Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear is a fictional grizzly bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. He was the first break-out character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than Huckleberry Hound.^[1] In January 1961 he was given his own show, The Yogi Bear Show, sponsored by Kellogg's, which included the segments Snagglepuss and Yakky Doodle.^[2] Hokey Wolf replaced his segment on The Huckleberry Hound Show.^[3] A musical animated feature film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, was produced in 1964.^[4]

Yogi was one of several Hanna-Barbera characters to have a collar, which allowed the body to be kept static and to redraw just the head in each frame when he was speaking, thus reducing the number of drawings needed for a seven-minute cartoon from 14,000 to around 2,000.^[5]

Yogi Bear was voiced by Daws Butler, and later by Greg Burson.

In October 2008, it was announced that Warner Bros. will film a live-action/animated Yogi Bear movie similar to Fox and Bagdasarian's Alvin & the Chipmunks.^[6] It will star Dan Aykroyd as the voice of Yogi Bear, Justin Timberlake as the voice of Boo Boo Bear, and Christine Taylor as the voice of Cindy Bear.

Personality

Like many Hanna-Barbera characters, Yogi's personality and mannerisms were based on a popular celebrity of the time. Art Carney's Ed Norton character on The Honeymooners was said to be Yogi's inspiration^[7]; his voice mannerisms broadly mimic Carney as Norton. Yogi's name is commonly seen as a nod to the famed baseball star Yogi Berra, though Hanna and Barbera denied this intent.^[8] The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park, a takeoff on the famous Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his constant companion Boo Boo, would often try to steal picnic ("pick-a-nic") baskets from campers in the park, much to the displeasure of Park Ranger Smith. A girlfriend, Cindy Bear, sometimes appeared and usually disapproved of Yogi's antics.

Catchphrases

Besides often speaking in rhyme, Yogi Bear is well-known for a variety of different catchphrases, including his pet name for picnic baskets ("pic-a-nic baskets") and his favorite self-promotion ("I'm smarter than the average bear!"),^[9] although he often overestimates his own cleverness. Another trademark of his is the deep and silly voice that he uses. He often greets the ranger with a cordial, "Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!" He also likes to say, "Hey there, Boo Boo!" as his preferred greeting to his humble sidekick, Boo Boo.

Media

Television

Yogi Bear has appeared in many series and one-off shows, including:

• The Yogi Bear Show (1961)
  • Yogi Bear's Big Break, the first episode in the Yogi Bear cartoon series.
  • List of The Yogi Bear Show episodes, a list of episodes for the 1961 -1962 cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show
• Yogi Bear & Friends, a syndicated animated series by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired between 1967 and 1968
• The New Yogi Bear Show (1988-1989), a 30-minute weekday animated series which aired in first-run syndication in 1988
• Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper, a television special starring Yogi Bear and company.
• Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, an animated movie for television
• Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears, an animated television movie that premiered in 1988
• Yogi the Easter Bear, an animated TV special from Hanna-Barbera first aired in 1994
• Yogi's Gang (1973-1975)
• Yogi's Space Race (1978-1979)
• Galaxy Goof-Ups (1978-1979)
• Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1985-1986)
• Wake, Rattle, and Roll (1990-1991) (Fender Bender segment)
• Yo Yogi! (1991-1992)

Films

• Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, a 1964 animated feature released by Columbia Pictures.

Games

• Adventures of Yogi Bear, a platform game released by Cybersoft on October 1, 1994 in North America

Albums

• Yogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No, a 1966 comedy album

