Hanna Barbara cartoons voices..and animation

[Brendan McGuire]

Ooh, Peter! You're dragging up loads of childhood memories here. My favourite used to be Quick Draw McGraw and his sidekick, Baba Louie. From time to time Quick Draw would become El Kabong, a mickey take of Zorro. The name El Kabong is derived from the noise his guitar made as it came down on a villain's head. At the end of each show the end credits ran over Quick Draw driving a stagecoach. Baba Louie and a trunk fall off at the end, prompting Quick Draw to call out "Hey Baba Louie, are you allright?" the trunk lid opened and Baba Louie replied "S'allright" in a very un-Baba Louie voice. This must be a take on some popular catchphrase, because I've seen similar uses of S'allright in old Mad magazines.

[Peter Gray]

As you say another great thing about Hanna Barbara cartoons is the catch phrases and repeat sayings..
they are so memorable..
smarter than the average bear
yabba dabba doo
Snagglepuss quotting Shakesphere..
helyp helyp helyp!
Good evening Office Dribble....its Dibble!..
Hey T.C
Hey Boo Boo
CAPTAIN caaaavvveeemmman
Zoikes!!
I'll get you Penelope Pitstop..


Also the different laughs..smirks..giggles..evil laughs of each character..
You can see Quick Draw on youtube.....hope they bring out the dvd of the Quick Draw show like they did with yogi bear show and huckleberry show..which I love to get when money comes my way again..

[steelclaw]

Hanna Barbara greatest show for me was 'The Banana Splits' also does anyone remember HR Puffnstuff, pretty trippy stuff for the time.

They had some great cartoons on it as well, their was one cartoon where someone was always trying to sabotage something or another they were searching for something in caves and rivers, they were following a Initial carved on the walls a bit like journey to the centre of the earth.But I can't remember the name of it.
It wasn't Arabian Knights.

[Raven]

HB seemed to have an especially interesting and relatively ambitious output in 1968, perhaps the most stand-out being the live action Danger Island serial from The Banana Splits - directed with a very fast, still modern seeming pace by Richard Donner (Superman/The Goonies/Lethal Weapon, etc.), and The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

New Huck wasn't repeated through the 70s and I never saw it, but I think it was shown in the UK as I recall seeing a UK annual for it on Ebay, and someone remembering it on an archive TV forum. It blends live action with animation, and quite well for the time, considering that HB's all-animation shows themselves were considered to look cheap. Several episodes are on YouTube including a full length live action opening sequence where Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher are chased by Injun Joe through a cave into the land of cartoons. It's strictly for kids, but I think I'd have really liked this if I'd discovered it aged seven or eight. You may find it interesting to look up, Peter.

Also, have you come across The Funky Phantom yet? Shown on ITV school holiday mornings a lot in the Seventies, it's fairly generic HB but with another good opening titles sequence and catchy theme tune. The Phantom has Snagglepuss's voice.

Goober and the Ghost Chasers was also quite popular in the UK, the difference with this one being - if I recall correctly - that the ghosts were real.

And 1977's Scooby's All-Star Laffalympics was something of an event, a series which brought together many of HB's classic characters in teams (Yogi Yahooeys, Scooby Doobies, etc.) to compete against each other in sports. The baddies' team was the Really Rottens, and Snagglepuss hosted.


Steelclaw, I recall Pufnstuf, but from the 1970 film version which used to get Saturday and school holiday morning showings for years after. This wasn't Hanna-Barbara, but a Krofft show. The original series is out on DVD now. There is indeed something of the psychedelic about it.

Your other memory - well, there *was* a Journey to the Centre of the Earth cartoon series that the BBC showed on Saturday mornings. It was by Filmation whose cartoons, I think, could look even cheaper than HB, and may be what you're thinking of.

Other Filmation animated series I recall include The Brady Kids, Lassie's Rescue Rangers, Tarzan Lord of the Jungle, and Star Trek.

[steelclaw]

I found out that the The Banana Splits US show was different to the one shown on UK TV, so the cartoons they showed were probably different.

Raven I knew that HR Puffnstuff wasn't a Hanna-Barbara production,(I went off topic) it was just out the same time as the The Banana Splits and just came to mind.
I might buy the DVD.

