Joe Barbera Passes Away

[filkertom]

End of an era. Joe Barbera has died at the age of 95.

What are your favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoons? I have great love for The Cat Concerto, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse, The Two Mousketeers (and its not-quite-a-sequel Touché, Pussycat!), Pecos Pest (with Jerry's uncle who kept breaking guitar strings)... any episode of Quickdraw McGraw with El Kabong... Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles... The Herculoids... Atom Ant... Secret Squirrel... The Perils of Penelope Pitstop... Jonny frickin Quest... the movies Hey There, It's Yogi Bear and The Man Called Flintstone... Space Ghost... the first, and I think best, animated Fantastic Four (the one with Paul Frees as Ben Grimm)... damn, the guy did a lot of good stuff.

Comments

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

I've always had a soft spot for Tom and Jerry cartoons, ever since I was a child. I could watch them over and over and over again.

They don't make cartoons like that anymore, I'm sad to say.

He will be missed.

[fuuberry.livejournal.com]

Oh...crap. I'm sad now.

I always loved Penelope Pitstop, myself.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

I hate those MEESES to PIECE-E-E-E-ES!!!

See ya, Joe... and thanks so, so much!

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

I'm an El Kabong fan myself; and Penelope Pitstop.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

If they did Penelope Pitstop then I assume they also did Wacky Races which I *loved* as a little kid. I am sure there are a ton of other Hanna-Barbera cartoons that I also like, but that one has a special spot in my heart.

[ericcoleman]

Herculoids ... no contest ... well, maybe Jonny Quest is a little of contest, but the Herculoids were my favorite cartoon at a certain age.

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

Ah, Hanna-Barbera. "Tom and Jerry" was much fun -- the archetypical, pure, stymied-pursuer and resourceful-pursued cartoon. (Warner Bros. had plenty of takes on that theme, of course: Road Runner was the purest. Bugs also brought an askew angle to it, and Tweety was so annoying you rooted for Sylvester.)

I believe Hanna-Barbera produced "SuperFriends," the introduction of many in my generation to DC's stable of heroes and villains. (My first superhero comic was JLA 165 back in the late 70s, which I picked up because it looked the most like SuperFriends, with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, etc. on the cover. But it was a heck of a lot better written than the cartoon and a touch darker -- a superhero's mother died at the end.) Writing wasn't great, nor was the animation, but I loved the concentric-circles effect when Aquaman used his telepathy ...and many of the voice artists were for a long time my definitive voice for Superman, Flash and a couple of the others. We won't touch Apache Chief here.

Hong Kong Phooey, with the voice of Scatman Crothers, I believe.

Dynomutt. Great Batman pastiche, but with a comic twist.

And I know it wasn't great or anything, I know it was an attempt to milk their various franchises and brands for all they were worth ... but I loved the Laff-A-Lympics. (I loved it better when Mark Evanier wrote the comic book back when Marvel had the H-B license.)

Never cared for the Jetsons, I'm afraid.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's lots of love for Super Friends, campy and kitschy though it was even when it was new. I always loved the way the announcer said, "Wendy, Marvin, and WONder DOG...".

HKP was indeed Scatman Crothers, who also voiced Meadowlark Lemon on the Harlem Globetrotters show, another one I loved loved loved.

The Jetsons bored me. I wanted to like 'em, never did. Except for the episodes where [a] George and Astro thought they'd seen a crime (it was a movie shoot) and went into hiding, and [b] George was a mystery judge for the Miss Solar System competition and Jane was a mystery contestant.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

The Super Friends announcer was none other than Ted Knight. "MEAN-while, back at the Hall of Justice..." Best narrator since Bill Conrad on Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

I came to the SuperFriends table after Marvin, Wendy and Wonder-Dog had been sent packing and been replaced with Wondertwins Zan and Jayna and their Exorian monkey Gleek. (From what I saw of the early Marvin/Wendy episodes years later on Cartoon Network, it was a massive upgrade. Back then, the actual superheroes seemed to be just Marvin and Wendy's supporting cast. And when Superman's just a peripheral cast member, there are problems, unless you're Jack Kirby writing and drawing Jimmy Olsen back in the day ... And Marvin seemed to be, basically, Shaggy at age 14 but without the stoner chic.)

It just now occurs to me: Were Zan and Jayna modeled after Donny and Marie Osmond? It would fit with the general era. (I have vague memories of an Osmond movie vehicle of the period based in Hawaii called "Goin' Coconuts." Thankfully, actual details of same have passed from my mind.)

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Actually yes, they were based on the Osmonds...notice their voices even resemble Donny & Marie....

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Sadness. My first student internship was at HB, ya know. Typing voice scripts while the Smurf auditions were going on behind me. Ooops that dates me!

Their FF cartoon hooked me on the whole Marvel universe. And Paul Frees' voice is the one that rings in my head when reading The Thing's lines even now. Damn they could pick voice talent.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Would it be too bold a brag of me to claim I could probably do a passable impression of %90 of the H-B characters you car to name?

[aota.livejournal.com]

Johnny Quest, Flintstones, Jetsons, and the Wacky Races, Dick Dastardly was my favorite.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Demon Dogs!

[Love the icon!]

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Wacky Races, Jerry dancing with Gene Kelly (heck, about the entire T&J library), Space Ghost/Herculoids, Jonny Quest... even Super Friends. What Chuck and Friz didn't do to my youth, Bill and Joe (and Tex) did. Sad. Very sad.

[mstrhypno.livejournal.com]

"Make a door, Igoo. Joe has to go home."

His legacy will live on...

Sad day, indeed...

Lee

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

As a kid, I liked a lot of the ideas, concepts and imagry, but could never get into the shows much, the execution bothered me. Wasn't until I grew up a bit that I figured out they were purposely written "for kids" and thus dumbed down, or not allowed to develop as much as they could have. I always preferred Warner Bros because of that. Not that I'm claiming to have been far more mature than other kids, because I also enjoyed silliness and weirdness (Banana Splits, Monkees, etc)

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

My fave HB creation has always been Tom & Jerry....I love them all, even the Filmation years!

[poltr1]

I don't think I was that picky when I was a youngster. I loved all the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Even the clunkers.

Question: Did HB develop their 'toons in the early 60s for theatres, or for television? The early characters only appeared in 7-minute shorts; they didn't have shows of their own.

As for my personal favorites: The Flintstones, Super Friends (Wendy and Marvin), Hong Kong Phooey, Space Ghost (didn't care much for Frankenstein Jr.), Wacky Races (and its sequel, Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines). I like what some interns at Cartoon Network did: re-edit and re-dialogue Sealab 2020 to produce Sealab 2021. I think I enjoy 2021 now better than I ever did with 2020.

Yes, Joe will be missed, along with Bill. (I think William Hanna passed away a couple of years ago.)

[sdelmonte]

The Flintstones. Followed by Tom and Jerry, Jonny Quest, and Top Cat.

There are tons of old H-B cartoons I used to watch as a kid. Most of them, from an adult's eyes, are not exactly high quality. But I remember them all fondly, from Yogi Bear to The Impossibles to Scooby Doo.

Mr. Barbera, you will be missed, but never forgotten.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

My favorite H-B cartoons? How long is a piece of string?

Definitely Penelope Pitstop, Superfriends, and Scooby-Doo, but I can't think of what else I would put on the list.

[fuuberry.livejournal.com]

Just looking down the production list, I know these weren't from H-B directly, just the studio, but I was bloody obsessed with The Pirates of Dark Water when I was a kid.