Yogi's Ark Lark | |
---|---|
Title card | |
Written by | Bob Ogle Dick Robbins |
Directed by | Joseph Barbera William Hanna |
Starring | Daws Butler Henry Corden Walker Edmiston Allan Melvin Don Messick John Stephenson Jean Vander Pyl Lennie Weinrib |
Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin (musical director) Paul DeKorte (musical supervision) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Joseph Barbera William Hanna |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | September 16, 1972 |
Yogi's Ark Lark is a 1972 animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera, intended to raise ecological awareness. Written by Bob Ogle and Dick Robbins and directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, it was broadcast on September 16, 1972, as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and served as the two-part episode for Yogi's Gang . [1]
Aside from its environmental message, the film marked a milestone in Hanna-Barbera's history: a wide range of the studio’s characters were united in one story for the first time. This set the tone for future series and specials, such as Laff-A-Lympics and Yogi's First Christmas .
Concerned about the terrible state of the environment, the entire animal kingdom from Hanna-Barbera gather for a meeting in Jellystone Park, chaired by Yogi Bear. They decide to leave their homes and search for "the perfect place" — a legendary and trouble-free place free of pollution, deforestation, and other forms of mankind's despoilment and has a few simple problems. Though Boo-Boo Bear states to Yogi that Ranger Smith will not like it. Jellystone maintenance man Noah Smitty helps them build a flying ship (which looks like Noah's Ark with a propeller on top and retractable wheels) for their journey, and they decide to name it after him. Because "Smitty's Houseboat" is too long to paint on the bow, they name it "Noah's Ark." With Yogi at the helm, they travel to places around the world, searching for "the perfect place" as the ark is powered by Magilla Gorilla running on a treadmill to get to his bananas.
They start by driving down the highway into the ocean, where they soon end up on the back of a sleeping Moby Dick. Huckleberry Hound is sent down to wake him. They then end up stranded in the Sahara Desert which they originally mistake for a beach. The desert sun causes Yogi to hallucinate and believe he is the pharaoh King Tut and his friends are his slaves until Boo-Boo and Noah Smitty arrive. Some moments later, So-So the monkey spots an oasis which is "the perfect place." As Yogi and crew settle down to make themselves at home, Lambsy spots a "dragon" which turns out to be a construction vehicle developing a new city. Yogi and the crew then take their leave of the area.
They arrive in Antarctic territory, which is a brand new "perfect place." They begin settling there until a similar situation happens like at the oasis.
Next, Yogi and the crew wind up in outer space upon going up too far, which is a new and improved "perfect place." It isn’t long before Earth ejects its "junk" (missiles, satellites, etc.) into space.
With the Ark back on earth and sailing the sea, morale has dropped among the animals: Huck throws water down a pipe which causes Dum Dum to emerge and throw water at him, Quick Draw McGraw insults Snagglepuss' slicing of salami, Peter Potamus insults Magilla Gorilla by telling him "he looks like a gorilla", and Lippy the Lion grows tired of Hardy Har Har's complaining. Yogi Bear becomes aware of this just as So-So spots a typhoon coming. The animals struggle to survive the typhoon like Dum Dum roping Huck and Lippy saving Hardy. The typhoon lands them on top of a mountain, and the animals almost believe that they’ve found what they’ve been looking for....only to be disappointed again when Yakky Doodle returns with an empty tin can and the animals notice a deforestation occurring.
At this point, the younger animals (consisting of Atom Ant, Augie Doggie, Baba Looey, Benny the Ball, Boo-Boo, Ding-a-Ling Wolf, Lambsy, Pixie and Dixie, Shag Rugg, Touché Turtle, and Yakky Doodle) decide that they should all simply go back home and clean up the messes that they were trying to escape. This decision is met with unanimous approval, and the animals all head for home so that they can start turning it into "the perfect place".
During the credits, Wally Gator and Squiddly Diddly are cleaning the rivers, Paw and Shag Rugg are picking up garbage around their house, and Yogi Bear picks up a recently-discarded hamburger wrapper.
The following Hanna-Barbera characters appeared in this movie (not all of whom appeared on Yogi’s Gang) in alphabetical order:
Yogi's Ark Lark was released on the Yogi's Gang: The Complete Series DVD from the Warner Archive Collection on February 19, 2013.
Yogi's Ark Lark was included as a bonus feature for the Blu-ray release of Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears from Warner Archive on February 20, 2024. [2]
Charles Dawson Butler, professionally known as Daws Butler, was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera characters, including: Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Augie Doggie, Loopy De Loop, Wally Gator, Snooper and Blabber, Dixie and Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf, Lippy the Lion, Elroy Jetson, Lambsy, Peter Potamus, The Funky Phantom and Hair Bear. While at Walter Lantz, he did the voices of: Chilly Willy, Smedley, Maxie the Polar Bear, Gooney and Sam in the Maggie and Sam series.
