Worst H-B characters?

[Zen Man]

When the studio struck gold they struck gold (Yogi, Scooby,Flintstones etc.) but they also had their share of misfires.

What do you think are some of the less than spetacular characters to come out of Hanna-Barbera?

*Can also include adapted charaters.*

[Tobias]

Wendy, Marvin, & Wonder Dog. Characters so bad that they make you want the Wonder Twins to burst in and beat them silly.

[Silverstar]

Flim Flam (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo)-as if Scrappy weren't annoying enough.

And I'll second Tobias's vote for Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Mutt. Those teen sidekicks were so unbearable and useless that they made the Wonder Twins and Gleek look good by comparison, which is quite an achievement.

[Kentaro Doe]

Magilla Gorilla

All I've ever seen of him was in Arabian Nights and that one Harvey Birdman episode, but I can't stand him.

[Toonfan2000]

Katrina and Brattina from Pound Puppies.

Both are flat, two-dimensional, typical '80s toon villains and Katrina seems to be a Cruella DeVille ripoff.

[Blackstar]

All of the forgettable Yogi Bear wannabes that were created in the wake of Yogi's success: Wally Gator, Squiddly Diddly and Breezly Bruin.

Also, Yippy, Yappy and Yahooie. Their only schtick is shouting out their names, running, and crashing into something off screen. Just one joke over and over = comedy gold.

[hobbyfan]

Wendy, Marvin, & Wonder Dog. Characters so bad that they make you want the Wonder Twins to burst in and beat them silly.

You, my friend, just didn't get the concept. Wendy & Marvin were on board to represent the youth demographic in the audience. You know, to learn about what goes into solving crimes. Simple things that aren't easily learned from watching "Law & Order" 13 hours straight, for example.

You want the WORST H-B characters? Try turning the 3 Stooges into bionic superheroes (Robonic Stooges). It just didn't resonate too well, and yet Da Boom puts those shorts in when possible, at least 4-5 times a week at the most. 2nd worst would be "Casper & the Angels". Misusing licensed characters by saddling them with bad ideas. Lame-o!

[Blue Priestess]

Flim Flam (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo)-as if Scrappy weren't annoying enough.

Seconded. Thirded, too, if possible. The people who hop up and down claiming Scrappy was the worst Scooby addition ever probably never saw 13 Ghosts and watched Flim Flam ruin what was probably one of the strongest 'new' approaches to the franchise ever.

I can't hate Brattina, though; even though I have no real memories of Pound Puppies, that was my mother's name for me when I was, well, being bratty. So on principle, I have to give her a pass.

[dth1971]

Super Ted (1989)

[Zorak Masaki]

You, my friend, just didn't get the concept. Wendy & Marvin were on board to represent the youth demographic in the audience. You know, to learn about what goes into solving crimes. Simple things that aren't easily learned from watching "Law & Order" 13 hours straight, for example.



Uhh,,the superfriends are superheroes, not detectives. The only one who even used detective skills was batman, and thats only because he had no powers. Most of the other ones just used their powers to defeat luthor, joker, and all the other villains.

[Silverstar]

Uhh,,the superfriends are superheroes, not detectives. The only one who even used detective skills was batman, and thats only because he had no powers. Most of the other ones just used their powers to defeat luthor, joker, and all the other villains.

Precisely. The appeal with the Super Friends was watching the heroes use their super powers. It wasn't a detective show like The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, so we didn't need a trio of ham-and-eggers who'd failed their auditions for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? stinking up the screen, especially since those 3 were about as useful to the Super Friends as a burst appendix. Zan and Jayna, goofy though they may have been, were at least fellow super-beings, so their presence on the show was a little more justified.

[hobbyfan]

Uhh,,the superfriends are superheroes, not detectives. The only one who even used detective skills was batman, and thats only because he had no powers. Most of the other ones just used their powers to defeat luthor, joker, and all the other villains.

Gee, like I didn't know that already. :shrug: ;) It still requires finding clues to catch the villains, just the same.

Precisely. The appeal with the Super Friends was watching the heroes use their super powers. It wasn't a detective show, so we didn't need a trio of ham-and-eggers who'd failed their auditions for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? stinking up the screen, especially since those 3 were about as useful to the Super Friends as a burst appendix. Zan and Jayna, goofy though they may have been, were at least fellow super-beings, so their presence on the show was a little more justified.

Well, if the '73 series turns up anywhere other than Da Boom, I'd not be surprised to see the E/I seal on the screen. Remember, this was during a period when Superman and co. couldn't beat up the villains on the air due to anti-violence guidelines.

Zan was goofy by design. Jayna was just plain hot.

[Blackstar]

Hey, could we please not derail this thread by arguing with each other about their personal choices? It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable, you know. How about we just respect the opinions of others, even if they may be different from our own? Crazy thought, I realize.

hobbyfan: Just because you love Wendy and Marvin, that doesn't mean that everyone does nor should they have to. Not everyone shares your love for those characters. Acknowledge, accept and move on.

