Jabberjaw

Last updated
Jabberjaw
Jabberjaw.png
GenreComedy
Mystery
Created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
Directed by Charles A. Nichols
Voices of Frank Welker
Tommy Cook
Barry Gordon
Julie McWhirter
Patricia Parris
Music by Hoyt Curtin
Opening theme"Jabberjaw" (Jabberjaw and The Neptunes)
Ending theme"Jabberjaw" (instrumental)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes16
Production
Executive producers William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Producer Alex Lovy
Running time23 minutes
Production company Hanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseSeptember 11 (1976-09-11) –
December 18, 1976 (1976-12-18)

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. [1]

Contents

Premise

Jabberjaw, a 15-foot amphibious great white shark, is the drummer for The Neptunes, a rock group made up of four teenagers—Biff, Shelly, Bubbles and Clamhead—who live in an underwater civilization. [1] Jabberjaw and The Neptunes travel to various underwater cities where they encounter and deal with assorted megalomaniacs and supervillains who want to conquer the undersea world. [2]

Like a great deal of Hanna-Barbera's 1970s output, the format and writing for Jabberjaw was similar to that for Scooby-Doo , [3] Josie and the Pussycats and Speed Buggy . [4] The show also drew inspiration (in the use of a shark as a character) from the overall shark mania of the mid-1970s [5] caused by the then-recent film Jaws . It also shared The Flintstones' penchant for making use of puns as the names of locations, people, etc., in this case, ocean-themed puns (such as "Aqualaska" instead of Alaska). Every episode ended with a musical chase sequence where Jabberjaw and the gang would run from the villains, performing zany cartoon antics in order to escape while a song by The Neptunes played in the background.

Characters

Jabberjaw and The Neptunes. Counterclockwise: Jabberjaw (drums), Bubbles (keyboard), Biff (guitar), Shelly (tambourine) and Clamhead (bass). Jabberjaw and The Neptunes.jpg
Jabberjaw and The Neptunes. Counterclockwise: Jabberjaw (drums), Bubbles (keyboard), Biff (guitar), Shelly (tambourine) and Clamhead (bass).

Broadcast history

Sixteen 30-minute episodes of Jabberjaw were produced, which aired on ABC Saturday Morning from September 11, 1976, to September 3, 1977, and rebroadcast for a second season of reruns on Sunday Morning from September 11, 1977, to September 3, 1978. In the 1980s, repeats resurfaced as part of USA Cartoon Express on USA Network, in the 1990s on Cartoon Network and in the 2000s on Boomerang. Reruns of the series started airing on Discovery Family on September 14, 2024. [7] This is one of a number of shows made before the mid-1980s seen on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang to have been taken from PAL prints.

Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track created by the studio.

Broadcast schedules (all EDT):

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air dateProd.
code
1"Dr. Lo Has Got to Go"September 11, 1976 (1976-09-11)84-1
Jabber and the gang have to stop the evil Dr. Lo from unleashing his Gorgon on the city of Aquahama.
2"There's No Place Like Outer Space"September 18, 1976 (1976-09-18)84-2
After Biff gets them kicked out for a publicity stunt, aliens land in the undersea city of Hydrostan. It's up to Jabber and the gang to stop their invasion.
3"Atlantis, Get Lost"September 25, 1976 (1976-09-25)84-4
Jabber and the gang get mixed-up in Dorsal's plan to overthrow the queen of Atlantis and become king himself.
4"Run, Jabber, Run"October 2, 1976 (1976-10-02)84-3
Jabber competes in the Undersea Olympics against a robot in order to unmask Z, the leader of a worldwide criminal organization.
5"The Sourpuss Octopus"October 9, 1976 (1976-10-09)84-5
Jabber and the gang accidentally join Professor Acosta's expedition to find the treasure of Panaqua, and have to protect him from the villainous Octopus.
6"Hang On to Your Hat, Jabber"October 16, 1976 (1976-10-16)84-6
The Brotherhood of Evil threatens the undersea world when it learns that the Power Helmet, invented by Professor Ortega, grants its bearer's every wish.
7"The Great Shark Switch"October 23, 1976 (1976-10-23)84-7
The Ambassador of Aquatania suspects that the Neptunes have kidnapped Commander Shark, so Jabberjaw must prove their innocence.
8"Claim-Jumped Jabber"October 30, 1976 (1976-10-30)84-8
The evil Coldfinger is after all the richest mines in Aqualaska. When Jabberjaw gets in the way, Coldfinger puts our favorite shark on ice!
9"Ali Jabber and the Secret Thieves"November 6, 1976 (1976-11-06)84-9
Jabber and The Neptunes, touring the undersea kingdom of Hydrabia, meet Volton, an evil mass of energy who lives inside the magic Electrolamp.
10"Help, Help, It's the Phantom of the Kelp"November 13, 1976 (1976-11-13)84-10
The Phantom, with the aid of a powerful growth ray, plans to raise an army of ferocious prehistoric plants to make the Aqua International Corporation bow to his demands.
11"No Helpin' the Sculpin"November 20, 1976 (1976-11-20)84-11
Jabber and The Neptunes encounter the sinister Sculpin, who has stolen an unfinished time machine from the brilliant Professor Thorstein.
12"The Bermuda Triangle Tangle"November 25, 1976 (1976-11-25)84-12
Jabberjaw and The Neptunes accidentally go through the Bermuda Triangle and are taken prisoner by Sorceress Madame Sargasso.
Note: Telecast at noon (ET) on a Thursday, as part of ABC's Thanksgiving Funshine Festival.
13"Malice in Aqualand"November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27)84-13
While participating in a rodeo at Aqualand's theme land Westernland, Jabberjaw sees Dr. Cybron's henchmen kidnap the Rajah and replace him with a robot duplicate. He tells The Neptunes and Dr. Cybron tries to silence them by sending a runaway stagecoach over a cliff. When that plot fails, his henchmen capture Bubbles and send a duplicate of her to capture the others. The group rescues Bubbles and the Rajah and discovers that Dr. Cybron himself is a robot.
14"The Fast Paced Chase Race"December 4, 1976 (1976-12-04)84-14
The Neptunes try to win the top spot in the Petrolaqua Trans-Marine Race while attempting to foil the evil plans of Dr. Robek.
15"The Piranha Plot"December 11, 1976 (1976-12-11)84-16
Biff books the group on a tanker to Amsteraqua after another gig falls through, this being the cheapest way to go straight there. The Piranha has designs on ruling the Underwater States of America and captures the tanker for its load of special rocket fuel. The Neptunes scuttle the Piranha's rocket, practically dismantling the control center and messing with the rocket's fuel delivery system. Jabber manages to accidentally launch the rocket to a different destination with its cargo of sleep dust.
16"There's No Heel Like El Eel"December 18, 1976 (1976-12-18)84-15
The eerie El Eel threatens to turn the entire undersea world to stone, and there's only one guy who can stop him: the great El Jabbo!

