1970s studio

[nakak]

During the 1970s, it was pretty much a competition between Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, DePatie-Freleng, and Rankin-Bass. Which of the four do you think made decent cartoons?

My vote goes for DePatie-Freleng. Their stories were better thought up, have good designs, and the animation wasn't severely limited (although this really depended on the animation director)

[hobbyfan]

I voted for Hanna-Barbera. That doesn't mean I care less about the others. Let's discuss.

Rankin-Bass: I never saw Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad (1970, ABC). I do, however, remember the last 4 SatAM series the studio produced:

Tom Foolery (1970, NBC): I know I've seen it, but can't remember the content. I accessed the theme song on www.ToonTracker.com (http://www.ToonTracker.com) the other week, but I wish they'd had the video to go with the audio.

Jackson Five (1971-73, ABC): Who hasn't seen the reruns? WPIX in NYC played it to death in the late 70s as part of a checkerboard lineup in the PM, and it's aired on cable on BET (what a shock) and TV Land. Look back at it now, and you'd never think Michael ended up the way he did.;) :sad: :shrug:

The Osmonds (1972, ABC): After the J5 struck ratings gold, ABC & R-B decided to give Donny & his bros some equal time. If memory serves, they used "One Bad Apple" as the show's theme song, as opposed to J5's medley of "ABC" & "Love You Save". Unfortunately, too much rock & roll for breakfast proved too much for viewers, as both the Osmonds & Jacksons were swept out (and CBS cancelled Josie in Outer Space).

Kid Power (1972-74, ABC): The dates are approximate. The series was based on Morrie Turner's comic strip, "Wee Pals", and was a favorite of mine. I'd love to see this released on DVD.

And who remembers Wee Pals, besides me?;) :D

Heck, I'd love to see more R-B on DVD (King Kong's been released), such as Smokey the Bear, but licensing is an issue, obviously.

DePatie-Freleng: The studio had one big franchise (Pink Panther), but the original series they created had trouble establishing themselves.

For example, I never saw "Bailey's Comets". As memory serves, the local CBS affiliate blacked out "Bailey's" in favor of syndicated Popeye & Looney Tunes shorts. "Bailey's" has been, I think, perceived as a knockoff of H-B/Heatter-Quigley's Wacky Races. I actually rented a VHS of "Houndcats" once. I regretted that I never followed the show initially. "Barkleys" was a sendup of "All in the Family" (natch), and I'm surprised it lasted more than one season. Never saw "What's New, Mr. Magoo?", either (I was a mark for ABC toons then), which was the only other series they made for CBS.

In fact, "Barkleys" started a new trend at DFE, where they got around licensing by creating animated analogs of familiar series (i.e. Oddball Couple), but they did have two more licensed series on NBC, "Return to the Planet of the Apes" (1974) and "Baggy Pants & the Nitwits" (1977). "Baggy" was an in-house creation paying homage to the silent film era, while "Nitwits" was a spin-off of sorts from "Laugh-In", recasting Tyrone & Gladys (Arte Johnson & Ruth Buzzi) as superheroes. That it aired at 12 noon was a clue that it wasn't fated to last.

DFE's final series was, as we all know, Spider-Woman (ABC, 1979), as the studio would morph into Marvel Productions.

Filmation's fortunes early in the 70's were built around a licensed franchise of their own, Archie. They kept changing formats about every other year or so, but made a huge error when they moved the Archie franchise to NBC in 1977. The Archie-Sabrina Hour was a bust, despite introducing a new Latino character (Carlos), and the series was split into two component parts about halfway through the season (Bang-Shang-Lollapalooza Show for Archie, Super Witch for Sabrina), but both were gone by the spring of '78. In fact, save for Star Trek, Filmation couldn't buy a hit on a network other than CBS. Sure, Brady Kids lasted two seasons on ABC, but the part-live, part-toon Uncle Croc's Block didn't make it to Christmas in '75. I think New Advs. of Gilligan & Lassie's Rescue Rangers finished up on Sundays for their 2nd seasons.

Amazingly, Filmation was able to produce a Batman cartoon concurrently with the Dark Knight appearing on Super Friends (H-B/ABC). The New Advs. of Batman debuted in February 1977, and remained on CBS until 1980 (by then, in perpetual rerun), when it moved to NBC as part of the Super 7. Must've been a loophole in the licensing deal with DC. Now, if WBHV would release the Bat-toons from this period, uncut, right alongside their 90's "cousins"....!:D

Some of H-B's product in the 70's was also licensed (Josie, Globetrotters, Addams Family, Godzilla), but the studio also tried to recreate the magic of the Banana Splits with CBS' Skatebirds, and bombed.

My favorite H-B toons of the 70's:

5. Clue Club
4. Inch High
3. Hong Kong Phooey
2. Scooby-Doo
1. Super Friends (1977-on)

If anyone can help set the record straight, I'd appreciate it.:) ;) :cool:

[nakak]

Technically, "The Barkleys" only lasted one season (only 13 episodes were made). In fact, ALL DFE shows, with the exception of "The Pink Panther Show" (which just added theatrical shorts every year), lasted just one season. Some networks had the knack of rerunning the entire season again as a "second" season.

Regarding DFE's CBS relation: besides "Bailey's Comets" and the "Mr. Magoo" series, DFE also made four Dr. Seuss specials for them. It makes sense for Magoo to air on CBS, since Columbia was the distributor for the original UPA series.