Let's return to the topic, shall we?

[DrTooth]

Two words....

Chan Clan.

Nuff said.

Dishonroable mention goes to anything from Yogi's Space race besides Yogi. Especially Nugget Nose.

[SycrosD4]

Wonder Dog was terrible. So hollow and unentertaining.

[Zorak Masaki]

The villains from Yogi's gang. Lotta Litter? Mr. Smog? The Prankster (dc comics's lawyers on line 1, h-b)?, the greedy genie (i dont know WHAT that was supposed to be)? We were supposed to assume these characters were global threats?

[hobbyfan]

Hey, could we please not derail this thread by arguing with each other about their personal choices? It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable, you know. How about we just respect the opinions of others, even if they may be different from our own? Crazy thought, I realize.

hobbyfan: Just because you love Wendy and Marvin, that doesn't mean that everyone does nor should they have to. Not everyone shares your love for those characters. Acknowledge, accept and move on.

I'll amend that to say I have respect for those characters, and the opinions of others in group. Showing my age again, but I remember watching Super Friends when it first came out, and it was indeed partially built around what I now call the "Scooby Formula", but as I have grown older, I have a better understanding of why.

The villains from Yogi's gang. Lotta Litter? Mr. Smog? The Prankster (dc comics's lawyers on line 1, h-b)?, the greedy genie (i dont know WHAT that was supposed to be)? We were supposed to assume these characters were global threats?

Given that this was a comedy show, no, I don't think so. Campy villains? Yep.

[Napoleon Solo]

How about a character celebrating 20 years ... GODZOOKEY! from the Godzilla cartoon (yes, technically, it's 'baby' from the movies but durn it, I say it counts.) :D

[hobbyfan]

How about a character celebrating 20 years ... GODZOOKEY! from the Godzilla cartoon (yes, technically, it's 'baby' from the movies but durn it, I say it counts.) :D

Actually, Nap, it's 30 years for 'Zooky.

[Napoleon Solo]

So it was and is. I was reading the Hanna Barbera treasury book, saw his name in the timeline and just shuddered. :)

[greg!]

I'll have to agree with Flim Flam:mad: I absolutely hate that series. I thought there was absolutely nothing they could do to Scooby-Doo to make me hate it more than Scrappy----boy was I wrong!!! I have to disagree with others here though. The Robonic Stooges had some really funny gags & one-liners that made it really entertaining. Hmmm....I can't think of a single good thing about the kids on the original Superfriends......:shrug: .....OH yeah! Sherry Alberoni!

[Eric B]

Precisely. The appeal with the Super Friends was watching the heroes use their super powers. It wasn't a detective show like The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, so we didn't need a trio of ham-and-eggers who'd failed their auditions for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? stinking up the screen, especially since those 3 were about as useful to the Super Friends as a burst appendix. Zan and Jayna, goofy though they may have been, were at least fellow super-beings, so their presence on the show was a little more justified.
As I've always said, you can think of Marvin, Wendy and Wonder dog as "the next Batman and Robin in training". If they had grown up, perhaps they would have learned to build gadgets like the Dynamic Duo. (Which is why Captain Mystery would have been good as a reprisal of Marvin, though it would have shown he was not good with the gadgets).
The Twins and that monkey were annoying. This witty bombshell and her braggart brother who banter almost like lovers, and he can only turn into water. I always said, bring back the Scooby rejects. Though, it's true, they only would have got in the way in the stepped up "super" action of the late 70's episodes. But in the "Scooby"-like plots of the original season, they fit right in. Perhaps they should have just given them some powers. How about them as the Wonder Twins? They got hit with some radiation, or someone from Exxor came and gave them the powers. You would have had a similar dynamic (with the overconfident male), but Wonder Dog was a lot less problematic that that monkey!

I say the worst character is Precious Pup. His goodness is even ambiguous, yet he always comes out on top. They were looking for a snickering mutt for years, and it was perfected in Muttley.

[Blue Priestess]

Dishonroable mention goes to anything from Yogi's Space race besides Yogi. Especially Nugget Nose.

Nugget Nose? I have no idea who the character is, but something about that name strikes me as really gross.

[CartoonOverlord]

Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Sure, H-B made a lot of knock-offs of thier own shows but Goober was such an obvious Scooby Doo knock-off that it's mind-numbing.

[Silverstar]

Captain Mystery would have been good as a reprisal of Marvin, though it would have shown he was not good with the gadgets.

Somewhat off-topic, but I kind of would've liked to have seen ol' Sidney Wanamaker come back as a cool, competent hero. He was portrayed as a bumbling wannabe, but I like that basic idea: a computer genius who uses superior technology as a substitute for superpowers. (He would've had to change his name though; 'Captain Mystery' doesn't really describe his abilities in any way. Superhero names which aren't in any way descriptive of the characters' powers are generally reserved for the ethnic Super Friends.)

