonny & Cher disappeared off the Scooby-Doo Movies set.)

Doesn't Warner own Gilligan now anyway? Kind of like how they could use the Filmation DC series due to owning the comics company?

(If so, it would be interesting to see if GP retains the MGM/UA logo at the end with the music from the theatrical United Artists "Turning UA")

 

[derosa]

There is an episode of the Roman Holidays on the DVD set "saturday morning Cartoons 1970s Vol 1
it's from 1972

Has anybody ever heard of this show as I came across this while doing a search on their website...http://www.wbshop.com/product/the+roman+holidays+complete+series+mod+1000405411.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=Search

 

[Regulus]

Roman Holidays is coming out this Tuesday. (Source: http://tvshowsondvd.com ) It will be one of the Titles I'll procure for my Birthday this August.

 

[MattPriceTime]

We are assuming that Gilligan cartoon is in the same issue as Huck and Captain Caveman is rumored to be coming out of. However with the one rumored to be out this year hope those problems are eventually going to be knocked out only increases.

As of last stated on the Plastic Man issue, this is the mess created by DC's soverignty over it's releases. So far all they have let go through the WA are there older live action stuff. Those Plastic Man shorts are still WHV's. So Baby Plas and Family Adventures are in the same boat as Scooby, Smurfs and Tom and Jerry...just with much less chance of ever happeing by them. Meanwhile Fangface and Fangpuss, Rickety Rocket and Mighty Man and Yukk have crossed over to the WA for seperate release. This along with the Laff-a-lympics probably being the only ones you shouldn't hold your breath in hopes of them getting reformated to the original block. Everything else should come out as originally done.

So shall we update that list? It's been a while:

Huckleberry Hound Show (continution): Long-term project they seek to restore it to original format.
Captain Caveman: Long-term project, rumored to be coming soon this year
Atom Ant: said to have been started several months ago, could be soon assuming it doesn't need a lot of work
Secret Squirrel: same as Atom Ant
Clue Club: said to have been started earlier in the year, probably won't take long

Things that could be coming based on comparisons of the polls:
Cave Kids, The New Hanna barbera Cartoon Series, Shirt Tales

Other Hints:
More Flintstones supposed to come this year
A post suggested several on a list may be in the works (not confimrative enough for me but could be): Galtar, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, New JQ and Space Stars were on that list post
Pure Hunch: Maybe the Thanksgiving that almost wasn't, could show up this year
Grape Ape apparently has crossed over and is in WA's possession. Does this hold the same for Mumbly and the Tom and Jerry Show? Is it now split up? Does this change things for Dynomutt, Richie Rich, or Puppy? Or have even bigger implications on Scooby, Smurfs, and Tom and Jerry?

Okay i think that's about it as far we know for rumors on the HB world of things. Did i miss any?

 

[Ejanss]

Okay i think that's about it as far we know for rumors on the HB world of things. Did i miss any?

Yeah: Is the condition of Quick Draw McGraw still beyond salvage?

(And no, I'm not being ironic: This was one of the funnier "early" ones, despite being singled out for special school-bullying during CN's HB-demonizing phase.)

 

[JamesSmith]

Where's Huddles? Was on a poll once. Saturday Supercade was mentioned several years ago. James