Live action feature film

On October 2, 2008, it confirmed that a live-action/CGI Yogi Bear movie is in the works.^[10][11] It is currently in production and has recently obtained the release date of December 17, 2010.^[12] It will be distributed and financed by Warner Bros., with Hanna-Barbera Productions. It will be the first movie development of a Hanna-Barbera property not produced with the assistance of William Hanna or Joseph Barbera. Ash Brannon was originally scheduled to direct the film but was replaced by Eric Brevig when it was decided that the film would be produced as a 3-D project. Donald De Line is the producer and Karen Rosenfelt is the executive producer along with Jon Berg as a secondary executive producer for Warner Bros. Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia wrote the script. The film, adapting the television series, will follow the adventures of Yogi Bear and his pal Boo-Boo in Jellystone Park, as they avoid Ranger Smith who is trying to stop Yogi from stealing picnic baskets. Dan Aykroyd will voice Yogi, Justin Timberlake will voice his pal, Boo Boo, and Christine Taylor will voice his girlfriend, Cindy Bear. Anna Faris plays a nature-documentary film-maker following the escapades of Yogi in Jellystone Park. ^[13] Tom Cavanagh will be playing the part of Ranger Smith. Filming began in New Zealand in November 2009.^[14]

Spumco Ranger Smith shorts

In 1999, animator John Kricfalusi's Spumco company created and directed two Yogi cartoons, "A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith" and "Boo Boo Runs Wild". Both shorts aired that year on the Cartoon Network as part of a Yogi Bear special. "Boo Boo Runs Wild" features a fight between Yogi and Ranger Smith, which was edited heavily for broadcast for both violence and torture situations. A third Yogi cartoon from Spumco was planned and storyboarded, but was never finished.

In 2003, Spumco created another Boo Boo cartoon, "Boo Boo and the Man", which was made with Macromedia Flash and released on Cartoon Network's website. Hanna-Barbera produced an instructional comic book on earthquake preparedness called Yogi's Quakey Shakey Van.^[15]

Broadcasts

Yogi Bear is currently aired by Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang, worldwide.

There was also a Hanna-Barbera Personal Favorites video where William Hanna and Joseph Barbera picked their favorite Yogi Bear episodes, including the very first one, "Yogi Bear's Big Break", and Yogi meeting some storybook friends: The Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Little Red Riding Hood.

Cartoon Groovie

A music video (known as a Cartoon Groovie) for Yogi Bear airs on The Cartoon Network and Boomerang. It showcases clips of Yogi and Boo Boo stealing picnic baskets and annoying Ranger Smith. The Punk Rock-inspired song is sung by High School Jim.

Comic Books

Over the years, several publishers put out Yogi Bear comic books.

• Gold Key Comics was first, with a title that ran 33 issues from 1962-70.
• Charlton Comics then did a title for 35 issues from 1970-77.
• Marvel Comics did a title for 9 issues in 1977.
• Harvey Comics then did several titles for a total of 10 issues in 1992-94.
• Archie Comics regularly featured Yogi Bear stories in the anthology comics Hanna-Barbera All-Stars and Hanna-Barbera Presents. After the cancellation of both titles, Archie put out a separate Yogi Bear comic that got one issue.
• DC Comics semi-regularly featured Yogi in Cartoon Network Presents.

From 1961 until 1988, there was also a Yogi Bear comic strip, created by Gene Hazelton and distributed by the McNaught Syndicate.

DVD release

On November 15, 2005, Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD R1.

Video games

• Yogi's Frustration (Intellivision) (1983)^[16]
• Yogi Bear (Commodore 64) (1987)
• Yogi Bear & Friends in the Greed Monster (Commodore 64) (1989)
• Yogi's Great Escape (Amiga) (1990)
• Yogi Bear's Math Adventures (DOS) (1990)
• Yogi's Big Clean Up (Amiga) (1992)
• Adventures of Yogi Bear (Super NES), (1994)
• Yogi's Gold Rush (Game Boy) (1994)
• Yogi Bear: Great Balloon Blast (Game Boy Color) (2000)

Licensing

• Yogi Bear lends his name to a chain of recreational vehicle and camping parks ("Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp Resorts"), with the first opening in 1969 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. As of 2008, over 70 new locations—including Robert, Louisiana, Van Buren, Missouri, and Gardner, New York—have hosted the parks.

• There is also one remaining restaurant from the chain bearing Yogi's name, "Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken," in Hartsville, South Carolina. In the 60's and 70's, these restaurant chains were found mostly within the Southeast United States, and were owned or franchised by Hardee's.