[Eric B]

Yeah, maybe roomate Firestorm could have took him under his wing. Still, it would have been nice as Marvin.

[PeppeRaskell1]

How about a character celebrating 20 years ... GODZOOKEY! from the Godzilla cartoon (yes, technically, it's 'baby' from the movies but durn it, I say it counts.) :D

I hated Godzooky, too. His roar whenever he summoned Godzilla sounded more like he was getting ready to "hurl"...as in toss his cookies...Something I think we all felt like doing just watching him...

Nugget Nose? I have no idea who the character is, but something about that name strikes me as really gross.

"The Galloping Ghost," the spirit of a gold-happy prospector who was summoned for help by two dude-ranch employees, Wendy (I think that was the blonde's name) and Rita.

[cyde]

Cosmo Spacely, Wilma Flintstone & Betty Rubble for the win.

[Blackstar]

Cosmo Spacely, Polly Purebred, Wilma Flintstone & Betty Rubble for the win.

One small nitpick: Sweet Polly Purebred isn't an H-B character. She, like the rest of the Underdog characters, was created for Total Television.

[DrTooth]

Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Sure, H-B made a lot of knock-offs of thier own shows but Goober was such an obvious Scooby Doo knock-off that it's mind-numbing.\

..and Clue Club! Let's not forget that.

I still wonder what the deal with Mumbley is. Were they trying to make a Muttley show without having to get HQ productions involved (as it shared the Wacky Races copyright)?

[Zen Man]

\

..and Clue Club! Let's not forget that.

I still wonder what the deal with Mumbley is. Were they trying to make a Muttley show without having to get HQ productions involved (as it shared the Wacky Races copyright)?

Ditto for me.

Don't know too much about the whole Mumbly/Muttley fiasco.

[Silverstar]

Near as I can figure, the reason that Mumbly was used for The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show and later Laff-A-Lympics rather than Muttley could be because the series which Muttley originated on, Wacky Races, was a co-production between H-B and Heatter-Quigley, so they might not have been able to use Muttley, so they instead created lookalikes for Muttley and later Dick Dastardly for those respective series.

[cyde]

One small nitpick: Sweet Polly Purebred isn't an H-B character. She, like the rest of the Underdog characters, was created for Total Television.
Then how come Boomerang, which had mostly HB tooones, had Underdog on there?

[hobbyfan]

Nugget Nose? I have no idea who the character is, but something about that name strikes me as really gross.

More commonly known as the Galloping Ghost. As in "Buford &...." when Space Race was split into 3 separate 30 minute series 2 months into the 1978-79 season.

[hobbyfan]

Let me break it down like this.

The 60's: There weren't any "worst characters" during the late 60's, as I was growing up and discovering cartoons. There was a "worst show", though. Space Kiddettes. If it was done today the way it was done in '66, it'd be "Rugrats in Space", if Nick got its hands on the concept, for example. Capt. Skyhook couldn't beat a group of kids, none of whom apparently were past the age of 10?

As I wrote in another thread several months back, I had a vision of reviving the Kiddettes, rebooting them as normal teens manning a mobile space station, not an orbiting one, a la Deep Space 9. Skyhook would be more of a menace, and the show would be equally character & plot driven, a la the DCAU shows. That would give the Kiddettes the respect they didn't get in the 60's.

The 70's: Everyone's got their candidates. I previously wrote in this thread that I nominated the 3 Robonic Stooges. Norman Maurer, Moe Howard's son-in-law, wrote virtually all of the Stooges' episodes (and the Wonder Twins, too). He tried to capture the spirit of the Stooges' classics, but trying to tell the same kind of story in half the time didn't always work.

[On the up side, Paul Winchell did a great job almost completely replicating Moe Howard's voice. He had Moe nailed dead center.]

And, then, there are these others.......

Peter Puck (NBC 1974). Interstitals during NBC's 1st run of NHL games. Out of the entire rookie class of '74 (Devlin, Valley of the Dinosaurs, et al), Peter has rarely turned up in the intervening years. Not even ESPN, when they had the rights to NHL all those years, thought about buying up those old shorts. What does it say about the status of hockey as a American sport when a cartoon character designed to pull in future hockey players didn't get over, as they say in wrestling?

Mr. Socrates (Butch Cassidy, 1973). A computer that has an allergy to a dog? There is no logic at all to this idea. And you wonder why Butch lasted just the one season.

[I'm surprised that no one, not even Greg, who has Butch for an avatar, thought of Socrates.]

And, yes, we'll add Godzooky (Godzilla, 1978) to the mix. I know 'Zilla had a nephew in some of the movies, but that fellow didn't fly that I know of and blew smoke rings, just like 'Zooky. 'Zooky was created as mostly comedy relief for the smaller kids, and gets my vote as "most useless animal sidekick" of the decade.

