Hanna and Barbera Animation Direction Review

Beyond the good, beyond the evil, beyond your

wildest imagination. Ta -ta -ta -ta -ta! Puppy

power! Backy -boo! Uncle Scooby? Scrappy dappy

-doo! Scooby dooby -doo! Hello and welcome to

ToonCastBeyond's Animation Direction Spotlight.

I am one of your hosts TFJ and Mike, and joining

me is TV's Mr. Dale. Watch me trick Fred out

of his delicious fruity pebbles. Now I have to

find pebble commercials to put in this episode.

I can do both Barneys. I can do, uh, I can do

that Barney. I can also do the nasally Barney.

Ah gee, Fred. You know... The non -nasally Barney

is the best Barney. I like the old Barney before

before Mel Blank's car accident I don't know.

So we are here. This is animation direction episode

9 We get two left after this But tonight we're

gonna be talking about William Hannah and Joseph

Barbera along with everything else that they've

created This is going to be a very interesting

discussion. Oh, yes Oh my god, we're gonna be

here all night not really but I find it so funny

sometimes and I know you find funny things on

Wikipedia, but I find it really funny that they

list what actually happened to the Hanna -Barbera

Productions, Inc. They list it as fate in the

right hand corner. I'm like, fate, are you seriously?

Are you seriously gonna call it that? It just

sounds so weird and final and... I don't know.

Hannah and Barbera You know they with Hannah

his early career You know how we always wonder

what what certain starlets jobs were before they

get into what we know them for Hannah worked

briefly as a construction engineer and helped

build the pantages theater in Hollywood Sadly,

he lost that job during the Great Depression

and found another to get a car wash. Let's see.

Then he went on to do this silly little thing

called being a cartoonist. He got the opportunity

to direct his first cartoon in 1936. The result

was Two Spring, part of the Harmonizing Happy

Harmony series. Oh, wow. Yep. The following year,

MGM decided to terminate their partnership with

Harmonizing and bring production in -house. Hanna

was among the first people MGM hired away from

Harmonizing to their new Cartoon Studio. During

38 -39, he served as senior director on MGM's

Captain and the Kids series. Do you remember

that series? Because I don't. Not at all. I haven't

heard of it. Okay. I don't know, it might have

been something we might have seen somewhere.

Possibly. Let's see here. In 40, both Hannah

and Barbera, because by that time they were all

together by 1940, they started... They jointly

directed Puss Gets the Boot, which was nominated

for Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject.

So that was the beginning of Hannah with Barbera.

And the beginning of Tom and Jerry, although

at that point the cat was named Jasper, I think.

And I don't know if the mouse had a name. You

know, and I know this is silly, but... I really

love seeing cartoons nowadays try to spoof. I

mean, it's fairly easy to spoof the format of

Tom and Jerry. I mean, any cat can chase any

mouse. But just how certain cartoon series will

come up with different ways to spoof them, and

you look at it immediately like, hey! Let's see,

with Joseph Barbera, he... Trying to see early

career during high school. Barbera worked as

a tailor's tailor's delivery boy During the Great

Depression. He tried unsuccessfully to become

a cartoonist for a magazine called the NY hits

magazine He supported himself for the job at

a bank and continued to pursue publication for

his cartoons His magazine drawings of single

cartoons not comic strips began to be published

in a red book Saturday Evening Post and Collier's

The magazine with which he had the most success.

If that's the same Red Book I'm thinking of,

I cannot believe. Yeah. Joe Barbera published

in Red Book, the women's magazine. That's a little

strange to me. You gotta start somewhere. No,

no, no. I know. It's just... A lot of cartoonists

are also secretly fashion magazines. Illustrators

Hmm interesting. We'll have to see if any of

that pops up with mr. Jones later So He started

at Terry tunes He was lured away by a substantial

salary increase. He left Terry Toons in New York

for the new Metro Golden Mayor MGM cartoon unit

in California in 37. Found that Los Angeles was

suffering just as much from the Great Depression

as Brooklyn and almost returned to Brooklyn.

By the way, I think Terry Toons is the Mighty

Mouse studio. His first solo effort was a storyboard

about a character named Kiko the Kangaroo. Sternlein

was of Kiko on an airplane race with another

character called Dirty Dog. Terry declined to

produce the story and his autobiography Barbera

stated a set of his efforts. Quote, I was quite

honestly not in the least disappointed I had

proven to myself that I could do a storyboard

and that I had gained the experience of presenting

it. For now, that was enough. Yeah, really where

it really comes all in for for the two of them

is Tom and Jerry and 40 Barbara and Hannah both

worked alongside animator Tex Avery who had created

Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny for Warner Brothers

and directed droopy cartoons at MGM I love how

they have I Would have loved to have seen Hannah

Barbara Like, I would have loved to have seen

them at MGM in those days, because the way that

I read this part of the Wiki article, it makes

it sound like it's a police precinct, that Barbera's

desk was opposite that of William Hanna. So I'm

thinking of, you know what I mean? I'm thinking

of two detectives, kind of like Valiant and Valiant,

where their desks were pushed together and they

could look at each other. I would have loved

to have seen that. yeah that that would have

been just seeing hannah and barbara have the

desks together like that and and you know their

first moments you know meeting i would all i

would love to see that stuff i love the detective

office scenario because then you could have a

floozy walk in the door yeah absolutely um she

was troublesome Yeah, she was trouble saying

yeah So let's see here so they they pretty much

team up on Tom and Jerry and from there on it's

it's it's history I mean it's all animation history

at this point Warrior first do you remember the

very first Hannah Barbera cartoon you ever saw

oh? that's That would be very difficult to say

it was I'm going to say it was probably the Flintstone

just because that was in syndication at the time.

But you also have to consider that Tom and Jerry

was also in syndication. And at the time, I didn't

even know that was Hanna -Barbera. I never made

that connection until much later. And like I

said on other shows, too, like for the Tom and

Jerry cartoons, the old syndication package would

chop off the credits. So even if I wanted to

know, I would never have any way of knowing that

that was them. Yeah, I it was probably both Tom

and Jerry and the Flintstones for me There are

so many of the Hannah Barbera Tom and Jerry cartoons

that I absolutely love They're just are Jerry's

cousin muscles. Oh my god. I love that one. I

love uncle tax Uncle tax. Yeah No Is it Uncle

Tec? No, it's Uncle Pecos. That's what it is.

Yeah, yeah, it's Uncle Pecos. Yeah, I'll have

to put him in here somewhere. Can't sing without

a guitar string. Wow, I can't believe I actually

pulled that off considering I'm half dead with

a cold. But Hannah and Barbera, they... They

really are I mean along with the rest of the

you know directors we've already talked about

like Tex and You know probably in your opinion

to a lesser extent McKimson and and all of them

You know they are pioneers. I mean they've they

had been doing this Forever it seems like And

it's really hard for me to imagine time back

then because, you know, I look at time now, okay,

it's 2014, I'll be 35 years old in two and a

half months time. And it's like, where did the

last 35 years go? Or where did the last 20 years

go? And it's like, I can't imagine living in

the 30s and 40s and saying, you know, by 1950

or 60, oh, that was 30 years ago. I just can't

imagine that. But So we have them pioneering

with with Tom and Jerry What else should we bring

up before we get to too many of the actual production

company stuff In terms of like of them themselves

I don't know I Kind of want to get into the into

the in the end of the cartoons both the studio

or both the theatrical and the the television

side Okay Where do we want to start with that?