Other appearances

A rebooted Jabberjaw interacts with Aquaman. From the Aquaman/Jabberjaw Special#1 Jabberaqua.jpg
A rebooted Jabberjaw interacts with Aquaman. From the Aquaman/Jabberjaw Special#1

Merchandising

In 1977–78, Rand McNally released two coloring books (Jabberjaw and The Neptunes and Jabberjaw Does It Again), a story book (Jabberjaw Out West by Jean Lewis, illustrated by Jim Franzen) and a read & color book (Jabberjaw and the Rustlers).

Other merchandise in the late 1970s–early 1980s included a lunchbox and thermos, iron-on transfers, jigsaw puzzles, Presto Magix, bubble maker set, a school tablet, Avon pendant, a plush toy and Hanna-Barbera Marineland Jabberjaw picture viewer. [19]

In 2005, a Jabberjaw Wacky Wobbler bobblehead figure was released by Funko.

Home media

On July 28, 1988, an 85-minute videocassette of Jabberjaw containing four episodes ("Dr. Lo Has Got to Go", "There's No Place Like Outer Space", "The Sourpuss Octopuss" and "The Great Shark Switch") was released by Worldvision Home Video.

On February 15, 2011, Warner Archive released Jabberjaw: The Complete 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. [20]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981 . Scarecrow Press. pp.  149-150. ISBN   0-8108-1557-5 . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Rovin, Jeff (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals. Prentice Hall Press. p. 135. ISBN   0-13-275561-0 . Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Crandol, Michael (1999). "The History of Animation: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Studio System in the Production of an Art Form". Digital Media FX. Joe Tracy. Archived from the original on 2011-08-21. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  4. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 307. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  5. ↑ Mallory, Michael (1998). Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. Warner Bros., Hugh Lauter Levin Associates Inc. ISBN   0-88363-108-3.
  6. ↑ America Toons In: A History of Television Animation By David Perlmutter page 154
  7. ↑ https://x.com/TheCartoonBase/status/1827802218570862961 [ bare URL ]
  8. ↑ Jabberjaw: The Silent Hunters at WorldCat
  9. ↑ Jabberjaw: A Whale of a Tale at WorldCat
  10. ↑ "MetLife: "Everyone" Game Day Commercial". YouTube. 2012-02-03. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  11. ↑ "Aquaman/Jabberjaw #1 Review". AIPTcomics.com. 30 May 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  12. ↑ Bonaime, Ross (June 9, 2021). "New 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' Trailer Features Crowd Cameos from Harry Potter, Batman, Animaniacs, and More". Collider . Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  13. ↑ Burwick, Kevin (April 3, 2021). "Space Jam 2: Every Crazy Cameo We've Seen So Far". MovieWeb . Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  14. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (Oct 29, 2019). "HBO Max Sets New Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Robert Zemeckis Hybrid Series 'Tooned Out', More For Kids & Family Slate" . Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Jellystone! I Official Trailer I HBO Max Family". June 24, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved June 24, 2021– via YouTube.
  16. ↑ Milligan, Mercedes (Jun 24, 2021). "Trailer: Hanna-Barbera Favorites Return in HBO Max Original 'Jellystone!'" . Retrieved Jun 27, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Specials Video - Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now!".
  18. ↑ Sabina Graves (September 20, 2023). "Holy Mega Animation Cross-Over for WB 100 on Teen Titans Go!". Gizmodo. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Marineland Jabberjaw Picture Viewer (1980)" . Retrieved Jun 27, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Jabberjaw - 'The Complete Series' MOD Title Now Available: Cost, Contents, High-Res Box Art". Archived from the original on 2011-09-14.
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