If you are too young to remember Saturday morning cartoons, then you probably can’t fully grasp just how important Hanna-Barbera was to TV networks. When we were kids, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera ruled Saturday morning TV with colorful characters, fantastic voice actors and fanciful situations.
The duo are credited for creating some of TV’s most iconic cartoons characters such as Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and The Jetsons. And some of their cartoons like Inch High Private Eye, Hong Kong Phooey and Wacky Races were built around some clever concepts that were later repeated.
These guys produced dozens of different series, so of course, they couldn’t all be winners. In fact, most featured stilted animation, overused gags and those endless looping backgrounds. But we didn’t care. It was Saturday and it was better than doing chores or going to school.
Refresh your mind to some of the strangest and/annoying cartoons ever.
Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space (1972)
The original Josie and the Pussycats cartoon was loosely based on the characters of a young band featured on the pages of Archie comics. These include Josie McCoy (the lead singer), Valerie Brown (bassist), Melody Valentine (drummer), Alexander Cabott III (band manager), Alexandria Cabot (Alexander’s jealous twin sister), Alan M. Mayberry (roadie) and Sebastian the cat.
Josie and Pussycats traveled around the world performing at concerts and solved crimes in-between, much like Scooby and the gang. It’s a good show as it is, but it didn’t catch on when it debuted in 1972. So, naturally the group was sent to space.
The gang accidentally gets shot into space. Not a problem though – Valerie is smart and can steer the rocket ship! (A very handy secondary skill.)
The Pussycats land in different worlds, continue to get in trouble, and adopt Bleep, a little alien pet.
The series ends with the band still floating around in space! However, they must have gotten home because the next year, they appeared in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
Partridge Family 2200 A.D. (1974)
Originally, Partridge Family 2200 A.D. was pitched to be an updated version of The Jetsons with Judy and Elroy all grown up (much like The Flintstones spin-off, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show). But CBS had a different idea in mind. They wanted the series to be about a futuristic Partridge family.
The result is essentially a mashup of The Partridge Family and The Jetsons. The family owns a robotic dog (Orbit), and the kids are friends with a Martian (Marion) and a Venusian (Veenie).
Like the original sitcom, the musical family fly in a multi-colored school bus rocket ship to their performances. Original sitcom stars, Danny Bonaduce, Suzanne Crough and Brian Forster voiced their own characters. Susan Dey voiced just two episodes while David Cassidy and Shirley Jones chose not to be involved. This futuristic, musical, space comedy only aired for one season with 16 episodes.
The New Tom & Jerry Show (1974)
Walt Disney once stated that his company all started with a mouse. Hanna-Barbera’s company also started with a mouse…and a cat! This famous pair went back to the studio to create updated cartoons. The guys hadn’t aged a bit! However, there was something different about this pair besides Jerry’s added bow tie. In these cartoon shorts, they are no longer bitter enemies. Instead, the two buddies tackle difficult situations together as friends.
Sure, Tom and Jerry probably went through counseling while they were away from the spotlight but, this show was NOT what we were expecting. Why the change? Parents in the 1970s and some organizations were leery of “violent” Looney Tunes cartoons and the like, including the earlier Tom & Jerry shorts. So, what we found with this new show was a bunch of bland, mediocre adventures. No belly laughs here. Still, it was better than no cartoons at all, so we watched it.
The Tom & Jerry Show was paired up with a brand new character because Hanna-Barbera loved to create “package” cartoons. The Great Grape Ape features a 40-foot tall purple gorilla. Much like Groot from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the only thing that this character says is “Grape Ape, Grape Ape”. That and his size is pretty much this cartoon’s only gimmick.
Jabberjaw (1976)
With similarities to Josie and the Pussycats, this series features the band The Neptunes. They too often find themselves getting caught up in different misadventures with villains, chase scenes and musical sequences. However, this show is different because all of it takes place under the sea.
The Neptunes band consists of Biff, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead. Oh, and did I mention that the band also features a 15-foot great white shark who plays the drums?
Jabberjaw offers little to no help with The Neptune’s efforts to solve mysteries and catch bad guys. He sounds a lot like Curly from The Three Stooges, and his catchphrase is “I don’t get no respect.” But the shark was more fun. His character was more appealing than the show he appeared on.
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977)
This cartoon series is mostly a parody of Charlie’s Angels with a trio of female crime fighters: Dee Dee Skyes (the brains), Brenda Chance (the scaredy cat) and Taffy Dare (the light-headed one), although the Teen Angels were nothing like the “angels”.
Like all Hanna-Barbera cartoons, every group needed to some sort of mascot to follow them around. Up until this point, dogs were frequently used for comic relief, but here, Hanna-Barbera chose to use a caveman instead.
The origin story of the Captain Caveman is told within the show’s opening credits. The “angels” had discovered him frozen in a block of glacier ice, a concept that might have been fun in a different setting. Looking like a missing Flintstone character, the caveman was billed as “The world’s first superhero”. O-kay…
Captain Caveman always walks around with a bunch of random items inside his hairy body. His club is not only useful for swinging, but it also gives him the ability to fly, which even in a cartoon world, doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Together, this quartet went on to solve mysteries in under 11 minutes every week.
The Robonic Stooges (1977)
In 1965, Cambria Studios produced the syndicated The New 3 Stooges cartoon series. It featured a live action introduction by the actors followed by a cartoon short of the Stooges in cartoon form. Each character was voiced by the real-life Stooge. The cartoons received fairly good reviews despite the limited animation.
