Canceled Quick Draw McGraw Projects

 Jonny Quest isn't the only Hanna-Barbera celebrating an anniversary this month. Far from it, in fact! This month also sees the 65th anniversary of Quick Draw McGraw's premiere, one of my absolute favorite Hanna-Barbera productions. And yes, this does mean Quick Draw and Baba Looey are now eligible to retire. In celebration, here's a quick look at two Quick Draw McGraw projects that never got off the ground!

Hey, remember Flintstones: On the Rocks? In case you don't, it was a 2001 special made by many of the crew members behind Dexter's Lab. It told the story of a particularly rough patch in Fred and Wilma's marriage, and sported Craig Kellman's designs for the characters he drew up a few years later. Now, what if I told you this same team nearly gave us a Quick Draw special? In a video discussing Flintstones reboots, Youtuber RebelTaxi learned from an anonymous crew member that after On the Rocks was finished, the team moved on to making a Quick Draw McGraw project. According to them, they were given a lot more creative freedom on this special than with The Flintstones, as the powers that be weren't as worried about him. Unfortunately, that was also its undoing. There was a lack of interest in it from the higher ups, and it was never completed. The special was, at the very least, completely storyboarded, which is really interesting to hear. Beyond that, though, we don't know anymore about this. If it was anything like On the Rocks, I imagine it would have looked pretty nice if nothing else.

Jumping forward to circa 2010, Jorge Gutierrez, who's best known for creating the Nickelodeon series El Tigre, was working at Warner Bros. Animation. He was on the production team for an animated take on MAD when he pitched a new take on Quick Draw McGraw, done in his recognizable style. On his Twitter where he shared these pieces, he stated that this version would have been a "super violent spaghetti western." WB wasn't really receptive to the pitch, but that didn't stop him from trying again. He went on to develop a second pitch, this time built around El Kabong, but once again, WB didn't seem interested. Jorge Gutierrez himself doesn't really know why it didn't move forward, but if I had to guess, they probably didn't think Quick Draw had enough "brand recognition" to justify a new series. Why do something interesting when you can just rehash Scooby-Doo for the zillionth time? In all seriousness though, it's disappointing this one didn't pan out. Gutierrez is one of my favorite contemporary animators, and I'd have loved to see how he'd depict these characters. But what about you guys? Would you have been interested in either of these projects, or were they better off buried and dead?