Hanna-Barbera DVDs in 2007 (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Handy III]

Earl Kress has posted in his blog a list of H-B DVD sets tentatively scheduled for release next year. And here they are:

1. Birdman and the Galaxy Trio
2. Space Ghost and Dino Boy
3. Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (Season 1)
4. Wally Gator/Touche Turtle/Lippy the Lion (Complete)
5. Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (Season 3)
6. The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
7. Quick Draw McGraw (Complete Series)

And 3 more titles are tentatively primed for DVD release. They are busy piecing together the interstitials and all the other fun stuff, but, judging how us diehard fans have been continuously burned by the slipshod fashion Warner Home Video have handled the H-B DVD releases of late—especially how they shortshrifted Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt, which I found the least forgivable of all!—I wouldn't hold my breath.

Still, let's hope (and pray!) WHV does better this time out.

 

[Stephen Wight]

Thanks for posting that Aaron.I hope two of the three titles that are "tentatively primed for DVD release" are Captain Caveman & The Teen Angels and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

The Three titles Earl mentioned in his blog all involve some Copyright/Legal/Intellectual Property dispute of some kind


As with Filmation, some of the H-B shows that were based on property owned by some other entity are owned by that entite (for example, Their Godzilla cartoon is owned by Classic Media, and Sony owns the 1970's I Dream of Jeannie cartoon). But here's some guesses as to what three titles Earl might be referring to:

The Smurfs (mentioned by at the WHV Chat as a possible 2007 release)
Josie and the Pussycats (WHV has expressed interest in releasing this in the Past)
The Remaining New Scooby Doo Movies
Richie Rich
All-New Popeye hour/Popeye and Son
The Gary Coleman Show {shudder}
The Addams Family
Charlie Chan and the Amazing chan Clan

 

[Mick Tees]

That's an impressive list Aaron. I hope Earl is correct. From the list you've mentioned I'm really excited about "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour".

Great!

 

[Ethan Riley]

Banana Splits question: how many episodes total? Also, was "Danger Island" ever actually resolved? I mean, was there a concluding segment? I can't recall ever having seen it...

 

[Will_C]

Also hopin' for Laff-A-Lympics and Captain "CAAAAAAAVE MAAAAAAN"!

 

[Mark Y]

Yes, in the final "Danger Island" segment, Link, Leslie and Dr. Haydn do leave the island, and they invite Morgan and Chongo to go with them, but Morgan and Chongo end up staying on the island. The final shot in the final segment is Morgan and Chongo standing on the island waving as the ship sails off.

Altogether, there were 31 one-hour episodes of "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," not including one 30-minute preview special (called "Meet The Banana Splits," which aired in prime time the night before the show premiered) and one special episode called "The Banana Splits And Friends" which aired the week before the start of the second season. In that show (which only aired once) the Splits characters introduced segments from other NBC Saturday morning shows, and interacted with some characters from other shows.

The first season consisted of 18 one-hour shows. The second season included 13 shows. In the second season, the "Danger Island" segments were all repeated from Season 1 (Richard Donner directed Season 1 of "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour." Tom Boutross directed Season 2, but the Season 2 closing credits were tacked onto the syndicated reruns, giving the impression that Donner did not direct the entire show.) I am not certain about this, but it is likely that the music performances (of the Banana Splits playing rock and soul songs as a band) were all repeated from Season 1. "Arabian Knights" cartoons were repeated from Season 1, while "The Three Musketeers" was replaced by "The Hillbilly Bears" (originally a segment on "Atom Ant"). The segments taking place in the clubhouse were all new for Season 2, and all different. New segments included magic with "The Great Fleegali," the superhero parody "Super Drooper," the sports-themed "Coach Bingo," a "gag wall" segment reminiscent of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," "School Time" and "Nursery Rhymes." (There may have been others which escape me at the moment.) None of these were ever syndicated. (When the Season 2 shows first aired on NBC during the 1969-1970 season, NBC repeated five selected Season 1 episodes after the last Season 2 show, before repeating the Season 2 episodes. These Season 1 episodes were re-edited to feature the last five chapters of "Danger Island." They did not simply select the last five shows of the season, but re-edited them to keep the Danger Island storyline in sequence.) (When the Season 1 shows were later repeated on NBC, they changed the openings, closings and bumpers to reflect Season 2.)

In the early 1970s, the Season 1 shows (only) were cut into half-hours and syndicated as part of the 30-minute series "The Banana Splits And Friends Show." This package consisted of 125 half-hours, but only 36 were actually Banana Splits episodes. Other Hanna-Barbera shows of the era were folded into the mix as well: Atom Ant (26), Secret Squirrel (26), The Adventures Of Gulliver (17) and the prime-time series The New Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (20, announced in the syndicated series as "The Adventures Of Huck Finn"). The original openings and closings were replaced with a re-edited Banana Splits opening and closing (oddly, from Season 2) and short 10 or 15-second clips were inserted (also from Season 2 shows) and redubbed with Paul Winchell's voice as Fleegle, to appear that the Banana Splits were introducing these other segments (there were eight altogether which repeated throughout these other episodes). Thus, the confusion with people believing that "Huck Finn" was a segment on "The Banana Splits." The "Huckleberry Finn" episodes, by the way, were the only ones which retained the original closing credits, and also the only ones with no inserted Banana Splits segments other than the opening titles. (I imagine this is for time reasons.)

