Clue Club

Last updated
Clue Club
Clue club.jpg
Also known asWoofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives
Genre Mystery
Directed by Charles A. Nichols
Voices of
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
Composer Hoyt Curtin
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes16
Production
Executive producers
Producer Alex Lovy
Running time30 minutes
Production company Hanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
Network CBS
ReleaseSeptember 4 (1976-09-04) –
December 11, 1976 (1976-12-11)

Clue Club is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from August 14 to December 11, 1976. [1]

Contents

Overview

The series follows a group of four teenage detectives, the Clue Club – Larry, Pepper, D.D. and Dottie – who solved mysteries with the help of two talking dogs, a bloodhound and basset hound named Woofer and Wimper. [2] Clue Club mysteries usually involved investigating bizarre crimes such as animals, trains, airports, a movie director and statues vanishing into thin air.

Clue Club only had one season's worth of first-run episodes produced, which were shown on Saturday mornings on CBS. [3]

In the fall of 1977, cut-down versions of the half-hour episodes of Clue Club appeared under the new title Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives to showcase the show's bloodhound and basset hound which aired as a segment on the CBS Saturday morning package program The Skatebirds from September 10, 1977, to January 21, 1978. [4] When The Skatebirds was cancelled in early 1978, Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives re-appeared as a segment alongside The Three Robonic Stooges on their half-hour show from January 28 to September 2, 1978, also on CBS.

The full-length versions of Clue Club returned to CBS on Sunday mornings from September 10, 1978, to January 21, 1979, concluding the show's original network run. After a mid-1980s re-airing on USA Cartoon Express, it has since resurfaced on Cartoon Network (as part of the Mysteries, Inc. block) in the 1990s and Boomerang in the 2000s.

Characters

The series features the following seven main characters throughout its run:

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"The Paper Shaper Caper"September 4, 1976 (1976-09-04)
The News Press has the press running without Mr. Kitrich's notice. The Clue Club have a lead on Ms. Twitchell and Dottie has a lead to the Apex Printing Company. While getting abducted in the theatre Larry, D.D. and Pepper find out about a counterfeiting scheme organized by Mr. Whitaker.
2"The Case of the Lighthouse Mouse"September 11, 1976 (1976-09-11)
The Clue Club investigate a museum robbery in which the jewels are swiped one by one and Uncle Salty is suspected to be the thief. There seems to be a connection with the lighthouse Uncle Salty once worked in. Larry recreates the crime scene to expose the thief as Mr. Gooch and his trained mouse Barrymore.
3"The Real Gone Gondola"September 18, 1976 (1976-09-18)
The Clue Club investigates a mysterious disappearance of Ms. Coldwell caused by someone named Vortex. After much traveling between home and Blizzard Mountain and avoiding mysterious encounters, they conclude Tom Coldwell caused all this in order to scare away the interested buyers of the ski resort.
4"Who's to Blame for the Empty Frame?"September 25, 1976 (1976-09-25)
The Clue Club investigate a stolen million dollar painting in the Castle Museum. When Woofer and Wimper are assigned to guard a Ming vase, they get stolen, but they meet up with the Clue Club soon. Larry reveals the heist was carried out by a pantomimist Mr. Carlottie and the cleaner Mr. Tobais.
5"The Weird Seaweed Caper"October 2, 1976 (1976-10-02)
The Clue Club investigate the dock area where a sea monster dwells. What spooks them is someone named Doomsday who seems to be observing them. After combing the shorelines, the Clue Club and Sheriff Bagley catch the three diamond smugglers who were able to conceal the diamonds in golf balls.
6"The Green Thumb Caper"October 9, 1976 (1976-10-09)
The Clue Club investigate multiple robberies at Mr. Cosgrave's manor caused by some masked person in the dark. A trail leads to the suspects the butler Mr. Wilkins and the nursery gardener Ms. Carter who smuggled the jewels in Venus Flytraps.
7"The Disappearing Airport Caper"October 16, 1976 (1976-10-16)
Pilot Corky requests the Clue Club to clear his name of an X7 plane hijack which carries insurance. After a major check through on Brock's cow pasture, Larry reveals that a fake airport had been temporarily placed here and Eddie himself stole and hid the plane after getting Corky to land.
8"The Walking House Caper"October 23, 1976 (1976-10-23)
Mr. Lean asks the Clue Club to check it out a top security safe. The safe gets taken clean away. Mr. Benchley tells Larry that Mr. Lean's house moves around while everyone else is pursued by a Sasquatch. Larry reveals that safe was never stolen, but they were taken to an exact matching house by Mr. Benchley.
9"The Solar Energy Caper"October 30, 1976 (1976-10-30)
The Clue Club visit a science fair. Just then, the new solar generator is stolen. With many suspects in mind, Larry, D.D and Pepper check out Reed's Electronics. A final check reveals that a hologram was placed within the exhibit instead of the actual device, all devised by the scientist Mr. Foster.
10"The Vanishing Train Caper"November 6, 1976 (1976-11-06)
The Clue Club witness a train with a gold bullion vanish past a mountain. The only clue is iron pyrite pointing to the ghost town Dobson City. In an old mine nearby, the Clue Club find the stolen train and its gold which was diverted by an alternate track in the mountain, carried out by the train dispatcher.
11"The Dissolving Statue Caper"November 13, 1976 (1976-11-13)
At the Fun Mountain amusement park, the Clue Club are presented with a magnificent statue owned by Bobo Cahuna. The statue then vanishes. Finding out that, this statue was made of sugar, the evidence indicates Mr. Crane crafted it and his pet monkey dissolved it and the real statue remained in the cargo it was shipped in. Before Mr. Crane is carried away, he asks one of his workers to watch his pet monkey while he is away.
12"The Missing Pig Caper"November 20, 1976 (1976-11-20)
At the county fair, Sally takes the Clue Club to see her prize pig Sweet Pea, except he has been taken away. Dottie notifies a suspicious character, Mr. Glut's butler Mr. Cleek. After looking in the Glut residence, the pignapper is revealed to be the ice cream man who had the means to sell the pig to Mr. Glut.
13"One of Our Elephants Is Missing"November 25, 1976 (1976-11-25)
The Clue Club go to the zoo to search for a missing elephant, but also some other animals. D.D.'s idea of disguising as a chimpanzee to stake out the thief doesn't work. At the docks, Chris Carloff and his accomplice Dr. Henkan are proved to be the thieves that smuggled the zoo animals.
14"The Amazing Heist"November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27)
At the Rock Festival, the Crown of Dileria gets swiped. While searching, D.D. and Pepper are pursued by a werewolf. Dottie briefs a likely suspect Mr. Grayson. The whole theft was schemed by Madame Hortense who strongly believes the crown is hers by birthright.
15"The Circus Caper"December 4, 1976 (1976-12-04)
On a trip to the circus the Clue Club, see the acrobat Karelli vanish. The case seems complicated since many people have their views against Karelli who was going to leave the circus anyway to work for someone else. The acrobats Tonio and Peter are revealed to be the ones trying so hard to get rid of Karelli to become the best team.
16"The Prehistoric Monster Caper"December 11, 1976 (1976-12-11)
During a filming shoot of a cavepeople and dinosaur-themed movie, the director Mr. Simmons vanishes. D.D. and Pepper are chased by a dinosaur in their search for clues. Brett Winsome reveals the definite way Mr. Simmons disappeared. Mr. Wolf posed as Mr. Simmons and make it seem like the director disappeared.

