Yogi's First Christmas | |
---|---|
Genre | Family Comedy |
Written by | Willie Gilbert |
Directed by | Ray Patterson |
Voices of | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Producer | Lew Marshall |
Running time | 98 minutes |
Production company | Hanna-Barbera Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Syndication |
Release | November 22, 1980 |
Yogi's First Christmas is a 1980 American animated musical television film starring Yogi Bear and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It first aired in syndication through Operation Prime Time on November 22, 1980. [1] Throughout the 1980s, it was offered to U.S. television stations split up one episode per day for four days as a one-week strip syndicated program, generally during the week of Christmas. The film was written by Willie Gilbert and directed by Ray Patterson. [2]
In keeping with Hanna-Barbera's limited animation techniques, the special didn't have the full animation of a theatrical feature like 1964's Hey There, It's Yogi Bear , but was regardless more detailed and elaborate than their standard TV work. [3]
Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy come to Jellystone Lodge for the holiday. They are joined by Ranger Smith, hotel manager Mr. Dingwell, Otto the chef, and lodge owner Sophie Throckmorton and her spoiled brat of a nephew, Snively. The gang is obsessed with keeping Mrs. Throckmorton happy to keep her from closing down the lodge, which has become unpopular due to activity caused by Herman the Hermit, a grumpy Christmas-hating hermit who just wants to be left alone.
Yogi Bear and Boo Boo are put to work as employees of the lodge when the music wakes them up and they enter the lodge through the kitchen where Otto works. Yogi is first ordered to operate the snowplow to which he saves Mrs. Throckmorton on the road from an avalanche caused by Herman. Later, Yogi is working as a bellhop, where he is tasked by Ranger Smith to stay on Mrs. Throckmorton's good side.
Though Snively tries to embarrass Yogi with his pranks, Yogi comes out on top. In another attempt to degrade Yogi, Snively tricks him into entering a figure skating contest, which Snively is also a participant. Although Snively earns high marks, Mrs. Throckmorton covertly wishes Snively would lose in order to tame his poor attitude. Yogi, the last contestant, manages to impress the judges well enough to earn the highest marks and win. Snively is a sore loser and enraged that Yogi beat him at his own game, but his aunt Sophie says that Yogi won fair and square and losing is a lesson of life.
Following different situations caused by Herman that Yogi saved her from, Mrs. Throckmorton has Mr. Dingwell promote Yogi to chief of security. Cindy Bear also awakens from her hibernation, to help Yogi out (due to her love and concern for him). Fed up with Snively's antics, Yogi retaliates during an ice fishing contest, with Mrs. Throckmorton agreeing that he needed to be taught a lesson. Furious, Snively runs away and meets up with Herman, and the two team up to ruin Christmas. However, Yogi manages to thwart them every time, albeit unknowingly.
Eventually, Herman and Snively are forgiven, invited to the Christmas celebrations and they have a profound change of heart at such generosity of spirit. Then in the midst of the festivities, Santa Claus plummets down the chimney. Santa admits that there were times when Yogi was not very good by way of stealing food from parkgoers, but also sees Yogi did much good. Santa gives Yogi his very own picnic basket full of food. Yogi, however, falls asleep, due to his natural instincts of hibernation. Santa then says that Yogi and Boo Boo can have the basket when they wake up in the spring. With that, the partiers return Yogi, Boo Boo and Cindy to their caves for the rest of their hibernation. [4]
Two songs from Casper's First Christmas ("Comin' Up Christmas Time" and "Making a Big To-Do") are featured here, in new re-recorded versions. Additionally, "Hope" was previously heard in two previous Christmas specials, A Christmas Story (1972) and A Flintstone Christmas (1977). Four songs were released by Kid Rhino Records on the album Hanna-Barbera's Christmas Sing-A-Long [5] in 1991, currently available on various streaming services.
The holiday TV movie was first released on VHS via Worldvision Home Video in 1983, and later re-released in association with Kids Klassics Home Video in 1986. It was then released on DVD as part of the manufactured-on-demand Warner Archive Collection on November 17, 2009.
A follow-up film, Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper , aired on CBS on December 21, 1982.
Snagglepuss is a fictional cartoon character who debuted in prototype form on The Quick Draw McGraw Show in 1959 and was established as a studio regular by 1961. A light pink anthropomorphic puma sporting an upturned collar, shirt cuffs, and bow tie, Snagglepuss enjoys the finer things in life and shows a particular affinity for the theatre. His stories routinely break the fourth wall as the character addresses the audience in self-narration, soliloquy, and asides. As originally voiced by Daws Butler, Snagglepuss seeks quasi-Shakespearean turns of phrase. Some of his campy verbal mannerisms became catchphrases: "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", "Exit, stage left!", and using emphatic "even" at the end of sentences.
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy are two Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters who debuted on The Quick Draw McGraw Show and appeared in their own segment. The segments centered on the misadventures of a dachshund father-and-son team. Doggie Daddy tried to do the best he could at raising his rambunctious son Augie. The characters have made appearances outside of their series, including in their own video game and in Yogi's Ark Lark and its spin-off series.
Yogi's Gang is an American Saturday-morning cartoon, and the second incarnation of the Yogi Bear franchise, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, which aired for 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.
Yo Yogi! is an American animated television series, and the seventh entry in the Yogi Bear franchise, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired from September 14 to December 7, 1991, on NBC for 13 episodes.
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Yogi's Great Escape is a 1987 animated made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series. The two-hour film aired in syndication.
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.
Casper's First Christmas is a 1979 American animated Christmas television special and crossover produced by Hanna-Barbera. It features Casper the Friendly Ghost and his friend Hairy Scarey from the animated series Casper and the Angels. The special features guest stars Yogi Bear, Boo-Boo, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, and Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy. It aired on NBC on December 18, 1979.
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, Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf, and Peter Potamus, as he died a couple weeks after its telecast from a heart attack.
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.
Yogi's Ark Lark is a 1972 American animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, intended to raise ecological awareness. Written by Bob Ogle and Dick Robbins and directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, it was broadcast on ABC on September 16, 1972, as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and served as the two-part episode for Yogi's Gang.
Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose is a 1987 animated made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series. This film aired in syndication.
Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper is a 1982 American animated Christmas television special starring Yogi Bear. It is the third and final Yogi Christmas special. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, 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. A spin-off of The Huckleberry Hound Show, the show centers on the adventures 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.
Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows, and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show.
Laff-A-Lympics is an American animated comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. 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 on September 10, 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.
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