Questions about "The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series"

[Anthonynotes]

From what I've read about "The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series" (which featured Wally Gator, Touche Turtle and Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har), is it true there wasn't any type of opening/closing made for this series---just the shorts by themselves? If so, why didn't they make one (If I'm wrong, what did the opening/closing credits consist of?)---was it to allow stations to air the cartoons mixed with other non-HB stuff (like local stations would've done years ago), a la "Ruff and Reddy"? If there wasn't an opening/closing, how were the credits (crediting who worked on the show) handled?

Just seems odd that there's a whole H-B series (with an extremely generic name) that didn't apparently have a unique opening/closing sequence...one of H-B's high points was usually said openings/closings.

[HBfan]

I don't have the answer to the opening/ closing question, but I do have a couple of other questions:

I always thought the film quality of these cartoons was different than the other HB cartoons. Were they filmed using a different technique? Also, and I may be mistaken about this, but were these cartoons shorter in length than the other cartoons of the period, or did they last the typical 6 minutes? They seemed just a bit shorter in length to me.

HBfan

[Eric B]

It seems like each segment had its own opening. It seems like HB's shorts were still more like theatrical shorts back then. I guess they were just in the process of defining the TV cartoon format and making the transition from theatrical, so the openings of other shows like Yogi and Huckleberry Hound were added later. Credits appeared in many of the individual opening sequences also, just like the theatricals. Magilla and after were probably the first shorts packages to debut with full oipening and closing segments for the "show".
The single episode TV sitcoms (Flintstones, TopCat, Jetsons) of course had the full opening and closing from their debuts.

[Anthonynotes]

It seems like each segment had its own opening. It seems like HB's shorts were still more like theatrical shorts back then. I guess they were just in the process of defining the TV cartoon format and making the transition from theatrical, so the openings of other shows like Yogi and Huckleberry Hound were added later. Credits appeared in many of the individual opening sequences also, just like the theatricals. Magilla and after were probably the first shorts packages to debut with full oipening and closing segments for the "show".
The single episode TV sitcoms (Flintstones, TopCat, Jetsons) of course had the full opening and closing from their debuts.

Actually, I asked my question because this is apparently the one show that *didn't* have opening/closing titles for the show as a whole (the individual segments had short openings/closings---remember Wally tooling around the swamp on the speedboat?). Openings/closings were quite standard for half-hour cartoons before this show (Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw, and Yogi's shows openings were all there from day one, as well as Rocky & Bullwinkle's). Thus, it seems odd to me that this Wally Gator/Touche Turtle/Lippy and Hardy show *didn't* have such an opening... and was wondering why...

[STARTOUNZ]

I may be mistaken about this, but were these cartoons shorter in length than the other cartoons of the period, or did they last the typical 6 minutes? They seemed just a bit shorter in length to me.


The cartoons were actually 5 minutes long, which is about the only thing I know about the series, which originally aired a few years before I was born. I've only seen them in syndication.

[Jon Cooke]

Actually, I asked my question because this is apparently the one show that *didn't* have opening/closing titles for the show as a whole (the individual segments had short openings/closings---remember Wally tooling around the swamp on the speedboat?). Openings/closings were quite standard for half-hour cartoons before this show (Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw, and Yogi's shows openings were all there from day one, as well as Rocky & Bullwinkle's). Thus, it seems odd to me that this Wally Gator/Touche Turtle/Lippy and Hardy show *didn't* have such an opening... and was wondering why...

It wasn't really a "show" per say, but a package of individual stand-alone cartoons that stations could run on their own locally produced kiddie cartoon shows. Some local stations opted to run all three series (Wally, Lippy, and Touche) in the same half-hour timeslot, but they were never distributed that way. It was apparently only referred to as "The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series" in promotional sales material selling the package to local stations, it was never actually called that on TV.

[Anthonynotes]

It wasn't really a "show" per say, but a package of individual stand-alone cartoons that stations could run on their own locally produced kiddie cartoon shows. Some local stations opted to run all three series (Wally, Lippy, and Touche) in the same half-hour timeslot, but they were never distributed that way. It was apparently only referred to as "The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series" in promotional sales material selling the package to local stations, it was never actually called that on TV.

Ah, that's what I suspected all along---and the answer I'm looking for. Thanks... :-)

-B.