In the Lemon-Limelight:Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch

This is the first of my series of articles of underappreciated cartoons that, despite their low fanbase, are still more than worth a peek.

Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch is a cartoon series made by Hanna-Barbera in 1971. The show concerns three wacky bears living at the Wonderland zoo. The trio consists of the scheming, afro-adorned group leader Hair, the sloppy, doleful Square, and the short, gibberish-speaking Bubi. The bears would often try to flee the zoo in search of adventure, and end up being pursued by the zookeeper, Eustace P. Peevley and his(rather inept) assistant, Lionel J. Botch(The latter of whom is known for his pet phrase, "Ooh! Ooh!" not unlike Welcome Back, Kotter's Arnold Horshack; unsurprisingly, this was Botch's voice actor Joe E. Ross' pet phrase.). The bears, however, usually outwit them in the end, often with the help of their zoo animal friends, such as Bananas the Gorilla (who bears a striking resemblance to Magilla Gorilla), Furface the Lion (gotta love that name!), Bumpo the Elephant, Slicks the Fox, and Pipsqueak the Mouse, among others. One particular point of interest is that the bears owned, among other things, an invisible motorcycle. (Hmm, do you suppose they got it from Mermaidman?)

The show had a very short run, with only 16 episodes made. Reruns can be seen on Boomerang. (Check local listings for the time and channel.)

UPDATE 7/7/12:I recently discovered this DVD which contains, among other(very nifty!) things, a Hair Bear Bunch episode!:

Saturday Morning Cartoons:1970s Vol. 2

 

Overall, this was a humorous, well-made show that truly deserved more attention. (I may be a little biased because I love Hanna-Barbera stuff!) Despite the show being made in the '70's, it doesn't seem particularly dated, even by today's standards, and the characters are interesting, funny, and likeable. (Even Peevley and Botch!) A rather underrated(Even Joe Barbera disliked it; when even the producer doesn't like the show, that's the definition of underappreciated!) show that's definetly worth a peek.

The theme song is also mighty catchy!

For those interested also, there are some Hair Bear Bunch items available at the site below(including, of all things, a tissue box cover); some are a little expensive, but well worth it for any Hair Bear Bunch fan :

A few Hair Bear Bunch goodies

Square Bear mug

Many more such nifty items are available on ebay, many of such being comics(which I highly recommend.) :)

"Let's split!"



Fanart of Botch saying his signature phrase.

Another fanart I just had to add. (This one's just silly.)