When we were kids, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera ruled Saturday morning TV with colorful characters, fantastic voice actors and fanciful situations. They are credited for creating some of TV’s most iconic cartoons characters such as Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. But that didn’t mean that all of their shows were good. In fact, most featured stilted animation, overused gags and those endless looping backgrounds. But we didn’t care. We were kids. These guys produced nearly 140 different series, and not all of them were hits. Some were just so-so and others were downright weird. Refresh your mind to some of the weirdest cartoons ever.
Cattanooga Cats (1969)
This cartoon was groove-y and far-out featuring a band of hippie singing cats. Together they would travel in their own van avoid groupies. Most of their songs were highlighted with psychedelic imagery. The hour-long show also featured three other “normal” cartoons including Around the World in 79 Days, it’s the Wolf! and Motormouse and Autocat.
The Partridge Family 2200 A.D. (1974)
Originally, this cartoon was pitched to be an updated version of The Jetsons with Elroy and Judy all grown up much like The Flintstones spin-off, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. However, CBS wanted the series to feature the characters from The Partridge Family instead. Like the former TV series, the family drove around in multi-colored school bus … that flew. Danny Bonaduce, Suzanne Crough and Brian Forster, who played Danny, Tracy and Chris Partridge lent their voices for the new cartoon while David Cassidy and Shirley Jones chose not to. Susan Dey (Laurie) voiced just two episodes.
Jabberjaw (1976)
With similarities to Josie and the Pussycats, this series took place under the sea. The Neptunes were a music band consisting of Biff, Shelly, Bubbles, Clamhead and Jabberjaw – a 15-foot great white shark who played the drums. There were villains and chases and a lot of underwater puns. Like Rodney Dangerfield, the shark’s catchphrase was “I don’t get no respect.”
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977)
Originally a segment within Scooby’s All-Star-Laff-A-Lympics, this show was mostly a parody of Charlie’s Angels with a trio of crime fighters: Dee Dee Skyes (the brains), Brenda Chance (the scaredy cat) and Taffy Dare (the light-headed one). It was the “angels” who set the caveman free from a block of glacier ice. Voiced by Mel Blanc, “Cavey” was billed as “The world’s first superhero”. He hid random items under his hairy body and swung around a big club that helped him to fly. Together this quartet went on to solve mysteries in under 11 minutes.
The Robonic Stooges (1977)
What if the Three Stooges were really three clunky robots? That was the premise of this odd show which began as a segment for The Skatebirds show (similar to The Banana Splits) before getting their own show. But it wasn’t enough for them to be robots. These guys were superheroes made with faulty parts. too. Comedy gold to a five-year-old.
The New Shmoo (1979)
Using previous Scooby-Doo series as a guide, this cartoon featured a group of mystery-solving teenagers who worked for Mighty Mysteries Comics. But they had help in the form of a strechy, bulbous white creature known as the Shmoo. The Shmoo wasn’t an original character though. He was originally a character found within the frames of Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip.
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1980), Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981), Mork and Mindy (1982)
Like The Partridge Family 2200 A.D., these cartoons featured characters and voices from the popular sitcoms of the day. Many of the characters were voiced by the same actors, but the storylines were completely different. The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang featured The Fonz, Richie Cunningham and Ralph Malph who time traveled a space alien called Cupcake and Mr. Cool, a talking dog. Laverne and Shirley in the Army featured the duo working under their superior, Sgt. Squealy – a pig. In Mork & Mindy, Mork was a teenager sent to earth to observe the lives of teenagers. He was aided by Doing, a pink, six-legged dog.
The Gary Coleman Show (1982)
Capitalizing his popularity from the Diff’rent Strokes sitcom, Gary Coleman lent his voice and image for this cartoon series. This show was based on the made-for-TV movies, The Kid with the Broken Halo which Coleman starred in. His character was Andy LeBeau, an angel in training looking for a way to earn his wings. His supervisor was Angelica the angel and the antagonist of the series was Hornswoggle, a demon.
The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (1988)
This series featured Martin Short’s sketch character from SCTV and Saturday Night Live, two shows that most kids had never even seen. Each episode would start out fairly normal and then make a few odd turns. In addition to Short who voiced his own character, other actors guest-starred on the show including Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Arte Johnson, Jonathan Winters and even Tina Turner!
All Images: Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros. Animation
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