The 80's: The Frankenstones (Flintstone Comedy Show, 1980-2). Did Fred & Barney really need another monster family for neighbors? Hmmmm, wellllll, of course not! The writers recycled old gags from the original series, and some genius cast Charles Nelson Reilly as Frank Frankenstone. With all due respect to the memory of Mr. Reilly, but this was not a match.;) :p

Orbitty (The Jetsons, 1985). Created for the sake of merchandising, this alien pet with slinky's for legs practically made the Jetsons jump the shark. Didn't really add anything to the story, and I don't recall seeing an ep that told how they acquired Orbitty in the first place. If there was, it was probably a rewrite of Astro's origin.

And, then, there were some head-scratching decisions of another kind........

1. Adding Flim-Flam to Mystery Inc. (13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, 1985). Flim was basically Scrappy in human form, crossed with a totally corrupted Oliver Twist. If Scrappy didn't make the franchise jump the shark 6 years earlier, Flim did.

2. Super Friends roster downsizing. As has been noted elsewhere, Aquaman was virtually written out of the series around "Legendary Super Powers Show" without explanation. The Wonder Twins disappeared after 3-4 episodes and weren't heard from again. If the fans really cared about Zan & Jayna, there might've been a spin-off series, but, ah, it probably wouldn't have lasted long anyway.

3. Adding Hardrock to Jonny Quest's team (1985). A modern day golem? I suppose, but that was also JTS worthy.

The 90's:

Monster Hotel & Fender-Bender 500 (Wake, Rattle, & Roll, 1990): Two segments that were derivative of other ideas. Monster Hotel looked more like a Groovie Goolies knock-off, 20 years later. Fender-Bender put Dick Dastardly back in the familiar Wacky Races milieu, but still fighting with Yogi Bear and pals instead of old foes like Peter Perfect. The best thing about Fender-Bender was Shadoe Stevens as the narrator. :D

And that's all I got to say about that.:D :p ;)

[Zorak Masaki]

Orbitty (The Jetsons, 1985). Created for the sake of merchandising, this alien pet with slinky's for legs practically made the Jetsons jump the shark. Didn't really add anything to the story, and I don't recall seeing an ep that told how they acquired Orbitty in the first place. If there was, it was probably a rewrite of Astro's origin.



I believe the origin story of Orbitty was that he was an endangered species of some sort or something like that. Whats weird is that he was created for merchandising, yet i never saw any orbitty (or any other jetsons characters) toys in stores.

[Blackstar]

Originally Posted by Blackstar http://forums.toonzone.net/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?p=2790764#post2790764)
One small nitpick: Sweet Polly Purebred isn't an H-B character. She, like the rest of the Underdog characters, was created for Total Television.

Then how come Boomerang, which had mostly HB tooones, had Underdog on there?

The key word there is mostly. Boomerang doesn't just show H-B cartoons, and a show that airs on Boomerang isn't automatically H-B. Using that logic, one could claim that Droopy, Voltron, Monstories, Bernard, Naughty-Naughty Pets and Gerald McBoing Boing are H-B cartoons as well.

Check the end credits. Underdog is not Hanna Barbera. Never was.

As I wrote in another thread several months back, I had a vision of reviving the Kiddettes, rebooting them as normal teens manning a mobile space station, not an orbiting one, a la Deep Space 9. Skyhook would be more of a menace, and the show would be equally character & plot driven, a la the DCAU shows. That would give the Kiddettes the respect they didn't get in the 60's.

Not to dump on your idea, but I disagree with the idea that the Space Kidettes would need to become teenagers and that the show would need to become narrow and serious like a DCAU show in order to succeed. Space Kidettes was hardly perfect, I won't argue that point, but it is possible to have a good show that's a straight forward comedy and kids don't always have to be pushing puberty in order to be interesting. The Powerpuff Girls come to mind.

IMHO, all that would need to happen for Space Kidettes would be for the kids to gain more distinctive personalities in order for there to be some interesting by-play amongst them, possibly make 1 or 2 of them from another planet so they could have some space powers, and Capt. Skyhook does not need to become Slade. The show just needs more of a rogues' gallery of villains/menaces so that the writers would not have to rely on him so much.

Anyways, that's what I would do.

[Daphne Blake]

Scrappy-Doo must die.

[Blue Priestess]

3. Adding Hardrock to Jonny Quest's team (1985). A modern day golem? I suppose, but that was also JTS worthy.

Argh! I thought I blocked out Hardrock! It's one thing to have heroes that explore mystical/technological menaces; it's another to have them decide to take one home as a new roomie. To me, it's like the cast of Star Trek in an animated show where Kirk has a pet griffon.

[Zen Man]

Let me break it down like this.

