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|Goldilocks and the Three Bears
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|The Hair Bear Bunch end up getting involved in the production of "Whatever Happened to Goldilocks and The Three Bears" where Twinkles Sunshine (the actress playing Goldilocks) rewrites the script where the Three Bears have to save Goldilocks from an evil prince.
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Revision as of 15:14, 22 September 2011

Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!
Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!'s Title Card
GenreComedy
Created byHanna-Barbera
Written byJoel Kane
Heywood Kling
Howard Morgenstern
Joe Ruby
Ken Spears
Directed byWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
StarringHair Bear
Square Bear
Bubie Bear
Voices ofDaws Butler
William Callaway
Joe E. Ross
John Stephenson
Paul Winchell
ComposerTed Nichols
Country of origin Vereinigte Staaten
Original languageEnglisch
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes16 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
ProducerAlex Lovy
Running time30 Minutes
Production companyHanna-Barbera
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1971 (1971-09-11) –
January 8, 1972 (1972-01-08)

Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! is a Saturday morning cartoon, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1971 for CBS.[1]

Production

The show was developed under the name The Yo Yo Bears, a title which many sources inaccurately list as its name in syndication. The show never went into syndication after CBS canceled it in 1974 (1974); it reappeared in 1984 (1984) on cable on USA Cartoon Express. The Hair Bear Bunch currently airs occasionally on Cartoon Network's sibling network Boomerang.

Like most Saturday morning animated series of the era, Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! contained a laugh track, though it sounded more abridged and inferior than a full laugh track.

.

For details on the Hanna-Barbera-created laugh track, see Hanna Barbera laugh track

In the UK, the series was a hardy perennial, running on BBC1 in various slots for many years from the mid 1970s well into the 1980s.

Plot

The series depicted three fun-loving bears — the Afroed, fast-talking Hair Bear (voiced by Daws Butler), confusing-talking Bubi Bear (voiced by Paul Winchell), and laid-back Square Bear (voiced by William Callaway) — who are always trying to find a way to escape the Wonderland Zoo on some sort of get-rich-quick scheme, or a wild night of fun. Trying to stop them are the constantly aggravated head zoo director, Mr. Eustace P. Peevly (voiced by John Stephenson), and his hopelessly inadequate assistant Lionel J. Botch (voiced by Joe E. Ross). Other residents of the Wonderland Zoo who help the Hair Bear Bunch in their plots include Bananas the Gorilla (voiced by Daws Butler), Furface the Lion (voiced by Paul Winchell), Bumbo the Elephant (voiced by Daws Butler), Slicks the Fox (voiced by John Stephenson), Hippy the Hippopotamus (voiced by John Stephenson), Hercules the Hippopotamus (voiced by Don Messick), George the Giraffe, Beaks the Pelican, Tiptoes the Ostrich (voiced by Paul Winchell), Gabby the Parrot, Melvyn the Monkey, Hoppy the Kangaroo, Zeed the Zebra, Ollie the Octopus, Einstein the Owl, Arnie and Gloria the Gorillas, Specs the Mole (voiced by Paul Winchell), and Pipsqueak the Mouse (voiced by Janet Waldo).

Mr. Peevly and Botch work for the Zoo Superintendent (voiced by John Stephenson) as both of them try to stay on his good side even when it comes to Hair Bear's shenanigans which Hair Bear would cover up by stating that Peevly is doing some around the zoo activity with them.

The bears have a modern "bachelor pad"-styled den at the zoo containing actual beds, Bubi's laboratory, a moving chair, a television, refrigerators, and a pizza maker. Yet they disguise it from Peevly and Botch to avoid revealing their comfortable surroundings.

The bears also have an invisible motorcycle, which Square Bear can call upon when necessary by jumping in the air and kicking his leg to start it. The motorcycle is never explained, though in episode twelve, Hair Bear comments: "I don't know what he does, but I'm sure glad he does it."

Theme song

The show’s theme song, entitled "Bears", was written by Harold Faltermeyer and sung by the cast.

"In the Wonderland Zoo,
There are certain bears who,
Stay at home every night,
Never quarrel or fight,
Ah! We don't even bite!
So don't yell,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Let's split!
So don't yell,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Help! Help! Here come the bears,
Let's split!
Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch!"[2][3]

