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.)

I do I do I do, do like Scrappy Doo, and do you do you do, do you like him too?

"I love my Unca' Scooby!"

It's a well-known fact that Scrappy Doo has been given a bad rap:he's been accused(unfairly) of being annoying, accused(also unfairly) of ruining the show, dissed in newer versions of the show, made into a villain in the live action movie, and even had a highly negative TV Trope named after him. So, it's very refreshing, after all this, to see that some people do still like him(myself included).

In fact, there are a few Scrappy Doo fansites. Here are a couple I found, the latter of which was made by one of the show's writers:

http://www.erictb.info/scrappy.html

http://www.povonline.com/scrappydays/scrappy01.htm

Here also is a fan fiction I found portraying Scrappy in a positive (even sympathetic) light:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/870992/1/Scrappy_Origins

(I even wrote a review for it. *Guilty!*)

There's also this site, which has, among other things, a few (very cute!) Scrappy Doo items for sale. (Some are, regrettably, a little pricey, but well worth it for any Scrappy fan):

http://www.whatacharacter.com/p-s/s--page1.htm

On that note, I've seen many more nifty Scrappy Doo items on ebay, some of the niftiest of which being the "I heart Scrappy" charms for charm bracelets(which I highly recommend.)  :)

UPDATE 6/12/12:I recently acquired this Scooby-Doo trading card which name-drops Scrappy(and in a positive way!)

UPDATE 7/5/12:I also recently found yet another Scrappy fansite which contans such nifty things as character bios, poems written by Scrappy fans, and an "interview" with Scrappy.

http://www.oocities.org/hollywood/film/3353/

There's even(drumroll please...) a Scrappy Doo Fanclub on this famous fansite!(Happy Dance time!)

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/scrappy-doo

 

 

"Ta-da-da-da-da-da! Puppy Power!" 

 

They're Lovable! They're Huggable!

I'm a (BIG!) Pound Puppies fan. Over time, I've collected several Pound Puppies items, from the vintage plushie dogs and cats, to the more recent plushies, to the vintage books/coloring books.

Here's some of my stuff:

 My Newborn Pound Puppies; the one on the upper right is one of the more recent ones(made in '95)

  My Pound Purries

 My coloring book collection

A little plastic dog & cat(which, as per the picture, make good board game pieces), and a slightly unusual plastic dog with wheels(He has what looks like a place to hold a pencil on his back...) 

And last, but not least, my (GINORMOUS!) mini Pound Puppy collection :)

(The little brown dog at the very bottom, separate from the others, is a Pound Puppy knockoff; I believe he's called a Kennel Kuddlee.)

The franchise has had a long and very interesting history. It began in 1984 in England & shortly thereafter migrated to America; the production has changed hands many times, and there have been many different varieties of Pound Puppies made since.

More info can be found here:

http://www.ghostofthedoll.co.uk/Toys_PoundPuppies_Galoob.htm

I'm a fan of the various Hanna Barbera cartoons, especially the Pound Puppies, and hope to write more about the show, the books, the movie, and other related things later.