Yogi's Gang is an American animated television series and the second incarnation of the Yogi Bear franchise, which aired 16 half-hour episodes on ABC from September 8, 1973, to December 29, 1973. The show began as Yogi's Ark Lark, a special TV movie on The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie in 1972. Fifteen original episodes were produced for broadcast on ABC, with the hour-long Yogi's Ark Lark thrown in as a split-in-half two-parter. The show confronted social and cultural issues like ecology and bigotry, with villains named Mr. Waste, Dr. Bigot, the Envy Brothers, Lotta Litter, the Greedy Genie and Mr. Cheater.
Inch High, Private Eye is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 8 to December 1, 1973.
Peter Potamus is a purple animated hippopotamus that first appeared in the 1964–1966 animated television series The Peter Potamus Show, produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast on September 16, 1964.
Yo Yogi! is an American animated television series and the seventh entry in the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired from September 14 to December 7, 1991, on NBC for 13 episodes.
Yogi's Treasure Hunt is an American animated television series and the fifth entry in the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. Featuring Yogi Bear and various other Hanna-Barbera characters, it premiered in syndication in late 1985 as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. This is the last series to feature Daws Butler as the voice of Yogi Bear and his other characters before his death in 1988. While all 27 episodes were made in digital ink and paint across three seasons, its opening credits were produced in traditional cel animation.
Yakky Doodle is a cartoon duck created by Hanna-Barbera Productions for the 1961 series The Yogi Bear Show. Yakky's name is a spoof of "Yankee Doodle".
Wake, Rattle, and Roll is an American live-action/animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Four Point Entertainment that premiered in the fall of 1990. As the show's title suggests, Hanna-Barbera intended the show to air on its affiliated stations in a morning timeslot before school. The show's title was inspired by the song "Shake, Rattle and Roll". After its single season on the air in syndication, Wake, Rattle, and Roll moved exclusively to The Disney Channel under the title Jump, Rattle, and Roll, with the title adjustment due to its repeats not being confined to mornings.
The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound is a 1988 animated Western television film produced by Hanna-Barbera for syndication as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series. This film marks the final time Daws Butler voiced Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey, Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf, and Peter Potamus, as he died a couple weeks after its telecast from a heart attack.
Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired as part of the 1962 series The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series starring the titular anthropomorphic lion and hyena duo in a series of goofy misadventures.
Fred Flintstone and Friends is an American animated anthology wheel series and a spin-off of The Flintstones produced by Hanna-Barbera and Columbia Pictures Television that aired in daily first-run syndication from September 12, 1977, to September 1, 1978. The series was packaged by Columbia Pictures Television during the 1977–78 television season and was available for barter syndication through Claster Television through the mid-1980s.
The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, a.k.a. The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series or The Wally Gator Show, was a syndicated television package of animated cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, starting in 1962. The show included three unrelated short cartoon segments featuring talking animal characters:
Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper is a 1982 animated Christmas television special starring Yogi Bear. It is the third and final Yogi Christmas special. Produced by Hanna-Barbera, it first aired on December 21, 1982 on CBS. Along with Yogi's traditional cast, the characters also met up with many other Hanna-Barbera characters, including Magilla Gorilla and Fred Flintstone.
Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic coonhound dog that speaks with a North Carolina Southern drawl. He first appeared in the series The Huckleberry Hound Show. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to win an Emmy Award in 1960 as an "Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming"; the first animated series to receive such an award.
Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration is a 1989 American live-action/animated television special written, directed and produced by Marshall Flaum, which premiered on TNT on July 17, 1989. It is hosted by Tony Danza, along with Annie Potts; it also stars Whoopi Goldberg, Betty White, Sammy Davis Jr., Tommy Lasorda, Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller, Valerie Harper, Shari Belafonte, Joe Ferguson and Tiffany.
The Yogi Bear Show is an American comedy animated television series and the first entry of the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that centers on the misadventures of forest-dwelling Yogi Bear in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961, and ran for 33 episodes until January 6, 1962. Two other segments for the show were Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle. The show had a two-year production run.
Magilla Gorilla is a fictional gorilla and the star of The Magilla Gorilla Show by Hanna-Barbera that aired from 1963 to 1965.
Laff-A-Lympics is an American animated comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series premiered as part of the Saturday-morning cartoon program block Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics which consists of 24 episodes, on ABC in 1977. The show is a spoof of the Olympics and the ABC primetime series Battle of the Network Stars, which debuted one year earlier. It featured 45 Hanna-Barbera characters organized into teams which competed each week for gold, silver, and bronze medals. In each episode, the Really Rottens would try in each event to cheat only to get caught by Snagglepuss each time. One season of 16 episodes was produced in 1977–78, and eight new episodes combined with reruns for the 1978–79 season as Scooby's All-Stars. Unlike most cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, Laff-A-Lympics did not contain a laugh track. Scooby’s Laff-a-Lympics was originally owned by Taft Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution currently owns the series through its two in-name-only units, Warner Bros. Family Entertainment and Turner Entertainment.