The 60's: There weren't any "worst characters" during the late 60's, as I was growing up and discovering cartoons. There was a "worst show", though. Space Kiddettes. If it was done today the way it was done in '66, it'd be "Rugrats in Space", if Nick got its hands on the concept, for example. Capt. Skyhook couldn't beat a group of kids, none of whom apparently were past the age of 10?

As I wrote in another thread several months back, I had a vision of reviving the Kiddettes, rebooting them as normal teens manning a mobile space station, not an orbiting one, a la Deep Space 9. Skyhook would be more of a menace, and the show would be equally character & plot driven, a la the DCAU shows. That would give the Kiddettes the respect they didn't get in the 60's.

The 70's: Everyone's got their candidates. I previously wrote in this thread that I nominated the 3 Robonic Stooges. Norman Maurer, Moe Howard's son-in-law, wrote virtually all of the Stooges' episodes (and the Wonder Twins, too). He tried to capture the spirit of the Stooges' classics, but trying to tell the same kind of story in half the time didn't always work.

[On the up side, Paul Winchell did a great job almost completely replicating Moe Howard's voice. He had Moe nailed dead center.]

And, then, there are these others.......

Peter Puck (NBC 1974). Interstitals during NBC's 1st run of NHL games. Out of the entire rookie class of '74 (Devlin, Valley of the Dinosaurs, et al), Peter has rarely turned up in the intervening years. Not even ESPN, when they had the rights to NHL all those years, thought about buying up those old shorts. What does it say about the status of hockey as a American sport when a cartoon character designed to pull in future hockey players didn't get over, as they say in wrestling?

Mr. Socrates (Butch Cassidy, 1973). A computer that has an allergy to a dog? There is no logic at all to this idea. And you wonder why Butch lasted just the one season.

[I'm surprised that no one, not even Greg, who has Butch for an avatar, thought of Socrates.]

And, yes, we'll add Godzooky (Godzilla, 1978) to the mix. I know 'Zilla had a nephew in some of the movies, but that fellow didn't fly that I know of and blew smoke rings, just like 'Zooky. 'Zooky was created as mostly comedy relief for the smaller kids, and gets my vote as "most useless animal sidekick" of the decade.

The 80's: The Frankenstones (Flintstone Comedy Show, 1980-2). Did Fred & Barney really need another monster family for neighbors? Hmmmm, wellllll, of course not! The writers recycled old gags from the original series, and some genius cast Charles Nelson Reilly as Frank Frankenstone. With all due respect to the memory of Mr. Reilly, but this was not a match.;) :p

Orbitty (The Jetsons, 1985). Created for the sake of merchandising, this alien pet with slinky's for legs practically made the Jetsons jump the shark. Didn't really add anything to the story, and I don't recall seeing an ep that told how they acquired Orbitty in the first place. If there was, it was probably a rewrite of Astro's origin.

And, then, there were some head-scratching decisions of another kind........

1. Adding Flim-Flam to Mystery Inc. (13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, 1985). Flim was basically Scrappy in human form, crossed with a totally corrupted Oliver Twist. If Scrappy didn't make the franchise jump the shark 6 years earlier, Flim did.

2. Super Friends roster downsizing. As has been noted elsewhere, Aquaman was virtually written out of the series around "Legendary Super Powers Show" without explanation. The Wonder Twins disappeared after 3-4 episodes and weren't heard from again. If the fans really cared about Zan & Jayna, there might've been a spin-off series, but, ah, it probably wouldn't have lasted long anyway.

3. Adding Hardrock to Jonny Quest's team (1985). A modern day golem? I suppose, but that was also JTS worthy.

The 90's:

Monster Hotel & Fender-Bender 500 (Wake, Rattle, & Roll, 1990): Two segments that were derivative of other ideas. Monster Hotel looked more like a Groovie Goolies knock-off, 20 years later. Fender-Bender put Dick Dastardly back in the familiar Wacky Races milieu, but still fighting with Yogi Bear and pals instead of old foes like Peter Perfect. The best thing about Fender-Bender was Shadoe Stevens as the narrator. :D

And that's all I got to say about that.:D :p ;)


I didn't think Orbitty was that bad of an addition. Besides it wasn't like he took the focus off the family once he arrived. And I admit that Monster Pets and Fender-Bender 500 were guilty pleasures.

[tb4000]

http://sorenari.asablo.jp/blog/img/2007/06/04/31cb1.jpg

Fender Bender had the best designed vehicles though. They were all big monster truck looking thangs.

[DrTooth]

The 90's:

Monster Hotel & Fender-Bender 500 (Wake, Rattle, & Roll, 1990): Two segments that were derivative of other ideas. Monster Hotel looked more like a Groovie Goolies knock-off, 20 years later. Fender-Bender put Dick Dastardly back in the familiar Wacky Races milieu, but still fighting with Yogi Bear and pals instead of old foes like Peter Perfect. The best thing about Fender-Bender was Shadoe Stevens as the narrator. :D



Actually, the one thing I forgot to add was the Robot from Wake Rattle and roll. It's a live action character, sure... but was it ever annoying. Rob Paulsen pretty much just doing an impersonation of Townsend Coleman's Mikey from the Ninja Turtles cartoon. Looking back, Mikey was the only ultra 80's California style surfer dude I liked. The cartoons weren't bad, not great, but not bad. But the live action stuff was junk.

