Late Night Blogging: Hanna-Barbera (1990s Edition)

Late Night Blogging: Hanna-Barbera (1980s Edition)

Late Night Blogging: Hanna-Barbera, 1970s Edition

Late Night Blogging: The Worlds of Hanna-Barbera (1960s Edition)

Freddy Flintstone Sells Firewood

I'm always on the lookout for unusual & homemade tributes to The Flintstones. While on vacation this summer, somewhere in the backwoods of Western Pennsylvania I spotted this old sign advertising firewood for sale. I quickly spun the car around and circled back to snap a picture. The sign features Freddy Flintstone from the late 80's series The Flintstone Kids, chopping away at some wood. It's not often you see anyone take the time to immortalize the Flintstone clan in their younger days.

 

Also check out The Flintstone Wall that I found in Virginia a few years ago.

Happy Land of Hanna-Barbara Canada

Here's a great areal shot of the Hanna-Barbera section of Canada's Wonderland (sister park of King's Dominion)...

From Wikipedia: Hanna-Barbera Land opened in 1981 with three sections. The first section was Yogi's Woods, based on The Yogi Bear Show, which featured the attractions Balloon Race, Yogi's Cave, Boo Boos Buggys, and the Woodland Theatre (now the Playhouse Theatre). Scoobyville was the central town site, where a carousel and other attractions were included. On the opposite end of Scoobyville from Yogi's Wood was Bedrock, based on The Flintstones. Saltwater Circus was also in the section. In 1984, Smurf Village replaced Yogi's Woods; the section featured the newly popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Smurfs. A walk-through attraction, Smurf Village closed at the end of the 1992 season. For the 1993 season, the Smurf Village section of the park became Kids Kingdom. In 1998, KidZVille replaced the Kids Kingdom and its two rides, the "Kid's Castle Playland" and the "Jumbo Bumps" were renamed to "The Candy Factory" and the "Twizzler Twist" (and renamed again the next year to "Sour Cherry Blaster Twist"). Along with five new rides for KidZVille, "The Busy Little Town" was launched, and it included the characters from Nickelodeon's Rugrats series.[3] The Playhouse Theatre still had a Hanna-Barbera themed show, Scooby Doo's Scary School Daze.[3] On slower days, the Scooby-Doo walkaround character may venture through this section of the park. The Bedrock section of the park met its end soon after, being replaced by Nickelodeon Central in 2003. Only the bumper cars were kept, turned into the Rugrats Toonpike. The restaurant was de-themed, and turned into a Pizza Pizza. In 2010 Hanna-Barbera Land was replaced with Planet Snoopy.

  I had the fortune to visit the park in it's heyday back in 1986. I mostly remember the Smurf Village walk through attraction, which replaced Yogi's Cave and a live Smurf show that we saw.

Yogi's Home Up North

Here's (what appears to be) a promotional photo of the Hanna-Barbera gang outside of the Yogi's Cave attraction at Canada's Wonderland, a sister park to Kings Dominion. I swiped the picture from the amazing Flickr feed of user Mr. Flintstone. Canada's Wonderland opened in 1981 in Ontario and featured similar attractions to those found at KD and Kings Island. By the time I made it to Wonderland in 1986, Yogi's Cave had been transformed into Smurf Cave. Of course, at the time, that was OK with me! Here's the write up about the Smurf attraction from Wikipedia:

A funhouse-like cave building that featured scenes of Smurfs in their "natural" habitat. This attraction was actually converted from Yogi's Cave in Yogi's Forest (1981–1983) before the area was changed to Smurf Forest for the 1984 season. Also featured near the end of the cave was a section of Gargamel's house where Gargamel would be playing his organ. Gargamel's house was formerly the Ranger's Cabin during its use in Yogi's Cave. Smurf Village was removed and replaced by an arcade until 1998 where it housed Meet-and-Greets with the Rugrats. Currently it functions as a gift shop and mini-arcade in the Zoom Zone area.

Earthquakes: Be a Prepared Bear

In light of yesterday's earthquake that rocked the East Coast, I thought I would rerun this bit from April 5, 2007...



If ever an earthquake were to hit our small town I would first gather the family up and make sure they were safe and secure in the basement or a sturdy doorway. Then I would selflessly risk my very own life to rush to my bookshelf and grab my copy of "Earthquake Preparedness for the Family" hosted by Yogi, the Be-Prepared Bear. Who doesn't remember all the earthquakes Yogi and Boo-Boo endured on the classic cartoon show!? Actually, this is a series of three public service books that I have put out by the State of California and featuring one of my all-time favorite cartoon characters: Yogi Bear. It seems kind of odd to use Yogi as a spokesbear for earthquake safety. I mean, perhaps his priorities are different than my own. All I'm saying is, I don't know if I'd save my picnic baskets before members of my own family!