In popular culture

• In 1960, the pop group Ivy 3, recorded a song called "Yogi", a novelty song with the impersonation of Daws Butler. The song described Yogi as a "Yogi Man", and featured the catch phrases "Hey, Boo-Boo" and "Yogi Baby". The song went up to #8 on the Billboard charts
• In Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, a friend is called "Yogi Boo Boo".
• In the novel A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, the protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly, who professes a thorough disdain for popular culture while nevertheless demonstrating an obsession with it, returns home from work to an argument with his mother, where he declares several times his intention to watch "The Yogi Bear Program". The novel was written circa 1961-2.
• Yogi and Boo Boo were parodied in an Animaniacs episode entitled "Back in Style".
• Yogi Bear made a cameo appaearance in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Here Thar Be Dwarfs", voiced by Dave Fouquette.
• In The Penguins of Madagascar in the Otter Things Have Happened, Marlene nicknamed her date (Fred the Squirrel) Boo Boo.
• Yogi Bear has also appeared in the episode "Death by Chocolate" of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
• In the My Gym Partner is a Monkey episode The Big Field Trip, two wild bears that were with Adam, try to snatch a couple's picnic basket dressed up like Yogi and Boo Boo.
• In the The Powerpuff Girls episode Shotgun Wedding, Professor Untonium laboratory us is Poster Growth Chart Bears of the World appear Yogi Crawling Koala, Panda, Polar Bear and Fuzzy Lumpkin
• In the Everybody Loves Raymond episode Moving Out, Frank discovers Robert's nickname is "Yogi" and asks for him if Amy's nickname would be "Boo Boo".
• In the Family Guy episode "Hell Comes to Quahog", Peter, as a poacher, brutally stabs Yogi to death, in front of Boo Boo, as a "favor" to the park ranger.
• The Simpsons episode "Much Apu About Nothing" pays homage to Yogi Bear in a scene where Moe complains to Mayor Quimby, on a supposed bear outbreak, that "These bears are smarter than the av-er-age bear, they swiped my pic-a-nic basket!" (after which Mayor Quimby is seen to have taken said picnic basket). The episode "When You Dish Upon a Star" features an introductory sequence in which Homer dreams he's Yogi, with Bart as Boo Boo and Ned Flanders as the Ranger. As they walk through Jellystone Park Bart-Bart warns Homie that Ranger Ned won't like them stealing picnic baskets (for legal reasons they couldn't say "pic-a-nic"). Homie reassures his young friend that he's "smarter than the average bear!", and easily capable of dealing with Ned. When Ranger Ned does appear to reprimand him, Homie drags Ned behind a bush and viciously mauls him. When Homer wakes, he recalls it as "a beautiful dream", in which he wore "a hat and tie, with no pants!"
• In the 2008 film Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Reggie makes fun of Roscoe's plaid pants, doing a Yogi Bear impression in the process.

"Smarter than the average bear"

• In the 2008 Futurama DVD film, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Calculon asks Bender if he is worthy enough to join the League of Robots, Bender replies that he is "Worthier than the average robot!"
• In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will asks Uncle Phil why he won't allow him to visit a university by himself. To which Phil replies "because I'm smarter than the average bear".
• In the 2006 film Rocky Balboa (film), Rocky says "I'm smarter than the average bear (though where that came from I don't know)".
• In the Heroes (TV series) episode "Cold Snap", Noah Bennett asks Emile Danko "How'd you catch him?" (referring to the capture of character Eric Doyle). Danko replies: "I'm smarter than the average bear."

See also

• List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera
• Theatrically-released films based on Hanna-Barbera animations
• List of Hanna-Barbera characters
• Boo Boo (Yogi Bear)
• The New Yogi Bear Show
• Yogi's Treasure Hunt
• Yo Yogi!

Notes

External links

• The Yogi Bear Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Yogi Bear Show at TV.com
• The Yogi Bear Show at the Big Cartoon DataBase