Two More Hanna-Barbera Movies That Never Were!

 In last week's installment, I discussed The Quickest Draw in the West, an unmade Quick Draw McGraw film pitched to HB in the late eighties. Now, I bring you two more TV movies from around the same time that never came to be. First, take a look at this poster below.

This was a poster for the Hanna-Barbera's Superstars 10 series of films. For those who don't know, in the late eighties, ten two-hour TV movies were commissioned by Hanna-Barbera, featuring many of their most beloved characters and franchises. It was this line of films that gave us The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Rockin' With Judy Jetson, and Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats, just to name a few. The poster highlights some of the characters who were featured in these movies, but one stands out from the rest here. That is Penelope Pitstop, of Wacky Races fame. At some point in the development of these movies, one was intended to focus on Wacky Races, and that was Around the World with the Wacky Racers. The film would be about, unsurprisingly, the various Wacky Racers embarking on a race all around the world. Unfortunately, that's where what we know about the film both begins and ends. The project was canceled early in development, supposedly due to issues with Heatter-Quigley Productions (they were co-producers on the original series), but elements of it did get incorporated into the films we did get. Don't forget that the aforementioned Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf flick had a race featured prominently in its story. Where do you think that came from?

Jumping forward a few short years, let's talk about the Magilla Gorilla film we never got, A Night at the Ape-Ra! Pitched sometime in 1991, this one may very well be even more shrouded in mystery than the Wacky Races film was. All I could learn about it was the fact that it exists, and what little info was given on it in a listing on Heritage Auctions. Looking at the poster, we can see plenty of friends and foes who would have been along for the journey alongside Magilla. Dick Dastardly, Muttley, Top Cat, and Wally Gator would've all appeared. The poster also proudly announces the introduction of a new character: Matilda Gorilla. I imagine this would have been a female counterpart and possible love interest to Magilla. As interesting as all of this sounds, the project never got past the pitch stage. I have no idea as to why, but considering it was developed in '91, the same year Hanna-Barbera was bought out by Turner, perhaps the new heads in charge of the company had little appetite for more Magilla. I do know that anything that was in development at the time of the Turner acquisition was indeed halted, so it's very possible that that was the reason the movie never moved forward. It's unfortunate neither of these films panned out, but that's the business for 'ya. 

Check in next week for the last installment of this "Scrapped September" series, showcasing what might be the craziest and most fascinating canceled Hanna-Barbera project of them all! I won't say much right now, but let's just say it involves the HB characters crossing over with another iconic library of cartoon characters.