It's safe to say that Hanna-Barbera's works have been well presented in various home video formats throughout the years. From the early days of VHS in the eighties to the modern Blu-Ray releases from Warner Archive, if you want to watch episodes of Flintstones or Scooby-Doo, you've had plenty of chances to do so.
Now, with so many offerings, there have been more than a few strange releases of these cartoons over time. Today, I bring you ten of them, covering everything from VHS to DVD, and everything in between. I only have two particular guidelines for this list. For starters, I'm only looking at titles that were released in America. There are plenty of strange foreign releases, but I'll save those for another time. Secondly, these releases had to be ones the average person could buy. While some of these were released through strange circumstances, they all at least have that in common. Titles such as screeners, network tapes, or other promotional videos won't be considered. With that covered, let's get weird!
1. Animal Follies (VHS and Laserdisc, 1988)
2. The Flintstones and Jonny Quest: Quest For Fun (VHS, 1989)
Talk about a strange pairing! This VHS tape from 1989 contains two episodes from The Flintstones and Jonny Quest, those being "Calcutta Adventure" and "Glue For Two". Not only is the series pairing weird, but so are the episodes. You'd think they'd go with two episodes that have some sort of shared theme, but nope! This is also the only Hanna-Barbera VHS offering where Quest was paired with another series (technically, there was 1991's Festival of Fun, but that combined the contents of several tapes, this one included). If you ask me, it's a real shame we never got a Jonny Quest meets Squiddly Diddly tape.
3. The HBTV Releases (VHS and Laserdisc, 1986-1987)
How about a Hanna-Barbera release without any actual Hanna-Barbera cartoons? During the late eighties, the studio came up with the idea of "HBTV," music videos featuring footage from their series set to contemporary pop music. It was heavily inspired by Disney's own DTV, which itself came from Disney trying to ride the MTV hype. However, HBTV didn't leave nearly the impact those two did, with the experiment only yielding this set of four tapes. They mostly covered rock songs, but there was one country-themed release. Anyone here have one of these back in the day?
4. Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (VHS, 1988)
Another music-themed release, this time focused on the so-bad-it's-good mess that is Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. Some may consider this entry a cheat, but seeing as this was advertised alongside other HB titles, I think it counts among their releases. Beyond the fact that this is one of the only times the TV movie has been offered to consumers (remember, Kiss aren't exactly fans of this flick), it's honestly weird it got released at all considering its legacy. Kiss have never shied away from expressing their displeasure with the film, and they especially hated it during this period, so how on Earth did this get released? Well, while Kiss hates this movie, they love finding ways to make some quick cash. I guess the latter beat out the former in this case.
5. The Flintstones Collectors Edition Series (VHS, 1994)
Want to watch The Flintstones in its entirety? Today, you've got plenty of options. The show is available on DVD and Blu-Ray, streaming on Hulu and elsewhere, and you can purchase it through platforms like iTunes. Thirty years ago, however, it was a much different story. Getting entire seasons or shows on something like VHS was a rarity for several reasons, but Columbia House gave it a try. They worked to bring several TV shows to the format, and The Flintstones was one of 'em.
Released in 1994, "The Flintstones - The Collector's Edition" aimed to release as much of the show as possible on video. These tapes were only offered through a subscription, which does make sense. I imagine the number of people who wanted dozens of Flintstones tapes wasn't exactly large. There were 20 tapes, each with four episodes included. The first actually had five, as The Flagstones pilot was offered. This was the first time the pilot was available on home video. They only got through about half of season three before the plug was pulled, leaving the series unfinished. It's kind of weird that they didn't pull through to the end of that season, or at least get to "The Blessed Event", but I'm sure it came down to money at the end of the day. An entire decade would pass before Warner Home Video would begin putting the series out on DVD, finally allowing viewers to watch the entire series on home video.
6. Entertainment Weekly Presents: Cartoon Classics (VHS, 1995)
Out of all the titles I share today, this might be the strangest. At the very least, it may be the most obscure. This Entertainment Weekly branded tape contains numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and more. This is the only instance I've ever seen of Entertainment Weekly offering a VHS release, but what's really weird about this is how little info exists about it online. I only knew of it through a few Scooby-Doo fan sites and their home video databases. I don't know anything about how it was sold, and even auction sites like eBay draw a blank if you search it. I will say one thing though, and that's that I dig the cover art, which utilizes Craig Kellman's recently introduced redesigns for the characters. Pretty neat!