This book is filled with all sorts of bizarre illustrations like this one (to the left) of Yogi Bear attaching a hot water heater to the wall. There's just something funny about Yogi Bear and a hot water heater, I don't know what it is!? But seriously, if you live somewhere that securing your hot water heater to the wall, before an earthquake strikes, is a good idea than maybe it's time you looked for a new house!

I'm looking forward to the next two books in this series: "The Jetsons Prepare for Avian Flu" and "Captain Caveman Prevents Identity Theft"

Trailer Tuesday - C.H.O.M.P.S. (1979)

You have no idea how much I love this movie...



...ok, I guess you have some idea.

It Looks Like I Picked A Bad Week To Not Speak Spanish

Classic Commercial Sunday - #51

You "Auto" Get This DVD!

I could not have been more excited when I heard the news that Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch was heading down the road to DVD. Good gracious, that is a fine animated program that I can't wait to get my hands on! I professed my love for Wheelie in a post four years ago and now in 2011 he's coming to DVD!

Warner Bros. is doing a great job of opening the flood gates and diving into the Hanna-Barbera vault to bring some great stuff to the screen that hasn't been seen in years. If I were to make a list of H-B shows I'd like to have on DVD, Wheelie would be at the top of my list!

Here's the write-up on the series from the Warner Bros. website:

Zoom into gear with Wheelie, the world’s greatest stunt racing car, and his girlfriend Rota Ree as they outmaneuver the sneaky motorcycle gang Chopper, Revs, Riser and Scrambles in this 3-Disc, 13-Episode Complete Series Collection! Not the smartest bike in the bunch, Chopper’s schemes range from scaring Wheelie with ghost cars at the car cemetery, tricking a trail bike into spying on Wheelie and cheating at a tractor-roping competition, plus many more shenanigans that never end well for the gang. Besides outwitting Chopper in these 39 adventures (3 per episode), Wheelie aids other vehicles needing a helping wheel, like a lost scooter, a sick tow truck and a stranded bulldozer. Honk for great family fun and motor to the couch for a night of drive-in entertainment!

I'm the first one in line for a good car pun, but I don't think I even get "motor to the couch".

Here's the super-catchy theme song and you can thank me later when you are humming it in your head all day!


Anyways, the DVD comes out next Tuesday and it looks like you'll have to order it online from the Warner Bros. Studio Shop. Or you could just come on over to the WWoB offices and we'll run it in our screening room!

Pebbles and More Pebbles

On the back of the boxes of the latest batch of Post Pebbles Cereals is an ad for Pebbles Treats. Just like Rice Krispie Treats, Pebbles are set to soon be prepackaged and ready for on-the-go snacking and lunch boxes everywhere. What makes them better than Rice Krispie Treats is that the packaging will feature the likeness of a one Mr. Frederick J. Flintstone. I haven't seen them on my grocer's shelf yet, but in the meantime I'll enjoy this ad from the back of the cereal box. The image of Barney licking the giant stone wheel is a little off-putting but, hey - we take what we can get, right!? Also, check out below these two cool ads for the new treats featuring Wilma...

Earlier last year, Post also introduced Cupcake Pebbles which filled a void the breakfast world had been calling out for - Cupcake flavored cereal! This stuff tastes like dumping one of those little sugar packets down your throat! But, again, the packaging is really cool - this time giving Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm the spotlight.

The back of the package features the whole gang and little place cards you can set out at your party along with a cut out game "Pin the Tail on Dino!" I can't imagine anyone hosting an actual party and using cutouts from a cereal box, but hey who am I to judge? Here's also a print ad for the Cupcake flavored cereal featuring suggestions for other things to do with the breakfast product besides actually eating it for breakfast.

You shouldn't have any trouble finding Cupcake Pebbles in the stores now and we'll keep you posted on the Treats.