Well, did we have we exhausted Tom and Jerry

yet or did we have oh no you can never exhaust

Tom and Jerry because there's like I Almost want

to say there are like different eras of Tom and

Jerry. There's like There's it's hard to really

put into words, but there's kind of a classic

golden era and then there's and then there's

one where There's like an era where it's like

a much wider screen format, but the colors are

more natural and And it actually starts to resemble

their television animation, but it's much smoother

obviously mmm, and I again I'm having trouble

putting it into words exactly how how these differentiate

from each other, but yeah, though The wider screen

format is like the later ones, and that's where

they start getting more abstract. And they almost

kind of resemble Tex Avery cartoon to that point,

but not quite. I don't know. Well, when you say

eras of Tom and Jerry, I know you're talking

about specifically the Hanna -Barbera era. Yeah,

within the Hanna -Barbera era. Yeah, see, when

you say eras of the Tom and Jerry franchise,

all I can think of is you start with Hanna and

Barbera. Then the Gene Deitch. You sadly go to

Deitch, and then you go to Chuck Jones. I know

we're here talking about H &B, but I'm sorry,

those Deitch cartoons kill me. They just hurt

my soul, man. They really do. I kind of like

them because they're weird and kind of drug -addled.

I don't know how to describe it. And besides

they are leaps and bounds better than the than

the filmation ones. Well, yeah, but can we really

count that? No. That was a mistake. That was

like... that was like someone in the MGM offices

was like it was like you you you signed away

Hannah Marbera to who Tom and Jerry you signed

them away to what oh my god that someone got

fired that day i think let's hope yeah anyway

anyway um but the Tom and Jerry arrow Always

loved how they would do and and I know everyone

nowadays hates clip shows, but I love the I love

the short where I forget what the black cat's

name is off top of my head. I think it changes

I think the most common name for him is butch

Okay, but yeah, I love when butch gets or you

know gets with it the rest of his pals and and

shows all these bloopers and and outtakes and

all it's cuts of other hannah barbaria cartoons

you know it's kind of like it's kind of like

um hey tom remember this time when jerry did

you know and they show all the classic scenes

i love stuff like that um i don't know why but

i find the one where Tom is supposed to be a

baby. I find that so depressing and violent She

pours that doesn't she give him like nitroglycerin

or she gives him some sort of chemical castor

oil Castor oil that's what it was somebody told

me once what that was and I disgusting and I

don't remember I I see where where Ruger and

them got the the dark The dark aspects for Elmira

based on that. Oh my god. Oh Speaking of that

one of the best What was it the one the dog and

the kid that were part of Animaniacs it was Was

it Mindy and buttons? Yeah One of the best ones

is when they go onto the construction site This

is chasing Mindy and and they run into Tom and

Jerry and then and then Popeye chasing sweepy

the best joke How was the other one oh They use

this on Cartoon Network and boomerang all the

time for advertisements when they're talking

about you know Oh, Tom and Jerry, the cat chases

the mouse and whatever else, and they say Tom

is good with this and Jerry's good with this.

They always show the scene of Tom, Jerry, and

Spike with trying to hit each other, and Tom

always, uh, or, yeah, Tom always misses Spike,

but Jerry always hits Tom in the leg with a lead

pipe. Tom and Jerry is such good stuff. It really

is And the music in the just the background music

on the credits. I mean Scott Bradley was amazing.

Oh, yeah and Scott Bradley and Oh God Scott Bradley

and Carl stalling you had though if you had those

two together It would be the best music ever

for cartoons. It really would At least cartoons

like this What other Tom and Jerry bits do you

want to bring up? I'm just trying to remember

some of the funnier ones. I like the one where

Tom tries to poison the milk and it actually

turns Jerry into like a Hulk. Yeah And I think

back at that now like boy this they would never

air They'd be scared to death of kids going in

going in the cabinet under the sink and trying

to drink the Mmm train the Drano and shit like

that I Forget I know there's one I'm trying to

remember There's there's one where is it nibbles

or nibbles comes over and they both become invisible

And they haunt and they haunt Tom Yeah I know

there's several of those in the Jones era, but

I know there's at least one in the Hanna -Barbera

era. I will say the one that I really remember

the most, because it was so awesome, was the

ice follies episode. The ice follies short, were

they? They rip open the refrigerator. Jerry cuts

the cords and turns the kitchen into an ice rink.

oh yeah oh my god this is so funny um or the

one where they're um they're musketeers and tom

is the is the um the cardinal it's just such

such good stuff trying to remember if there was

actually more than one of those because i i seem

to remember different uh endings to that like

there's one where uh Where there was they're

coming back and they turn they turn around they

see the guillotine come down. It's Tom getting

executed for some reason Well, yeah that there's

that one and there's the one I was talking about.

Yeah the the guillotine one I think is Because

it was one of the Kings wouldn't The king wanted

to sleep and he needed peace and quiet, and obviously

a cat and a mouse running around the castle was

not exactly peaceful. And the king had said,

okay, one more time, and Nibbles actually saves

Tom at one point, and then the next time, you

know, it just doesn't happen and whoosh, Tom's

off with his head. That's one of the darker endings

of The Tom and Jerry Cartoon. Oh, absolutely.

I love the one, um... I love the Robin Hood one.

Oh, yes? Because Nibbles has to... Nibbles puts

on this Irish accent. Now, explain this to me.

Why is it that Tom and Jerry can't talk, but

Nibbles can? The little guy mouse, the gray mouse.

I never understood that. If I had to kind of

work backwards through a theory of that, I would

guess that the early cartoons, they just had

like, they were just based on silent shorts where

they could just do all this Buster Keaton type

stuff. And then later when they wanted to actually

do scripts, they were like, well, these characters

don't talk. So they would start introducing characters

that can, like Mammy Two Shoes and that little

irritating duckling. You don't like Yakky? He's

okay, but the voice gets on your nerves after

a while. He's no Donald. Well, no, he's no Donald,

but that reminds me of the one where he's like,

that's my mama. My favorite one, I don't remember

if it has that duck in it, but it's the one where

he's... He keeps pestering that the mother duck

or something And at the end he I think he runs

over the mother duck with the lawnmower and it

opens up her Yeah, yeah, and then and then she

calls for the husband and the husband Beats the

shit out of Tom Beats the shit out of Tom, yeah

So so awesome I Mean it's just so much with with

tom and jerry there really really is um i'm trying

to think what was the there was another one um

oh god the valentine's day episodes oh my god

there's a short where um Jerry's just ready to

continue the fight. You know, he's he's, you

know, woken up and whatever else and he throws

something at Tom and Tom just stares off into

nothing. Tom has gotten, you know, infatuated

by some woman cat and whatever else. And he just

kind of shoes Jerry away, just doesn't even care.

So then it becomes Jerry's ultimate mission to

get Tom back in the game. You realize just how

aggressive Jerry really is. He said he gets irritated

when Tom's not chasing him. It's like a domestic

violence sort of situation. You think that the

violence is only one way, but actually it's very

mutual. Oh yeah, no, it's very mutual. It's kind

of like Pixie Dixie and Jinx. Yes. Oh man. But

there's that one. There's the Muscle Beach one.

Where where they all go to the beach and and

Tom puts a puts balloons in his red suit. Yes

There's is it zoot suit cat again, I'm not looking

up titles people I do remember the cartoons because

as I'm talking them out I'm remembering them

and laughing about them obviously, but there's

one where Tom calls up this other cat And he

tries to be like really like this whole zoot

suit kind of 50s kind of style you know like

you know jive turkey and all that kind of stuff

and It I don't remember the title of it, but

by the end of it The suit shrinks and it becomes

Jerry's size so Jerry gets the cat the cat lady

for some odd reason and they dance and they and

they dance around in the end but it was just

it's just so funny because there are several

that is one time that tom talks the other time

that tom talks is again another love infested

thing where he's playing oh god he's playing

some and i don't want to say what instrument

is because i know i'm gonna be wrong and people

are gonna be screaming at their ipods and whatever

else um I don't I don't it's like a standing

bass at the one thing Yeah, he's singing to the

to the girl on the balcony. Yep. Yep is you is

or is you? For some odd reason the term oboe

was was flashing in my head and I don't think

that's proper but I think standing bass is more

more in line and I love that one because that's

one of the ones where spike gets tied up Did

you notice over the lifespan of the Tom and Jerry

shorts, they actually had to change the dog's

name? Because in a few of the shorts, his name

is Killer. Yeah, I think in a few, it was even

Butch. The name Butch kind of floats around from

character to character. And I think part of it

was that they wanted to differentiate the dog

character from the Tex Avery shorts so that they

were... So they didn't constantly have the same

name, so that one became Butch, and the Hanna

-Barbera one became Spike. Mm -hmm. Which, I

kind of like that the Hanna -Barbera one became

Spike, because then we got Spike and Tyke, Droopy

and Droopy. Oh, come on, Tom and Jerry kids,

that was kind of awesome. Some parts were okay.