7. The Flintstones Collection (Laserdisc, 1997)
For my money, this has got to be the coolest release out of all these. Released only on Laserdisc in 1997, this collected the first fourteen episodes of The Flintstones, just as they originally aired in 1960. It also features an impressive set of bonus features, including an interview with Ed Benedict, The Flagstones pilot reel, commercials, and a look at the various Flintstones animators and how to spot them. The Laserdisc also features artwork and comments by a specific artist I don't really feel like talking about on this blog. But I'll be nice and say I do enjoy the piece that adorns the cover of this disc.
Apparently, this was supposed to be the first in a series of Flintstones laserdisc releases. Unfortunately, those never came to be because...well, it was 1997. Laserdisc wasn't exactly on fire, especially with DVD right around the corner. It's a shame we didn't see similar Hanna-Barbera releases to this one. Some of the special features on this really are cool, and it's crazy to me that they didn't throw these onto the Flintstones Blu-Ray set. You threw in that weird WWE crossover but none of this?
8. Cartoon Crack-Ups (DVD and VHS, 2001)
The very first time the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons were offered on DVD, this is probably the weirdest release on the format. First off, this is the only time Pixie and Dixie has been available on DVD. If you want to watch the series, this is your best bet beyond old Boomerang rips and such. But what's weirder is the title's inclusion of The Flagstones pilot reel.
The pilot had been featured in releases both before and after this, but in this release only, the voices were all changed. Out was Daws Butler as Fred and Barney, and in his place came Henry Corden and Frank Welker respectively. BJ Ward replaced June Foray as Betty, and Tress MacNeille took over for Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma. I have no idea why this was done. Maybe it was a leftover piece of audio from an abandoned Flintstones project? Your guess is as good as mine. For the debut of Hanna-Barbera's classic shows on DVD, Cartoon Crack-Ups is pretty rough around the edges. Thankfully, later titles would go above and beyond, giving these shows the attention they deserve. Except for Pixie and Dixie, I guess.
9. Scooby-Doo 3 Disc Pack (VideoNow, 2003)
Remember VideoNow? A lot of you probably don't, so allow me to explain. VideoNow was a portable video player released by Tiger Electronics in the 2000s. Early models could only play video in black and white, but later ones supported color. There were a ton of animated titles released for the player, and with its continued popularity, Scooby-Doo was obviously one of them. This first release, back when the player only supported black-and-white video, contained three episodes from the original series. When you look at something like this, you really start to appreciate how far technology has come. 20 years ago, if you wanted to watch Scooby on the go, this was just about your best option. Nowadays, you can watch the entire series on your phone in better quality than even a DVD could achieve!
10. Yogi Bear Plush With DVD (DVD, 2010)
Speaking of remembering things, remember the 2010 Yogi Bear movie? Even I'm having trouble remembering anything about it, and I run a blog about this stuff! But with its release there of course had to be a big marketing push for it. This is how we got this Yogi Bear plush toy, which features three episodes from the original series on a bonus DVD. Those episodes are "Acrobatty Yogi", "Locomotive Loco", and "Yogi in the City". In all honesty, this is a pretty nice set, and I could totally see this being a gateway to get kids into classic Yogi after having seen the movie. Although that implies people did see this movie, and judging from the box office, I'm not so sure about that. Still, this is a really interesting release. It's a Yogi plush and a trio of Yogi episodes, you can't go wrong with that.
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ReplyDeleteNope, didn't have any of the HBTV videocassettes, but the videos from the "Old Time Rock & Roll" volume were utilized by Six Flags Over Texas as queue-waiting time-occupiers when our family visited in 1987. I recall watching See You Later, Alligator and Teddy Bear ( respectively featuring clips of Wally Gator and Yogi, natch).
ReplyDeleteBut my fave was what I thought to be an inspired pairing, The Ad Libs' The Boy from New York City combined with scenes with the-most-tip-top, Top Cat. That was especially appreciated as aside from a couple of Worldvision releases, that show was difficult to see in the Eighties.
Dig that cover art by
ReplyDeleteSpümcø for the 1997 Flintstones collection, probably the most attractive version the studio ever did of the characters (I know you don't feel like saying his name, but saying his studio should be close enough).
A titty-twister wasn't officially part of the Water Buffaloes' secret greeting, but it should have been!
DeleteBetty's not having it either.
DeleteIt wasn't Bob Camp that drew that DVD cover, and it's okay to mention his name as an ex-Spumco member. It was his former ex-partner that was the troublesome one, and I know about his history, as I was once a big fan of Spumco Animation until he got caught. he even wrote me a fan letter back in 1994 that I was excited about at the time, but nowadays question his erratic behavior, especially towards Steven Spielberg and "Animanics", both which I loved, but he loathed. Of course this doesn't have to do much with H-B Animation, but he was once an employee of theirs during the 1980's (and he loathed that, too.)
ReplyDelete