[Blackstar]

For the record, the robot on Wake, Rattle and Roll's name was DECKS. And yes, since DECKS was voiced by Rob Paulsen, who worked with Townsend Coleman on the 1987 Ninja Turtles series, it's hard to hear Rob's DECKS voice and not think of Townsend Coleman's Mikey voice, although Rob also did his surfer dude voice in an episode of Chip 'N' Dale's Rescue Rangers titled "Gadget Goes Hawaiian", he voiced the boyfriend of the Gadget look alike, LaWhiny (sp?), named Shake-a Bake-a.

[DrTooth]

For the record, the robot on Wake, Rattle and Roll's name was DECKS. And yes, since DECKS was voiced by Rob Paulsen, who worked with Townsend Coleman on the 1987 Ninja Turtles series, it's hard to hear Rob's DECKS voice and not think of Townsend Coleman's Mikey voice

An impersonation that was better utilized on FOP as the prince of Yugopotamia.

And I had a feeling it was Decks... or some other idiot VHS based pun. While it's not so much the voice is annoying as the combination of the voice, character, and design. And writing. Yuck.

[Djm912]

I always wanted to eviscerate Scrappy-Doo with my bare hands.

[Daphne Blake]

I always wanted to eviscerate Scrappy-Doo with my bare hands.

To be honest, it would be more fun with old fashioned torture devices.

[tucsoncoyote]

Well if I can put my two cents in, here are some "Misfires" that really shouldn't have existed except maybe for the fact that in reality they are similar ideas of perhaps Hanna-Barbera's most popular franchise.. Namely.. the Smurfs..

Let's start off with perhaps the worst conceived idea for a show and this hands down goes to the Paw Paw Bears. Now why is this show and the characters not likeable? It's easy.. Here's a spin on a Smurfs and it deals with a Native American tribe of bears who use magic and have horses who fly. Add to that female character who doesn't even remotely look like the others, and you get this odd feeling that you've stepped right into a animal version of The Twilight zone..

But then if the Paw Paw Bears were bad.. Let's try The Snorks. Yes here's another Bad Smurfy idea.. A bunch of characters who live underwater and never ever go above the surface. (heck they live in "Waterworld" and they don't have to breathe. Well they do becase in reality they're part fish. Yet they have problems just like the Smurfs..(And take a look.. Smurfs<>Snorks). Just change three letters and you can see this is indeed a smurf variant.

Of course if you think bears and fish are bad.. try cars.. Anyone remember Wheelie and The Chopper Bunch?
http://www.wingnuttoons.com/wheel.jpg
Oy, this one was so bad, you wonder why Disney wanted to bury Suzie the Little Blue Coupe, and never conceive Pixar's Cars. Here we have one car being tormented by a gang of 3 motorcycles and a minibike..He also has a Love interest a small yellow convertible, and all the time Wheelie (who looks a bit like Disney's Herbie), is out there getting jobs done, so he can continue dating..(I shudder to think what Wheelie's Kids would look like. As for the Chopper Bunch? These guys for a Motorcycle Gang were in fact played out like one horrible joke. If anything this supposed 'V8' Show was in fact firing on just 2 cylinders.

And then you want one final example? Here's one.. The Hair Bear Bunch:

http://www.wingnuttoons.com/hairbear.jpg

If you want Bears that were always trying to get out of a zoo. this Trio of Troublemakers gave shows like the Smurfs a better light. One thing I didnt like was Mr. Peavely's assistant..(I mean you want to here Ooh! Ooh! you go listen to a monkey..but Peavely's assistant was so bad, it made you wonder how they could let the bears out of their cages.

Believe me these are prime example of why shows like these are less memorable.. the characters are basically ideas that have gone horribly wrong and in fact it's no surprise they get onto my list of Characters I don't like..

:coyote:

[Jave]

But then if the Paw Paw Bears were bad.. Let's try The Snorks. Yes here's another Bad Smurfy idea.. A bunch of characters who live underwater and never ever go above the surface. (heck they live in "Waterworld" and they don't have to breathe. Well they do becase in reality they're part fish. Yet they have problems just like the Smurfs..(And take a look.. Smurfs<>Snorks). Just change three letters and you can see this is indeed a smurf variant. Technically, neither Smurfs nor Snorks are HB characters, as they're based on European comics. HB merely got the rights to the characters to make the respective cartoons.

[tb4000]

Paw Paws gets points for having the Dark Paw bear sound like Paul Lynde. That's all.