A Wendy's Pic-a-Nic

Well, my life is now complete thanks to the release of Yogi Bear this past weekend. It was actually kind of sad how excited I was to see the movie. I'm happy to report that Yogi Bear did not disappoint. They made a nice family movie that really stuck to the spirit of the old cartoons. The new movie is funny, sweet and wholesome for the whole family. I even sprung for a 3D screening and the effects were really cool. Do yourself a favor and go out and catch a screening of the movie critics are calling "the crowning achievement since the advent of photography!" I should mention that said achievement grossed $16.7 million this past weekend and that said critic's quote was made up by me.

I should have gotten to this earlier, but we've been meaning to get around to Wendy's Yogi Bear Kids Meal. If you ask me, Yogi (and the public) really got ripped off when it comes to the Happy Meal department. I would have liked to seen McDonald's do a whole holiday promotion tied into the movie. The Happy Meal boxes could have looked like picnic baskets, they could have introduced some new Jellystone burger, and the whole restaurant could have been decked out in a red and white checker picnic theme. Oh well, what do I know. At least somebody had a Yogi kids meal, even if it was Wendy's - who never really seems to get the top notch properties for their kids prizes.

Wendy's is offering five different Yogi Bear movie prizes with their kids meals right now. The idea of the prizes is that they are supposed to be games and activities that kids and parents can do together. I would have preferred little toy figures, but good ol' Wendy gave it a nice try.

I stopped by my local Wendy's the other night and the kid behind the counter was nice enough to go back into the storeroom and crack open each of the cases and prizes and snag me one of each...well, he could only find 4 - but that was still awesome of him!

Here's what we got...

This first one ties into the movie nicely, even if it's execution is a little off. The Waterski Spin Top Maze tries to recreate a pivotal scene from the movie where Yogi tries to show off his waterskiing talents. In the movie, his efforts don't pay off and neither will yours trying to spin the tiny little top on this cardboard lake. The idea of the game is to maneuver the top around the various cut-out obstacles in the lake. It's a nice little memento from the movie, the top has a picture from the film on it - but as a toy/prize it falls a little short.

The Basket Fishing Game is pretty cool. It comes with a neat fishing pole with Yogi's picture on it and several little pic-a-nic baskets that you punch out of cardboard. Each basket has a different food item and points under it, so the idea is to take turns and see who can fish up the most points. Some of the food items are different Wendy's items, which I thought was a nice touch. Who doesn't want to use a fishing pole to snag themselves a delicious creamy Frosty!?

In the Feed Yogi game, you try to shoot different food discs into Yogi's mouth. You may have seen this disc launcher before, either as a prize in cereal of a birthday party goodie bag. I can tell you that this Wendy's version is somehow supersonic and we ended up shooting a Frosty into parts unknown on the very first try. We've still got the corn and the Jr. Hamburger though. Thank goodness!

The climax of the film involves the Baskit Nabber 2000, and this "3D Puzzle" is a pretty cool replica of the contraption Yogi builds. However, I have a feeling Yogi had an easier time building the real one that you...or any kid would have putting this puzzle together. It's basically a card stock paper model with one zillion steps to assemble. It literally took me an hour to put it together, but I gotta say it was fun and it now looks pretty cool sitting on my desk at the WWoB offices!

The last toy in the collection, that I haven't snagged yet, is the Yogi Basket Stack Game. It comes with a little Yogi figure with his arms spread out and you try and stack little blocks with food on it and hope not to topple Yogi over. This one looked the neatest and hopefully a return visit to the prize gods at Wendy's will secure me a Yogi Basket Stack game for my collection.

If you are interested, Wendy's will have the toys for a few more weeks before their Smart Links promo starts. You heard me, Smart Links???

H-B Holiday Parade Sightings

I found a very cool Flickr photostream yesterday from a fella named Kerrytoonz, chock full of cartoon goodness. Here's a couple of images he found from some recent holiday parades...

First up is an awesome Jellystone Park float headlined by that smarter than the average bear and his little sidekick, Boo Boo. This image is from a parade in Toronto, Canada. Those Canadians have all the fun, eh?
Here's the mighty Fred Flintstone towering over a puny Captain America at a pre-Thanksgiving parade in Stamford, Connecticut earlier this year. I would have wet my pants if I had seen that down the parade route.

This one's not an officially licenced appearance, but you gotta love when people try. This photo was snapped by a friend of mine at the nearby Gettysburg Holiday Parade. I've never been to that parade before, but this picture is all the invitation I need to hit it up next year!

