MICHAEL HALPERIN DEAD AT 91

 

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Best known for crafting the bible for the world of Masters of the Universe, he served as the creative consultant on Challenge of the GoBots on behalf of Tonka. 

STEPHEN HIBBERT DEAD AT 68

 

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His writing credits included Darkwing Duck, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Plucky Duck Show, and Animaniacs (1993).

TED NICHOLS DEAD AT 97

 

It's being reported that Ted Nichols died back in January.

He served as a composer and musical director for Hanna-Barbera, working on shows that included The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, Space Ghost, The Space Kidettes, Shazzan, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, Fantastic Four (1967), The Herculoids, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Young Samson & Goliath, The Adventures of Gulliver, Cattanooga Cats, Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Harlem Globetrotters, Josie and the Pussycats, Help!...It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, and The Roman Holidays.

NEIL SEDAKA DEAD AT 86

 

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He was a musical guest on American Bandstand and wrote some songs for The Harlem Globetrotters cartoon.

ROBERT CARRADINE DEAD AT 71

 

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Best known for Revenge of the Nerds and Lizzie Maguire, he appeared as Flip on an episode of Run, Joe, Run.

JANE BAER DEAD AT 91

 

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She was the story director for Laverne & Shirley in the Army, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and The Smurfs (1981), and a layout artist for Hot Wheels. 

ERIC DANE DEAD AT 53

 

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He appeared as Tad Pogue on an episode of Saved by the Bell (1989). 

JESSE JACKSON DEAD AT 84

 

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He appeared on a 1971 episode of Sesame Street where he recited some of his poetry.

BUD CORT DEAD AT 77

 

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He played Josiah Wormwood in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series; Tempest/Fritz Drizzle in The Mask: The Animated Series; Toyman/Winslow Schott in Superman: The Animated Series and Static Shock; Flint Northwood in an episode of The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries; and provided voices for Tom & Jerry Kids.

RICARDO SCHNETZER DEAD AT 72

 

You can read the announcement here.

He provided the Brazilian dubs for Captain Marvel Jr./Freddy Freeman in Shazam! (1981); Hank the Ranger in Dungeons & Dragons; Dorin in Wildfire (1986); Captain Planet in Captain Planet and the Planeteers;  Bane and Jonah Hex in Batman: The Animated Series; Putty Thing/Dak in The Mask: The Animated Series;  Daedalus in Hercules: The Animated Series; Captain Rex, Commander Cody and the Clone Troopers in Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Maurice in The Penguins of Madagascar; and Deathstroke/Slade Wilson in Young Justice.

YOGI'S TREASURE HUNT

 

YOGI’S TREASURE HUNT
(Syndication, September 6, 1985-March 25, 1988)
 
Hanna-Barbera Productions

  

For the history of Yogi Bear, check out the post here.

        Yogi’s Treasure Hunt was the fifth entry in the Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi Bear franchise, and his third headlining an ensemble program. As with his previous series, Yogi’s Gang, Yogi (Daws Butler) and his friends—Ranger Smith, Boo-Boo Bear (both Don Messick), Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie (all Butler) and Doggie Daddy (John Stephenson)—were once again on a flying ship, the S.S. Jelly Roger (a Jellystone-inspired play on Jolly Roger), travelling around the world. This time, however, they were sent on treasure hunts by Top Cat (Arnold Stang) who provided them riddles and cryptic clues to lead the way. However, they were often in an unknown race against Dick Dastardly (Paul Winchell) and Muttley (Messick) using their usual dirty tricks to try and get the treasure first on their own ship, the S.S. Dirty Tricks. This premise was similar to the Popeye’s Treasure Hunt segments of Hanna-Barbera’s earlier The All-New Popeye Hour.

Top Cat giving Yogi and his gang their next clue.

          Yogi’s Treasure Hunt debuted on September 6, 1985, running as part of the syndicated programming block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbra. In fact, its working title was The Funtastic Treasure Hunt as an extension of Hanna-Barbera’s “fantastic” branding, and remained the title of the series’ theme performed by Jon “Bowzer” Bauman from Sha-Na-Na and the “Funtastic Singers”. This would be Butler’s final show voicing his characters for the studio as he would die in May of 1988 (the television films The Good, the Bad and Huckleberry Hound would air that month and Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears later that year). Reruns of the series would air on USA Cartoon Express before moving to Cartoon Network from 1993-99. In 2024, it would join the rotating line-up of Yogi cartoon on retro animation network MeTV Toons.

