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Yogi Bear

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Not to be confused with Yogi Berra.
Yogi Bear
File:Yogi Bear.jpg
Yogi Bear
GenreCartoon series
Created byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Voices ofJulie Bennett
Mel Blanc
Daws Butler
Vance Colvig
June Foray
Don Messick
Hal Smith
Bill Thompson
Jean Vander Pyl
Jimmy Weldon
Doug Young
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes35 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 min.
Original release
ReleaseJanuary 30, 1961 –
December 30, 1961
Related
The Huckleberry Hound Show

Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. He was the first break-out character created by Hanna-Barbera Studios, and was eventually more popular than Huckleberry Hound.[1] In 1961 he was given his own show, The Yogi Bear Show, which also included the segments Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle.[2] Hokey Wolf replaced his segment on The Huckleberry Hound Show.[3] A musical animated feature film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, was produced in 1964.[4]

Yogi was one of several Hanna-Barbera characters to have a collar, which allowed the body to be kept static and to redraw just the head in each frame when he was speaking, thus reducing the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon from 14,000 to around 2,000.[5]

In October 2008, it was announced that Warner Bros. will film a live-action/animated version similar to Fox and Bagdasarian's Alvin & the Chipmunks.[6] Yogi Bear was voiced by Daws Butler, and later by Greg Burson.

Segments

Over the years he appeared in many other spin-off series as well, including:

Live action feature film

[[CGIYogiBear.jpg|right|A photograph from Worth1000.com of what will Yogi will look like in the flim.]] On October 2, 2008, it confirmed that a live-action/CGI Yogi Bear movie is in the works.[7][8] It is currently in development, with a planned 2011 release date. It will be distributed and financed by Warner Bros., with Hanna-Barbera Productions. It will be the first movie development of a Hanna-Barbera property not produced with the assistance of William Hanna or Joseph Barbera. Ash Brannon was originally scheduled to direct the film but was replaced by Eric Brevig when it was decided that the film would be produced as a 3-D project. Donald De Line is the producer and Karen Rosenfelt is the executive producer along with Jon Berg as a secondary executive producer for Warner Bros. Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia are writing the script. The film, adapting the television series, will follow the adventures of Yogi Bear and his pal Boo-Boo in Jellystone Park, as they avoid Ranger Smith who is trying to stop Yogi from stealing picnic baskets.

Personality

Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration[9]; his voice mannerisms broadly mimic Carney as Norton. Yogi's name is commonly seen as a nod to the famed baseball star Yogi Berra, though Hanna and Barbera denied this intent.[10] The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his reluctant best friend Boo Boo, would often try to steal picnic baskets from campers in the park, much to the chagrin of Park Ranger Smith. A girlfriend, Cindy Bear, turned up sometimes, and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.

Catchphrases

Besides often speaking in rhyme, Yogi Bear is well-known for a variety of different catchphrases, including his pet name for picnic baskets ("pic-a-nic baskets") and his favorite self-promotion ("I'm smarter than the average bear!"),[11] although he often overestimates his own cleverness. He often greets the ranger with a cordial, "Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!" He also likes to say, "Hey, Boo Boo!" as his preferred greeting to his humbler sidekick.

Broadcasts

Yogi Bear is currently aired by Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang, worldwide.

There was also a Hanna-Barbera Personal Favorites video where William Hanna and Joseph Barbera picked their favorite Yogi Bear episodes, including the very first one, "Yogi Bear's Big Break", and Yogi meeting some storybook friends: The Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Little Red Riding Hood.

Cartoon Groovie

A music video (known as a Cartoon Groovie) for Yogi Bear airs on The Cartoon Network and Boomerang. It showcases clips of Yogi and Boo Boo stealing picnic baskets and annoying Ranger Smith. The Punk Rock-inspired song is sung by High School Jim.

Comic Books

Over the years, several publishers put out Yogi Bear comic books.

  • Gold Key Comics was first, with a title that ran 33 issues from 1962-70.
  • Charlton Comics then did a title for 35 issues from 1970-77.
  • Marvel Comics did a title for 9 issues in 1977.
  • Harvey Comics then did several titles for a total of 10 issues in 1992-94.
  • Archie Comics regularly featured Yogi Bear stories in the anthology comics Hanna-Barbera All-Stars and Hanna-Barbera Presents. After the cancellation of both titles, Archie put out a separate Yogi Bear comic that got one issue.
  • DC Comics semi-regularly featured Yogi in Cartoon Network Presents.

From 1961 until 1988, there was also a Yogi Bear comic strip, created by Gene Hazelton and distributed by the McNaught Syndicate.

DVD release

On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD R1.

Cover Art DVD Name Ep # Release Date Additional Information
File:The Yogi Bear Show CS.jpg The Yogi Bear Show- The Complete Series 33 November 15 2005
  • Collectible animation cel
  • Original episode with bridges and bumpers
  • Never-before-seen animation sketches come to life
  • Yogi gets global: One episode in a variety of languages
  • Featurette on the art of Hanna-Barbera sound

Video games

Parks

Yogi Bear lends his name to a chain of recreational vehicle and camping parks ("Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts"), with the first opening in 1969 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. As of 1971, there have been ten new park openings. As of 2008, over seventy new locations (including Van Buren, Missouri and Gardner, and New York) have hosted the parks. Over the years, families have made a tradition of bringing their young children to the parks during the summer. It has been said that founder Sarah Adamo enjoys frequenting the parks with her family. There is also one remaining restaurant from the chain bearing Yogi's name, "Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken," in Hartsville South Carolina. In the 60's and 70's, these restaurant chains were found mostly within the Southeast United States (these were owned/franchised by Hardee's). In both cases, Hanna-Barbera licensed the name and likenesses to the respective companies.

