An Ode to the Hanna-Barbera View Master Reels

 Out of all the old-school pieces of Hanna-Barbera merchandise that exist, I think the most charming of the lot has to be the Hanna-Barbera View Masters. What's so great about these you may ask? Instead of using traditional artwork to bring these characters and worlds to life, these reels used models and miniatures. Years before CGI was a thing, these reels were as close as you got to seeing these characters for real, and they are absolutely spectacular to look at.

I dig these View Masters a lot, but unfortunately, I haven't really talked about them on this blog. So today, I'm going to share some of my favorite images found in these reels. Starting off with a literal bang, we've got this still of Yogi drumming away. I love how much Yogi pops against that red background, and the designs of the people wouldn't look too out of place in an actual Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

This next one focuses on Quick Draw McGraw, and boy do I love how this one is staged. It's got a lot of energy, between both the lasso and the expression on the cow's face. With only a dozen or so images included in each reel, the artists behind these did an amazing job making you feel like you got your money's worth with images like these.

This Flintstones reel has more going on in it than most of these do, but it still has all the quality and charm you'd expect from these. I love Bamm Bamm pulling Fred off the ground with just a finger, and you've gotta love Barney's head poking out.

If you'd like to know more about these reels and more importantly the people behind them, check out this great blog post on Florence Thomas, who did many of the models for the images seen above. I've also done posts showcasing sketches for both the Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear reels, which I'd also recommend to fans of these. While there's been lots of Hanna-Barbera merchandise over the years, I don't think any has come close to capturing the spirit of these characters the way these View Masters did. I'd love to see an animated project of some sort take inspiration from these models. If nothing else, it wouldn't be worse than some of the directions they've taken the characters lately!