In 1977 Hanna-Barbera created their own Stooges cartoons that went off the rails quickly. Although the characters were the same, The Robonic Stooges were robots who worked for Agent 000 from the Superhero Employment Agency. The Stooges had special abilities including super strength, extendable limbs, rocket-powered skates and gadget-filled chest compartments. Of course, the gadgets didn’t always work correctly and chaos would ensue.
The Robonic Stooges originally aired as a segment for the live action show, The Skatebirds, which was set up similarly to The Banana Splits. That show was cancelled within six months, but the Stooges continued to live on their own for the rest of the season.
Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979)
The various versions of Scooby-Doo had been a ratings hit since it debuted in 1969. By 1978 though, the ratings started to sag, and ABC was close to cancelling the pooch. One solution was to add Scooby’s nephew, Scrappy-Doo, to the show. But that Mystery Machine was getting crowded.
After guest-starring in a few episodes, the show’s name was changed to Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. Many of us were not fans of the loud-mouthed pup, but some kids must have liked him because Scrappy stuck around for years. Scrappy stayed by Scooby’s side until 1988 when a new cartoon, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, debuted.
The Super Globetrotters (1979)
In 1970, Hanna-Barbera created a Harlem Globetrotters show about the famous traveling stunt basketball team. Meadowlark Lemon, Curly and the other players would somehow manage to get involved in local conflicts during their tour. To settle the score, the Globetrotters would challenge the “bad guys” to a game of basketball and of course, they always won.
Nine years later, the all-American team was back in an all-new series but with a big twist: they were now superheroes. And not just regular superheroes, their whole bodies would change when it was time for a fight. This was achieved by taking an element called Globetron.
The Super Globetrotters resembled HB’s earlier cartoon series The Impossibles. When the heroes were needed, they would jump into magic portable lockers and transform into their super selves. To make this show even more awkward, it was packaged with Godzilla cartoons making it a strange combo.
Casper and the Angels (1979)
Although Casper is still “the friendly ghost” who appeared in the old Noveltoons/Harvey shorts of the 1940s and 1950s. Buy in this new series doesn’t resemble the old cartoons at all.
Casper and the Angels takes place at Space City during the year 2179 (ala The Jetsons). Casper serves as a “guardian ghost” to Mini and Maxi, two Space Patrol officers.
In addition to fighting crime, the women contend with Nerdley and Fungo, a pair of mean-spirited male officers. The men ride in a flying patrol car while the women are relegated to riding flying motorcycles. (Which honestly looks like more fun anyway.)
Casper is mentored by a large, thousand-year-old ghost, named Hairy Scary. His job, apparently, was to model to Casper on how to scare criminals and troublemakers.
This show is a mess. It was made with elements from other shows all mashed together. It’s part Charlie’s Angels, CHiPs, The Jetsons and Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Pink Panther and Sons (1984)
There is so much wrong in this show. The original Pink Panther Show from 1969 featured the feline that was first shown during the opening credits of the Blake Edwards Pink Panther movies. The DePatie-Freleng Enterprises cartoons are unique in that none of the characters speak.
The original show ran for 10 years before taking a bow. Then in 1984, the Pink Panther returned to TV as a single dad.
Although the title of the series is Pink Panther and Sons, the elder panther is hardly shown. Instead, the show centers on Pinky (a pre-teen) and Panky (a toddler). They have a bunch of friends called Rainbow Panthers as each one is a different color. And they all talk.
Sure, the show is all about friendship, moral lessons and getting along. That’s all good of course, but it doesn’t really fit under the Pink Panther branding. It doesn’t have the same humor as the original shorts. Pinky and Panky don’t even look like him. I think he should get a paternity test. It’s a completely different show.
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is another case of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Scooby-Doo’s young fans just wanted more cartoons in the vein of Scooby-Doo Where are You! We wanted a show where the monsters weren’t real. They were bad people disguised as monsters. This show went in a completely different direction.
This is shortest of all Scooby-Doo series – just 13 episodes, one for each ghost. The story begins when Shaggy and Scooby accidentally release the ghosts and demons from within a temple in the Himalayas and they now must round them all back up.
Fred and Velma are nowhere to be found in this series. But Daphne, Scrappy-Doo and a young boy named Flim Flam (whose parents clearly don’t care about his whereabouts) are here to help. The group is aided by Vincent Van Ghoul (Vincent Price) who speaks to them through a crystal ball.
This show had a darker tone than previous versions of Scooby-Doo where the ghosts were fake. It all sounds pretty demonic if you ask me.
Popeye and Son (1987)
From 1978 to 1983, CBS aired The All New Popeye Hour. The popular show stuck to the traditional Popeye storylines. But in 1987, the sailor man got a makeover.
To make Popeye “cooler”, Popeye and Son barely resembles the source material. Popeye and Olive Oyl are now the proud parents of teenager Popeye Jr. He is their pride and joy except for the fact that he hates spinach.
Instead of his traditional sailor suit, Popeye Sr. now wears a Hawaiian shirt while Olive dons exercise gear and a sweatband. Bluto is married now too and has a son named Tank. Naturally, Popeye Jr.’s and Tank’s personalities clash.
The new show only aired for three months.
Do you remember any of these shows? Did you like them?
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