  • In 1960, the pop group Ivy 3, recorded a song called "Yogi", a novelty song with the impersonation of Dawes Butler. The song described Yogi as a "Yogi Man", and featured the catch phrases "HEY, BOO-BOO" and "Yogi Baby". The song went up to Number 8 according to the Billboard charts
  • In Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, a friend is called Yogi Boo Boo.
  • In the novel A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, the protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly, who professes a thorough disdain for popular culture while nevertheless demonstrating an obsession with it, in one scene returns home from work to an argument with his mother, where he declares several times his intention to watch "The Yogi Bear Program". The novel was written circa 1961-2.
  • In a Full House episode "The Return of Grandma," Stephanie and Joey fight over whether they should watch Bugs Bunny or Yogi Bear.
  • Yogi and Boo Boo were parodied in an Animaniacs episode entitled "Back in Style".
  • In the 2008 Futurama DVD film, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Calculon asks Bender if he is worthy enough to join the League of Robots, Bender replies that he is "Worthier than the average robot!"
  • Yogi Bear has made a cameo in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Here Thar Be Dwarfs" voiced by Dave Fouquette.
  • Yogi Bear has also appeared in the episode "Death by Chocolate" of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
  • In the 2006 film Rocky Balboa (film), Rocky says "I'm smarter than the average bear (though where that came from I don't know)" to Little Marie.
  • In the Everybody Loves Raymond episode Moving Out, Frank discovers Robert's nickname is "Yogi" and asks for him if Amy's nickname would be "Boo Boo".
  • In the Family Guy episode "Hell Comes to Quahog", Peter, as a poacher, brutally stabs Yogi to death, in front of Boo Boo.
  • The Simpsons episode "Much Apu About Nothing" pays homage to Yogi Bear in a scene where Moe complains to Mayor Quimby, on a supposed bear outbreak, that "These bears are smarter than the av-er-age bear, they swiped my pic-a-nic basket!" (after which Mayor Quimby is seen to have taken said picnic basket). The episode "When You Dish Upon a Star" features an introductory sequence in which Homer dreams he's Yogi, with Bart as Boo Boo and Ned Flanders as the Ranger. As they walk through Jellystone Park Bart-Bart warns Homie that Ranger Ned won't like them stealing picnic baskets (for legal reasons they couldn't say "pic-a-nic"). Homie reassures his young friend that he's "smarter than the average bear!", and easily capable of dealing with Ned. When Ranger Ned does appear to reprimand him, Homie drags Ned behind a bush and viciously mauls him. When Homer wakes, he recalls it as "a beautiful dream", in which he wore "a collar and tie, with no pants!"
  • In the 2008 film Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Reggie makes fun of Roscoe's plaid pants, doing a Yogi Bear impression in the process.
  • In the Heroes (TV series) episode "Cold Snap", Noah Bennett ask Emille Danko how he got him. Danko replies: "I'm smarter than the average bear."
  • As a very common gag, Yogi Bear's name is often confused with that of John Logie Baird, the man who invented television. The following dialogue comes from the Mind Your Language episode 'No Flowers By Request':
Jeremy Brown: Who is the father of Television?
Ali Nadim: Eamonn Andrews.
Jeremy Brown: No, Logie Baird!
Ali Nadim: Oh, yes please! Yesterday I am seeing him on TV with his little friend Boo Boo!

Spumco Ranger Smith shorts

In 1999, animator John Kricfalusi's Spumco company created and directed two Yogi cartoons, which were A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith and Boo Boo Runs Wild. Both shorts aired that year on the Cartoon Network as part of a Yogi Bear special. "Boo Boo Runs Wild" features a fight between Yogi and Ranger Smith, which was edited heavily for broadcast for both violence and torture situations. A third Yogi cartoon from Spumco was planned and storyboarded, but was never finished.

In 2003, Spumco created another Boo Boo cartoon, "Boo Boo and the Man", which was made with Macromedia Flash and released on Cartoon Network's website. Hanna-Barbera produced an instructional comic book on earthquake preparedness called Yogi's Quakey Shakey Van.[13]

See Also

References

  1. ^ Mallory, Michael. Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1998. ISBN 0-88363-108-3. p. 44.
  2. ^ Sennett, Ted. The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity. New York: Viking Penguin, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82978-1. pp. 63-64.
  3. ^ Sennett, p. 52.
  4. ^ Sennett, p. 64.
  5. ^ "Hanna Barbera's golden age of animation", BBC, 19 December 2006
  6. ^ [1], Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, 2 October 2008
  7. ^ http://tvseriesfinale.com/articles/the-yogi-bear-show-yogi-and-boo-boo-coming-to-movie-theaters/
  8. ^ [citation needed]"Yogi, Boo-Boo headed to big time". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  9. ^ Sennett, p. 60.
  10. ^ Sennett, p. 59.
  11. ^ Mallory, p. 44.
  12. ^ http://www.lostlevels.org/wordpress/2008/09/22/ebay-yogis-frustration-for-intellivision
  13. ^ Barbera, Joseph (1994). My Life in "Toons": From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century. Atlanta, GA: Turner Publishing. p. 207. ISBN 1-57036-042-1.
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