Vintage Yogi Bear Christmas Golden Book

One of the many books in our collection which was an awesome yard sale find, actually an Antique Mall find - Yogi Bear - A Christmas Visit, is a 1961 holiday themed release from the fine folks at Little Golden Books. It was written by S. Quentin Hyatt with pictures by Sylvia and Burnett Mattinson. As you can see from the cover, this copy is fairly beat up on the outside but the inside is pure goodness. The picture on the cover is ripped off a bit and it looks like the book's previous owner, Amy Gallagher, took some red pen to the lettering on the front. However, you can't deny that the special Christmas red foil replacing the traditional gold is a nifty touch! I wanted to share some of the festive vintage holiday illustrations from this neat little book.





Everytime I read this to the kids, it cracks me up. Boo-Boo refers to Alaska as "one of the new states." Oh, early 60's!

I dig Yogi and Boo Boo's Christmas vests.

Here's a double page layout featuring Yogi and Boo Boo with Yogi's extended family in Alaska; Uncle Northman, Aunt Kate and the twins Yukon and Klondike.

A beautiful piece of artwork from the title page.

Photo Quiz

Why am I running this photo today?

A) Because it features my little brother (in the stripped shirt) and his buddies on their 8th grade field trip back in 1990.

B) Because the one kid is wearing a Lowenbrau beer t-shirt at age 13 on a Catholic School field trip.

C) Because the picture features a glimpse of walk-around character Quick Draw McGraw circa 1990 Kings Dominion.

The answer is C, of course.

B.C.- 10/17

Hanna-Barbera in Wonderland

Now, I wouldn't have done an Alice in Wonderland week here at WWoB if we couldn't find some way of working The Flintstones into the picture - so today we present the television special Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This. Hanna-Barbera produced this 1966 ABC special that presented an animated retelling of Lewis Carroll's story. This time, instead of falling down a rabbit hole, Alice takes a tumble into her TV set and meets Sammy Davis' Cheshire Cat and Zsa Zsa Gabor's Queen of Hearts. Janet Waldo provided the voice of Alice, you'd probably recognize her voice as Judy Jetson...and a million other Hanna-Barbera female characters.

Making a guest appearance on the program were Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble - together taking on the role of the caterpillar, after all in this production it's a two headed caterpillar! Fred and Barney perform the musical number "They'll Never Tear Us Apart".

It appears the show has never surfaced on VHS or DVD, making it perhaps an ideal candidate for Warner Bros. new Archives Collection DVD-R service.

Here's the very groovy opening and closing segments along with the original sponsors...

All Hail 80's Saturday Morning Cartoons

This promises to be one of the sweetest DVD releases of the year! Saturday Morning Cartoons 1980s is a two-disc set of old school animation set to be released May 4. Warner Bros. has already put out two volumes each of cartoons from the 60's and 70's, and now they are adding another decade worth of toons to the collection. Some of this stuff is super awesome; here we go:

• Mister T - I loved this show! Mr. T ditches the A-Team and instead travels around with a gymnastics team solving crimes. Oh, that's good stuff!

The Flintstone Kids - The Bedrock gang as little kids wasn't quite as fun as the earlier adventures but it was a law in the mid-80's to turn every franchise into a baby or kiddie version. It was still a pretty good show and the end of 20 years of Flintstones spin-offs.

The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley - Martin Short's SCTV/SNL character came to Sat AM in this pretty funny show which featured a great voice cast and some live action skits spun off from SCTV classics. I can't wait to see this one again!

The Kwicky Koala Show - Even though as a flat rule I hate koala bears, this early morning show was a real gem. A throwback to the cartoon shorts of decades earlier, Kwicky was produced by animation god Tex Avery - who did the original (and side-splittingly hilarious) Droopy cartoons.

Thundar The Barbarian - My tastes always leaned towards funny animal shows, I always loved this action packed fighting show with Thundar and a bunch of other pelt-clad dudes riding around on various winged creatures and saving the world from some pretty ugly bad guys. It don't get much better than this, folks!

The set also includes episodes of Chuck Norris - Karate Commandos (which I'm pretty sure wasn't actually on Saturday mornings, it was strip syndicated for afternoons), Dragon's Liar (the cartoon based on a video game that was also a cartoon), Galtar and the Golden Lance, The Monchhichis, The Biskitts (which I believe was syndicated to Sunday mornings), and Goldie Gold and Action Jack (which I remember nothing about except it had a really cool announcer!)

If you're not like me and don't have to have every major cartoon title on DVD in your own personal collection, you should also be able to rent the two discs from Netflix. I'll definitely be pouring myself a big bowl of dry cereal and vegging out with these Saturday Morning Cartoons real soon!