SOFIA THE FIRST

 

SOFIA THE FIRST
(Disney Junior, Disney Channel, January 11, 2013-September 8, 2018)
 
Disney Television Animation

 

 

            Sofia the First centered on Sofia (Ariel Winter), a young peasant girl that became a princess when her mother, Miranda (Sara Ramirez), fell in love with and married the king of Enchancia, Roland (Travis Willingham). Sofia gained a new family that included her twin step-siblings Amber (Darcy Rose Byrnes) and James (Zach Callison, Tyler Merna & Nicolas Cantu), attended the royal school headed up by good fairies Flora (Barbara Dirickson), Fauna (Russi Taylor) and Merryweather (Tress MacNeille), and received a powerful artifact as a gift from Roland: the Amulet of Avalor. The amulet would bless Sofia for doing good deeds and curse her for doing wrong, as well as linked her to “all the princesses there ever were” that allowed them to help each other when needed. Ten princesses from Disney’s past were featured: Cinderella (Jennifer Hale) from Cinderella; Jasmine (Linda Larkin, Lea Salonga singing) from Aladdin; Belle (Julie Nathanson) from Beauty and the Beast; Ariel (Jodi Benson) from The Little Mermaid; Aurora (Kate Higgins) from Sleeping Beauty; Snow White (Katherine Von Till) from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Mulan (Ming-Na Wen, Salonga singing) from Mulan; Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) from Tangled; Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) from The Princess and the Frog; and Merida (Ruth Connell) from Brave (Anna and Elsa from Frozen were denied an appearance, but Josh Gad’s Olaf was allowed a guest spot). It also gave her the ability to talk to animals, allowing her to befriend rabbit Clover (Wayne Brady), squirrel Whatnaught, and birds Mia (Ashley Eckstein) and Robin (Meghan Strange).

Sofia with her animal friends.

       However, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses as Enchancia was threatened by numerous evil forces; some of whom wanted Sofia’s amulet for themselves and their own ambitions. Among them was the bumbling royal magician, Cedric (Jess Harnell), who wanted to overthrow the royal family; Princess Ivy (Anna Camp), who took over Enchancia and wanted to make it as devoid of color as her own kingdom; Prisma (Megan Hilty), an evil crystal-conjurer determined to outclass her sister, Azurine (Rachel MacFarlane), no matter the cost; Glacia the Ice Witch (Phylicia Rashad), who bestowed anyone that brought her a gift with magic; Vor (Paty Lombard), an ancient enchantress imprisoned in the Locket of Vor for spreading evil throughout the world in order to conquer it and manipulated Prisma to get free; Slickwell (Christian Borle), a young steward that sought to replace the royal steward, Baileywick (Tim Gunn); Miss Nettle (Megan Mullally & Anna Vocino), a fairy that sought to surpass her former mentors, the good fairies; and Morgana (Catherine O’Hara), the egocentric arch-enemy of Merlin (Jeff Bennet) who sought nothing more than to defeat him, among others.

Sofia, Amber, James and Miranda.

            The series was created by Craig Gerber after he was approached by Nancy Kanter at Disney Junior for an idea for a show about a princess targeted to 2 to 7-year-olds. Gerber took inspiration from his life and family to create Sophia. His son, Miles, liked to play pretend and emulated fantasy characters he didn’t really have anything in common with. Gerber decided that his character should go through a lot of the same life situations Miles would, to serve as a “magic mirror” that would allow him to enjoy the fantasy while identifying with the scenarios on the show. He also incorporated his own childhood experiences of being from a blended family and posited what if Sofia wasn’t always a princess, but became one overnight. It was a way to modernize the princess dynamic and allow Sofia to be bold and curious as she explored her new role and the world around her.

Vor manipulating Prisma for her freedom.

            Sofia the First debuted with a Disney Channel television movie, Once Upon a Princes, on November 18, 2012. It was the 5^th most-watched program for the week, and the highest for a Disney animated special since 2009’s Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! The series proper debuted on January 11, 2013 on Disney Junior.; becoming one of the top 3 broadcasts for girls ages 2-5. The series ran for four years, picked up Emmy and Humanitas awards, and spawned the spin-off series Elena of Avalor. For the series’ 10^th anniversary n 2022, a sequel series was announced on social media called Sofia the First: Royal Magic; which was officially greenlit in 2024 and set to debut in 2026 (as of this writing). The original Sofia continues to air in reruns on Disney Junior and on the official Disney Junior YouTube channel, and is available to stream on Disney+.

GLORIA ROCHA DEAD AT 94

 

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She was a Mexican dubbing actor and director credited as one of the key figures for the success of anime in Latin America. She voiced Jenny in Space Kidettes; Melody in Josie and the Pussycats; Judy Franklin in Return to the Planet of the Apes; Mrs. Anders in Jeannie; Nurse Chapel in Star Trek: The Animated Series; Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1973); Katy O’Hara in My Favorite Martians; the old lady in The Fat Albert Christmas Special; and Velma Dinkley in several incarnations of Scooby-Doo. She also directed the dubbing of Digimon and Cardcaptors. 

GUY MOON DEAD AT 63

 

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He did the music for Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, California Dreams, The Addams Family (1992), Cave Kids, ChalkZone, Back at the Barnyard, Bunsen is a Beast and Johnny Test; worked on some music for Tiny Toon Adventures and Sesame Street; and wrote a song for SpongeBob SquarePants.

T.K. CARTER DEAD AT 69

 

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T.K. Carter (January 9) – Actor. He starred as Alex in Turbo Teen; Anthony Julian, an ophthalmologist and additional voices in Jem; and Mylo Williams in the Saved by the Bell precursor series Good Morning, Miss Bliss.