[Brainatra]

>>

Peter Puck (NBC 1974). Interstitals during NBC's 1st run of NHL games. Out of the entire rookie class of '74 (Devlin, Valley of the Dinosaurs, et al), Peter has rarely turned up in the intervening years. Not even ESPN, when they had the rights to NHL all those years, thought about buying up those old shorts. What does it say about the status of hockey as a American sport when a cartoon character designed to pull in future hockey players didn't get over, as they say in wrestling?<<

According to Wikipedia, NBC and Canada's CBC both aired Peter Puck in the 70s. It also says that not only are the shorts now available on DVD, but the Toronto Maple Leafs' "Leaf TV" (an Ontario-only digital-cable channel that airs their games) is also airing the shorts (with edits for dated references/rule changes) during games:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Puck

Here in the US, however, I imagine hockey's lackluster-lately-popularity (outside of far-northern US states) means Peter won't be getting seen on NBC's current (sparse) NHL telecats anytime soon (or on Versus, the as-little-carried-as-Boomerang cable channel that has US rights to NHL games). That, and NBC would be loathe to air some "lowly" cartoon when they could use the airtime to push the latest reality show... :-p

-B.

[Silverstar]

Dollar (Richie Rich)-I know he's technically not an original H-B creation, but in this case I'm referring to H-B's version which appeared on The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show. Dollar's shtick was always the same-he'd imagine himself doing something impressive, brave and cool, then he'd act upon it and totally screw up. Again and again and again. Dollar was just one in a long line of annoying sidekick pets whose attempts at comic relief instead served as grating annoyance.

It's true what Seanbaby said on his website: "Comic relief characters in cartoons didn't make you laugh; they were just 1 or 2 characters you hated more than anyone else."

[Zorak Masaki]

Dollar (Richie Rich)-I know he's technically not an original H-B creation, but in this case I'm referring to H-B's version which appeared on The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show. Dollar's shtick was always the same-he'd imagine himself doing something impressive, brave and cool, then he'd act upon it and totally screw up. Again and again and again. Dollar was just one in a long line of annoying sidekick pets whose attempts at comic relief instead served as grating annoyance.

It's true what Seanbaby said on his website: "Comic relief characters in cartoons didn't make you laugh; they were just 1 or 2 characters you hated more than anyone else."

I'm pretty sure that was his schtick in the original comic as well, so its not entirely H-B's fault.

[hobbyfan]

Of course if you think bears and fish are bad.. try cars.. Anyone remember Wheelie and The Chopper Bunch?
http://www.wingnuttoons.com/wheel.jpg
Oy, this one was so bad, you wonder why Disney wanted to bury Suzie the Little Blue Coupe, and never conceive Pixar's Cars. Here we have one car being tormented by a gang of 3 motorcycles and a minibike..He also has a Love interest a small yellow convertible, and all the time Wheelie (who looks a bit like Disney's Herbie), is out there getting jobs done, so he can continue dating..(I shudder to think what Wheelie's Kids would look like. As for the Chopper Bunch? These guys for a Motorcycle Gang were in fact played out like one horrible joke. If anything this supposed 'V8' Show was in fact firing on just 2 cylinders.

I've seen a few eps. The Chopper Bunch were so inept it wasn't funny. The fact that Wheelie himself didn't speak per se, making only noises with his horn, was different for a HB toon. Not quite a automotive riff on Gerald McBoing-Boing or even Pink Panther, but, well......!

And then you want one final example? Here's one.. The Hair Bear Bunch:

http://www.tvacres.com/images/hair_bear2.gif

If you want Bears that were always trying to get out of a zoo. this Trio of Troublemakers gave shows like the Smurfs a better light. One thing I didnt like was Mr. Peavely's assistant..(I mean you want to here Ooh! Ooh! you go listen to a monkey..but Peavely's assistant was so bad, it made you wonder how they could let the bears out of their cages.

:coyote:


Botch & Hong Kong Phooey's Sgt. Flint were both done by Joe E. Ross (Car 54, Where Are You?), and that "Ooh! Ooh!" was Ross' signature. I didn't see anything wrong.

Dollar (Richie Rich)-I know he's technically not an original H-B creation, but in this case I'm referring to H-B's version which appeared on The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show. Dollar's shtick was always the same-he'd imagine himself doing something impressive, brave and cool, then he'd act upon it and totally screw up. Again and again and again. Dollar was just one in a long line of annoying sidekick pets whose attempts at comic relief instead served as grating annoyance.

Ok, so Dollar was borrowing from "Magnificent Muttley". Not original, and Dollar wasn't quite that active in the comics, either.

It's true what Seanbaby said on his website: "Comic relief characters in cartoons didn't make you laugh; they were just 1 or 2 characters you hated more than anyone else."

You share an opinion with a cynical punk like Seanboob? You're entitled, but allow me a rebuttal.