"Bailey's Comets" was sort of a "Wacky Races" knock off, except that all other racers besides the Comets were "Dick Dasterdly". The animation style was actually very similar to Hanna-Barbera, probably because it was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, who created "Scooby Doo" for Hanna-Barbera. If it wern't for the "(C) DePatie-Freleng Enterprises" notice, and the Doug Goodwin music, one would think it was a HB show.

Good analysis, regardless, although it doesn't mean I dislike these cartoons because of that.

EDIT: One final comment: Wee Pals is still in papers. The cartoonist is alive and well.

[Prism]

HannaBarberra generally made the best cartoons in the 70's. Filmation's animation was incredibly,obviously recycled,Rankin-Bass was known more for their holiday specials and DePatie-Freleng mainly peaked during the 60's. Of course Tijuana Toads,Fat Albert and the like were still just as entertaining as Hong Kong Fooy or Laffalympics. And we had imports like Speed Racer or Battle of the Planets. But the two dominating studios were Filmation and HannaBarberra.

[Eric B]

Since this thread was about the 70's, then Ruby-Spears could be discussed as well. They filled in the "fourth place" void left by Rankin Bass. Since they did of course earlier create shows for HB, their shows seemed very much loke HB (Thundarr seemed more like a Filmation show, except for the music, however). Looking back, some of their less serious stuff pushed the silliness factor even beyond HB (Dingbat, CowBoys of Moo Mesa, etc). They just took the same HB-esque mystery or superhero formats and added wackier characters. (they of course came up with the living, walking Rubik's Cube, which really pushed toy-based concepts over the edge).
Never saw "What's New, Mr. Magoo?", either (I was a mark for ABC toons then), which was the only other series they made for CBS.
That has been airing on Kids In Demand, lately.

[Steve Carras]

Very intestesting Hanna-Barbera/Ruby=-Spears analogy, there, B. I would also point ou that "Dean Elliott" (Warner bros. latter cartoons, with Bill lava of coruse, DFE,Disney as well, IIRC,etyc.,) did a different score (full orchestra!!!) than did Hoyt Curitn (& his sucessor Hanna Barberians!) and that starring voices were usually given for the series (UNLIKE Hanna Barbera,which GROUPED them togther) then breakdown "Also starrting",etc.just like the REAL old school earl television hanna Barbera prime time shows! :p )

(Thos made for VERY interesting oddityies in the 80s when R-S pieced togther that "Plasticman" clambake package thewy pulled on us; Mel's ("Heathcliff") STARRING voice (Mike Bell did Plas), the "also starring",then "additional"(two cards), all done in the same "ITC-Souvenir" (est.circa 1970) that which hanna Barbera (Starting with the late 70s) THEMSELVES would imprint on closing credit typecafes (and veyr common for years in books!) for the most part (with various R-S "stars"-HEathcliff, Fangface (AND Baby Fanpuss, Plas,etc.) to show us WHICH toons those credits ACTUALLY applied too (another :p )

(Kind of like a "Flinstone" end credits deal..)

(Odd what would happen if Warner Bros.cartoons, say, had "Rabbit's kin" Story,thru music credits, then "Bad oill' Puddytat" creditys, used as gang credits!:p :evil: )

[hobbyfan]

Technically, "The Barkleys" only lasted one season (only 13 episodes were made). In fact, ALL DFE shows, with the exception of "The Pink Panther Show" (which just added theatrical shorts every year), lasted just one season. Some networks had the knack of rerunning the entire season again as a "second" season.

Regarding DFE's CBS relation: besides "Bailey's Comets" and the "Mr. Magoo" series, DFE also made four Dr. Seuss specials for them. It makes sense for Magoo to air on CBS, since Columbia was the distributor for the original UPA series.

I knew about the Seuss specials, since I'd seen almost all of them. MGM only did 2 (Grinch & Horton Hears a Who), then DFE took over. Hanna-Barbera did the last one (Daisy-Head Maysie) more than a decade ago.

"Bailey's Comets" was sort of a "Wacky Races" knock off, except that all other racers besides the Comets were "Dick Dasterdly". The animation style was actually very similar to Hanna-Barbera, probably because it was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, who created "Scooby Doo" for Hanna-Barbera. If it wern't for the "(C) DePatie-Freleng Enterprises" notice, and the Doug Goodwin music, one would think it was a HB show.

When did Ruby & Spears leave Hanna-Barbera? We know they came back to H-B before spinning off to their own studio, since they did Dynomutt & Jabberjaw. R & S worked on the live action Planet of the Apes for 20th Century Fox in addition to doing toons for DFE, and to date Planet is their only live-action job.

Good analysis, regardless, although it doesn't mean I dislike these cartoons because of that.

Thanks.

EDIT: One final comment: Wee Pals is still in papers. The cartoonist is alive and well.

How many papers carry Wee Pals these days? It was dropped in Troy several years ago when they discontinued the evening paper.

[nakak]

How many papers carry Wee Pals these days? It was dropped in Troy several years ago when they discontinued the evening paper.
I think about a 100 or so. You can read newer strips here. (http://www.creators.com/comics_show.cfm?comicname=wee)

[New Noise™]

I voted for Hanna-Barbera. It was definately the best studio out there in the 1970's.