I actually like the Droopy cartoons in that.

Those were pretty good. Yeah. There weren't enough

Spike and Tyke. Like solo things there, but that

was one of the few We're gonna kiddify a character

and actually how it work I I think the Flintstones

one kind of worked I didn't like the Flintstone

kids that much, but I did like a Captain caveman

and son for sure I Like how I like the show within

a show somehow Yeah All right, so we get to let's

see I I guess we might as well talk about Fred

Barney Wilma and Betty and Pebbles and Bam Bam

and all that good stuff So how far in did how

far into that series did Bam Bam even show up

it wasn't immediately right? I think he came

in around season four or five mmm, so he was

pretty late, but Yeah, the move to TV was kind

of rough for them because they were used to doing

this high quality animation like second only

to Disney and then they then they have to like

really cut the corners and They did so in a similar

way to what pantomime pictures and j -ward cartoons

were doing which was to layer cells on top of

each other so that you could have a static character

and then just have another cell where it's the

lips flapping and that's how they did the Flintstones

and rough and ready and the and the Jetsons and

all those early cartoons. Rough and Ready was

weird because it was like it was like a short

subject cartoon, but it was all like in a single

storyline. If you put them all together, it's

like a little movie almost. But yeah, that's

like the first cartoon that went to air and the

Flintstones. I don't remember exactly where it's

one of the very first ones they did for TV and

until. The Simpsons came along. It was the most

successful primetime cartoon ever. Mm -hmm. So,

yeah. Yeah, and I love the early Flintstones.

I think it kind of jumps the shark as soon as

you get the pebbles, but like the early ones

were, like I said, Barney has the nasally voice

and the art style is kind of rough. Like, hiya

Fred. You know, I love those early cartoons the

pool episode. I was watching that yesterday and

Goddamn, that's a funny It is yeah Yeah, I don't

know I guess it's cuz I'm so used to here I'm

so used to the episodes with Mel that when I

hear the nasally one it's like Wait, what happened?

Well, that is smell blank and I have a theory.

I don't know if this is true, but It seemed to

be around Mel's car accident. He was missing

for about half of season two. So they had to

have Dawes Butler do Barney. And Dawes Butler

was the guy who kind of came up with the dopey

voice. He was like, hey, Alfred. And so after

that, Mel came back and he had to do the voice

differently, or at least I think that's what

happened. Yeah, that's how we got that's how

we got the second Barney voice. I still. I still

love the second Marnie voice, because that's

the one I most know out of them all. What do

you think of them? Let's be honest. The Flintstones

is an homage for them, for the honeymooners.

It really is. I mean, it's clear as day. Well,

what's his name? God damn it, the actor, the

honeymooners. Jackie Gleason. Yeah, Jackie Gleason

actually wanted to sue them, but he didn't think

the show would last. He was not amused by that

at all. In fact, he knew Alan Reed. And Alan

Reed was like, hey, I'm kind of doing you in

this cartoon voice. And he never spoke to Alan

again. Oh, wow. Yeah. So he was kind of bitter

about that. But I don't know why. It was a loving

homage to that show. Yeah. Well, he got bitter

about this, but yet he doesn't get bitter about

the honey mousers. I mean, come on. Well, the

honey. uh... or and i i don't know if the i don't

remember ever like even commenting on that right

now seized over it's silent yeah for me uh...

i like when the kids because by this point as

we've already stated their they're doing television

and the flintstones had six seasons uh... i like

when they develop friends character And they

do stuff with him that you wouldn't think that

they would do or pull off. And like when he does

the multiple personality episode, when he gets

hit in the head with a rock, and he becomes Frederick

Flintstone. I love that. I thought that was so

hilarious. He's like, hello, Bernard. Bernard?

What are you talking about, Fred? What's going

on here? Are you okay, Fred? I love that kind

of stuff. And I love, um, I love the Great Gazoo

episodes. Oh God. Oh. Harvey Corman. You dum

-dums. Hello, dum -dums. Oh my God. This is so

hilarious. I love Alan Reed as Fred. He just

has this way subtle delivery sometimes. Like,

I don't remember what the situation was, but

I remember. Him having some sort of accident

with Barney and he says something like, Barney,

get this rock off my hand before I tear you apart.

Just because any other actor would just, you

know, I'm going to do it angry. No, Alan Reed

did it like super calm and reserved as he's threatening

Barney's life. Yeah, Alan Reed was the ultimate

and will always be the ultimate Fred Flintstone.

Other actors have done the character over the

years, but nobody can touch Nobody can touch

Alan's although the second guy Henry Corden yeah,

Henry Corden did a serviceable job. I think I

think he did as good a job as you can expect

someone to do I'm trying to think here interesting

movie called uh uh oh Jesus it's the one where

Fred's like a secret agent a man called a man

called Flintstone he sings a song and in the

song it goes from Alan Reed to Henry Corden and

it is to my knowledge the only time that both

actors did the voice in the same production oh

dang yeah it is it's kind of weird and then there's

the the Hard Rock Neighbor episode where Or no,

it was Loud Rock the character's name was and

it's Henry Corden as the as the loud neighbor

of Fred Flintstone and Hearing those two characters

argue you close your eyes and it's two different

errors of Fred Flintstone yelling at each other

It is so weird. I Think the only time and this

is no disrespect to Henry Corden, but the only

time that I really Paid attention to a difference

in the voice was the ultimate because we still

have to talk about the other family Hannah Barbera

came up with but the ultimate is when the two

families met each other because oh my god I remember

when Jetsons Meet the Flintstones came out in

87 that was one of probably 10 video cassettes

that I watched so many times that I eventually

wore out each one of those like Transformers

the movie, Secret of the Sword, which is He -Man

and She -Ra, Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. I'm

sure there are others that I'm not thinking of,

but you know, I love the Jetsons Meet the Flintstones.

And it's pretty much the end of an era, because

I think that was the last time Mel did the voice

of Barney. Yep. That was in 87 and he died in

89, so... Yeah, probably was and that that as

cool as that was I would have geeked out even

more if they had if they had gotten references

to The Roman holidays and wait till your father

gets home in that cartoon, but they did that

would have it's so awesome Like who are these

people? Over the years After Henry Tennessee

here Why okay, so I know this is an animation

thing and we're supposed to be talking about

Hannah and Marlboro But since we were talking

about the Flintstones here it kind of ties in

In 1994, I know you're gonna hate talking about

this John Goodman was the live -action version

of Fred Flintstone Thought he did a fairly good

job for the most part You know, I mean for you

know a live -action Fred Flynn, so I thought

he did pretty good I thought Rick Moranis his

rubble was amazing casting considering who was

out at that time as far as live -action actors

and As much as I love this guy that I'm gonna

bring up I don't think he should have done this

but in 2000 they did a sequel The Flintstones

in Viva Rock Vegas and he was played by Mark

Addy. Mark Addy is a wonderful actor, he should

not have played Fred Flintstone. I just don't

think he should have played Fred Flintstone.

Since 2001, it's pretty much for the voice for

cartoons, it's pretty much been Jeff Bergman.

