A Funtastic Celebration By MrWonderWorks

Sep 15, 20155 min read

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Published: Sep 15, 2015

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Hey, Hey, Hey! This is it, it's Tuesday, September the 15th 2015.

And 3 decades ago cartoon kings William Hanna and Joseph Barbera launched a Weekday/Weekend superstar cartoon power hour unlike nothing we've ever seen.

It was a variety block of both old school H-B stars and new school H-B stars, and it was called "The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera".

The 1st H-B cartoon was based on Tonka's answer to Hasbro's successful toyline "The Transformers" it was called "The Challenge Of The Gobots".

It tells the story about the battle between The Guardian Gobots lead by the Zorro type gobot himself named Leader-1 and The Renegade Gobots lead by the bearded type gobot known as CyKill.

& Whereas the Autobots and Decepticons scanned vehicles, guns, and even boomboxes, the Guardians and Renegades have already used modern vehicles since Gobotron was born.

The show lasted 2 seasons and 1 movie entitled "The Battle Of The Rock Lords", the Gobots was Bill and Joe's 1st cartoon series based on a toyline & it won't be the last.

The 2nd H-B cartoon was somehow did make a comeback in 1985 i'm talking about the 1st family of the future, "The Jetsons".

This series made their Funtastic World debut along with Gobots, Paw Paws, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, and Galtar.

It was the return of George, Elroy, Judy, Jane, Rosie, and their talking dog Astro.

But the show also had new characters as well, like Orbity the emotional but playful bounciful alien and Rudy George's talking computer.

The Jetsons lasted for 2 seasons, 2 made for TV movies, and 1 big screen smash hit.

The 3rd H-B cartoon was different unlike we've never seen before, yeah they're baby bears but they've got a native american genes along with it, they called themselves the Paw Paw Bears or in short "The Paw Paws".

This series was at the time when Bill and Joe had successes with "The Smurfs", "The Shirt Tales", "The Snorks", "The Trollkins", "The Monchichis", and "The Biskitts".

The series tells the incredible adventures of Princess Paw Paw and her friends as they protect their home from the wrath of Dark Paw and The Meanos.

Paw Paws was also the launching pad for voice actress Susan Blu who went on to do Arcee in season 3 of "The Transformers: Generation 1".

The show lasted for 2 seasons from 1985 to 1986.

Now the 4th H-B cartoon had something to do with Funtastic World, because the theme to that cartoon was also the theme to the 1st 3 seasons to the block as well, it's "Yogi's Treasure Hunt"!

It was Yogi Bear's 4th & final spinoff series plus it was also a big family reunion of all of our favorite H-B pals like, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss Lion, Huckleberry "Huck" Hound, Dick Dastardly and Muttley Mutt, Top Cat, and it was also the return of the original cast members of "The Yogi Bear Show" Ranger Smith, Boo Boo Bear, and of course Yogi Bear.

The original title for this new series was called "Yogi Bear and The Funtastic Treasure Hunt" but since Bill and Joe already named this block The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera they shorted as Yogi's Treasure Hunt since Yogi's the star of course.

It was Daws Butler's final series as Yogi Bear and his characters before his passing in 1988, plus the series was also the sequel to H-B's 1st treasure seeking toon "Popeye's Treasure Hunt".

The show lasted for 3 seasons from 1985 to 1987 and that's rare by today's standards.

Last but not least is the 5th and final H-B cartoon to complete the season 1 lineup was a action packed cartoon that has a little bit of He-Man, along with a dose of Conan in it, the name of this series was called "Galtar And The Golden Lance".

The series tells the story of Galtar whose his parents was killed by the evil Tormack, the only way to stop him is by teaming up with Princess Goleeta and her little brother Prince Zorn, and together with Galtar's horse Thork, and the dragon known as Ravenclaw they swore to stop the evil Tormack no matter the cost.

The show lasted for 2 seasons, and it set the tone for their sister series "The Pirates Of Dark Water" in 1991.

The original hosts to Funtastic World was Yogi Bear and his Funtastic Treasure Hunt Crew members Huckleberry, Quick Draw, and Snagglepuss in their live action costumed forms.

The block lasted from 1985 to 1994.

These days someone says Saturday Mornings are dead, i say that's whack so i created a message to all you Funtastic Freaks out there, listen and then you'll see why.

If you wanted to bring Saturday Mornings back go to my petition page and let your voices be heard!

www.thepetitionsite.com/214/30…

So until next time, this is MrWonderWorks saying, in the immortal words of Yogi he'll say, "We'll see you next time" !