Top 10 Hanna Barbera Cartoons
#10: “Super Friends” (1973-86)
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Was there a better way to kick-start your weekend, and is there a better way to kick-start this countdown, than with this? Hanna-Barbera can be heralded with many a superlative, but the word ‘super’ is more than suitable for this Saturday morning beauty! The “Super Friends” were DC Comics’ “Justice League” translated into a family friendly cartoon. As the show’s production company, Hanna-Barbera had a little pressure heaped on their shoulders with this one, but they, like their characters, performed heroically for more than 100 episodes!
#9: “Jonny Quest” (1964-65)
This is animation and adventure at its absolute finest! Jonny Quest ran for one season during ABC’s Friday night prime time period in 1964-65. A short but definitely sweet series, it told the story of the titular Jonny and his extraordinary travels with his scientist father, guardian/bodyguard Race Bannon and best friend Hadji. Featuring a more realistic approach to its artwork, the series proved a trendsetter for Hanna-Barbera. “Quest’s” enthusiastic reviews encouraged the company to delve further into the action-adventure genre in the future – and we’re sure glad it did!
#8: “The Huckleberry Hound Show” (1958-61)
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A breakthrough cartoon, “The Huckleberry Hound Show” gave us all manner of characters, and garnered all manner of critical acclaim! The first animated program to win an Emmy, the popularity of its laidback drawling star and his laugh-inducing pals helped pave the way for original animation on TV! With each program split into three sections, Huckleberry was joined by Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, and more famously by Yogi Bear! His was a killer clan of cartoon characters!
#7: “Wacky Races” (1968-69)
From one legendary character to another… the greedy and conniving Dick Dastardly was an original animated anti-hero, and his snickering dog Muttley the perfect sidekick to such a character! Even though we all knew we shouldn’t want Dastardly to win the race, there was something about the mustachioed madman that had us rooting for his rocket car! The ‘Mean Machine’ was but one of many fine feats of engineering, however… The ‘Gruesome Twosome’ had the ‘Creepy Coupe’, ‘Peter Perfect’ had the ‘Turbo Terrific’, and ‘Penelope Pitstop’ had the ‘Compact Pussycat’… All in all, it was animated, alliterated, accelerated awesomeness!
#6: “The Smurfs” (1981-89)
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Whoever said “blue was the loneliest color” was wrong! “The Smurfs” have proven an all-conquering success since their original creation by Belgian comic artist Peyo, in 1958. But Hanna-Barbera’s special magic moved that success to a new level! The Daytime Emmy Award-winning cartoon series that began in ‘81 is one of the longest-running Saturday morning cartoons ever, and one of the company’s most well loved of all time too! Papa Smurf is joined by all manner of other adjective Smurfs, as Brainy, Grouchy, Clumsy, Greedy, Scaredy, Sloppy, Smurfette and co. paint the town, the village, our TV screens, the entire world… Blue!
#5: “The Jetsons” (1962-63)
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The family unit can make a seriously good subject for cartooning, especially when that family is a little out of the ordinary! And “The Jetsons” are certainly that! Living in the year 2062 (a full century after the show’s first airing), they go to school and go to work in Orbit City! George and Jane Jetson are parents to Judy and Elroy, Astro is their talking dog, and Rosie is their housekeeping robot! It’s a world of commercialized space ships and super high-rise apartment blocks. It’s the future, and it’s really fun!
#4: “The Yogi Bear Show” (1961-62)
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Having started life on “The Huckleberry Hound Show,” Yogi proved too big for a bit part! With his white collar and tie, this bear dressed to deliver. And his self-promoting catchphrase became a pop culture touchstone [“smarter than the av-er-age bear”]. ‘Smarter than the average bear’ he may be, but his specialty was getting into funny fixes! With his trusty pal Boo-Boo, Yogi lived for lunch and pinching ‘pic-a-nic baskets’ was his hobby! He was once accused of pinching a name too, but Hanna-Barbera smoothed things over with MLB star ‘Yogi’ Berra in the end! Another happy ending for Jellystone’s jolliest occupant!
#3: “Tom and Jerry” (1940-57)
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It feels as though the cartoon cat and mouse act is as old as time… But “Tom and Jerry” were the trendsetters! A series of animated shorts produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for MGM, this franchise was originally designed to rival Walt Disney’s “Silly Symphonies,” and this pair definitely proved there was more to cartoon merriment than Mickey Mouse! The basic formula is almost never in doubt, but that’s why we love it! Jerry teases Tom, Tom takes the bait, Jerry teases some more, Tom loses again - it’s a simple equation, but a downright effective one that resulted in seven Oscars!
#2: “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” (1969-70; 1978)
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The first of many variations of the Mystery, Inc. franchise, “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” was a success from the start! Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy are joined by the greatest of Great Danes in the show’s title character! A reaction to the more violent superhero cartoons of the same period, the fivesome was famous for their crime-solving skills, their psychedelic wheels, and for their unrivalled ability to ‘meddle’! Countless villains ‘would have gotten away with it’ if it wasn’t for them, but this was another tried, tested and triumphant formula - like a good ‘scooby snack’, it just satisfied!
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- “The Quick Draw McGraw Show” (1959-61)
- “Top Cat” (1961-62)
- “Josie and the Pussycats” (1970-72)
#1: “The Flintstones” (1960-66)
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Yabba Dabba Doo! Rocking their way to the top of our podium, “The Flintstones” make history hysterical. The Stone Age is made contemporary in this landmark series, that is often thought of as a kind of precursor to our fifth-placer, “The Jetsons”! The family unit is once again vital, as Fred, Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone plot their way through life alongside Barney, Betty and Bam-Bam Rubble. The prehistoric puns are relentless, the characters are Hanna-Barbera’s most memorable, and the program is appropriately timeless! This show not only landed in the top 20 of primetime shows its first season; it even became the first cartoon series to be nominated for a Best Comedy Series Emmy. Our gold medal will cause quite a stir in Bedrock!