The whole time. And he's really good. He could

do both Freds. He could do the Alan Reed Fred

and the Henry Gordon Fred. He's amazing. Yeah.

So, well, on that kind of spin off of that, Hannah

Barbera did some live action stuff. I think the

one that always that always comes to mind the

most is Kiss Me to the Fan of the Park, which

is a terrible movie. I Kiss mania must been running

wild at that point cuz I I don't get it. I've

seen that movie Anyway moving on Moving on Who

did you like better Fred or Barney You know,

I just like them as a duo. I can't really pick

because they both have their have their funny

quirks and It's like it's like who do you like

better Abbott or Costello? It's like well one

without the other isn't funny. Yeah, true What

is your opinion of Dino Dino I like Dino I Kind

of I kind of like the talking Dino, but I'm glad

it only lasted one episode is that what it gotten

old Yeah, especially with what would happen later

With the other dog in the other series Ralph

as Anyone who knows who Ralph as is you know

who we're gonna talk about in a little while

I like Dino. It's so weird to me. I I catch cuz

Uh, you know, I, I've said this, you know, between

podcasting and everything else I do for cast

radio network and whatever else mine and Steve's

network, but, um, most of the time I'm awake

at one, one 30 in the morning. So I'll catch

the old Flintstones reruns on Boomerang. Cause

I'll be waiting for the Looney Tunes two AM run.

Every time lately I've seen them when Dino goes

into run into lay in the chair that Fred vacates

He's not pink or he's not reddish maroonish Cranberry

sauce Dino. He's like greenish blue. Yeah, that's

weird. I Don't know what that was, but they must

have had that intro done way in advance and they

were like We're not gonna redo this That they

actually did change it several times though on

the closing. Yeah later when they had the new

Opening song that's a funny thing is that the

original opening that you just referenced? That

was not in the original syndication package that

I remember from when I was a kid when they when

they finally showed that on Cartoon Network I'm

like, what's this? Yeah, and and suddenly all

the music cues made sense because the early episodes

have a different music cue And it always seemed

kind of weird to me and then yeah than I heard

the original theme song. What's the difference

between the original theme and the... Oh, the

original theme is a different melody and it doesn't

have any lyrics. Oh, that's right. It's just...

That's right, that's right. Oh man. I believe...

Was it... They were a... no it wasn't a Jeopardy

category it was it was referenced on some game

show about oh god I'm trying to think what was

it it was one of those question -and -answer

game shows it was probably a rerun but it was

oh yeah I know what it was it was the the revamp

of Pressure Look it was whammy the all -new Pressure

Look and and they said you know The Flintstones

go rolling down the street courtesy of what?

And it's courtesy of Fred's two feet. I still

love the Flintstones to this day. You know, you

said it earlier. There's not a lot of cartoons

like the Flintstones now. I mean, okay, sure.

We have Simpsons. We have Family Guy. But that's

completely different. Like the Flintstones was...

the animated version of The Honeymooners. It

really was. You just look at it. You Fred and

Barney, that's easily, um, Ralph and, oh crap.

What'd you say? Ralph and Norton. Norton. Thank

you. Um, and you know, obviously Wilma and Betty

are, uh, Ralph's wife and Norton's wife. Um,

and then you bring the... The boss in Mr. Slate.

That's one thing I wish they did a little bit

more with that show, is show them working more.

I know the whole point is to, after they come

home from work, to have adventures and everything

else, but I kind of would have liked to see the

rock quarry a little bit more. Yeah, it was generally

used as like scene transitions. It's like, here's

Fred at work and then the whistle blows and it's

time to go home. All right, so since we talked

about the Prehistoric family shall we talk about

the family of the future? Oh, yes What do you

what was your initial? Now as an adult, what

would your initial impression have been on? For

the Jetsons to were you against it? Did you like

it was it was like? Where's all the prehistoric

stuff? What was your opinion on Jetsons? My opinion,

I loved the Jetsons when I was a kid. Just because

I recognized the art style as being the Flintstones,

but set in a different times, timeline or different

era, I should say. And I love nowadays, I love

the fact that it's kind of a commentary on how

on how modern conveniences kind of make us lazy.

It's like. George Jetson has like a three -hour

workday and he gets tired from pressing buttons.

He's got this demanding boss who's really not

asking him to do that much, but still he's like,

ah, that slave driver. I love that you have the

competitor because it's kind of a commentary

on capitalism. Unlike nowadays, it's not beating

you over the head with it. It's just kind of

like, yeah, this is here. Cogswell cogs. I love

I love the rivalry how it's just them selling

the most mundane product and they're very competitive

over it Well, you know all transformers need

sprockets and cogs I know but it's they're just

selling gears. I know And I want to buy him You

know, I love the Jetsons. I know a lot of people

don't like the 80s version They prefer the 60s

version. I'm in that category. I I like them

both because Again as a kid I wasn't you know,

like you said they cut the credits on some of

the old, you know shorts and stuff For me, I

didn't know the difference Like I wasn't paying

too much of a difference like I I kind of figured

that by the time Astro and orbiting joined up

that it was the new it was the 80s package I

kind of figured that out as a kid, but I Just

I don't know it all kind of ran together for

me What what made it so different for you that

you could tell the difference between them? I

think it's just it just comes from being an illustrator.

I Recognize an art style shift and all of a sudden

one day. I'm like, why does this look like the

Smurfs? It just it just that was the part that

came to mind. This looks like the style from

the Smurfs what's going on here and I realized

that there was about two decades of a transition

going on and you have the annoying character

orbiting and I don't think they brought anyone

else that I don't think no anyone had died yet.

So they pretty much had the exact same cast Wow

Well, it's true, like, that's about the era where

a lot of those guys are starting to die off.

I mean, not on this show, but Hong Kong Fooey,

you had, god damn it, Scatman Crothers, who died

in 86, so right about this time. So yeah, the

Jetsons, the later Jetsons are okay. Some of

them are alright, but as... On a whole I much

prefer the original series just because you know

part of it is that it's an overseas production

and there's something about overseas productions

it's like you you don't have the ability to kind

of work with the animators as they're doing the

as doing the art you're just mailing everything

over to another country and then you're waiting

for it to come back whereas in the 60s it was

all in house so the animator is doing something

the director can come right up to him look over

his shoulder and he goes oh that's funny but

do this that and that's that's kind of the difference

for me is that i could see all the subtle subtlety

and all the things that they're doing on the

fly and then in the later cartoons that doesn't

happen i had no idea until i just saw this but

Wilma Flintstone is in the Jetsons uh yeah she's

the robot Jane Vanderpyl, Rosie the Robot. Yeah,

that took me a while to get. She's actually very

talented. I didn't realize, because you're so

used to the female voice artist kind of being

rotated in and out. It's like Daphne and Velma

always had different voices depending on what

year it was. But like, Jean Vanderpyl, she was

in it for the long run. So I didn't even realize

that was her until like, I don't know, maybe

Jetson is the movie. and Mr. Dog himself, Don

Messick as Astro. Yeah, Don Messick. Astro and

Scooby, I'm sorry Don, I love you man, but I'm

sorry. Astro and Scooby, it could be brothers.

Pretty much. They really could be. As far as

the voice goes. I like it though, I think it's

cool. I think it's interesting. I always like

Astro Yeah, I know some people don't but I've

always liked him because You have to have that

dog character to you know Obviously you need

somebody for Elroy Elroy to play with because

Judy is so boy crazy. She's not gonna play with

a little brother Plus, he also fills the role

of Barney, because in The Jetsons, George did

not have that companion that Fred had, so who

do you have left? You have the dog, and it's

like, okay, let's give the dog a speaking role.

