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