Broadcast history

Clue Club aired in these following formats on CBS:

Broadcast schedules (all EDT):

Merchandising

In 1977–79, merchandising for Clue Club included: a coloring book (Clue Club Saves the Day), story book (Clue Club: The Case of the Missing Racehorse by Fern G. Brown), read & color book (Clue Club: The Racetrack Mystery), jigsaw puzzles, rub-on transfers and a school tablet.

Marvel Comics featured Clue Club stories ("Mrs. Macree's Mystery" and "The Root of All Evil!") in two issues of the short-lived anthology comic series Hanna-Barbera TV Stars #2 (October 1978) and #4 (February 1979). Outside of these American comics, Clue Club stories were also featured in Clue Club Annual 1979 hardback book published by World Distributors in the United Kingdom.

A board game titled as "The Clue Club Game" was released only in Europe in 1979.

Home media

On August 11, 2015, Warner Archive released Clue Club: The Complete Animated Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. [5]

Other appearances

Related Research Articles

<i>Scooby-Doo</i> American animated media franchise

Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera. The series features four teenagers: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps, while traveling using a brightly colored van called the "Mystery Machine". The franchise has several live-action films and shows.

The Skatebirds is an American live-action/animated package program produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 10, 1977, to January 21, 1978. It has many similarities to The Banana Splits.

<i>Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels</i> American animated series (1977–1980)

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels is an American animated mystery comedy series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for ABC. The series aired during the network's Saturday morning schedule from September 10, 1977, to June 21, 1980.

<i>The Quick Draw McGraw Show</i> American animated television series

The Quick Draw McGraw Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and their third television series overall after The Ruff and Reddy Show and The Huckleberry Hound Show. Voice actor Daws Butler performed the show's title character, Quick Draw McGraw.

<i>Jabberjaw</i> American animated television series (1976)

Jabberjaw is an American animated television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired 16 original episodes on ABC from September 11 to December 18, 1976. Reruns continued on ABC until September 3, 1978.