So that's why Astro works as a talking character,

but Dino doesn't. Yep. I think I'm trying to

remember here. There were several episodes that

I do remember of the Jetsons. I don't remember

which version though. They are from there's one

where Jane is has buttonitis or something where

she's so stressed out about pressing button She

goes to a dude ranch for a week. Oh, yeah There's

the one where again first world problems Jane

There's the one where George is leading Elroy's

scout troop. Oh, yeah, and they have to bring

along Cosmo's son Or Nephew or no, I think it

is Spacely's son. I don't remember off the top

of my head What do you think about the theme

song Don't know it's a good theme. So it's not

as catchy as the Flintstones. I don't think because

I don't know it's it's I Don't know how to describe

it, but it's not as catchy. It's not something

you can just hum It's like that that that that

and I don't know the Flintstones song is much

smoother So you could like you could whistle

it people know what it was or it's a Justin's,

you know Yeah, I Like that that was their door

bell yeah that is awesome yeah that's so cool

yeah the Jetsons were were pretty awesome I do

remember I think I think it's on the interview

with Andrea Romano for Rob Paulson's Talking

Tunes podcast this was a couple of years ago

they have she tells a story About George Hanlon.

Yeah about when he passed away and how sick he

was and That he pretty much passed away doing

the voice of George Jetson. Yeah Jetson's the

movie is Kind of weird to watch because you can

tell that it's not him the whole way through

I think I think it was Jeff Bergman who filled

in for both him and Mel Blanc for both George

and Mr. Spacely And you can kind of hear it going

in and out. It's subtle that maybe you wouldn't

catch it, but I can catch it. Right. And Mel

is Mr. Spacely. We're going to have to hold off

on really gushing about Mel because we're going

to do a whole episode about him. George O 'Hanlon,

the last thing he did as an actor was Jetsons

the movie. And Okay, sure. There is a break because

Okay, the original series for the Jetsons only

was one season right 62 to 63, right? Which IMD

make IMDb makes it look kind of weird they have

it listed as 62 to 87 but whatever That's a very

weird way to list it. I know what they're doing.

But yeah, that's not that's not accurate I'm

trying to see who was yeah, Jeff Bergman pretty

much Took over After Hanlon died. Yeah, the same

thing is that actress you just mentioned What's

her name? I'm sorry under pile or no the voice

of Judy Jetson. Oh Janet Janet Waldo She actually

recorded all the lines for Judy for that movie

and then they replaced her with Tiffany. Yeah,

I remember that. Which was the dumbest thing

ever. Worst thing ever. Thanks, Dad. Oh my god.

Just so bad. Anything else you want to talk about

on the Jetsons? Not really. I think we exhausted

the Jetsons. All right. Well, there is no exhaustion

for a pup named Scooby -Doo, right? Oh, yes.

That's a good show, but we're going to be talking

about the original, aren't we? Yeah. Scooby -Doo

and its many incarnations. And the hatred that

this series has gotten over the years. I don't

understand it. I don't understand it either.

Like, I get it. It's very procedural. Oh my god,

Scooby -Doo is the first cartoon crime procedural

we've ever had. When you think about it in just

a cartoon way. Like, you don't see a lot of Scooby

-type cartoon characters doing what they did.

But Scooby -Doo, where are you? Scooby -Doo...

Don't know what else it was called. It was called

many different things over the years Well, it

had various different production names and Production

numbers and that's why they have all different

titles for the show even though it's more or

less the same program but Yeah, I think I think

the reason why scooby -doo is kind of maligned

although sometimes lovingly is just that That's

the cartoon where the shortcuts of Hannah Barbera

are like the most apparent you know where they're

using the same cells over and over and the same

run cycles mm -hmm and The rotating background

was just the same door going by over and over

It's like only all the stuff that you see that's

like done to death and the filmation cartoons

started here So I was gonna say scooby -doo was

the birth of Stock animation. Yeah, but somehow

they did it in a way that it wasn't as noticeable

true true You know scooby he There are certain

Cartoons that I like from scooby -doo. Where

are you and I'm just gonna call it scooby -doo.

Where are you and whatever? It's you know multiple

Versions but there are certain episodes. I like

certain episodes. I can't stand but Outside of

his radio gigs, I think this is the first time

I ever heard Casey Kasem as Shaggy Yeah, we did

a show about him and I don't think he I think

he did Shaggy and Cliff jumper and I don't remember

much else And I was trying to remember and I'm

like wow he didn't really do a lot did he Yeah

Is he still on ice by the way, I think as of

this long as of this recording he's still in

a freezer somewhere You had to bring that up

didn't you? God worst shaggy ever. I'm not good

at shaggy. It just it just Just I know I didn't

know Casey case him at all. I've never had a

chance to meet the guy I would love to but just

the way his life turned out just Makes me so

sad. It really does She that woman just destroyed

his life. She's crazy. Yeah She's crazier than

half the scooby villains. Yeah I remember Ralph

Garman made a joke about it. When he was close

to death, the family got him back away from his

wife. When she was trying to get him out of the

country and they intercepted that, Ralph Garman

made a joke that she would have gotten away with

it if not for those meddling kids. Oh my god.

Greatest joke ever. Think that's the most reused

joke ever. Yes When it comes to cartoon jokes,

that's the most reused joke ever So we also so

with scooby -doo we have Don message is scooby

if Casey is shaggy In the original in where are

you the first three seasons of where are you?

We have Nicole Jaffe as Velma and we have Someone

I cannot even pronounce Stefiana Yeah, Christopherson.

There we go. Crystal area as Daphne for 17 episodes

and then we have the man the voice the guy who

I Think at this point because he's still with

us has probably surpassed Mel blank as far as

man of a thousand voices. Yeah Mr. Frank Welker

as Freddie Jones as Fred Jones and still playing

that role today And I believe also the the highest

grossing movie actor of all time just because

he's been in so many goddamn movies Now if you

if you look at it like if there was currently

a scooby series running which there isn't Scooby

-Doo mystery incorporated was the last one but

if you Say there was a Scooby -Doo series going

on right now in 2014. I almost called him Fred.

I almost called him Fred Welker. Wow. Frank Welker

would have been playing Freddy for 45 years.

I can't, I just, wow. And it's basically just

his voice. That's the funny thing is that he's

known for being able to disguise his voice to

all these goofy Sounds and animal whimpers and

all that and his most prolific role is himself

Yeah, pretty much But you know scooby -doo, where

are you it was interesting I like some of the

episodes They do kind of tend to be repetitive

after a while if you watch more than one at one

time Yeah, like if you watch a block of six episodes

of the show, you're gonna get tired. You're gonna

get bored but If you watch one every now and

then it's like oh, hey, I remember that where

I really came in though was The movies the new

scooby movies. I love those team -ups. I don't

care what anyone says You mean the Harlem Globetrotters,

or Scooby -Doo meets Batman and Robin, or Scooby

-Doo meets the Addams Family, or what? It's like,

this stuff is so cool. Oh, Robin, that's the

other Casey Gason role I wasn't thinking of.

Yup, yup. Robin, yup. Do you ever see Frank Caliendo

do Robin as Casey Gason? I think so, yeah. Look,

Batman, it's a letter from the Riddler. And he

writes. It does. I love that bit. Just looking

at their at Hannah and Barbera's filmography,

I mean, you know, you've got so many other shows

So many other versions of Scooby Josie and the

Pussycats Help it's the hair bear bunch. That's

one that I've never never thank God it only had

two episodes, but this is one that I never really

cared for um hair very much that a bunch of episodes

i actually like that it's it's kind of like disco

yogi because he has this big bear afro and uh

it's kind of like uh it is it is kind of like

yogi because the the the zookeeper kind of looks

like ranger smith yeah now that i think about

it yeah that was kind of a fun show i thought

because but it's in that later 70s style so it's

like a bit It's like that that kind of maligned

era of Hannah Rivera that people don't really

like You know the same era that brought us like

wheelie and the chopper bunch And then you have

stuff like one of my all -time just for the characters

not necessarily for the cartoon itself But just

for the characters because what they show up

in beforehand and after hand Dastardly and mutley

and they're flying machines Mutt Lee Mutt Lee

not Mumbly Mutt Lee. I don't care what anyone

says. It's Mutt Lee I don't know why they had

to change it to Mumbly. Maybe it was a copyright

thing or something I have no clue, but it'll

always be dastardly and Mutt Lee They had some

I'll get you back this like they had some copyright

issues with a couple of the shows I know but

it was it was mostly the stuff that they had

obviously Licensed like like the genie cartoon.