Comedy relief characters do serve a positive purpose. They move the story along, however slightly. Sometimes, they do end up being the heroes.

[Zorak Masaki]

Just thought of another one,,bad luck hula hula from plastic man. Not only was it a horrible hawaiian stereotype, but why have a comedic sidekick for a character who's comedic to begin with? If anything, they should have just used woozy winks instead.

[Blue Priestess]

Just thought of another one,,bad luck hula hula from plastic man. Not only was it a horrible hawaiian stereotype, but why have a comedic sidekick for a character who's comedic to begin with? If anything, they should have just used woozy winks instead.

The complaint about Hula Hula is still valid, but the Plastic Man series was done by Filmation. Sorry - I'm a bit of a Filmation fan.

[Blackstar]

Just thought of another one,,bad luck hula hula from plastic man. Not only was it a horrible hawaiian stereotype, but why have a comedic sidekick for a character who's comedic to begin with? If anything, they should have just used woozy winks instead.

The complaint about Hula Hula is still valid, but the Plastic Man series was done by Filmation. Sorry - I'm a bit of a Filmation fan.

Sorry, but you're both wrong. Plastic Man was neither Hanna Barbera nor Filmation. It was produced by Ruby-Spears.

[Silverstar]

Allow me a rebuttal.

Comedy relief characters do serve a positive purpose. They move the story along, however slightly. Sometimes, they do end up being the heroes.

It depends on the individual character, really. I could see myself making such a statement about Eric or Presto from Marvel's Dungeons and Dragons, but characters like Richie Rich's Dollar, The Real Ghostbusters' Slimer, He-Man's Orko, and Super Friends' Marvin and Wonder Dog? Frell, no.

[DrTooth]

And then you want one final example? Here's one.. The Hair Bear Bunch:

http://www.wingnuttoons.com/hairbear.jpg

If you want Bears that were always trying to get out of a zoo. this Trio of Troublemakers gave shows like the Smurfs a better light. One thing I didnt like was Mr. Peavely's assistant..(I mean you want to here Ooh! Ooh! you go listen to a monkey..but Peavely's assistant was so bad, it made you wonder how they could let the bears out of their cages.




I have no desire to ever see this show in my lifetime, but I want to say this...


the name "Square Bear" is quite possibly one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life.

[cyde]

The complaint about Hula Hula is still valid, but the Plastic Man series was done by Filmation. Sorry - I'm a bit of a Filmation fan.I thought that was done by Ruby Spears.

[hobbyfan]

The complaint about Hula Hula is still valid, but the Plastic Man series was done by Filmation. Sorry - I'm a bit of a Filmation fan.

Nope, that was Ruby-Spears.

[Blackstar]

Yes, Plastic Man was produced by Ruby-Spears. I mentioned that about 4 posts up. ;)

[Blue Priestess]

Yes, Plastic Man was produced by Ruby-Spears. I mentioned that about 4 posts up. ;)

Shoot, all these years I thought it was Filmation's fault we were saddled with Hula-Hula and Plaz's Southern belle wife. Sorry, Filmation.

[STARTOUNZ]

I didn't care much for Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound's sidekicks Quack-Up and Scare Bear in the Galaxy Goofups and Space Race series from the 1970's. Guess it's fortunate Boo Boo wasn't there.

Totally hated Jabberjaw, as well as Buford and the Galloping Ghost. Still can't stomach watching a full episode of either series.

Super Globetrotters was awful, nothing more than a knockoff of the Impossibles (Spaghetti Man?!?). Same for Robonic Stooges. They should have just made these characters into normal humans spun off from their appearances in the New Scooby-Doo movies.

I can agree with above-mentioned shows like the Hair Bear Bunch and Wheelie and the Chopper. I can also add Wonder Wheels and Inch High Private Eye to the list.

I hated 2 Stupid Dogs, but loved the Super Secret Secret Squirrel toons that were sandwiched between their 2 shorts. If anything, it should have been the New Secret Squirrel Show with 1 Stupid Dogs toon sandwiched between 2 SS shorts.

[Daphne Blake]

Am I the only one who loves the Hair Bear Bunch? The show was awesome!

[Brainatra]

Agree that Secret should've been the star instead of 2 Stupid Dogs (the new Secret shorts were hilarious). Also agree about Wonder Wheels.

I did like Jabberjaw, though...

[Blackstar]

I hated 2 Stupid Dogs, but loved the Super Secret Secret Squirrel toons that were sandwiched between their 2 shorts. If anything, it should have been the New Secret Squirrel Show with 1 Stupid Dogs toon sandwiched between 2 SS shorts.

I kind of liked 2 Stupid Dogs myself. I felt that it was a better Ren & Stimpy than Ren & Stimpy was by that time. Super Secret Secret Squirrel was OK, but I could never really get into it. I did like Jess Harnell's voicing of Secret, though.