<i>Speed Buggy</i> American animated television series (1973)

Speed Buggy is an American animated television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, which originally aired for one season on CBS from September 8, 1973, to December 22, 1973. With the voices of Mel Blanc, Michael Bell, Arlene Golonka, and Phil Luther Jr., the show follows an orange anthropomorphic dune buggy who alongside teenagers Debbie, Mark, and Tinker, solves mysteries while participating in racing competitions around the world. The series was produced by Iwao Takamoto, executive produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and directed by Charles A. Nichols.

<i>Buford and the Galloping Ghost</i> American animated television series

Buford and the Galloping Ghost is an American animated television series and a spin-off of Yogi's Space Race produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that was broadcast on NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1978. The half-hour series was composed of two 11-minute segments: The Buford Files and The Galloping Ghost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Corden</span> American actor (1920–2005)

Henry Corden was a Canadian-born American actor, best known for assuming the voice of Fred Flintstone after the death of Alan Reed in 1977. His official debut as Fred's new voice was in a 1965 Hanna-Barbera record, Saving Mr. Flintstone, although he had previously provided the singing voice for Reed in the 1966 theatrical film The Man Called Flintstone and the Hanna-Barbera specials Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid like You Doing in a Place like This? (1966) and Energy: A National Issue (1977). He took over the role as Fred Flintstone full time starting with the syndicated weekday series Fred Flintstone and Friends for which he provided voice-overs on brief bumper clips shown in-between segments.

<i>Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!</i> American animated television series

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on September 13, 1969, and aired for two seasons until October 31, 1970. Reruns were broadcast for the 1971 season. In 1978, a selection of episodes from the later animated series Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and The Scooby-Doo Show were aired on ABC under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! title name, and was released in a DVD set marketed as its third season. It also aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1973. The complete series is also available on Boomerang, Max, and Tubi streaming services.

<i>The Scooby-Doo Show</i> American animated television series

The Scooby-Doo Show is an American animated mystery comedy series. The title of the series is an umbrella term for episodes of the third incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo franchise. A total of 40 episodes ran for three seasons, from 1976 to 1978, on ABC, marking the first Scooby Doo series to appear on the channel. Sixteen episodes aired as segments of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour in 1976, while eight aired as part of Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics in 1977. A final set of sixteen episodes came out in 1978, with eight running individually under the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! name and the remaining eight as segments of Scooby's All-Stars.

Sparky Marcus is an American former actor.

Saturday morning preview specials were aired on television annually to present previews of each network's fall lineup of Saturday-morning cartoon children's programming. Similar to the model for their new prime time counterpart shows, television networks in the United States and Canada would film a preview special for the fall season. These would often air as part of the regular network schedule or be made available to their affiliates for airing at any time, especially to fill timeslots that contained programming canceled months before.

<i>The Robonic Stooges</i> 1977 American TV series or program

The Robonic Stooges is a Saturday morning animated series featuring the characters of The Three Stooges in new roles as clumsy crime-fighting cyborg superheroes. It was developed by Norman Maurer and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 10, 1977, to March 18, 1978, on CBS and contained two segments: The Robonic Stooges and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives.

<i>CB Bears</i> 1977 American TV series or program

CB Bears is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions which aired on NBC from September 10 to December 3, 1977.

Chris Cuddington is an Australian animation director who worked at Hanna-Barbera Australia studios in Sydney during the 1970s and 1980s.

<i>The Tom and Jerry Show</i> (1975 TV series) 1975 American animated television series

The Tom & Jerry Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with MGM Television. Based on the Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon series, which was created by H-B co-founders and former MGM cartoon studio staff William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the show originally aired on ABC from September 6 to December 13, 1975 as the first half of The Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape/Mumbly Show, with The Great Grape Ape Show representing the series' second half and The Mumbly Cartoon Show representing the series' third half. This series marked the first time that Tom and Jerry appeared in animated installments produced specifically for television.

James Andrew MacGeorge was an American voice actor, puppeteer, stand-up comedian and writer. He is also credited Jim McGeorge and James MacGeorge.

<i>The Great Grape Ape Show</i> American animated television series

The Great Grape Ape Show is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on ABC from September 6 to December 13, 1975. ABC continued to air it in reruns until 1978.

<i>Scoobys All-Star Laff-A-Lympics</i> 1977 American TV series or program

Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics is a two-hour Saturday morning animated program block produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on ABC from September 10, 1977, until September 2, 1978.

References

  1. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 130. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  2. ↑ Sennett, Ted (1989). The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity . Studio. p.  166. ISBN   978-0670829781 . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 205–206. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  4. ↑ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981 . Scarecrow Press. pp.  69–70. ISBN   0-8108-1557-5 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  5. ↑ 'Clue Club' DVD Set: Release Date, Pricing, Details, Cover Art Archived 2015-08-06 at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.