They don't own that The not the super globetrotters

cartoon, but the original globetrotters cartoons

that they don't own And there's one other one.

Oh, it's Adam's family 20 2200, but I don't think

anyone is asking to see that one You had Paul

Winchell as dick dastardly yeah and Don Messick

as mutley Don Messick as mutley is everybody

Even if you don't know That it's Don Messick,

but everybody knows how mutley mumbles It's like

oh, it's just something that And I love their

their interaction with each other between dastardly

and mutley. I have a clip that I'll put in here

somewhere where Dictatiously says all right mutley

if you don't do this you're not gonna get a medal

and mutley's like medal yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

and it's like it's like wow instead of giving

which is so cool though because dastardly and

mutley instead of um instead of dastardly giving

him a mutley snack like a scooby snack uh he

gives him a medal it's just so so hilarious um

some of their other series um the peter potter

show Just some of these characters that they

created over the years the Peter Potamus show

We've got grape ape grape ape grape ape McGilligarilla

McGilligarilla was who was Sam the butcher from

from the Brady Bunch Let's see what else we got

Wait, what? What? Oh, no, I'm looking at Hannah's

IMDB and it says he was a Executive producer

which we all know how much that title really,

you know what that really entails. It's everything

Mork and Mindy Laverne and Shirley Fonzauer.

I'm like, wait That's during the sad days I yes,

you know anything with Paul Linden it because

I love Paul in He did Mildew Wolf, he did the

Hooded Claw, I'll get you Penelope Pitstop. You

know why the Hell's Angels wear black leather?

Because Siobhan wrinkles. Wow, you do that actually

well. I love Paulin. Let's see here. So let's

Whoa, they were pretty he was a producer on super

friends. Holy crap. That was a hit of a rare

show wasn't Wow. I figured all about that. Yeah

All right, so we got to talk about wacky races

wacky races and laugh Olympics laugh Olympics.

Oh my god The yogi yahoo is the the scooby -doobies

and the really rotten's I Love laugh Olympics

That was such a great interesting show. It was

an interesting show to bring all the characters

together It was like the ultimate Hanna -Berbera

crossover at that time. Yeah. Mm -hmm. And then

Wacky Races produced some great characters I

mean, that's pretty much where Dastardly and

Mutley came from, right? And Penelope Pitstop

and yeah and the I'm trying to remember the little

gangsters. They were Oh, the Anhill Mob. Yeah,

the Anhill Mob, who were in the Peril's Penelope

pit stop for some reason. But yeah, that was

a weird cartoon. Well, because they had to always

savor from snardly snard guys. You always thought

they were the bad guys in the other cartoon.

That's where the Anhill Mob actually started

to diversify into characters. Because they really

weren't characters in the first cartoon at all.

What did you think of Wacky Races? Wacky Races?

I love Wacky Races. I know I keep saying I love

that cartoon. I love this era of Hannah of Hannah

Barbera, but that cartoon was just it was just

mindless fun because it was the same plot over

and over but it was just like it was just gag

after gag after gag and and it was always that

that Dick Dastley was trying to cheat to win

and he'd always come in last. Yep. Think there

was one time he came in first, but then they

said oh well you did this so you're disqualified

um III love wacky races between wacky races and

laugh Olympics if I had those on DVD I Would

watch those I would just I Just go in lay down

and just close my eyes and listen. I wouldn't

even watch the anime. It's just all the voices

in like wacky races, especially. I think why

I love wacky races so much is the narrator. The

narrator was the best part about wacky races

because in laugh Olympics, you had snag and,

and, um, yeah, again, all in. Yeah. Yeah. Snag

and mildew. Uh, You can always tell that snag

was was the the upbeat full -on funny comedy

guy and and mildew was the dark coven is like

Like really brought it around to a really serious

point of a joke. Yeah And so, all right, so there's

that. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not gonna be

able to get all that Hanna -Barbera have done,

but we're trying to hit all the high points.

I guess we could talk about Yogi Bear next. Yeah,

we're gonna skip the go -bops. Skip them, hell.

Just send them to Megatron. They never existed.

You know, there's a joke in Transformers comics

where Psykill keeps getting killed by Megatron

over and over. I've seen that. Yeah, Yogi Bear.

It was a while before I'd seen Yogi Bear because

he was not in syndication around here until like

the very late 80s. In fact, I think the Yogi

Bear cartoon had actually replaced the Transformers

in the afternoon block that I was watching at

the time. And at first I was very pissed. Then

I was like, oh wait, this is Yogi Bear. I had

wanted to see this for so many years. And that

was when they started making new yogis, just

like how they were making new... Jeff's cartoons,

but first they showed all of the old yogis and

I just binged on that every single afternoon

and I loved them I Just wanted a picnic basket

basket ranger Smith, sir. I Can't do yogi. I

know our good buddy My good buddy The network's

good buddy Brian Ward, one of the DVD producers

over at Shod Factory, he does a damn good Yogi.

Yogi Bear is very hard to do because you can't

just impersonate Yogi. You have to kind of figure

out what the original actor is doing, which he

was impersonating Art Carney. You have to kind

of go to Art Carney and then bring the Yogi out.

Yeah, yeah. But I love Yogi Bear. I love all

the characters that that kind of spawned out

of that. You know, the guy just wants to eat.

He's a hungry bear. Yeah, and he rapidly rose

as the star of Hannah Barbera. He was actually

originally a like a like a second or third cartoon

on the Huckleberry Hound show. And they were

like, this bear cartoon is really funny. His

own show. Well, with Huck, I mean, Huck, you

can do stuff with Huckleberry Hound. They did

a lot of stuff with Huckleberry Hound. But Huck

can only go so far. Yeah, the country bumpkin

thing, it's funny, but it's not as funny as this

bear who keeps trying to pull rank on the ranger

because he's a government -protected bear, and

he's like, I have my rights! You know, that shit

is funny. It is very funny. Oh man, I know they'll

never do this, but I really wish that they would

change Smokey into Yogi. I know they won't do

that, but anyway. They actually did a PSA that

was kind of like that. It was Yogi Bear talking

about how you should put out your cigarettes

and douse your fire when you're at a campsite.

Fight forest fires, yeah. Alright, let's see

here. What was your favorite Yogi special? Because

there were plenty of specials in movies and all

that good stuff. Oh, I'm going to cheat and go

right for Hey There It's Yogi Bear, which is

the theatrical movie. That one is really good.

It has a lot of good songs. One of the few cartoons

that has musical numbers that I really like.

The songs are good. It's basically Yogi. Yogi

gets in so much trouble that they try to send

him to the zoo. but they send Cindy instead and

he goes, or no, maybe I got it backwards. I don't,

I forget how it goes, but it basically results

in Yoki and Cindy going on the grand adventure

across the country. And then like at the very

end, Ranger Smith comes in a helicopter and takes

it back. It is, it is a great cartoon, very well

animated, like almost Disney -esque animation.

But some of the later ones were okay. There was

one I didn't like, which was Yogi Bear meets

Casper for some reason. Yeah, that one was a

little wonky. There was a Christmas one where

he resisted the urge to hibernate just so he

could have his first Christmas. That one was

like another massive crossover with all the Hanna

-Rivera stars of that time. Absolutely, yeah.