[Raven]

I found out that the The Banana Splits US show was different to the one shown on UK TV, so the cartoons they showed were probably different.

Initially in the States it went out as the Banana Splits Adventure Hour but the original cartoons were the same as shown here: The Three Musketeers, Arabian Knights and, my favourite, Micro Ventures, which only had four episodes.

The BBC showed it in forty minute segments at first, but our later 70s repeats were certainly edited down to twenty minutes. The live action Danger Island serial was dropped, maybe so the BBC didn't have to show the whole series in one run.

The Banana Splits Series One is also out on UK DVD now, and sounds really packed. Apparently thirty minute edits of the whole series.

[Lew Stringer]

The BBC showed it in forty minute segments at first, but our later 70s repeats were certainly edited down to twenty minutes. The live action Danger Island serial was dropped, maybe so the BBC didn't have to show the whole series in one run.

The Banana Splits Series One is also out on UK DVD now, and sounds really packed. Apparently thirty minute edits of the whole series.

If they're 30 minute episodes they're presumably missing Danger Island as well.

I must admit The Banana Splits is one Sixties show I won't be watching again. I thought it was great when I was a kid, but now I just find it irritating and silly.

As far as Hanna-Barbera cartoons go, Huck, Yogi, Top Cat and Flintstones were my favourites. Limited animation, but they made up for it in witty dialogue.

Lew

[Raven]

If they're 30 minute episodes they're presumably missing Danger Island as well.

Lew

No, I think the UK DVD contains the complete Danger Island.

Available from hmv.com for £27.99 if you buy it without the free patch, or £9.99 if you buy it with the free patch!

I agree that that the Splits live action links are rather irritating and difficult to watch. Their little sketches didn't seem funny to me watching as a kid. There seems to be some interest for some people in the 'pop video'-type song segments - I think the BBC often omitted these - as apparently some quite credible psychedelic musicians of the day worked on the backing tracks.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I seem to remember a 'THREE MUSKETEERS' cartoon on BANANA SPLITS: I never saw this show much on a Saturday morning, but I remember seeing it on telly in the showrooms after coming out of the ODEON Saturday morn kid's club......

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Today, I saw the new Disney feature, the 'Princess and the Frog', and it's really good; CGI animated films are now jaded and ten-a-penny in my view, and hand-drawn stuff like this is a welcome return to basics.

Sitting through the credits at the end though, there seemed to be about 1000 people working on the film, which puts me off trying to get work in this field; and even some of this feature was a bit generic-looking....I only recognized one name ----Andreas Deja------out of the 300+ artists I worked alongside in the early '90s: this is a real transient industry, with none of the 'staying power' of the old-school Disney features.


This film is expertly-minted however ,with loads of surprizes, and striking design, and I'll be going back to see it.

[Phoenix]

I picked this non-vintage item up five or six years ago at Hemswell Antique Centre between Lincoln and Gainsborough. Just a reminder for those who have forgotten what the pesky meeces and the gullible Mr Jinx look like, and for those who have never seen them, well here they are.

[Kashgar]

Hanna Barbara greatest show for me was 'The Banana Splits' also does anyone remember HR Puffnstuff, pretty trippy stuff for the time.

They had some great cartoons on it as well, their was one cartoon where someone was always trying to sabotage something or another they were searching for something in caves and rivers, they were following a Initial carved on the walls a bit like journey to the centre of the earth.But I can't remember the name of it.
It wasn't Arabian Knights.

This was 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' as the stepping stone to the next episode was always the modern day explorers finding the intials A.S. carved somewhere at the end of every episode pointing which way they have to go. The initials belonging to an explorer from centuries before named Arnie Saknussen. (apologies if this is not the correct spelling)

[grumpy old man]

Let’s not forget the US punk band The Dickies and their 1979 speeded up version of Banana Splits (Tra La La Song). Their guitarist was Stan Lee (not THE one!)

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

also.....Chuck Wagon was in this group!

[AndyB]

On the rare occasions my phone isn't on silent (for work, church, meetings and laziness), my ringtone is the Banana Splits themetune.