Farewell, Joseph Barbera, and thanks for the memories...

Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:56 am by Tawakalna

Joseph Barbera, partner of Willam Hanna, died yesterday. Their cartoons provided me with endless hours of entertainment as a child. Now that they are both deceased, an era has ended; but their legacy lives on, not only in the thousands of cartoons that are continually repeated all over the world, but in the influence their work has had and continues to exert on modern animation. The Simpsons for example unashamadely acknowledges it's debt to characters such as Fred Flintstone and Yogi Bear for the creation of Homer Simpson (famously, Homer was once cast as "Homie Bear" in a delightful vignette) and through the Simspons to Family Guy, King of the Hill, and even to non-animations such as Malcolm in the Middle.)

Their most famous characters, Tom & Jerry, have recieved numerous Academy Awards for the sheer quality of the work (which was mostly done while H&B were working for MGM) and certainly during the 40's, 50's and 60's, Hann-Barbera were on the crest of a creative wave and the continuing popularity of their work attests to it's unfailing quality. Personally I felt it began to drop off in the 70s and 80s as they themselves relaxed their creative control and the pressure of airtime production began to take it's toll on the quality of the studio's output, but this also coincided with my own adolescence as I turned away from "childish" cartoons, until many years later when my own children were born and I rediscovered all these childhood gems. My personal favourite remains "Kitty Foiled" and I never fail to collapse into hysterics when Tom, characterised as a silent-movie era villain, ties jerry to the toy railway tracks but disappears down the hole made by the canary dropping a medicine balll ahead of him.

I always had a soft spot for Yogi Bear and his ridiculous schemes to obtain pick-a-nick baskets that perenially failed

he was, without doubt, stupider than the average bear! Also Top-Cat, for his conniving and constant manipulatio of Officer Dribble, I mean Dibble.

ah, delightful memories. A sad loss, but they will live on forever through their classic productions.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 12/19/2006 11:32:55 AM

Tue Dec 19, 2006 11:04 am by topher

I heard about that this morning and it brought a slight tear to me eye -

All the good things from childhood are slowly disolving and being replaced by lesser forms of entertainment.

Tue Dec 19, 2006 11:11 am by realm

Tom and Jerry rocks so much, so does Scooby Doo. When i was younger, lol who am i kidding i still watch Tom and Jerry sometimes

, they are great and so funny and just so much better than all the crap kids cartoons now

Tue Dec 19, 2006 11:11 am by The Evil Thing

Yeah, it's a great shame that he died, though at 95 he wasn't doing too badly. He made a disproportionate contribution to TV and we all love him dearly for it. Definitely one of the longest and brightest careers in animation.

Edited by - The Evil Thing on 12/19/2006 11:11:17 AM

Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:56 pm by mustang

Indeed, much of my childhood memories involve saturday morning Hanna Barabara cartoons, Dick Dastardly and Mutley (particularly in the wacky races) being two of my favourites, probably why I'm so fond of Taw's stories about his evil past. Penelope Pitstop was really the only low point in the Hanna Barbara range of animated stars, but there's so many greats that any adult over 25 would remember well, Grape Ape, Hung Kung Phooey, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Space Ghost, Atom Ant, Magilla Gorilla...jesus i'm surprised I remember that many. I didn't realise they did the smurfs as well, learn something new everyday.

Edited by - Mustang on 12/19/2006 2:57:41 PM

Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:05 pm by realm

Catch the pigeon!!!!

Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:11 pm by Wolf_Demon

Any modern cartoon that uses the characters from their creations really isn't worth watching imo. None of them have the same quality. They are also too colorful

Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:33 pm by Cold_Void

eh...can't say i like any of those cartoons, and i don't see how they are superior to today's childhood-wasting boob-tube fare such as "hi-hi puffi-ami-yumi" or other such japanese-import garbage. on the other hand, the squandered days of youth do make great fodder for shows such as robot chicken - and none of adultswim's lineup would have been possible without space ghost.

regardless of the quality of those cartoons there's no doubt that Mr Barbara had a huge impact on the world for a cartoonist that is still felt today. Me, I'm thankful to him like I'm thankful to Sandy Franks and Roger Corman for all the great MST3K worthy movies they produced/imported

go SGC2C, Robot Chicken, and Harvey Birrrdddmaann!

Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:51 pm by Esquilax

*Agrees with Musty* Ah yes, those were good times. It's a shame that the era of Saturday morning cartoon is long past. These days, most cartoons are simply "cookie-cutter" shows with variations on the same characters that cover the same plotlines and gags. Children's cartoons are especially obvious and predictable. Ah yes, the elegant simplicity of T&J and the Roadrunner, etc are long gone, as are the slightly more complex plots in "Scooby Doo" and "The Smurfs". *Sigh* Good times...

Tue Dec 19, 2006 5:05 pm by Locutov

man that indeed brings back memories, sitting on the sofa at an ample 4 years old trying hard to grasp whatever Fred Flintstone is saying while reading up with the subtitles like mad. I always had a softspot for Tom & Jerry, their continuing antics.

The Man has gone on, lets keep the memory in honour.

Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:37 pm by Jagged

Ah, I will miss the old hanna-barbera cartoons, they were real works of art. I suppose I'm lucky to have been born just at the time they were starting to be taken off air. I'm surprised I actually recognize all of those characters (except for the blue hound dog near the top, who is that? An older version of Huckleberry Hound I'm guessing). I sure did learn a lot from the cartoons. Like I wouldn't know who Ed Sullivan or Peter Laurie was without them.

Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:37 am by H.Q. Victor

The simplisity of Yogi was really nice back in the 60's. Better in someways that todays fair of cartoons.

Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:18 am by Eraser

Real shame he died, but I guess most of us can only hope to come even close to the age he reached and accomplish the things he has in life. I loved his work since I was little and I still watch it often, since I bought a couple Tom & Jerry DVD's for my little girl. She's 3 years old now and she absolutely loves it

Joseph, we salute you my friend! May you rest in peace and know that what you have done in life, will echo in eternity.

______________________________
Eraser
Horseman of The Lancers Reactor
E-Mail/MSN: [email protected]
"I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class...specially since I rule."

Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:50 pm by Jabez

.......Rest in peace.......

Wed Dec 20, 2006 3:21 pm by Tawakalna

quite sadly, i used to keep track of the scores of the winners in Wacky Races. It's probably no surprise that Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific won quite a lot, tied for the same number of wins (4) as Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat, but surprisingly, also on the same number of wins were Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug (why? it was rubbish!) and the Anthill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb. All the other racers (I liked the Army Surplus Special and the Crimson Haybailer) had 3 wins each, except, naturally, for Dick Dastardley and Muttley in the Mean Machine, who never won. Well, that's not strictly true, they did actually win once, but were disqualified. Thing is, Dick Dastardley had the fastest car by far and if he'd played fair, and not cheated, he'd almost certainly have won every time - but that was the moral object of the story, of course.

<sigh> I loved Dastardley & Muttley in their Flying Machines - The General, Klunk's useless inventions, Klunk's Tourette's Syndrome, Zilly's cowardice, Muttley's helicopter tail, Muttley's medal greed - it was just pure comedy gold.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 12/20/2006 3:22:12 PM

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