I think for me, my favorite one, I don't know

why, and I honestly have no idea why, but I think

it's because the one I remember the most is Yogi

Bear and the Spruce Goose. Yeah, I don't remember

that one. I just remember it being like this

giant plane. It's basically parodying Howard

Hughes, you know. Trying to think for other Hannah

Barbera stuff we talked about that like he races

We brought up quick from a griot. Oh, no, we

got to talk about quick straw There's I know

we're gonna talk with the classic stuff, but

There was a couple of things. I think they were

either on boomerang or Cartoon Network or whatever.

It's all the same, but really, really crude drawings

of, uh, Queek Straw and, and Baba Louie where

at one point he's out in the country and there's

no crime during the fight. So he goes to the

city and all the city crime that he defeats in

the city. Um, and part of it. Babaloo is like,

you should see the things that he's doing off

camera. And it tires him out because he gets

rid of all the crime in the city and all the

criminals go back out to the country. But it

was just some really, really crude animation

drawings of the characters. I like Quickdraw.

I like him when he's in... Character like when

he's the sheriff of a town or or or something

like that What what is it about him that you

like the best? Oh Come on Which exists for no

reason because he's already the hero of the story,

but he has this for some reason to have a superhero

identity So you're the sheriff what the Oh man,

yeah, it's crazy. I always liked Baba Louie in

those cartoons though because he always was the

the one to kind of bring quick straw back and

and I know I'm saying it like Baba Louie and

I just can't stop because every time I hear Baba

Louie calling quick straw, that's all I can you

call him. That was that was kind of a formula

the sheriff and his his kind of mentally slow

Hispanic sidekick. That was a formula that they

had used again for Ricochet Rabbit. Oh, God,

yeah. Ricochet Rabbit. I just remember Mel Blanking.

God, how did that line go? He said something

like, Mr. Ricochet. I can't do that voice, but

just kind of a slow witted buffoon who would

always follow around the... the sheriff and be

the catalyst for many, many jokes. Absolutely.

So let's see here. I guess we should probably

talk about the Smurfs. Briefly. I don't think

we have to. Smurfs, snorts. The Smurfs is kind

of where things go downhill. It I like brainy

and clumsy but everything else about the Smurfs

is just such a drag Because it's all it's all

very You know what? It just feels like it's a

cartoon about a big commune So it's a lot of

we're gonna help each other. We're gonna go it's

just so relationship friendly nothing ever goes

wrong type storytelling and that's why brainy

and clumsy are such a breath of fresh air because

you have the the egomaniac and his bumbling sidekick

of course clumsy clumsy clumsy good lord oh boy

um let's see here uh they yet him over did snarks

didn't yet it was basically smurfs underwater

i'd like to start a lot better than the smurfs

though yeah they're the these the seem like they're

just like us a second runs first but they are

a bit more down to earth so to speak it's really

uh... yeah it's no pun intended they're like

uh... it's like spongebob zero point five Well,

if you think about it, it really is the beginning

of... When did Snorks even come out? Oh, God.

Mid to late 80s, I know that. Mid to late, okay.

Yeah, Snorks. Oh, no, 84 to 88. Oh, wow. Okay.

84 to 88, no wonder. It's the precursor of Prowl

and Donatello because... Yeah, Michael Bell and

Barry Gordon are all -star and and jr They would

go on to do obviously Michael Bell would go on

to do prowl and various other Transformers characters

like swoop and all that good stuff and Barry

Gordon at that point was still the the tricks

or no not that tricks rapid the the quick bunny

Quick bunny. Yeah You know somebody pointed out

to me the other day and I I kind of knew this

I didn't really think about it, but Somebody

said oh my god. I just realized Billy West is

the best person on earth because he is red M

&M He is the voice of red M &M And I think the

only reason why that person noticed it was because

of the holiday the no screw that the Christmas

commercial with the M &Ms with the ah He does

exist ah they do exist when they meet Santa Oh,

man. No, I like the Snorks. It's interesting.

It's a hell of a lot more fun than the Smurfs

can be at times, because the Smurfs, they always

wanted to beat you over the head with a lesson.

Whether they had to teach one of the other Smurfs

a lesson, or whether they had to teach Grampy

a lesson, or whether they had to teach one of

the Smurflings a lesson. I will say this about

the Smurfs. The Smurfs had one of the most nightmarish

episodes ever, which was the Purple Smurfs. That

was the one where it was almost like hate plague

-esque, how the Smurfs were turning each other

evil, and at the end it was only Papa Smurf left

and he turned, but only right before the antidotes

spread throughout the village. It's like one

of those zombie -esque nightmares. I don't like

zombies at all, so that episode kind of didn't

sit well with me when I was a child. Like, oh

no! but then every episode after that was boring

I'm trying to think there was um there was an

episode of something and I can't remember what

it was off top of my head you know but Hannah

Barbera they have done amazing things for animation

over the years Wish Hannah Barbera production

like things with their characters were still

being done today. I know they're not which is

kind of sad But I mean I and I know ladies and

gentlemen we haven't covered everything here

tonight, like I said, it's It's close to almost

if you take their debut in 36 it's 78 years.

Well that's that's till this year so wait a second.

1989 right? Was 89 when they passed away? Let's

see. Bill Hanna lived well into the 90s I think.

Or maybe he died in the early 2000s. Joe Barbera

just died like yeah maybe five ten years ago.

Yeah Yeah, we pretty much brought up if we didn't

mention it I probably dropped a reference to

it at some point in this episode I mean we've

mentioned pretty much everything except for the

schmoo. Oh wait ding Let's see here I'm trying

to see where is legacy um that doesn't say when

he well it'll say up here duh uh he died in 2001

wow for hannah for barbara he passed away in

2006 so they're five years apart in death uh

not that this really matters but there's a note

in here that um Williams widow violet died 11

days before her 101st birthday in this year 24

2014 Wow So that was it's interesting You know

Hannah Barbera animation will always Always be

at the forefront of everyone's minds you should

really raise your children to watch the classics

like this because It's just simply amazing. It

really really is uh... based the studio has been

folded into cartoon network but they still use

well no it's now under water now it was flown

the car for working now it's and now it's part

of one of our mission but they still use the

studio name in as in posterity sometimes i think

only mostly for scooby -doo uh... i mean i i

think scooby is the only character that has really

survived. Yeah. I mean, that that's gone on to

have multiple series after the initial. See,

this is the thing, like I know we have a lot

of great impressionists in the voiceover world

today. I just don't know if I want to see an

updated version of the Flintstones or the Jetsons

or like I would love to see something like a

Wacky Races or, you know, Laugh Olympics because

those could be oh my god. Can you imagine a NASCAR

version of wacky races? Well, they have so many

new characters now that they can use those characters

and put them in a race type story Yeah, the reason

I don't really like revivals is just because

when I watch the original cartoons I fell in

love with the actors so I like the Alan Reed

bread and I like the bar the bell -blank Barney

and when I when I see an updated version I just

hear impersonators doing those voices and I'm

like This really wasn't what I came to the it

came to the table for it's like the It's like

it's like someone else doing Kermit. It's very

it's very strange. It's like Well, it's it's

like it's like a Roddy Dan Dangerfield impersonator.

It's like I like the original guy I wish I could

still see him but he's gone Seeing an impersonator

does not fill that void No, it doesn't You know

I Okay, well outside of scooby. I think the only

other character they use Because they still manufacture

the cereal is Fred and Barney for the pebble

cereal stuff Yeah, those commercials aren't the

same they kind of know they don't really use

the voices as much as they used to Know one last

thing about scooby -doo. Did you ever see the

the Johnny Bravo scooby -doo crossover? No, that

was funny I watched that yesterday. That is the

greatest thing. You have to track that down and

watch that. Oh boy. So there you go, folks. I

think that's going to do it for us on Hannah

and Barbera. We both love them. We both love

all the work that they've, most of all the work

that they've done. I think the only thing I didn't

mention was Curly Howard plays a shark. Yeah,

they recycled the scooby -doo formula for I don't

know how many shows they had the You had Josie

and the Pussycats. He had Jabberjaw. Yeah. Oh

my god. There was a There was just like a conga

line of like mystery solving teens. I can't even

like remember them all. Yeah speed buggy The

Genie cartoon that I mentioned earlier, that

was like that. Some of those guests starred on

the Scooby movies. Yeah, they did. They did.