In the early 1990s, when Turner bought Hanna-Barbera, the Banana Splits shows were remastered and shown on TNT and Cartoon Network (still cut into half-hours, but remastered from good sources in an attempt to replicate the syndicated cuts). There were some variations and some visual footage differed from the syndicated versions of the shows. The other Hanna-Barbera shows that had been in the syndicated package were not included, though all have since aired on their own. As far as I know, the Season 2 shows are still unaccounted for, although a few clips of them were used in a music video of "The Tra La La Song" by Liz Phair and Material Issue which was included in the special "Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits."

As a big fan of the show, I am of course very happy to hear that it is being considered for a DVD release, but I am also concerned that it is very likely to not be done correctly. I hope to be pleasantly surprised, and would be willing to help out in whatever way I can. I've read that they can't find the original Season 1 opening. I have it in 16mm. (The Season 1 episodes were syndicated in some foreign markets, and they had the original openings and closings. I have copies of two of those.) If someone involved in this set is reading this...you're welcome to use it.

 

[Mark Y]

By the way..."Laff-A-Lympics" (originally called "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics") was originally a two-hour show, with other Hanna-Barbera cartoons included in between the competition segments. In fact, "Captain Caveman" first appeared as a segment on "Laff-A-Lympics." (It was always the first segment after the opening titles.) As was so often the case with longer Saturday morning cartoons, "Laff-A-Lympics" was later rerun as a half-hour show and "Captain Caveman" was repeated separately as a show of its own. Some of the last "Scooby Doo/Dynomutt" segments first aired on "Laff-A-Lympics," and they were not included on the SD/D DVD. I wonder how they would handle this.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Thank you, Mark, for the wealth of information about Banana Splits. That cleared up a lot of confusion that I had as a child. I am just barely old enough to have watched the original network airings, and couldn't figure out what was going on in its early syndication days. I also recall Huck Finn as a separate series; but I believe it was syndicated by itself in the early 70s..."Hear that whistle blow!"

Also, are you saying that Richard Donner directed "Danger Island??" imdb.com isn't clear on that. I never guessed that Donner directed "Danger Island," although it does have some things in common with "The Goonies," so I guess it makes sense. I saw the remastered versions on cable in the 90s and I remember thinking that the production values on that film were well above average; it looked far better than most primetime series of its day. Nowadays, I generally think of "Danger Island" as a sort of kids' version of "Lost." I've always wanted them to cut the serial into a feature film and release it that way. That would blow my mind. I wonder if they ever did that, and released it during the early 70s "kiddie matinee" craze?

"UH OHHHH...CHONGO!~!~!!!"

 

[Mark Y]

Yes, Richard Donner directed the entire first season of "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," but not the second season. He also directed "Danger Island."

I do know Boomerang ran the "Danger Island" chapters all back to back at least once. I don't know of it ever being released as a movie, but it wouldn't surprise me, especially in foreign countries.

If you watched the syndicated "Banana Splits And Friends Show," you'd be familiar with the Huckleberry Finn song, since the original closing credits were left in. However, it is also possible that a local station could have aired those episodes separately. In Chicago, the whole package aired on Channel 32 (WFLD) for nine years. Afterwards, WPWR-TV (then Channel 60, now Channel 50) aired only the Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel shows. Initially, WPWR made up its own opening montage with clips and canned music, but later aired the shows in full under the "Banana Splits And Friends Show" title. (Still only the Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel episodes, though; they never picked up the rest of the series.)

 

[ethanTo]

What's up with "What's New Season 3?" Does this imply that What's New Seasons 1 and 2 will be out before the end of '06? Which seems unlikely!

Anyways, Volume 10: Monstrous Tails comes out in December, and that does complete the entire run of What's New, Scooby Doo? assuming it includes:

Uncle Scooby and Antarctica
Reef Grief!
Gold Paw
A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown
Block-Long Hong Kong Terror

The box art only shows 4 episodes (tvshowsondvd.com), but considering that the last volume, #9, had a 'bonus episode', I'm assuming that this last one will too.

Hopefully following the release of Vol 10, they'll make some sort of announcements regarding What's New sets.

But yes, I hope, like most of you, that the release of the What's New seasons doesn't mean they are putting the more classic Scooby shows on hold for ANOTHER year; there are still quite a few series to go!

[edit] I read it wrong, hehe.

What is Scooby Where Are You (Season 3)? Maybe they are going to release the "Scooby Doo Show" (without all the laff-a-lympic all-star stuff)?

 

[Shawn_C]

Good news. Thanks for the info. I look forward to picking up Quick Draw McGraw, Wally Gator and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home sets.

I really really really hope that Josie and the Pussycats the complete series will be released next year as well. It is a great show.

 

[Jay*W]

I'm also dying to see the rest of the Jetsons.

Jay

 

[Paul Miller]

Damn, I had hoped next year they would release the rest of Huckleberry Hound.


Paul

 

[Joe*A]

How about the Herculoids? Now that was fine Saturday morning cartooning. Glad about Space Ghost.

Joe

 

[Randy Korstick]

Wow! What a great list. I hope they do all come out. I will buy all but Wait till your father gets home. I'll second the request for the rest of Huckleberry Hound and The Herculoids and add requests for Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, Atom Ant & Secret Squirrel.

 

[Michael Alden]

That's great new about Quick Draw. That was one of the very few HB cartoons that was written on a little bit more than a grade school level. The only other HB shows that would interest me would be Peter Potamus and Ruff and Ready.

 

[Ethan Riley]

The Herculoids was spectacular. I love all the sci-fi, superhero and adventure shows from the 60s; here's hoping we'll soon see them all--

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Count me in on wanting Frankenstein Jr., and The Impossibles!

 

[AnthonyC]

I've been wanting WTYFGH for years now; great to hear it's happening. I might get Banana Splits too.


Seasons 1 and 2 were released as a single 4-disc set on the same day as the first season of The Flintstones.