Episode guide

Episode # Episode title Original airdate Synopsis
BEAR-1 "Keep Your Keeper" September 11, 1971 (1971-09-11) The Hair Bear Bunch trick Mr. Peevly into thinking he has Zoolerium. When Mr. Peevley goes on vacation, a strict man named Mr. Grunch is called into cover for him. Now the Hair Bear Bunch plans to find Mr. Peevly and get him back.
BEAR-2 "Rare Bear Bungle" September 18, 1971 (1971-09-18) The Hair Bear Bunch gets a new roommate named Rare Bear. Yet Hair Bear suspects that he has been planted in the group's cave by Mr. Peevly to act as his spy.
BEAR-3 "Raffle Ruckus" September 25, 1971 (1971-09-25) Hair Bear suggests to Mr. Peevly to hold a raffle in order to obtain money for new stuff for the zoo. When Hair Bear wins, he ends up having ownership of the zoo and sees how hard it is to run the zoo and fill out the needs of the other animals. When Hair Bear learns that Mr. Peevly has been playing him, Hair Bear ends up sneaking the other animals out of the zoo.
BEAR-4 "Bridal Boo Boo" October 2, 1971 (1971-10-02) In order to keep Mr. Peevly busy, Hair Bear plans to set him up with a female to be his girlfriend. Yet Mr. Peevly ends up getting a tough lady named Bertha who plans to bring order to the Wonderland Zoo.
BEAR-5 "No Space Like Home" October 9, 1971 (1971-10-09)
BEAR-6 "Love Bug Bungle" October 16, 1971 (1971-10-16) Mr. Peevly ends up bunking Arnie the Gorilla into the Hair Bear Bunch's cave. Hair Bear discovers that Arnie is in love with Gloria the Gorilla and plans to hook both of them up which involves making their own cologne that causes him to lose control of his love advances.
BEAR-7 "I'll Zoo You Later" October 23, 1971 (1971-10-23) The Hair Bear Bunch plan to make their way to the National Forest. Once they do, the Hair Bear Bunch take refuge in a cabin which turns out to be a hideout for two bank robbers even when Mr. Peevly and Botch catch up to them.
BEAR-8 "Ark Lark" October 30, 1971 (1971-10-30) Following a drawing from the Suggestion Box, Mr. Peevly puts on a play on Noah's Ark with the zoo animals. Later that night, Hair Bear secretly places wheels on the Ark and pilots the Ark all the way to Pleasure Island. To gain money, they disguise Zeed the Zebra a horse and enter a horse race.
BEAR-9 "Gobs of Gabaloons" November 6, 1971 (1971-11-06) When Mr. Peevly wants the animals to build him a swimming pool, the Hair Bear Bunch finds a treasure map in one of the trees which leads to the treasure of Redbeard which had been stolen from Ptomania. They follow the map to the end point to Mr. Peevly's office and try different ways to get to the treasure below.
BEAR-10 "Panda Pandemonium" November 19, 1971 (1971-11-19) While hiding from Mr. Peevly and Botch in the woods when trying to get to the carnival, the Hair Bear Bunch find a baby panda named Percy whose cage fell off a passing train bound for the St. Louis Zoo. Mr. Peevly has the Hair Bear Bunch watch over Percy Panda until the Zoo Superintendent comes to pick Percy Up and bring him to the St. Louis Zoo.
BEAR-11 "Closed Circuit TV" November 20, 1971 (1971-11-20) Mr. Peevly sets up a closed TV and cameras around the zoo to keep an eye on the zoo so that the he would catch the Hair Bear Bunch in another one of their escapes. Hair Bear discovers the cameras and uses this as an advantage to make a television show.
BEAR-12 "The Bear Who Came to Dinner" November 27, 1971 (1971-11-27) Hair Bear has Square Bear fake an injury to have the Hair Bear Bunch evade being sent to the National Forest. Mr. Peevly ends up allowing Square Bear to recuperate at his house to evade getting into trouble with the Zoo Superintendent. Mr. Peevly vows to find a way to expose the fact that Square Bear is faking.
BEAR-13 "Unbearably Peevly" December 4, 1971 (1971-12-04) In order to catch the Hair Bear Bunch in one of their escape plans, Mr. Peevly and Botch disguise themselves as bears. Of course the Hair Bear Bunch play along with this upon seeing through their disguise. Things get worse for Mr. Peevly and Botch when they are mistaken for escaped circus bears.
BEAR-14 Goldilocks and the Three Bears December 11, 1971 (1971-12-11) The Hair Bear Bunch end up getting involved in the production of "Whatever Happened to Goldilocks and The Three Bears" where Twinkles Sunshine (the actress playing Goldilocks) rewrites the script where the Three Bears have to save Goldilocks from an evil prince.
BEAR-15 "The Diet Caper" December 18, 1971 (1971-12-18) The Hair Bear Bunch and the other animals attempt to tunnel into town to get food leads the Hair Bear Bunch into a haunted house in an amusement park. The Hair Bear Bunch then end up tricking Mr. Peevly and Botch into going down the same path.
BEAR-16 "Kling Klong versus The Masked Marvel" January 8, 1972 (1972-01-08) In order to win $500.000 from the Sports Arena, Hair Bear has Bananas the Gorilla go through wrestling training in order to stay in the ring with the Masked Marvel. Yet when the Masked Marvel gets the measels, Botch ends up having to cover for him in the wrestling ring.

Cast

Comic Spin-Off

A series of Comic Books were produced by Gold Key Comics which were mostly drawn by Jack Manning and featured original stories, as well as a few adaptations of television episodes. Some of these comics were also drawn by Hanna and Barbera. In the comic book, the antagonism between the Bears and the Keepers was softened a bit, to the point that one story had the Keepers figuring since the Bears do return to the zoo after an escape (after a wild night on the town), it would be best just to give them weekend passes and save both parties a lot of aggravation.

Other appearances

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Cartoon Scrapbook". Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!
  2. ^ "Hair Bear Bunch Theme Song at Televisiontunes.com".
  3. ^ "Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!". The Cartoon Scrapbook. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
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