I hate to ask this question to close this out,

but I have to bring it up since I am probably

one of only seven friends that I know that actually

like the character. And the live -action movies

do not count. What is your opinion of Scrappy?

Ah, we almost got through this entire show. Okay,

so that's your opinion. You don't like Scrappy,

do you? Well, he's the second most annoying Hanna

Rivera character ever. No way. Maybe like the

tenth, because I'm forgetting like Orbede and

all these other characters. The one character

I was thinking of was more annoying than Scrappy

is Flim Flam. They work well together. And Flim

Flam is Susan Blue. I know, but she's... 13 Ghosts

is Scooby -Doo. That's what killed the original

Scooby -Doo franchise. I love 13 Ghosts for one

reason. For one reason, Vincent Price. Yeah,

he's in it. But after that cartoon, that was

like the last of the classic era Scooby -Doo

cartoons. And after that, they're just like...

We gotta do something else." And then that's

when they came up with the pop name Scooby Doo.

No, I know Neil won't go over and listen to this,

because he just won't. I know he won't. But everybody,

go listen to my interview with John Semper Jr.,

because John Semper Jr. was actually doing writing

stuff on 13 Ghosts. He talks about everything.

Oh, come on! Come on. He talks about Hannah Barbera

in our interview. And again, I don't care what

people think of other people. If someone tells

me a story about an animation studio that I love,

I'm going to sit there and listen to him talk.

Because again, he brought to me, like what I

was saying to you earlier in this episode, I

would have loved to gone back and seen stuff

like that. And that's why I love talking about

to these people about if they had been involved

with Hannah Barrera and he he has some interesting

stories so we don't just talk about the 94 spider

-man but uh you know everyone hates Scrappy everyone

says he's so annoying okay what is more annoying

characters that because of how the format is

for scooby -doo that never get any growth in

shaggy and scooby or a character coming in trying

to challenge them to get Some character development.

That's the way I view scrappy scrappy came in

and he was like you know puppy power i'm gonna

do it i'm gonna save you uncle scooby i'm gonna

do this i'm gonna do that you know i'm gonna

save the day that's how i view scragg i can kind

of see the joke they were going for because you

have this tiny little puppy and he's he's like

he's he's really brave and he wants to like fight

with the villain and he's he's obviously going

to be ineffectual so so shaggy and scooby have

to grab him and run and that's that's kind of

the joke but i think I think part of it was that

his first season on the show, it was still classic

Scooby -Doo. You still had Fred, Velma, and Daphne.

And then they went away. And suddenly all you

had was this. In fact, the whole mystery -solving

thing went away. And suddenly all you had was

Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy in these comedy bits.

The comedy itself was not that great. I think

a lot of that fell on Scrappy. So maybe it's

not entirely fair to blame Scrappy for all the

problems. But he was there for the bad stuff

and that's kind of why he gets maligned. But

I will admit that there are a lot of Hanna Rivera

characters that are more annoying. I mean, like

I said, there's Orbity. There's Hoppy. There's

Flimflam. There's Scooter from GoBots. That's

more annoying. Well, anything from Gobots is

more annoying. Yeah, we've spoken about Gobots

more than we ever should have. You know, Gobots

had some cool names and some cool voices, but

other than that, Transformers is where it's at.

Yeah. All right. Well, up next, we are going

to be talking about a man of a thousand voices,

Mel Blank. I know technically he's not an animation

director, but how can you not have an animation

spotlight? And I don't think to this day in my

six and a half years of podcasting overall, not

just the five, almost five and a half years with

the, you know, doing the network. I don't think

we, I don't think I've done just a full on mel

blank podcast. just talking about him himself

so it's going to be interesting it's going to

be cool and then after that uh we're obviously

going to be talking about chuck jones which i'm

betting the chuck jones episode is going to outlast

this one probably probably what have you got

coming up sir over the holiday breaks i have

the dacian holiday uh the holiday uh digest which

is a collection of uh Not all Christmas stories,

but it's a bunch of short stories that are all

fun and amusing and full of jokes and comedy

about superheroes doing silly things. I actually

do have a Christmas story that should be up as

you guys are listening to this called the Valkyrie

Yuki Indicean Christmas Special, where it's a

crossover with Valkyrie Yuki and lots of stupid

funny things happen. And there's also a, there's

actually a Scooby -Doo episode coming up called

Girl of Goo, Where Are You? Where they visit

a haunted mansion because there's another character

whose uncle died and said that she can only claim

the inheritance if she stays in the mansion overnight.

And there's a long hallway full of a bunch of

doors that all look the same and a guy in a mask.

and clues everywhere, and you can probably guess

what the joke at the end is going to be. Warner

Brothers is going to sue somebody. No, because

everyone does this joke, as long as I don't use

any trademarks. No, I know. I was making a reference

to Sadly J and Silent Bob where Chris Rock says,

George Lucas is going to sue somebody. Oh crap.

Alright, so we hope you enjoyed this episode

of Animation Direction. For now, I am TF2 and

Mike with TV's Mr. Neil. And I think we're gonna

let Mutley close it out. That's better. Guys

with the dish pan hands? Boy, if I get my hands

on that little greed -fink Gazoo. You called,

bastard. Gazoo! Where were you? When? Tonight!

When do you think? Boy, do you know what we've

been through? Of course not, I've been sleeping.

Oh, that's swell. You just take a nap whenever

you want to, eh? Well, uh, how can we count on

you when we can't count on you? Well, it does

present a problem, doesn't it? Why don't you

try counting on yourselves? But you said you

were supposed to save us to give us what we want.

My dear fellow, I'm not only undependable, but

I'm a bit of a kook. That's why I'm here, remember?

I'm being punished. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Oh, look,

I don't wish to stay here forever. And since

I am supposed to serve you, I will try. But take

ease. Don't ask for more than you can handle.

You may get it. We'll see you tomorrow. Maybe.

Do you think you'll be back? I don't know, Barn.

Might be better if he wasn't. Look at all the

trouble he caused us. He caused us or we've caused

us. I wonder which it really is. Oh, I think

you'll be back. Eh, looks that way. Night, Barn.

Good night, Fred. In here, Fred. You're still

up, Wilma? Uh -huh. I've been thinking. Tonight

wasn't your fault. It was Betty and mine. I like

that kind of thinking. How come? Because we pressured

you into taking us someplace you couldn't afford.

Ah, but you girls deserve to go and... No, we

were wrong, Fred. But thank you for trying to

please us. There's a moral to all this. When

two people really care about each other, they

have all the magic they need. What happened to

the lights? I don't know. Where'd those flowers

come from? A surprise, Wilma. A complete surprise.

I think there's gonna be a lot of surprises from

now on. See what I mean? Silly. We just have

a short or something. Anyway, who cares? Let

him stay out. Well, my friend Stone, I am with

you. A few more of these good deeds and maybe

they'll let me go back. Oh, do you work here?

Scrappy! Yeah, for a while now. I've been busting

my hump at this network for years! I mean, who

do you think's been keeping the Cartoon Mystery

fresh all this time? But do I get the same treatment

as them? Not even close! Can I help you? Easy

there, Scooby. My name is Scrappy! And I've been

here longer than all of you! Longer than you,

you, you, you, you, you, and you! Mama, the problem

is I see it is too many cartoon cartoons They're

the kings and queens of this network and they

know it I put in the hours the late nights. Where's

my key to the castle? You are here today scrappy.

You are a genius. How'd you figure that out?

Cartoon Network the best place for cartoons not

for me not for me, man